Page 18 of Jared

Jared grabbed at Desmond's arm. “Let's just go out the back.”

“What? Really?” Desmond protested. The two men rested their gaze upon them and started forward. “Umm, okay, we're off the clock anyways. Theo or Ali can help them.” Desmond turned, pretending he hadn't seen the two customers, and hurried back into the rear. Leaving through the back, he gave a shaky laugh. “You almost had me going there, Jared. Like they were the Men In Black or something.”

Jared turned a troubled gaze towards Desmond. “You sure they weren't something like that? Surely someone at least suspects about you guys.”

Desmond didn't know how to reply to that, so said nothing. The back alleyway was clear and no one chased or called out to them as they walked out of it and onto the front sidewalk.

“I'll speak to Steve about it,” Jared decided. “He'd know, right? Being the next Alpha and all of a large pack.”

Desmond just nodded. “Probably nothing but two guys on their dinner break and we were the first employees they saw.”

“Yeah,” Jared said. “Maybe. I'm going to call Steve now anyway. I hope he can come pick us up.” He pulled his phone out. “Hi, um, Steve, I hate to ask this on such short notice, but could you come pick me up and my friend Desmond up from work? Like right now? Yeah, these two weird guys came into the store as we were leaving...okay, yeah. We'll do that right now. Thanks. Bye.” he ended the call.

“He says for us to go to Full Froth and wait for him there, to talk to nobody but the barista when we get our coffees. Oh, and to sit inside. He'll be there as fast as he can. He said he's glad you got off at the same time so I'm not alone.”

“He's picking me up, too?”

“Yeah, I asked him to. Why?”

Desmond blew out his breath in a huff. “No reason, really. Just, he doesn't know me, and he's the next Chang Alpha and all that.”

“So? He's a nice guy. So are you, and we're best friends now, right?”

Desmond relaxed a fraction and smiled. “Hey, yeah. We are.” The two briskly walked towards Full Froth, trying to keep an eye out for anything suspicious.“I mean, I've got my roommates and I've got acquaintance type buddies that I club with and stuff, but you're my only actual good friend. The kind I'd call if I needed anything, ya know? And you can call on me, you know that, right?”

Jared said nothing, instead clapping a hand on Desmond's shoulder for a moment by way of reply. The happiness he felt at hearing Desmond's confession was tainted by a pit of dread filling his stomach as he became acutely aware that they were in an alley, quite possibly once more the prey of two men. He slid his hand down Desmond's arm, grasping it lightly as he tugged his friend forward, urging him to hurry his pace even further even as the walls of the buildings on either side loomed, his panic giving the illusion that that they were crowding them in. He heaved a sigh of relief as they entered the bright sunshine at the mouth of the alley, spilling onto the busy sidewalk. Desmond said nothing as Jared continued to lightly cling to his arm as they hurriedly made their way the few blocks to the café.

Full Froth was full but they were only third in line. Jared sagged in relief as he recognized Steve's car as it pulled up. He tapped Desmond on the shoulder as he collected their order. “He's here.”

“Okay, I'll grab some sugars and sticks then let's bail.”

The two men wasted no time getting into Steve's car, mindful of how they held up traffic.

“This is Desmond, my friend from work. We got off at the same time today.”

“Hi,” Desmond said. “It's nice to finally meet you. Jared talks about you all the time.”

“Likewise,” Steve replied, giving a subtle sniff. “He never mentioned that you were a shifter. “

“Husky,” Desmond confirmed. “You could have told him, Jared. The confidentiality thing doesn't extend to your mate.”

“I didn't see any reason to bring it up, plus I wasn't sure about the rules about that,” Jared said. “I wasn't trying to hide anything, honest.”

“It's okay,” Steve replied. “I'm not mad. I was just caught a little off guard. It's good that you've met another shifter.” Steve smiled to show he meant every word. “So, some weird guys came into the store.”

Desmond explained about the dark suited men. “Yeah, anyways, probably nothing, but Jared felt it was better safe than sorry. We probably let ourselves get carried away.”

“Hm. Maybe,” Steve said. “Just let me know immediately if anything else odd happens, okay? I'll give you my number so you can call me if you need to, in case Jared isn't around.”

“See? I told you he'd know what to do,” Jared grinned, feeling vindicated.

“I'll let my father and the pack betas know as well. It won't hurt to have eyes sharp and noses to the ground,” Steve said. “Now, Desmond, is there any place in particular you'd like me to drop you off?”

“Just home is fine.” Desmond quickly gave him directions to his building.

After dropping him off with a promise that he'd call one of them if anything felt off, Steve pulled out. Jared was puzzled when Steve made a right at the first intersection but said nothing.

“I thought we'd grab some dinner,” Steve said, catching scent of Jared's confusion. “I'll fix us something at mine, seeing as I need to have a word about these guys and make sure nothing's up.”