Page 4 of Cassian is Getting Out

Ivar smirked. Cassian pressed his hand over his mouth, but his shoulders were already shaking.

Ivar glanced at him sideways. “We have a tiny bit in common,” he said, setting Cassian off completely.

Felix watched them both as though he’d been shut in an enclosure full of lethal zoo animals.

✦ ✧ ✦

Colin was reading the news on his mobile, Tala asleep in the wrap on his chest, when Cassian emerged into the waiting room. “How was it?” he asked.

“Someone threw a cushion,” Cassian said.

Colin’s eyebrows rose.

“Not me,” Cassian added quickly. “Felix. The mean one. He threw it at Ivar, who is the nice one from Skalavik, but it hit a plant.”

Colin looked as though he had several follow-up questions. Cassian’s mobile buzzed in his pocket.

He pulled it out. A WhatsApp notification sat on the screen. Felix had added him to a group!

The group was called Male Omega Alliance Network. Cassian stared at it. “I think I might have made two friends,” he said.

Colin reached over and squeezed his shoulder, and they walked out into the corridor together. Cassian’s mobile buzzed again in his pocket with a message from Felix that said: Ivar you Kvässig.

Cassian googled Kvässig+Skulavik+Mening, and when Colin heard his gasp and caught a glimpse of the pictures of gaping arseholes on his screen, he clucked his tongue and snatched Cassian’s mobile from his hands.

Chapter Two

Proving Ground sat on the corner of Portobello Road, all floor-to-ceiling glass and brushed steel, with a chalk sign propped against the window that read IF YOU HAVE TO ASK IF IT’S FRESH, YOU’VE NEVER HAD FRESH. Cassian hadn’t missed a morning here since he’d first discovered its Chelsea buns.

Today, he had passionfruit icing around his mouth, and he was talking so fast that the words were tripping over each other on the way out.

“—and then he said it was the soft underside of a squid’s excrement hole, Ruari, which is the part they throw to the feral cats, and Felix went absolutely mental because he didn’t know if Ivar was making it up or not, and I didn’t know either actually. Ivar has this face where you can’t tell if he’s joking, since he just looks very calm all the time.”

Ruari slid a tray of almond croissants into the display case and closed the glass door.

“Felix threw a cushion at his head. But it’s okay. Felix made us all a WhatsApp group, which he’d named the Male Omega Alliance Network. Ivar says it spells MOAN, because the group is for our omega moaning.”

Ruari straightened up behind the counter and wiped his hands on his apron.

“Ivar speaks four languages. Four! Västervikska, which is from Västervik, where he grew up, and Nordiska, and English, and Deutsch, which is German, and when I said I only speak English he said English counts for two languages because of its nonsense spelling, which was the kindest thing—”

“What’s on your face?”

Cassian stopped talking. His hand flew to his mouth, found the icing, and he licked it off his fingers without breaking eye contact with Ruari. “Passionfruit. From the tart I just had.”

“Missed a spot.” Ruari pulled the tea towel off his shoulder and swiped it across Cassian’s chin.

“Felix is scary,” Cassian continued when Ruari drew away. He propped his chin on his fists. “He was really mean about my spelling, and he told us all about his kidnapping as his fun fact about himself. I don’t think he was supposed to do that, but Dr Carlisle didn’t stop him, and we’re friends now. So I think we’re all good. I think he might secretly like us. He was the one who started the group chat. Though he said he only did it since Ivar and I wouldn’t know how to.”

Cassian tapped the counter. Ruari was restocking the napkin dispensers at the far end, his back to Cassian. Tommy did this to Veronica in season three of Uptown Omegas, ignoring her on purpose until she wanted him so badly she climbed through his bedroom window. Maybe Ruari was doing that. Cassian continued, more loudly. “Ivar’s an ex-virgin, and he says his alpha has sex with him at least once a day.”

Ruari turned around to face him. Finally! He looked like he was holding back a sneeze. “At least?”

“Yes! At least.” Cassian dug his mobile from his pocket. “I can find out the exact number. Ivar keeps track of everything. They’re both brilliant. Felix is terrifying and Ivar knows about squid anatomy.”

The mobile in Cassian’s hand buzzed, and he thumbed into the group. Ivar had sent a photograph of a squid. He’d circled an area of its underside in red and typed a single word beneath it: Taskig.

Cassian stared at the excrement hole, which looked genuinely awful. A GIF appeared beneath the squid. Felix had sent an image of a small child raising both middle fingers.