CHAPTER 49: PLEASE DON’T FEEL SO AWKWARD AROUND ME

"Peace out losers." Leo stands up and tucks his phone in his back pocket. "I have a date with my man." He smiles like the cat who caught the canary. He puts his hands face down on the table and leans forward, his blond hair brushing against his pale eyebrows. His blue gaze shifts to Ethan. "Take it easy with studying." His voice takes on a stern tone, "You’ll exhaust yourself before you even arrive at your first class." He stands up straight, waves at Chris, and then leaves the busy restaurant.

"Did he find someone?" Chris raises an eyebrow as he watches the other omega leave.

"Ah, yes." Ethan chuckles. He scratches the side of his face. "There’s this alpha that has been trying very hard to get his attention. I guess it worked." Then he shrugs, not wanting to get into the specifics of their relationship. Hell, Ethan doesn’t even know the full story, just what Leo has told him, but if his friend is happy then he guesses it’s fine.

"Good for him!" Chris grins. Then he pouts, "My parents want me to bag an alpha and produce an heir." He purses his lips, "It’s hard telling them no."

Ethan grimaces, "They sound old fashioned. You must come from a well established family." Then the beta cringes, he probably shouldn’t have said that. He doesn’t want to offend him.

"It’s a bit embarrassing to admit." Chris chuckles as he rubs his neck awkwardly. "But, let’s not talk about all that." He waves a hand and flips his long blonde hair over his shoulder with his other, "You said you’re going back to school?" He glances at the backpack next to Ethan, "What course are you taking?"

"Ah, business." The beta sighs. "But honestly, I don’t want to talk about that either. My brain is fried and if I think about it anymore, I’ll faint."

Chris laughs, "That’s understandable. Since you’re not working, how about-"

Ethan’s phone rings, cutting the omega off, and he gives an apologetic smile. He glances down at the contact name and his grin widens as he answers it. "If you’ve called to say that you’re outside, then you might as well come in."

There’s a deep chuckle that makes his stomach flutter with butterflies. "Alright then." Zander says before he hangs up.

Ethan glances down at his phone, "Wow." Then he puts it down and glances up at Chris. "Sorry. Looks like Zander is here. Are you two on good terms?" His eyebrows furrow now that he thinks about it, "I heard that you two were on a date when that bathroom incident happened."

Chris turns red and he smiles, "I don’t see why we would be on bad terms!" His voice is chipper, "Please don’t feel so awkward around me." He reaches a hand out and puts it on top of Ethan’s. "It would make me feel bad."

"Okay," Ethan chuckles. When Chris doesn’t take his hand back, he pulls his own out from underneath his. It shouldn’t be too weird then, right?

The door to the restaurant chimes and Ethan glances over to watch Zander walk in. He’s in a black suit, a matching trenchcoat over it. His hair is styled back, revealing the vibrancy of his green eyes rimmed with purple. One hand is in his pocket, the other at his side. He smiles as he walks over to where Ethan sits, however when he realizes he’s not sitting alone he frowns. It grows deeper when he sees that the person that’s with him is none other than Chris.

When he comes to stop beside them, the omega glances up at him. "Hey, it’s good to see you!" Chris greets him first, his smile big. His eyes are glaring though, as if daring the alpha to say something about what happened between them. Then again, if he did, then Zander would also be incriminating himself by admitting he had Chris kidnapped.

The alpha glances at Ethan who shifts his gaze between the two of them nervously. Can he sense the hostility between them already? Zander isn’t sure just how much Ethan knows about what happened between the two of them, so with a tick in his jaw, he forces himself to smile at Chris.

"Yeah," Zander’s voice comes out harsher than he wanted, so he clears his throat and tries again, "What are you doing here?" He pulls his hand out of his pocket and takes the seat next to Ethan. The smile he gives the beta is much softer.

"Ethan and I are friends." Chris smirks. "So I came to visit. What about you?" He tilts his head, his long hair shifting against his shoulder as he takes in the alphas formal wear. "You seem busy."

Ethan nods his head, "Yeah, you look like you just came from an important meeting. Is it okay for you to be here?"

Zander clenches his jaw and leans back in the booth. He lifts his arm up and rests it behind Ethan’s head. "I came to ask Ethan something but, it can wait for another time." He says dismissively.

"Oh no, is it because I’m here?" Chris frowns as he glances between the two. Zander can easily see past his fake concern and clenches his jaw to keep his anger in check.

"No," Zander grits out, hoping his voice doesn’t give him away. "It’s fine."

Ethan can see that Zander isn’t happy despite his words. The beta isn’t clueless to social cues, but maybe they don’t want to make it awkward around him. Ethan blinks as realization dawns on him, oh. What if there is something between them and Ethan is getting in the way? Guilt settles into the pit of his chest.

"Ah," He stands up, drawing both of their attention to him. "I’m going to go check on something." He points his thumb towards the kitchen area and awkwardly shimmies past Zander, "So I’ll be right back." He says.

It’s just an excuse though. He figures he’d give them some alone time, enough to talk out whatever is going on between them. Then, maybe when he comes back, he can admit to Chris that he and Zander... That Zander gave him a blow job. Ethan cringes and turns away before either of them can say anything.