8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Zane

Today, it was all about routine. If I allowed myself to go outside it, I was going to be in trouble. As it was, I was on the struggle bus. Keeping my hands and my mind busy was my only hope not to spend every second thinking about him .

I couldn't even think of his name, because that would send me into a tailspin. It was safe to say I was a hot mess. I never should've let last night get that far. And yet I did, and if I was in the same position again, I'd do the same thing. I was weak— at least when it came to Corey. And if I was being honest with myself, I wasn't sure that was a bad thing.

The taste of him lingered on my lips, and my skin tingled where we had touched. I was walking around in a constant state of arousal like some sort of hormone-driven teenager. He had infiltrated every fiber of my being.

I couldn't let him affect me like this. It wasn't good for either of us. But also, there was nothing I could do to avoid it, not for long. Instead, I decided to allow today to be a game of pretend.

My plan was to act as if today was like every other day before I met him. I worked at the shop, I was there for my den, taking care of whatever needs they had. That was it. There could be no more. My duties came first, second, and every other spot. I was Beta because Aydan trusted me, and even though I slipped up, I couldn't allow myself to break that trust again.

My plan was solid.

Except, it wasn't.

I was on my third oil change of the day, and I could do those in my sleep. So, my mind tended to wander even if I did not want it to. Right now, it was wandering to a certain bear who, instead of working here on my books, had gone to the diner. Probably because both of us needed a break from one another. Or rather, we had decided that a break was what we needed, lest we were going to lose control around each other.

Gods, that would be wonderful.

No. Awful. We needed to not cave in.

My bear was protesting our distance very much and was hanging close to the surface. He didn't understand any of this. Corey was our mate. To him that was all that needed knowing. It wasn't as if I wanted to be away from Corey. If it was up to me, we would be spending every waking moment together. That just wasn't in the cards for us. At least not yet.

"Hey, boss, I thought Corey was going to be working on the books today. I have a lot of receipts organized for him." Leave it to Russ to find a reason to talk about Corey. He wasn't doing it to be a dick or to poke the bear. The books were a mess, and Russ was all about getting them back on track—or at least giving them to someone who could get them on track.

"Not today," I said, dipping the dipstick back into the oil reservoir and then removing it to check the levels… again. Mostly I wanted a reason not to look Russ in the eye. He'd see instantly that I was covering something up.

"How many times have you checked that, boss?" Nate asked.

Fine. Maybe my crew had already noticed something was up.

"What?" I said, dipping the stick back in. The car was an old Buick with six figures worth of miles, but it had been well maintained. It was from the days when you could keep a car running forever if you wanted to, unlike now when everything was designed to have a shelf life.

"That's the third time you've checked the level on that machine. I think it's done." Russ gave a knowing look. But what did he know?

"Right," I said. "I'll just top off the washer fluid."

"You did that twice already, too. That's why we have a spill on the floor," Nate piped in and gestured to where the blue liquid pooled in the center of the bay where we stood.

Had the two of them talked or was I… Fuck, I was way worse off than I thought. When had that even happened?

"It's close to lunchtime. Why don't you take a break before you change the oil on a perfectly good machine?" Russ patted me on the back as he walked by. At least he had the decency not to laugh at me. The rest of the guys on my crew were barely containing their grins. And fair. I deserved it.

"Right," I said. I couldn't go to the diner, though, where I normally went. That was where Corey was working, and if I did, the sweet torture would only get worse.

The last time I left him, it physically hurt. I wanted to carry him inside and take care of him, I wanted to make love to him all night long, I wanted to mark him, to show the world that he was mine.

Even though he wasn't and couldn't be.

Before I could think of another lunch solution, the garage door opened and one of the den members, Pete, pulled his SUV in. Pete worked at the barbershop. He and his family lived in the apartment above it and were one of the nicest families. One nice thing about being a barber in a town of shifters was that you never ran out of business. We grew a head of hair like nobody's business.

"I'll work on this," I said.

Pete got out, smiling like a goof.

"What is it?" I said.

"I just had lunch at the diner. That little omega Corey, Alpha Aydan's brother, was there. He's a sweet kid. Very funny. He's going to work on our books for us at the barbershop. Isn't that great?"

My jaw clenched, my teeth grinding together. "That is great," I said.

I knew better than to think that Pete was any kind of threat. Still, the irrational jealously built. But then again, wasn't all jealousy irrational? I pushed my beast down. Pete didn't need to see my lack of control. Nobody did.

"He started at the diner first. He was eager to jump in and help the den." He tossed me the keys. "But he's going to hit up my shop later this afternoon. We're lucky to have him."

"We are." It seemed as if I wasn't going to get a break from thinking about Corey after all. Not when the newest customer was a member of his fan club, one that couldn't stop gushing.

"Well, just a heads up, if you wanted lunch at the diner, you better wait a while. Seems like every alpha in town learned that we had a new omega on the territory. They're all lined up around the block to meet him."

My bear pushed at me, begging to be let out, and I pushed him down. Although I agreed with my bear this time. This wasn't something I wanted to hear. Not at all.

I'd hardly thought about the fact that many of the alphas in our den would be looking for a prospective mate, even if that prospective mate was the Alpha's brother and completely off-limits. Not that they'd know the prospective mate part. It wasn't as if Ayden had announced to the world that he was going to try to arrange a mating to strengthen the den. To the other alphas he was a single omega, one that was free for the scenting.

I hated it.

"I have to get back to work," I all but growled. "What's wrong with her?" I indicated his vehicle. He told me, and I promised him it would either be ready by close of business or I'd have an update for him by then. Thankfully he didn't seem to know just how close to the edge I was.

"Everything alright, boss? Corey settling in alright, isn't he?" Russ asked once Pete had left. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, and though I wasn't a violent man, I sort of wanted to slap it off his face.

"Everything's fine. We just have a lot of work to do," I replied, looking around the shop. Nearly everything that needed to be done had already been done, with the exception of Pete's car which sounded like a ten-minute job at most. There was no line of cars waiting for service, anything that wasn't being worked on was either finished or we were waiting on parts to arrive.

"Not really, boss. Unless we get an emergency, we might be able to call it an early day."

Great, just what I needed—more time on my hands to sit and think.

"I need to get Pete's vehicle all set."

And just like I thought, it took less than fifteen minutes. When I added in a complimentary oil change to keep my hands busy, as well as a full inspection and some random maintenance he didn't need for another ten thousand miles, barely an hour was done. It was going to be a long-ass day. That was for sure.