11. Risky ‘Research’

11

RISKY ‘RESEARCH’

Jag

I’m going down to the Wine Shack later today to help a friend. We’ll be in the back parking lot for a couple hours. Want to come along? You can stay in the dining area if you want.

Niall stared at the text, his thoughts racing. He’d been itching to talk to someone about his book. He didn’t have many friends he chatted with via text, and... he’d made a few omega friends at the Wine Shack that he wouldn’t mind saying hi to again.

There was something else, though.

Early on in his book, there was a scene where Konan visited a public restroom with a glory hole. Neo had followed him in, and unbeknownst to Konan, he’d been on the other side of the wall, sucking Konan off.

The Wine Shack happened to have a restroom with glory holes in it.

Niall had never used a glory hole before.

Would Jag want to help Niall with his ‘research’?

Either way, Niall would have to be present at the Wine Shack before anything questionable could happen.

Niall

Yes.

Jag

Good. Pick you up in 2 hours? 10AM

Niall

Okay.

Niall tried to get as much written as he could, but he was half-hard the entire time, damp in his underwear. A reread of the glory hole scene had only made him squirm.

By 9:45 AM, Niall was only halfway through his current chapter, and nowhere near done.

He decided to bring along his laptop and his backup microphone.

Jag rang the doorbell at ten o’clock sharp. Even though he’d been expecting it, Niall jumped anyway. He hurried to the door with his tote bag, keys cradled in his mitten. Jag raised an eyebrow when Niall answered the door.

“You’ll be working there?” Jag asked.

Niall nodded. “And, um, and if it’s not too much trouble, I might need your help. After you’re done helping your friend.”

“What sort of help?”

Niall flushed. “I’ll tell you later.”

After he’d decided that he would ask Jag, he’d debated with himself about the ‘help’.

Everyone said that teeth were bad in blowjobs. So logically speaking, Niall would be amazing at it, if only because he had no teeth to get in the way.

And a glory hole would let him give Jag that without Jag catching on.

Jag looked at him strangely, but he only nodded toward his truck. “C’mon, let’s go.”

The ride wasn’t quite as awkward this time. Maybe it was because they’d slept together, maybe it was because of Jag’s promises to Niall.

Niall was a lot more comfortable when Jag leaned in to help with his seatbelt; he anticipated that closeness and breathed in deep, hoping to catch Jag’s scent.

Jag turned slightly toward him, a smile playing on his lips.

The Wine Shack was a bar in downtown Meadowfall, with a piano at the back and comfy booths scattered around a dance floor. In the day, people came in for lunch and drinks, and sunlight lit up the interior beautifully.

Right as they stepped in, Jag asked, with a wrinkle in his brow, “Will you be okay alone?”

Niall had an answer ready. He’d been coming in with Evan for a little over a year, and the bar owner, Olson, always made sure Niall felt safe.

He didn’t get a chance to answer, though.

Emmy caught sight of them, bouncing over on his wobbly legs.

“Oh, Niall!” the bubbly, slightly-insane omega cried. Emmy was so excited that Niall hesitated in cutting him off. “Are you writing your books about the big strong flagpoles today?”

Niall stopped breathing. Crap! Would Jag figure out that ‘strong flagpole’ was one of Emmy’s weird nicknames for cocks?

And—double crap—Jag now knew that Niall wrote books. Was he going to ask what Niall’s penname was?

He peeked at Jag, only to find Jag watching him. Niall’s stomach flipped. “Yeah,” he said to Emmy. To Jag, he stuttered, “I’ll b-be okay. Th-thank you.”

Jag gave him a fond smile. “Yell or call if you need anything.”

“Okay.” Niall scuttled through the bar, away from Jag.

He took a booth that faced the doors—so there was no way Jag could surprise him in the middle of writing. Then he looked around to make sure that no one was watching him. As far as public spaces went, Niall considered this very public—anyone could see his deformed hands.

When he felt safe, Niall bit into the ends of the mittens and tugged them off.

It was easier to use his laptop without mittens. Even though Niall’s fingers couldn’t separate enough to type, he could still peck carefully at the keys when he had to—except even the thinnest of mittens made this difficult.

Right as he was fumbling his laptop open, an alpha stalked over.

Niall startled. The alpha stopped moving.

They exchanged a wary look; it was enough to tell Niall that the alpha didn’t mean any harm.

“You... num...?” The alpha tapped on his own shoulder. He was tall, muscular, stronger than Jag. But more than anything else, he looked curious.

Niall blinked, not understanding his question.

“Bad?” the alpha asked, looking frustrated. He began to claw at his own shirt, ripping his collar.

Scars covered the alpha’s skin, Niall realized. They were red and blotchy, and some of them looked extremely deliberate.

Not unlike the ones Niall had on his own body.

Then the alpha twisted, and Niall glimpsed the scarred numbers on his bared shoulder.

Niall’s stomach dropped. He didn’t know what his own face looked like, but suddenly, the patches on his hip felt too heavy to bear. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “Yeah, I have them too.”

He shoved his wrists against his hoodie and sweatpants, parting them to show the alpha his own.

Because there weren’t many of them around, people who’d suffered this kind of hell. And maybe Niall just wanted the alpha not to feel so alone.

The alpha looked at Niall’s silvery, uneven numbers, and growled.

His lack of words made sense, suddenly. Even more so than the scars on his body. But Niall didn’t know what he could possibly say to the man. Sorry we were both dealt a crap hand in life?

Someone moved beyond the alpha’s shoulder. Niall hurriedly shoved his clothes back into place, flushing when he realized it was Jag—and that Jag had seen him fumbling with his clothes.

Why did today have to suck?

Jag stopped next to the alpha, glancing shrewdly between them. “Something wrong?”

The alpha looked at Niall. Niall shook his head quickly, but he didn’t miss the way Jag’s gaze slid to the alpha’s torn shirt, and the numbers on his shoulder.

Jag met Niall’s eyes for a breathless second. Then he clapped the alpha’s shoulder, and led him away. “C’mon. The others are waiting in the back.”

Niall watched them leave, his laptop forgotten.

Olson stopped by his booth with a glass of iced lemon tea. “I see you’ve met Rex.”

“Is that his name? Rex?” Niall asked.

Olson’s mouth pulled into a smile. “Yes.”

Niall stared. In all the time he’d known the Wine Shack’s owner, Olson had always seemed exhausted, like he’d given up on life. But now... the older omega’s eyes shone, and there was an energy in his movements that hadn’t been there before.

“Is he your alpha?” Niall asked.

Olson’s smile grew. “Yes. You could say he’s back from the dead.”

Emmy and Aaren popped up behind Olson, all bright-eyed. “Tell him the story, Big O! Niall’s gonna turn it into a book!” Emmy looked gleeful. “He’s gonna give everyone big waving tentacles!”

“No waving tentacles,” Niall protested. “No one has tentacles in my books!”

Emmy rolled his eyes. “They can have big love sausages and bouncy butts!”

“Rex showed up and carried Olson out of here,” Aaren whispered loudly, stars in his eyes. “Like a cave-alpha. It was perfect.”

Niall’s eyes grew round. “Really?”

Olson kept smiling. “He had a den in the forest, but I brought him home. He’s learning how to interact with people again.”

Gods, that sounded like an amazingly fun book to write.

“I gave Rex many butt blessings,” Emmy said proudly. “They worked! Did your butt blessings work, Niall? Did your alpha daddy stuff your butt with his throbbing cucumber?”

Niall flushed bright red and hurriedly glanced around the bar. “N-no!”

“Not yet,” Emmy said sagely. “The butt blessings always work. Then Jag will knot you and you’ll live happily ever after.”

If only things were that easy.

“They don’t always work,” Aaren said miserably, his round shoulders slumping. “My alpha isn’t good.”

Emmy sighed exasperatedly. “Aaren. You used them on the wrong alpha! I told you to pick carefully! You gotta kick that scummy stinkbag in the nuts and leave!”

“I can’t,” Aaren wailed. He was a chubby omega about Emmy’s height, slightly older than Niall. Aaren had been wanting an alpha for the longest time, before he got his current boyfriend. “I’m trying. But he keeps saying I’m fat and no other alpha would want me.”

Olson narrowed his eyes. “Bring him here. We’ll teach him a lesson.”

Aaren cringed. “It’s complicated.”

Olson straightened to his full height, his face turning scary. “Bring him here. I’ll get rid of him for you.”

Aaren wavered and wandered off, twisting his hands together. Olson sighed after him.

“Is he going to be okay?” Niall asked.

“I hope so,” Olson muttered. “I want to wrap him in a blanket and fix everything for him, but sometimes life isn’t that simple.”

Niall glanced at his own claw-shaped hands, and said nothing.

Emmy slid excitedly into Niall’s booth, bouncing on the seat. “What’s your new book about?”

Niall flushed. “Can you keep a secret?”

“Of course!”

Olson said dryly, “Remind Emmy to tell you about the time he lived secretly in a policeman’s attic.”

“And I made him fuck a donut,” Emmy whispered.

Niall had to log into his laptop and get a book idea file going. “Tell me everything.”