“Piss off,” I snapped.
The alpha put his hands up in defeat and turned away. “Okay, okay…”
I let out an irritated huff, thinking about how mad Rafael would have been if he was here to witness this. “Have alphas been acting worse lately, or is it just me?”
“Was that guy bothering you?”
Kaden and I looked at the owner of the unfamiliar voice. I braced myself for another confrontation with a stranger, but this guy didn’t look like he wanted trouble. He had messy blond hair and a clean layer of stubble. Though he was of average height and build, he still exuded the aura ofalpha.But at least he wasn’t being a weirdo.
“It’s okay,” I said, giving him a polite but thin smile. “I think he realized I’d knock his lights out if he kept harassing us.”
The guy smiled. “Good. Then that means I don’t have to.” He gave us a friendly wave and walked off towards the direction of the café.
“See?” Kaden said, winking at me. “I told you they’re not all bad.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I mumbled, tossing my thumb over my shoulder at the group of alphas we had just passed. “One out of five aren’t the best odds.”
“You just need to think positively.”
“Bite me.”
Kaden chuckled. “Pregnancy got you cranky, huh?”
I was relieved to reach the warmth of the café so I could wiggle out of my jacket and scarf. It smelled like roasted coffee beans and pastries, a scent I was used to smelling daily at work, but it always seemed a little more special on days off.
“Wait a sec,” Kaden said. “Isn’t that the guy we just saw outside?”
I narrowed my eyes, expecting to see the creep who catcalled me, but instead I saw the blond alpha who had tried to intervene. He kept glancing at his phone and looking around, as if he was waiting for someone. My mind put the pieces together.
“Hang on, ishethe alpha you’re supposed to be meeting here?” I asked Kaden.
Kaden shrugged but approached the table, holding up his phone to indicate he was also waiting for someone. “Cash?”
The blond alpha perked up. “That’s me. So I’m guessing you’re Kaden?”
“That’s right.” Kaden shook hands with Cash as he stood to greet him. I politely shook as well before we took seats on the opposite side of the table.
Already I was a little more at ease. When Kaden told me he was considering an alpha roommate, I sort of panicked. After all my bad experiences with them, I was hesitant to stand by and watch him make that decision. But I also knew there were good alphas out there, good men and women who probably didn’t deserve my ire. Probably.
Rafael popped up in my mind with his silly grin, making some of my cold heart melt away into a sappy pile of goo.
Stupid Raf,I thought.
Kaden conducted a basic interview with Cash, friendly and polite. He seemed nice enough with his replies, but while Kaden was listening to his words, I was watching his actions. I’d worked at the Omega Angel Café long enough to know that alphas could hide behind sugar-coated words while hiding their true intentions. Maybe I should have paid closer attention to that with Shane--how he’d tried to share drinks with me, how he never took his eyes off me, even for a second. It was different when Rafael gazed into my eyes, but Shane’s look was almost predatory, like a snake watching a mouse, unblinking and waiting to strike.
But Cash wasn’t being creepy at all. He kept good eye-contact, but never stared. He didn’t check out any other omega employees in passing, as so many alphas liked to do while pretending their gaze was innocent. He kept firmly seated, never getting too close to Kaden or invading his personal space, and there was no sharing of drinks whatsoever.
Maybe this alpha wasn’t so bad.
As Kaden and Cash continued chatting, my mind roamed to Rafael. I wondered how different my life would have been if we met under ‘normal’ circumstances like this, instead of our fated meeting under the street lamps at night.
Maybe it really was fate that brought us together,I thought a little whimsically.
After all, I’d already met Rafael before then, but never gotten the chance to actuallyknowhim. I’d only assumed he was Griffin’s jokester friend and nothing more. I took him at face value, only seeing him on the surface and never bothering to probe deeper.
That thought showed me a different angle of looking at things, perhaps closer to the way Kaden saw the world. He was always willing to give chances, like he was doing now with Cash. Would I be as relaxed as Kaden was if I sat back and went with the flow instead of jumping to conclusions?
The old me would’ve said no. But now? I would give it a try.
