After breakfast Chad wasn’t quite sure what to do. Peter was brooding and withdrawn, still shirtless and gleaming with sweat from his impromptu workout, leaning back in his chair and clenching his jaw like he was trying to crack his molars. Talking to him was impossible.
“So what’s the plan for today?” Chad asked when he just couldn’t stand another second of uncomfortable silence. It came out a little sharper than he intended, and Peter’s eyebrows lifted slightly as he turned his attention on Chad.
Chad didn’t apologize. He was the one who was almost kidnapped. If anyone had the right to be brooding and quiet it washim.
“You need to change your Facebook profile settings to private for starters,” Peter said.
Chad scrunched up his brow in confusion, the instruction coming out of nowhere.
“What?”
“That’s how Devlin knew when you were coming and that you were expecting a car to pick you up,” Peter said, his lip curling in a barely perceptible snarl. “You posted it all over your public Facebook profile.”
Chad had no idea what Peter was talking about. Then he remembered the conversation he had with best friend Topher on Facebook a few days before he was coming home. He might have shared his flight details and arrival info during the course of that conversation, but that was a private conversation between him and Topher. It wasn’t like other people could see it…was it?
“Are you sure?” he asked, wondering if this was why Peter was so quiet. Peter had said that he wasn’t angry with him, but that might have changed when he learned that Chad’s own tech-illiteracy was the reason he’d been such an easy target.
Chad hoped that wasn’t the case.
“Yes, I’m sure,” Peter said. He sighed and reached his hand up to rub the bridge of his nose. “Isn’t Topher some kind of computer science nerd?” Peter didn’t wait for Chad to answer before continuing, sounding angry now. “You’d think he’d know to use the fucking messenger function for private conversations.”
Chad didn’t say anything. It probably hadn’t occurred to Topher that anyone would be interested in anything they had to say. It certainly hadn’t occurred to Chad.
“Well?” Peter barked. He sounded frustrated, and his shoulders were tense and held high. Chad wasn’t really sure how to deal with him when he was like this.
“I’m sorry, okay? I get why you’re mad at me. I’ll change the setting now.” Chad pulled out his phone and spent a minute going through his settings; limiting access to his Facebook profile and Instagram account to just his friends. The whole exercise made him feel stupid and thoroughly chastised, and when he finally put his phone away he hesitated before looking across the table at Peter.
“I’m not angry with you,” Peter said, making Chad look up. He sat forward and leaned his elbows on the table, waiting until he had Chad’s full attention before continuing. “I’m just frustrated. I was so sure that I’d be able to hunt down the people who tried to take you today, and now that it turns out that I can’t I’m not dealing with it as well as I should be.”
Chad breathed out and leaned in, mirroring Peter’s pose. He felt better.
“Is there anything I can do?”
Peter smiled softly and shook his head. “No, not that I can think of. Just stay in the apartment until we know what we’re dealing with. Keep out of trouble.”
Chad nodded, and Peter’s shoulders relaxed fractionally. They stayed seated for another few minutes, Chad’s fingers curled around his empty coffee cup, after which Peter headed to his office to do some work and Chad made his way to the living room. He turned on the TV and booted up his Xbox, leaning back into the couch and making himself comfortable as he started to play.
***
The next day, Peter woke Chad up at six am by slapping his ass and pushing him off the mattress.
“What the fuck?” Chad growled, shooting to his feet and glaring at Peter with as much indignation as he could muster. It was way too early in the morning for Peter to be slapping him anywhere, and the rough awakening was about as welcome as a kick in the face.
“Get dressed, we’re going hiking,” Peter said, throwing a bundle of clothes at Chad’s chest before leaving the room. Chad stared after him with a confused expression on his face, his sleep addled mind taking a few seconds to process what Peter was saying.
“What?” Chad jogged after Peter, naked and clutching the clothes his alpha had thrown at him to his chest. He ran past Peter and blocked his way, forcing him to come to a stop in the middle of the hallway. “We’re going hiking? Now?” Chad’s voice was incredulous.
“Yes,” Peter said, tilting his head and narrowing his eyes. “Is that a problem?”
Chad would very much have liked to answeryesto that question, but the warning edge in Peter’s voice made him hold his tongue.
“I guess not. I’ll just go shower and get dressed and we can be on our way.”
Chad was about to turn around when Peter grabbed his arm and stopped him. Chad froze, looking at Peter with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes?” he asked, looking from Peter’s face and down to the arm clutching his bicep and staring at it pointedly. Peter released his grip and crossed his arms across his chest.
“You don’t have to shower. Put on your clothes and we’ll be on our way.”
