Chad frowned. He wondered where the hell he was supposed to get that. He’d rented the apartment via an ad online, and he’d picked up the key at the airport. Maybe the property manager had the parking sticker?
“You can borrow mine, if you don’t have one. I don’t drive,” Topher offered. Chad brightened. That would work.
“Thanks, Topher. How about you get that and meet me in the parking lot and then we’ll head out?”
Whether he was coming on to him or not, Topher was nothing Chad couldn’t deal with. And honestly, he didn’t think Topher was coming on to him. He was probably just trying to make up for his awful first impression.
“Sure. I’ll see you in a minute!” Topher took off. Chad jogged up to his apartment and put away his gloves and helmet, and then made his way down to the curb to move his bike. As he rode into the parking lot, Topher was standing there waiting for him, sticker in hand.
Once he had his bike securely parked, he and Topher headed off.
***
Topher was meeting his friends at a bar a few blocks away from the university, close enough that he and Chad could walk there. As they stepped inside, Topher shot him a nervous glance out of the corner of his eye.
Chad could see why. This wasn’t his crowdat all.Everyone from the alphas crowded around the pool table in the back to the bespectacled betas sitting at the table by the window were obviously college students, and Chad stood out like a sore thumb. Four years in the military had left their mark, both in terms of his overall bulk and in his bearing.
“The beer here is actually pretty good,” Topher said, leading Chad past the bar and toward the back. “And it’s cheap, so you get a lot of students here.”
“It’s nice,” Chad said, not commenting on the fact that the pool tables looked like they had been placed there ironically more than anything else. He hated pretentious irony.
“Topher, you made it,” one of the alphas said, stepping away from the table and coming to stand between Chad and Topher and the rest of the group. He was obviously the leader of the little gang, and Chad hoped he wasn’t going to start anything.
“Yeah, sorry I’m late. This is Chad. He just moved into my building. Chad, this is Blake, Noah, Spike, and David. They’re all in my graduate program, except Blake. He’s in the police academy.”
“Nice to meet you, Chad,” Blake said. They shook hands, both of them gripping too tight as they maintained eye contact. As far as Chad could tell, he and Blake were about equally dominant, and they were both in excellent shape.
“You too. So you’re training to be a cop?” Chad crossed his arms over his chest, ignoring how nervous Topher suddenly looked.
“Yes. What about you?”
“Private contractor,” Chad said.
Blake nodded, a tense silence overtaking the group as the two of them continued staring at each other. Chad was startled when a sarcastic voice piped up from behind Blake.
“Would it hurry things along if you both got your dicks out to see whose knot was bigger?”
“Noah!” With a furious glare, Blake rounded on the man who’d spoken.
“What? Did I misread that? I’m sorry,” Noah ducked his head, looking anything but.
Chad couldn’t help but laugh. Noah was a ballsy little fucker. Chad could respect that. Blake turned away from Noah and leveled Chad with a flat look, but the aggression and tension from a second ago was gone.
“I’m going to get us some beers,” Topher piped up, obviously relieved that Blake and Chad hadn’t come to blows. “What can I get you, Chad?”
“Whatever you’re having is fine. I’m not picky,” Chad said. He dug into his pocket and fished out a twenty, trying to give it to Topher, but the alpha waved him away and headed to the bar. Chad watched him go and then turned back to Blake.
“So how do you know Topher?” the cop-in-training asked.
“I don’t, really. We just ran into each other on the stairs and got to talking. It was nice of him to invite me to come out with him.”
Blake smiled. “That’s Topher, always being friendly.”
Chad shrugged, not knowing Topher well enough to know if the comment was sarcastic or not. He suspected the former.
“So are you guys playing or is this thing just for show?” Chad asked, changing the subject. Blake’s eyes lit up at the implied challenge.
“We play. How about you?”
