“That wasn’t the telly.”
Colin looked over at Diwa, who was still holding his foot against his mouth, watching him over the arch of it with his dimples fully deployed. Colin narrowed his eyes at him, which accomplished nothing.
“It’s a mate from work, Stevie. He’s just popped round.”
“A mate from work.”
“That’s right.”
“At nine o’clock. On a Friday night.”
“People visit at nine on a Friday, Stephen.”
“You don’t! You’re in bed by half nine! You watch the news and then you’re out like a light. That’s been your Friday routine since I was twelve years old. Who is this person?”
“He’s a — I told you, love, he’s a work friend. He had me round to do some jobs at his place, and we got talking, and now I pop around his place sometimes.”
“This is the American alpha, isn’t it? The Notting Hill one.”
Diwa, who could apparently hear every word coming through the phone at this distance, produced his full dimpled grin and gave Colin’s foot another kiss, this one on the side of his ankle.
“Stephen —”
“It is, isn’t it? It’s the light bulb man.”
“I’m going to hang up now, love.”
“You’re not hanging up. Daddy, you’re at his house, aren’t you? You’re at his house on a Friday night!”
“Good night, Stephen.”
“I want to meet him, and so will Ryland. What’s his full name?”
Colin knew that the second he gave a name to Stephen it would be passed on to Ryland, who had all sorts of access to databases, and knew how to do hack-y, complex computer things. “I love you, Stephen. Go to bed now.”
He pressed the red button and let the mobile drop onto the cushion beside his head. The drone had moved on to a processing plant, showing thousands of avocados rolling along a conveyor belt while a woman in a hairnet sorted them by size.
“He seems lovely,” Diwa said.
“He’s a nightmare. He gets it from his father.”
“His omega father who shows up at people’s houses and falls asleep on their sofa and drools on them?”
“That’s the one.”
Diwa set Colin’s foot down carefully on his thigh and shifted his weight, moving up along the sofa until they were side by side. His arm went around Colin’s shoulders, easy and practiced now, and Colin let himself be drawn in until his cheek pressed into the dip of Diwa’s collarbone where it fit.
“He wants to meet you,” Colin said, into the cotton of Diwa’s shirt.
“I gathered.”
“Ryland will interrogate you. In the nicest, most relentless way possible.”
“Who’s Ryland?”
“Stephen’s alpha. He’s a good lad. Bit intense. He filled my freezer with soup when I was in hospital and worked out my macro targets on a spreadsheet.”
“I already like him,” Diwa said. “I’m going to ask him to give me access to that spreadsheet.”
