“That smells amazing,” Aaren moaned.
“You like this restaurant,” Hades said, lifting his bowl to slurp up his noodles.
Aaren nodded. “It takes several hours to make the bone broth the way they do. Olson treated us to this a couple of times—me and the other omegas working for him. There’s me in the kitchen, Emmy and Caulin on server duty, Landon on the piano, Murphy in the AV booth, and a few others. We’ve been around a while; Olson’s like family. But my friends there have mostly become part-time staff ever since they got pregnant and had kids.”
Hades opened his mouth, but he seemed to pause and change his mind. “Why did you move here all the way from Mount Hood?”
Aaren blinked at the subject change. Hades didn’t take his question back, though. So Aaren thought about his answer, biting into the boiled egg with its jammy yolk. He chewed on his noodles too, and drank some savory, meaty soup. “Mmm! Well... At first, I was feeling kind of down because no alpha wanted me back at Mount Hood. I’d tried flirting, through high school and when I grew older, but they always wrinkled their noses and called me fat.”
“Fuckers,” Hades muttered.
Aaren’s chest warmed. “I had been a cook at Rizz Razz for a while. Then it changed owners, and the new manager kept cutting my hours. This kept getting worse, to the point where I didn’t have enough time to prep everything and still put out good food. We were horribly understaffed. And as thoughthatwasn’t enough, my Gran passed away.” Aaren’s breath hitched. “Everyone in my extended family started to fight over her will. It felt like no one cared about her, only what they were getting out of it. So I left. It was too much for me to stick around.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” Hades set down his chopsticks, reaching over to squeeze Aaren’s nape. Aaren leaned into his touch and closed his eyes.
His time at Mount Hood was always difficult to think about. Hades kept offering a safe harbor for him to hide in, though. And Aaren wasn’t strong enough to resist.
“What wereyoudoing at Mount Hood?” Aaren asked to shift the focus away from himself. “I don’t think I ever saw you there.”
Hades drank some soup, his gaze faraway. “I was moving around trying to find a place to settle. I’d spent a few years with the military so they would pay for my college education, and after I got out and graduated, I did drafting for different employers. But I also kept getting into fights.” He met Aaren’s eyes. “I happened to pass through Mount Hood and Rizz Razz; the food was good enough that it convinced me to stick around for a few days. Before I knew it, I was sampling every dish on the menu, staying longer than I had planned, and everything I ordered was fantastic. Six months in, I knew your menu by heart.”
Aaren tried not to feel extremely flattered. “Then you went to prison.”
“Yeah. Got into a fight, got arrested, and when I was finally released, the food at Rizz Razz wasn’t the same anymore.”
Aaren winced. “Sorry?”
Hades shrugged. “Nah. Don’t be. You had to get out and do what was good for you.” He brushed his fingers through Aaren’s hair and resumed eating. “While we were all in prison, my Brothers decided to move to Meadowfall; Jag has family here, and Storm’s professor is also here. It just so happened that your trail led here too.”
And now here they were, sitting in Hades’ car eating fancy ramen. Aaren kicked off his shoes, squirming around so he could lean against the door and face Hades. This gave him a better view—orange light sliding over Hades’ face, casting shadows and making his lips glisten.
“You bought a house here,” Aaren said.
“I did.”
“Did you have trouble finding work after you got out of prison?”
A half-shrug. “I freelance now. Have some contacts I worked with before; they send work my way and refer me to their friends. It makes my schedule flexible.” Hades grinned. “Barring urgent deadlines, I can be anywhere you want me to be.”
Aaren blushed. “You make that sound so questionable.”
Hades barked a laugh. “Really, sweetheart? After what we did in the alley?” And more quietly, “You were wet even before I touched you.”
Aaren hunched his shoulders, trying to hide his face. “Like I said, you were really hot when you were wrestling.”
Hades grinned. “Andyouwere extremely,insanelyhot when you were thrashing on my cock, trying not to come. The way you panted and whined... I was barely hanging in there. You made me throb.”
“Oh gods,” Aaren moaned. “We don’t have time for another fuck.”
“Probably not,” Hades agreed.
They ate in companionable silence; Aaren added some red pepper flakes to change up the flavors. When he set down the rest of the packet, Hades picked it up.
“Want more?”
Aaren shook his head. Hades emptied the rest of it into his soup, and Aaren gaped. “Isn’t that going to burn your tongue off?”
“I have a high spice tolerance. Don’t get me wrong—food is plenty good without spice, but if I want some heat, I have to add a ton of it.”
