Roan was getting hungry. Mace had been gone for hours and Roan realized having a detective as a partner would probably mean he’d spend a lot of time on his own. After Mace left, Roan’d gone back to sleep – the sheets infused with Mace’s scent helped with that. But now he was awake, showered, and sitting around wondering what to do. He’d already cleaned the kitchen, run the vacuum round, and dusted – another thing Mace didn’t seem to have time for. He wanted to cook something, but a thorough search of Mace’s cupboards revealed one can of tomato paste, another can of chickpeas, a heap of spices which hopefully meant Mace didn’t live entirely on takeout, and an empty refrigerator. That had been the first thing he’d cleaned.
He was going to have to call somebody, but whom? He could phone the pack house – Kalel had told him that number from day one. But everyone would be working except Kalel and the young cat shifter didn’t drive. Plus which, where could he go? Roan didn’t have any money. Seth had taught him how to shop online, and used to pay for everything that Roan needed, which wasn’t much. But going to a store and buying groceries was out of Roan’s area of expertise. He wasn’t usually allowed out of his Master’s house, and never without an escort. He didn’t think it would be too difficult. Food was food, no matter how you looked at it. Getting to a store and paying for the goods was the hard part.
Mace had told him he could phone Trent. Roan wondered who this Trent guy was. Kalel had told him Trent and Mace were partners on the force, but that Trent had been wounded really badly when the pack was chasing a bear shifting serial killer. If he’d been hurt then he probably wouldn’t want to go food shopping, and there was still the money angle to consider. Roan didn’t have any, which meant he couldn’t get home, because he couldn’t pay for a taxi, even if he knew the number, and he couldn’t go and buy food. He was stuck, and his rumbling stomach let him know that was not a good place to be.
Finger hovering over the dial pad, Roan scrunched up his face and hit the number 1, hoping that would dial somebody. He heaved a sigh of relief when he heard the ring tone, and after four rings, the phone was answered.
“Hey Mace, got your head out of your ass and claimed that sexy wolf of yours yet?”
Sexy? Roan pulled the phone away from his ear and looked at it.
“Hello? You there?”
Shit. “Er, hello, is this Trent?”
“Yep, who’s this? Is that you Roan?”
“Yeah. Has Mace mentioned me?”
Trent had a nice laugh, and Roan relaxed. “You could say that, and it’s all good, I promise you. Now what can I do for you, young Roan. I take it Mace is working?”
“Well, I’m not quite sure what to. Mace left hours ago, and said he wanted me to stay. I cleaned the house and everything, but…” Roan broke off, embarrassed by what he had to say next.
“Let me guess. Mace hasn’t got any food in the house, and didn’t think to leave you money to get some. That guy would never eat at all if it wasn’t for takeout and delivery.”
“I checked all the cupboards. He’s got nothing I can cook with, and it would be nice if he had a meal to come home to.”
“That’s right, you can cook. I remember Dimitri telling me. I’ll make a deal with you little wolf. You invite me for dinner and I’ll come round now and take you shopping. Don’t worry about the money side of things; I know Mace is good for it. But I’m getting sick and tired of cooking for myself, I can tell you.”
“Are you sure you’re okay to drive?” Roan hoped he wasn’t being insulting, but the man had been hurt and Mace would be angry if he knew Roan bothered someone who should be in bed. He knew humans didn’t heal near as fast as shifters did – he’d seen enough of that with Seth.
“I’m fine,” Trent assured him. “I’m on light duty and I’ll be back bothering the crap out of your man Mace from next week onwards. So what do you say? Do we have a deal?”
Roan’s stomach grumbled. “Yes. Thank you. I really appreciate this.”
“Hey, I get company and a home cooked meal I didn’t have to do myself. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
Trent disconnected the call, and Roan looked around for keys. If he was going out, he didn’t want to leave Mace’s house unlocked. And maybe he should leave a note.
/~/~/~/~/
Mace’s heart leaped into his mouth when he saw Trent’s car in his driveway. He’d been gone over twelve hours and while he knew he should have called to find out if Roan was all right, by the time he thought about it, he was in his car and heading home. But seeing Trent’s car there – fuck, what if something was wrong? What if Roan had hurt himself? He hadn’t thought to leave Roan his cell phone number.
Unlocking the door, his heart beating way too fast, Mace had to stop and think for a moment. Was he in the right house? The furniture was the same and that was his television on the cabinet. But everything gleamed, it was so freaking clean. And what was that smell – was it – Beef Wellington. Mace’s all-time favorite. He hurried through to the kitchen and found Trent sitting against the counter.
“…and so Mace just says, fuck it, and shoots the guy in the knee cap. I tell you, it was so funny. The look on that guy’s face. Oh, hi Mace. Finally made it home. Lucky you told your mate to call me if he needed anything otherwise the little mite would have starved to death by now.”
Shit and fucking hell. That’s right. Empty cupboards, and even if Roan had money to buy food, he wouldn’t have had the means to go and get it. Mace felt like shit.
“I’m sorry. Got busy. You know how it is. Roan, are you okay?” Roan was standing by the stove, stirring something that smelled delicious. His face was flushed, probably from the heat, but he seemed relaxed in Trent’s company. Mace wasn’t sure how he felt about that, but he smiled, and said, “Is it okay if I shower before eating?”
“You’ve got ten minutes.” It was Trent that answered. “This little guy has promised me a meal and I’ve been sitting here living on the smell of it for the past two hours. Move yourself.”
Mace gave Roan an embarrassed grin, and headed for the shower. Everywhere he looked, the house was clean. His washing was done, clothes folded and put away. There was no dust on the furniture and his bathroom sparkled. Fuck. Mace banged his head on the shower stall wall. When he asked Roan to stay, he didn’t mean for his mate to spring clean his house. And he didn’t think to leave Roan money for food, or the taxi cab number. Gods, he was dork at this being a mate thing.
Scrubbing his body furiously, Mace tried not to think about how amazing Roan looked in his kitchen. The man looked good anywhere, but there was something about the fact that Roan was cooking for him, in his home, shit. He was getting warm fuzzies again. Not a good sign although maybe it was. Face it, Mace reasoned with himself, was it such a bad thing to come home at the end of a crappy day to find his house cleaned and food being cooked in his own kitchen.
“Yeah, you’d be an idiot to give that up,” he muttered to himself as he shut off the water and stepped out grabbing a clean towel. There was a timid knock on the bathroom door, and a second later, Roan poked his head around.
“I haven’t made you mad have I? I didn’t want to bother Trent, but there was honestly nothing to eat in the house, and I couldn’t ask Kalel to come and get me because he can’t drive. Trent said he’d take me shopping if I cooked him dinner.” Roan stepped into the bathroom, looking worried. Mace shook his head, angry at himself again. It was his fault for not providing for Roan in the first place.
“Come here,” he said opening his arms. He was still damp, but after the crappy day he’d had, Mace just wanted to feel his mate in his arms. He couldn’t believe how much he’d missed Roan through the day. It’s just that every time he thought to call his mate, someone would attract his attention about something else, and the hours flew by. Roan came forward willingly, and Mace let out a long sigh as Roan wrapped his arms around Mace’s waist.
“Thank you so much for everything you did around here today. The place looks amazing.”
“I’m not used to sitting around with nothing to do.” Roan’s voice was muffled from being buried in Mace’s chest. “I don’t know how to work the remote. I’ve never been in a house with a television until I moved in with Dimitri. Today was the first time for me in a grocery store as well, but Trent was really nice and helped me pick out the things you liked.”
Mace pressed a kiss into Roan’s hair, his heart aching at all of the normal little things in life Roan had missed out on. He was going to have to make a point of getting some more time off, and taking Roan out a lot more – just as soon as this case was finished.
“Come on,” he said, enjoying the warmth from Roan’s body just a little too much. “Let me get dressed and you can serve dinner. If we stay in here Trent will eat it all and leave us with nothing but empty dishes.”
“Kiss first?”
Mace dropped his eyes to the bulge that was barely hidden by his towel. “Better make it quick or we’ll be heading to bed, and I won’t get a chance to sample that amazing food I can smell.”