Chapter Five

 

 

 

Zack was distracted for the rest of the night. He couldn’t believe he’d said yes. He had trouble believing that the entire conversation in the kitchen had actually taken place, but the few smiles that David had sent his way throughout the rest of the party made a compelling argument. What the hell did he do?

“You all right?” Taylor appeared by his side and sat down on the bench next to him.

Most people were dancing or at least standing around the makeshift dance floor, and the rest were still at the tables. Zack thought he’d found a quiet place to sit back and watch from the distance, but he should’ve known someone would find him at some point. It was almost dark, and the string lights didn’t reach the last bench he’d chosen, but no werewolf needed a light to find someone if they wanted to.

“Yeah, just resting,” he finally told his cousin. “And you?”

“Lost Kevin to the mistress again.” Taylor waved in the direction of the dance floor and Zack located Kevin and his camera pretty quickly.

“Are you pouting?” Zack asked, amused.

“No. Shut up. Are you brooding?”

“No. Shut up.”

He and Taylor had been very close as kids, spending most of their time together. Then they’d drifted apart as they took to their teenage years differently—Zack acting out and rebelling against everything and Taylor trying so hard to fit his future Alpha role. They’d become close again in their early twenties, after Zack had stopped acting like an ass, and they continued to be good friends now, even with the year-and-a-half-long gap between, when Taylor had stayed in San Francisco.

“Since you know the reason for my not-pouting, are you going to tell me who you’re not-brooding about?”

When Zack looked at Taylor, his cousin just offered him a cheeky grin.

“No way.”

“Oh come on,” Taylor teased, nudging him with his knee. “If I start guessing, this is just going to be very embarrassing for both of us.”

“Don’t do it then.”

“As if I can leave any dirt on you alone.”

Zack snorted at that. “Thanks a lot.”

“That’s what the family is for.”

They sat in silence for a while, and Zack hoped that maybe this time he would really manage to get off the hook, but then Taylor leaned forward and rested his elbows on his thighs, eyes still glued to the dancers—or to his mate, most likely.

“Man, why aren’t you happy about it?” he asked, all the teasing gone. “If it’s the person Kevin thinks it is, I would think there are fewer problems now.”

There may be less, but there’s no escaping some of them, Zack thought. “How would Kevin know?”

Taylor chuckled. “Man, don’t ask me. He called the David thing the minute you came asking about him the day he arrived for the first time.”

Zack remembered that. He’d approached Taylor at the party at the sheriff’s house to learn something about David, but he’d said maybe two sentences altogether—and Kevin just…figured it out? Zack tried to school his expression, but he must have failed at it, because Taylor just nodded.

“It is David, then.”

“It’s no one. There’s nothing to say.” The traitorous voice in his head added Yet.

“I’m the last person to give relationship advice,” Taylor said, after a few minutes of silence, “but there’s really not many reasons out there not to give it a try, at least. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. But it may very well work, then you’re an idiot if you didn’t try.”

“When did you know me not to be an idiot?” Zack told him, trying to steer away from the subject of David, or dating, or trying anything.

“Well, you had your moments between ages five and ten.”

“Sounds about right.”

They fell silent after that, and Zack was grateful Taylor let it go. He was still mulling around the fact that he’d said yes, and the fact that David had even asked him out in the first place. The last thing he wanted was to gossip about it.

He kept catching himself seeking David out in the crowd for the rest of the night.

 

* * * *

 

On Monday morning most of the garbage in front of the old house had been taken away, and it already looked different. Zack noticed David measuring the steps leading to the porch, and for a few seconds, he considered just passing by. David wasn’t looking in his direction and it would be easy to just…keep running. But one of Zack’s bad habits was choosing the hard way more times than he probably should.

“Hey,” he said, not stopping, in case David didn’t want to talk, but slowing down, in case he did.

David’s big smile when he lifted his head and noticed him was an answer enough. Zack paused and watched him come up to the fence.

“Hey, you. I was hoping you might run this way again, since my other option was calling up the sheriff’s department.”

Zack frowned. “Something’s wrong?” Maybe he’d already changed his mind and wanted to cancel. Sorry, I’m not really interested after all. Jack seems like a much better fit for me. Zack would be lying if he said he hadn’t pictured that more than once since Saturday.

“Nothing’s wrong. I just didn’t get your number at the party.” David shook his head. “Stupid, I know. I tried to find you on social media, but you’re either not there or you’re very good at hiding.”

“Yeah, I’m not there.”

“Nothing? Wow, you’re tougher than I am. I resisted for a long time, but once I started, I’m pretty much everywhere.” David shrugged. “I don’t use it much, but I’m easy to find.”

“Basically everyone I know lives in this county.” Zack played with the hem of his running shirt. “We can easily meet whenever we want, so I thought, there’s no need to be out there.”

“Makes sense. I was the complete opposite. We moved a lot, so the Internet was the only way to stay in touch—or at least pretend to. But speaking of meeting whenever we want…” He pulled out his phone. “May I get your number?”

Zack dictated it to David, then had him send a text to his phone.

“Great. But now that we’re here, maybe we can do it in person?” David asked. “Decide when and where to go, I mean. Are you free tonight?”

Zack shook his head. “No, I have a late shift today. I’m free tomorrow or Wednesday.”

“Tomorrow, then? I should be done here by six, so I can meet you at seven—or seven-thirty?”

“Let’s say seven-thirty, so you won’t have to worry if you don’t make it on time.”

“Seven-thirty it is.” David smiled. “And I know I was the one asking you out, but you know this town better. Where should we go? Ideally, a place with good food, quiet enough for a conversation and with little to no children.”

Zack blinked and tried to think of a place. Since he’d spent half the weekend telling himself this was not going to happen, he hadn’t thought about the details if it did.

The first three places he thought of, he tossed out on the merits of ‘too likely to meet someone there’. He did not want to feed the gossip mill or at least make it too easy for everyone. He was pretty sure that wherever they went, someone would spot them and the news would spread, but maybe he could buy them a little time.

“Hey, you with me?” David asked and he was frowning, hand outstretched toward Zack, but he dropped it on the fence when Zack looked up.

“Yes, sorry. I was thinking of the best place. You probably know the most popular ones, so maybe we should try for something else? My partner and I found this little place by accident, when we were coming back from out of town. It’s near the city limits, but the food is great.”

“Sure, okay.” David smiled.

“Great. I’m…looking forward to it.”

That earned him an even bigger grin. “Me too. Text me the address, and I will see you there at seven-thirty tomorrow.”

“Okay. I have to go now,” Zack said, without looking away from David.

“Okay.”

Neither of them moved and Zack wanted so badly to just lean in and… He took a step back and David mirrored him. They each took two more before Zack finally turned.

Tomorrow. They were having a date tomorrow and, with a bit of luck, he wouldn’t mess things up too badly.

 

* * * *

 

Late at night, when the station had quieted down and everyone else had gone home, Zack replayed their conversation in his head and got an idea. He might not have social media accounts, but David did, and Zack was curious. He had nothing to do but old reports, so, of course, he went looking.

And what he found was a lot of photos, most of them recent, from the last year or two, but there were also old albums from David’s high school years. The books weren’t old enough for Zack’s comfort. The ones from the graduation were from four years ago, for Moon’s sake. He looked at David in his cap and gown, and he felt like a creep. David looked older than that now and he had bulked out a lot, thanks to his job, most likely, but the carefree grin from the photo was still there and he had the same captivating eyes.

What the hell am I doing? Zack asked himself, closing the tabs full of David’s photos. What the hell was I thinking?

He pulled out his phone, half-convinced he needed to call off their date, when he found a new text from David, one he must have sent sometime after Zack had texted him the address of the restaurant.

 

Thanks! I can’t wait to see you there tomorrow. :)

 

Zack stared at the smiley face at the end of the text, then reread it once, twice, a third time. He physically couldn’t make himself cancel the dinner now. He pictured David’s grin when he’d said yes, back in the kitchen at the Alpha’s house, and the one from this morning when Zack had told him he was looking forward to the dinner.

He put his phone away. He was not going to bail.

No, he would go to the dinner tomorrow. Maybe they would both decide it wasn’t going to work. Maybe they would be bored. Or maybe David would be the one to call it off, after all. If not, Zack was going to have to do it. Probably.

Maybe.