Page 123 of The Price of Ice

Levy laughed, pleased but with a glint in his eye that promised a dirty joke. Kallen nearly snapped at the waitress, a fellow omega, when she came back with their drinks—tonic water for Levy, plain for Kallen. “And chips.”

“Especially yours,” Kallen shot back. Not his best, admittedly.

But Levy took it literally. “You joke, but you haven’t actually tried my home made chips, right?”

“Um, no.”

“My bad, I had this flatmate who was so fucking good at his diet that he made me want to do better with mine. But he’s over it now, so I’ll make you some chips for your birthday, yeah? Do you actually like any kind of cake?”

Kallen paused to think. Other than what he’d eaten to please his hostess, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had any baked goods. “I like waffles, with fruit and cream.”

It was what he’d used to have when they went on holiday, he suddenly remembered, glancing out towards the water with a smile.

Levy nodded. “Waffles and chips, sounds like a plan.”

“What did you do for your birthday?” he thought to ask. He’d assumed it’d just been the family visit, so he’d asked about them, but now he wondered if there had been more to it.

His boyfriend’s face lit up at once. “Oh, we went to Kazobo, that restaurant everyone in the team was raving about?” Kallendidn’t remember, but Levy didn’t need any encouragement. “Now I’m thinking about that steak, and man, it was good enough to make me cry. And then we got different dishes to share, and the pork ribs? Ah, man, I’m sorry I didn’t think to take you when we were in Jiro.”

“What did you have for dessert?” Kallen asked, since he wasn’t particularly sorry to have missed it, and that was enough to keep Levy going until their steaks arrived, sizzling.

DRIVING LEVY TO THEairport early the next day felt obvious. Kallen had rolled his eyes at his suggestion that he could just take public transport, and Levy had gone silent with a little smile. It wasn’t like Kallen had anything else to do on a Monday, the lure classes were on Tuesdays and the regular meetings on Thursdays. And even if he’d had either of them, he’d have cancelled for this.

He let Levy choose the radio station, smiling to himself at the pop hits. It was early enough that neither of them had much to say, but it didn’t matter. The motorway wasn’t too busy and he could spare the attention to look at him.

Most of the time, Levy was already looking back, rumpled and still half-asleep despite the takeaway coffee cup he was sipping from.

Fuck, Kallen was going to miss him. He hadn’t had enough time on his own to think about Levy’s invitation to move in with him yet, but he could imagine it already. It would be a new place altogether, and it would be theirs instead of Levy’s. Kallen would be paying half the bills and half the rent and whatever else was there. He was pretty sure he had to be able to afford it for a while with the savings he had from the White Cats.

Just thinking of the team punctured the fantasy, making him tense. Dammit, that’s what he had to dofirst, wasn’t it? There were barely two weeks until the year ended.

Mr Evans had warned him the process wouldn’t be quick, though he’d promised to try and put pressure to get McKinley put away as soon as possible.

“You okay?” Levy asked from next to him.

“Yeah,” Kallen said at once. Then shook his head and corrected himself, “Just remembered about the team. And...” He went quiet. “Court. Like, I have to wait for it all to go through. Feels heavy, all the waiting, kinda wanna slam the door on their faces like you did.”

“Are you sure you can’t?”

The question surprised him enough to make him take a second to think it through. “I don’t know. Mr Evans said to wait, but that was because he thought the team might get on my side just to get away from McKinley’s fall. Only...”

He left it there, not wanting to ask, but Levy didn’t leave him hanging. “He doesn’t know them.”

Kallen risked a glance at his face. “No, so you don’t think...”

“Sorry, but no,” Levy said, hand landing on his thigh to massage a muscle that was way too tense. “I’m a glass half full kind of guy, but the White Cats have spilled the water and cracked the glass.”

Kallen held his breath and released it slowly. He was driving, the last thing he needed was to get worked up about something that didn’t even matter right now.

If even Levy couldn’t see it, it was probably as much as a loss cause as it’d felt from the beginning. “Yeah. You’re right, I know you are. I just... It feels so final,” he found himself saying. It was shitty timing, but it didn’t feel like he could put it off any longer, not now that he’d thought of it. “Like, I’m definitely doing it before next season!”

Levy hummed his agreement, not reacting to Kallen’s anxiety at all. It would have been fair enough for him to, really, considering Kallen’s contract was fundamentally incompatible with their relationship being real.

“I know it’s not the right way forward for me. But like, I’m not sure about the lure thing yet. I mean, so far, it’s been good, but... How do I know that I’m actually good if I’m making it up as I go?”

“I know what you mean,” Levy said. “When the goals were literal, it was much easier to know if you were doing the right thing, wasn’t it?” He sounded a little wistful about it. “But you said your students were happy, right?”

Students.Kallen resisted the urge to object. He swallowed. “Yeah, they seem to be getting it. Analisa wanted to get itfaster, but well, I can’t blame her.”

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