~16~

Bryan woke up early which was no surprise considering that he had slept terribly. He wasn't surprised to see that he hadn't gotten any texts from Kieran.

This wasn't a very great start to a new chapter in his life.

There was no going back to sleep so he pushed himself out of bed to do his hygiene and finish up with arranging.

The memories of Kieran helping him unpack with his shirt sleeves rolled up and a furrow of concentration on his brows seemed unreal, like it was a shitty sitcom he had watched late at night while sleepy.

It was a Saturday and Kieran basically had the weekends off but he came in more often than not, Bryan knew better than to expect him but it didn't stop him from hoping.

He had no business on the fourth floor without Kieran's presence but after spending hours staring at his laptop and unable to come up with a single sentence, he cracked and stepped out of his apartment.

He hadn't missed out on breakfast and lunch of course, the Pack mostly left him alone.

It was no surprise that they knew that he spent a lot of time around Kieran, it was one of the disadvantages of a Pack House, everyone was in each other's business.

That didn't help the fact that his sister was already outcasted by the Alpha so he naturally got affected by the domino effect of this.

As soon as he got to the top of the stairs leading to the top floor, he froze up. 

What the fuck was he thinking?

Kieran was obviously not coming in today, why did he come here regardless? Was he unconsciously searching for the Head Beta?

He stood there for too long because Erin walked past him, giving him a beaming smile.

"Hi, Bryan." She beamed at him, holding a stack of files. "Are you looking for Kieran?" She asked before he could get his greeting out.

"Um yeah… it's fine if he's not in thoug…" He started to say, his eyes darting around for a quick escape.

"Oh that's not a problem, just let me grab a spare key, you can write in his office if you want." Erin offered him a warm open smile on her face. "Strange that he didn't come in today though, maybe he had some appointment that he couldn't get out of." She muttered more to herself, already moving like she knew that Bryan would follow her.

And Bryan, like the dumb fuck that he was, followed right after her.

The last place he should want to be in should be the one place that he spent all his time with Kieran in.

"What other appointments?" He found himself asking, keeping up with her.

He had spent enough time on the fourth floor that everyone had gotten accustomed to his presence, he avoided the Alpha though, Alpha Dale terrified him.

His Luna, Dream was far more preferable, he was still scary but in a caring way. He just seemed like a strict person to Bryan, not to mention that the Luna was always nice to him.

"Kieran owns a sizable part of Pine Creek, honestly, I wonder how he keeps up with being the Head Beta." Erin said freely.

It wasn't exactly a secret anyway, just as everyone knew that he was from a previously ruling family but Bryan wasn't everyone, he barely left his room and had no friends to speak of.

Things got even worse with his sister's incident only serving to alienate him even more.

So his jaw dropped at this piece of information, he already knew that Kieran was well off but being almost as rich as a whole Pack? What the fuck?

It didn't change anything, it still shocked him though.

"Oh I see." He managed to murmur.

"Here we are!" Erin perked up when they got to her office, her silver eyes lighting up. "Come right in, I'll get the keys for you."

Erin's office space was different from Kieran's, there was a touch of homeliness in it, in the way that she added the odd trinket and personal effects here and there to make it her own space.

He doubted that Kieran had changed or added anything in the time he had been the Head Beta, which was well over half a year.

"Thank you." He said in a quiet voice when Erin handed him the keys.

He was always quiet around other people that weren't Kieran so it was no surprise that she hadn't figured out that something was up. Fortunately, it came in handy for once.

"You can hold on to the keys, so you can use his office whenever, I'm sure he wouldn't mind." She waved him out, already busying herself before he even left.

Bryan highly doubted that, he still hadn't gotten an explanation for why Kieran had bailed on him but he was absolutely sure that the reason Kieran wasn't in today wasn't because of appointments.

He had decided to not just sit back and do nothing, he was far too good at doing that, not this time.

The only reason he would back down would be if Kieran made it absolutely clear that he wasn't interested in him.

It would sting to high heaven but he wouldn't die from the heart break, hopefully.

He made his way down to his apartment because if he wanted to stay in Kieran's office he would need to get his laptop and notes first.

His mom called as soon as he got to his apartment, he wasn't surprised that she called so soon, if anything, he was surprised that she had managed to hold out for so long.

"Hi, mom." He smiled as soon as he picked the call, the tension seeping out of his shoulders.

Nothing like talking to his sweet mom to lift his spirits.

He spent a few minutes talking to her, there wasn't much to talk about, there had never been.

He felt like she wanted to say a lot of things to him but didn't know how to and he always wanted to tell her that it was fine, that he was just fine.

He still contemplated going to camp in Kieran's office, he would be better off moping in his bed and waiting for a text that would never come.

But he knew that he would give in eventually and go up to Kieran's office, he wouldn't be able to get any work done either but it was a far better choice than his first option.