Caspian made sure not to tell Jael of his plans of going on a walk, the Beta had been the one to tell him that he didn’t need to after all.
It had been three days and he had yet to see the car that Asher got for him but he didn’t mind, he was just relieved that the Alpha had stopped impulse-buying things.
He made sure to prepare better this time, taking a water bottle with him.
It had been almost two weeks since he had to go to the hospital with Jael, and he was pretty much healed, so a short nature walk would do him good.
He also wanted to get everyone in his life accustomed to him getting light scrapes, not like he planned to deliberately hurt himself.
But if he got out and did such strenuous activities more often, maybe they would stop treating him like a fragile showpiece.
"Just another short walk today," He informed the two men who immediately stuck to him after he left the mansion.
He didn’t bother dissuading them from following him because he knew they would listen.
And also because he needed them to keep him from getting lost in the sprawling woods around the mansion.
"Do you guys know if there’s a body of water in the woods?" He asked curiously as they started down the street, it was late in the afternoon, the sky a warm red.
Keith and Peter shared a look over his head.
"You want to go to the woods?" Peter asked with evident worry in his voice.
"Yes," Caspian said with narrowed eyes, walking in between the two of them. "And don’t you dare tell Jael or Asher."
"So is there one?" He went right on, in a chipper mood.
"Yeah," Peter admitted helplessly.
The Boss’ missus’ wants came first before everything else; this was a really great way to get skinned alive.
Caspian was less conscious around his bodyguards, getting accustomed to their presence.
They were decent guys who took their jobs seriously, and he didn’t mean to antagonize them...
Trying to climb trees and inspecting everything he saw wasn’t a good start to a supposedly peaceful nature walk.
And he could see his bodyguards age with stress with every hundred meters they covered.
Caspian didn’t care, he planned to come to the woods often, for several reasons.
To get some exercise in and some sun on his skin, and as a distraction from constantly thinking about Asher.
He might be an Omega but he was also a man, and he wasn’t going to let looks of disapproval stop him from climbing a tree, or washing his face in the spring they found.
Splashing the clear water on his face wasn’t nearly enough, he wanted to jump in but it wasn’t exactly deep enough for a swim.
Thinking about that made him want to go for a swim, he hadn’t been in a pool in forever.
The pool in the bathroom didn’t count, he wanted to go to one where there were people, and he could feel the sun warming up the water on his skin.
There had to be a public pool around, at least. He would ask his bodyguards but he had a feeling that they would report it to Jael, and Asher would ultimately find out.
It wasn’t like he was keeping things from the Alpha, he was just worried that Asher would do something crazy, like install an outdoor pool just because he mentioned it.
The trip back to the mansion was pleasant, the air cooling down as the day came to an end.
Finding Asher waiting for him in front of the gates really shouldn’t have been surprising.
Caspian shot his bodyguards judgmental looks which they were quick to avoid. He had been with them the entire time, and he didn’t remember seeing them make any calls.
"You’re back early," He said to Asher with an undertone of accusation.
"Did you have a nice hike?" Asher asked, sharp eyes tracking over him for any injury.
Caspian just rolled his eyes and walked past him inside the mansion, "You can’t just ditch work every time I leave the house."
Asher went after him, a little grouchy. He had even stayed behind to wait for Caspian instead of heading right into the woods to find him like he really wanted to.
And he was still getting scolded.
"...and my hike was nice," He paused at the entrance to add, a faint smile on his face.
"...I found a spring, it was so scenic..."
Caspian had stopped clinging to Asher like he did in the first days after their conversation about him leaving happened.
It was really hard to pretend not to see the physical and emotional distance Asher put between them.
The only time he got Asher’s attention was when the Alpha was being overprotective or spoiling him.
Which weren’t at all bad but he couldn’t help being greedy for more.
After dinner, Caspian expected that he would be able to watch shows with Asher before bed, like they had done the night before.
He had slept off on the couch and he knew that Asher had been the one to take him to bed.
Eating in the dining room with Jael had become a common routine but instead of Asher to accompany him back to their shared bedroom like he always did, he turned to the right.
Caspian paused at that and turned around, "Are you heading somewhere?"
Asher didn’t meet his gaze as he responded, standing on the other side of the dining room’s entrance.
"I’ve got a little business to attend to, I’ll be back soon."
"Oh, okay," Caspian agreed, continuing the journey to the bedroom all alone.
It was strange for that to be the case, and he was a little worried that it was actually something serious but Asher hadn’t wanted to tell him.
Caspian spent the time waiting for Asher scrolling through TV channels, trying to find a show they could watch together.