Caspian panicked for a moment, he hadn’t thought to make a reservation. He didn’t even know that they needed to make one.
He had thought it was a cozy, family-oriented restaurant, not this bustling hotspot.
The host physically froze when his eyes met Asher’s nearly losing his hold on the clipboard he held.
"I-I-I mean... I apologize sir!" He recovered quickly, his eyes darting around like he hoped someone would walk up to rescue him. "I’ll take you to a table right away, please come with me."
Caspian blew out a breath in relief, he supposed there were a lot a lot of perks to owning a restaurant.
Despite the crowd, the host found them an empty table in a relatively quiet part of the restaurant.
"Would you like something to drink?" The host asked nervously, eager to help although it was hardly his job.
"Let’s drink..." Caspian was already suggesting, excited eyes scanning the drinks menu in front of him.
"Iced tea," Asher interrupted.
"What?" Caspian and the host mimicked each other.
"Iced tea," Asher repeated, completely serious. "We’re driving after this."
Caspian was easier to convince after that, he had completely forgotten about their after-lunch plans.
And iced tea was always nice.
The host didn’t share his sentiments, bowing and walking away with a look of confusion on his face.
They didn’t serve iced tea, but he couldn’t deny the Mafia King who owned the restaurant, so he had to find a way to make it happen.
Caspian got Asher to take off his heavy coat when they sat down, refraining from teasing him about wearing uncomfortable clothes for the fashion.
While they waited for their drink, they got a visitor.
A self-confident lady walked up to their table with a pleasant smile on her face, wearing formal clothes.
She flipped her long blonde hair over a shoulder as she stopped in front of Asher, doing a double take at the sight of Caspian.
"I didn’t think I’d bump into you here, it must be fate at work," She said giddily, her overcoat thrown over her shoulders.
"Nice to meet you too, Miss Blackburn," Asher said dryly.
"I tell you every time, please call me Bella," The lady said earnestly, her shrewd gaze drifting over to Caspian again.
She had been having a lunch meeting when she learned that Mafia King Asher himself had shown up.
That was just as likely as having pigs fly so she had a hard time believing it, and almost didn’t come to check because she was so confident that he wouldn’t be here.
"You’ll be coming to the function tomorrow, won’t you?" She went on when the Alpha didn’t humor her request. "Papa has been looking forward to your presence all week."
"I don’t break promises, Miss Blackburn." Asher graced her with a response, keeping a cold distance between them.
Having a conversation with a slab of rock was more engaging than the Mafia King but that didn’t put her off, what put her off was the knowledge that Asher didn’t keep lovers.
"Are you babysitting someone’s child?" She asked in reference to the male Omega eating lunch with the Mafia King.
She couldn’t place his face, and he looked nothing like the men Asher did business with.
So, while it was highly unlikely that Asher would be babysitting for anyone, it was even more unlikely that the Omega would be someone important in the criminal underworld.
Caspian had been ready to ignore the lady that had walked up because she had done this same, but she really had gone there.
His eyes turned into slits as he glared at her, he knew he didn’t look that young, and she was just being spiteful.
"Return to your table, Bella," Asher spoke to her like she was a misbehaving child.
She jumped at that, shaken at the cold tone he used with her. "Y-Yes," She muttered, not realizing that she had obeyed him without question until she was far from the table.
The air at the table cleared up when a waiter brought their iced tea and took their food orders.
Caspian easily got over the comments of the Omega that had been at their table, but that was at the surface.
Underneath, he was boiling.
Asher’s reaction was satisfactory because he couldn’t wait to see the reaction on her face when he showed up on Asher’s arm to the function.
"-ian? Caspian?" Asher voice broke into his scheming thoughts, "You’re going to spill the tea."
Caspian snapped into focus at that, paying attention to the glass he was pouring the pitcher of tea into.
He had insisted on serving Asher only to get lost in his thoughts of getting back at Bella Blackburn.
Caspian would never have said he was a spiteful person, as a matter of fact, he wasn’t spiteful, but he was jealous, and he would enjoy every moment of putting the Omega in her place.
"Give me that," Asher took the jug from him when he nearly spilled more tea.
Caspian looked sheepish, pushing his encounter to the side so he could properly focus on his time with Asher.
When their food came, Caspian didn’t hesitate to dig in, his appetite a whole lot better than when he just got to the mansion.
His focus was on Asher, so he immediately noticed when the Alpha didn’t also eat.
"You don’t like what you ordered?" He asked with genuine concern, "Do you want mine?" He immediately offered, "Did you even eat breakfast?"
Asher hadn’t eaten breakfast but that wasn’t what put him off his lunch, "I went back to the doctor today," He said instead, picking up his utensils.
Caspian eased up at that, listening intently. Asher didn’t look troubled the entire time they had been together, so he couldn’t tell if the Alpha had bad news or not.
"The doctor couldn’t draw a conclusive report," Asher informed him. "We’ll have to wait for three weeks to see if there will be another occurrence."
"And if you mark me before then?" Caspian rested his head on his hand to better focus on Asher.