Asher stared at his phone with trepidation as Caspian called.
He had immediately reached to pick up the call out of reflex, tossing the device to a side table when he caught himself.
He really should pick up the call, but he knew he would crumble the moment he heard Caspian’s voice and catch the next flight back.
He had only been gone for a day.
Asher’s palms were sweaty as the call dropped, staring at it long enough for the lit screen to go dark.
Caspian not calling a second time was both torturous and relieving, his hands finding their way to his hair as a means to occupy them.
He reached out to pick up the phone, right away dialing Jael.
"Already hit your limit?" Jael asked as soon as he picked, his amusement clear to hear.
"Caspian called," He reported.
"So, I’ll take that as a yes-"
"I didn’t pick," Asher said instead, sounding distraught.
Jael paused, "Why the fuck not?" He demanded, driving with a single hand so he could be on the call.
He had decided to leave earlier than usual, curious to see if Caspian was just as busy as he was the day before.
"I panicked," Asher blurted out.
"Oh, for fuck’s sake," Jael grumbled - of course, things were never that simple with them.
It had been months and they still both acted like bumbling lovestruck idiots.
"So why did you call me?" He bluntly asked, uninterested in playing mediator again when they could just call each other on the phone.
Jael narrowed his eyes, was it just him or was Asher getting worse at being in love?
"Call him." He said dryly, a hint of exhaustion in his voice.
"Yeah, I can’t do that."
Jael expected that response, "I’m hanging up."
Jael tossed the phone to the passenger seat and focused on getting back to the mansion. He had no plans to interfere because there was no reason to.
He went right to the kitchens when he got back to the mansion, and although they were getting started on dinner, Caspian was nowhere in sight.
The staff were quick to let him know that the Omega could either be in one of the sitting rooms or in his bedroom.
He dropped by the sitting room on his way to the bedroom, finding it empty, he continued to the bedroom.
Jael knocked politely and waited for an invitation before opening the door, finding Caspian on the bed suspiciously sitting stiffly.
He didn’t mention the fact that the Omega was just sitting in bed propped up against the pillows just staring at the wall or something.
"You’re back early," Caspian noted.
He had gone back down the rabbit hole of gossip blogs when he couldn’t get to Asher, and once again, he felt incredibly guilty about it for a reason he couldn’t really put a finger on.
"I got a lucky break," Jael said smoothly, "I thought I’d find you in the kitchen."
Caspian’s expression soured a little at that, "They can handle things perfectly without me now." He said, getting to his feet.
"And by the way, where did Asher go?"
Caspian had lobbed the question at him without warning, and somehow the suddenness of the question was less surprising than the question he asked.
"Newcrest," Jael supplied easily, saying nothing more about why Caspian wanted to know that.
Caspian had a thoughtful look on his face, the air hostess that posted on the blog hadn’t known where Asher had been headed.
Maybe a bit of petty jealously was the reason he kept going back to the blog, like a bee to a flower.
"Did you try calling him?" Jael asked when what he should have done was turn right around and walk out.
Because they were clearly both bothered by the separation, Caspian just hid it better.
"I did," Caspian admitted, "He didn’t pick but I’m sure he’s busy, and he’ll call me back."
Jael thought of his phone that he had left in his car because Asher had been ringing nonstop, and he wanted to tell Caspian that no, no he wouldn’t.
"Right," He managed to say with a straight face, starting for the door. "I’ll see you at dinner."
He would give them two days tops... two days might even be too much for them to give in and call each other.
But Asher could really be dogged about things, especially when he felt like he had the moral high ground.
And Caspian didn’t like to interrupt Asher at work.
Jael should probably be more concerned but as he popped mints in his mouth and made his way down to the movie room, he found that he couldn’t be.
They always figured things out in the end.
At dinner time, Caspian was completely distracted, barely focusing on his food.
Which was a little concerning because if there was one thing the Omega was always serious about, it was eating properly.
Jael could pick Asher’s calls and tell him that Caspian was no longer as busy but he really couldn’t keep giving them handouts.
They had to learn to just have simple conversations without getting into their heads about what they thought the other was thinking.
And he wasn’t at all signing up for that, but Caspian did make a nice movie partner.
"Would you like to watch a movie with me?" He asked when dinner was rounding up.
Caspian had been fiddling with his food the entire time, which was a little concerning because it took a lot for him to lose his appetite.
"Yes," Caspian jumped on the offer, much to his surprise.
Jael had expected that with how distracted and unhappy he was, he would have chosen to sulk in his room instead.
"Should I get the popcorn?" He added, relieved to see some light return to Caspian’s previously dim eyes.
"I’ll come with you," Caspian was already inviting himself.
"No need to." Jael brushed him off, "I’ll meet you downstairs at the movie room."
Finding out where Asher had gone had only been satisfactory in the moment, now it really meant nothing to him.
He couldn’t even talk to the Alpha anyway, what did it matter if he could boast on the blog that he knew where Asher had gone?
It definitely wasn’t safe to reveal his location, but he hadn’t even thought about doing that.
It was just... it was the first time Asher would be leaving for so long when there was nothing wrong, it made him a little uneasy... like there was something wrong and he just didn’t know about it.
"What do you want to watch?" Jael asked when they were both in the movie room.
The Beta had set him up with a concerning large bowl of popcorn, and Caspian wished he had thought to change into something cozy.
Because Jael had been at the kitchen for a while as the popcorn was being made, sitting to watch movies with Jael , reminded him of when Asher had left without warning before...
Just like he had done again...
Caspian snapped out of his thoughts then, realizing that he had replied to Jael. "Sorry. A crime show marathon?"
Jael took his suggestion in stride, heading to the backroom to set things up.
Caspian was so cozy that he expected to fall asleep but instead, he ended up staying up late with Jael.
He had to be the one to call it a night although he still wanted to watch shows some more, but he was worried about Jael having to be at work in the morning.
If he could get to watch shows with Jael on some nights, the week he would be spending apart from Asher wouldn’t be so bad.
The Beta sent him off to bed and said he would deal with clearing the movie room up much to his protests.
On his way to bed, Caspian’s thoughts were more hopeful. He would just keep himself busy the next day by checking on the records and keeping an eye on things in the kitchens.
And he would probably be able to convince Jael to watch shows some more, even only for a few hours.
His hopeful mood lasted through the morning, because the kitchen staff had missed him enough to let him stay in the study and keep them company in the kitchen.
This included the chefs constantly sneaking him food, but Caspian didn’t mind, his appetite the day before had been a bit low.
But by the time lunch was over and there was a long break until it would be time for dinner, Caspian was booted out of the kitchen.
The reminder that Asher had yet to call back further crushed his spirits, and by the time late afternoon rolled around, he had managed to dig up a couple of private blogs about Asher.
There had even been some about the other Mafia Kings, but he didn’t spare them a glance.
Stalking gossip about his boyfriend on the internet as a convoluted way to cope with his absence