Gambling Debts 4/?
Chapter 4
The man storming out of the elevator had murder in his eyes and he was heading straight for Stiles. Derek was on his feet and in front of Stiles in an instant. He didn't know who the guy was but for sure he wouldn't let get Stiles attacked right in front of him. The man was human so he wouldn't stand a chance against Derek even if he had a gun on him which Derek hoped he hadn't. So far his hands were empty.
When Derek stepped in his path the guy stopped and blinked at him as if he hadn't expected that move.
"Scotty, hey man." Stiles greeted the other man cheerfully and Derek heard the rustling of paper behind his back when Stiles gathered the papers Derek had left behind. Right, their arrangement, if they got to one, was supposed to be a secret.
"Stiles, what the hell?" The man had lost his momentum but was still vibrating with anger while he tried to peek around Derek. Done with the papers Stiles stepped up next to Derek to face the other man. He didn't seemed fazed by the newcomer so Derek dared to relax slightly.
"Isaac called me." Scott said as if that would explain his dramatic entrance. "Is that what you've become? Have you sunken this far?" He gestured at Derek who still stood on guard but decided to let them hash this out. But then the man addressed him directly.
"Don't worry, you don't have to stay here any longer." He said to Derek in an earnest voice and with a reassuring smile on his open face. "You're free to go now."
The look the guy gave him was so sincere, so full of compassion, Derek had to bite his tongue to not laugh out loud. This was his knight in shiny armor? The one to protect his virtue? He looked more like an angry teenager than anything else. And Derek was pretty sure that this was a little more complicated than just storming in and telling him that he was free to go. Not that he needed to get rescued but it wasn't his place to tell him that.
"Scott." Stiles' voice had an edge to it that made Derek believe that he indeed was capable of managing a casino. "I'm pretty sure I know what Isaac told you and yes, it is true. But ..." He raised his voice when Scott opened his mouth to say something. "This is something between me and Derek here. I appreciate your concern but this is none of your business."
Scott closed his mouth and studied first Stiles, then Derek, searching for something.
"It is my business if you've started to just kidnap people." He raised his voice.
"Okay, I kind of kidnapped him." Stiles agreed. "But trust me, it's not what you think."
Scott's gaze shifted in the general direction of the play room. So he knew about that part of Stiles' life. And he didn't look as if he approved.
"Why is he here, then?" Scott asked. "Why is he still here?"
"He's my guest and you're interrupting our breakfast." Stiles replied easily.
Stiles was right, Derek's half full cup of coffee was getting cold and they hadn't even touched the piles of food waiting for them. Right on cue, and much to Derek's embarrassment, his stomach gave its opinion to the situation with a loud grumbling.
"See?" Stiles gestured wildly at him. "He's hungry."
"Stiles."
"Just trust me, okay?" The way he said it spoke of a long history between them and Derek could tell by the way Scott loosened his stand that he wanted to trust his friend. "I'm not a bad guy."
"No, but you're morally ambiguous."
"Still trying to squish in the big words?" Stiles fell into easy banter with him but Derek noticed that he didn't correct his friend. Not that his host's tendency to bend the rules was something new to him. But so far Stiles had stayed on the lighter side of gray.
Scott ignored his friend's comment and turned to Derek instead.
"I want to talk to Derek." He stated. "Alone." It was clear that he wouldn't take no for an answer.
"Seriously, Scott?" Stiles didn't seemed impressed.
"Stiles."
"Okay, okay." He raised his hands in surrender. "I'll be in my office if you need me." He gathered his papers and a croissant and stormed off.
Scott waited until the door slammed shut behind him, then he let out a breath and his whole body relaxed.
"He's gone now." He said it as if it was a good thing. Stiles he knew and by now Derek knew what to expect from him, at least to an extent, but Scott was a stranger and Derek had no idea what he wanted. Somehow he doubted that Scott had thought farther than getting him out of the Red.
Derek just raised an eyebrow at him and waited. He got what the other man tried to do here but it wasn't necessary. He was just not sure how to convince him of that without giving away too much information.
"Are you hurt? Did he …?" Scott blushed and couldn't finish the sentence. It was kind of cute.
"I'm fine. He didn't hurt me. He won't hurt me." Derek felt the need to point that out. "Besides, I'm a werewolf, I can take care of myself."
Scott gave him a look as if he doubted that.
"Isaac told me that your uncle blackmailed you into this."
"That's right." Derek admitted. "But it was my choice to stay the night." He knew how that sounded but that was the whole point of this charade, wasn't it?
"I can get you out of here." Scott said in a low voice. "Now."
"I'm staying." Derek crossed his arms in front of his chest. He would stay for breakfast and he would hear out Stiles about the offer. After that, he would see. However, going back to his uncle now would be a bad idea so if Stiles offer wasn't too bad, he was pretty sure he would accept it.
Scott opened his mouth to say something but he must read something in Derek's tone or his posture because he closed it after a second without saying a word.
"Okay." He gave in. "But I'll give you my number in case you change your mind. Call me any time. I mean it." He stepped over to the table where Stiles had left some notes and pens. "I don't live in Vegas so if you need help immediately, Boyd and Isaac are here. They will help you." He ripped off a piece of paper and handed it to Derek.
Derek glanced over the three numbers before he put it in his pocket. He nodded his thanks, unable to speak. He didn't know Scott, he was a stranger. Why would he even care?
"Excuse me, I'd like to have a word or two for my idiot friend now." With that Scott headed over to the office.
Derek could have listened in to them if he wanted to but he decided against it. Instead he finished his coffee and then went back to the guest room where he'd left his phone to add a few new contacts. Not that he had any intention to ever use them but it wouldn't hurt to have them.
By the time he was done, the office door opened and Stiles and Scott stepped out. They looked both more at ease now and Scott even gave his friend a brotherly pat on the shoulder.
"Hope you know what you're doing." He said but didn't sound concerned.
"I always do."
In passing Scott gave Derek a nod and a meaningful glance at the pocket where he'd stuffed the piece of paper earlier and then he stepped in the elevator.
"So." Stiles drew out the word. "That was Scott."
"What did you tell him?" Derek wondered. At first it hadn't seemed as if Stiles wanted to clue his friend in but now he wasn't so sure anymore.
"Told him that you needed a place to crash." He said with a proud grin. "You're the stray werewolf I took in out of the goodness of my heart."
Derek snorted. "He believed that?"
"He's Scott." He shrugged and then rubbed his hands. "So, breakfast? I'm starving."
They sat down and Stiles poured them fresh coffee. For a while they ate in silence with Stiles not so subtly pushing more food towards Derek. Did he look that starved? In the end Derek just shrugged and put more bacon and scrambled eggs on his plate.
When they were finished, Stiles got the papers back out and over another cup of coffee Derek took his time to read the contract.
"You're going to pay me?" Derek asked in disbelief.
"Of course I'm going to pay you." Stiles said it as if it was a ridiculous idea not to pay him.
"It says here that board and lodging is on you." Derek pointed at the contract. "That I can use the hotel's pool, gym, spa." He raised an eyebrow at that. "And everything else for free. And that I get an employees discount everywhere in the casino. And on top of that you want to pay me?"
Stiles nodded enthusiastically with his mouth full of pancake. He had declared that he was full five minutes ago but there he sat, stuffing his face with pancakes.
"With all the benefits." Stiles said before he swallowed the last bit. "I wasn't sure about how much to pay you. Is it enough? I can give you more."
Derek's head swam. This was more money than he made with his three jobs combined and he wouldn't even have to spent any of it on food or rent.
I could send some of it to Peter, Derek thought but dismissed the idea immediately. For one, he was supposed to be working off Peter's debt here and two, he wasn't really in the mood to do anything nice for his uncle right now. But that reminded him …
"This is totally missing the point, I'm here to work off my uncle's debt. At least officially." Derek shook his head, this was too much. How had his life become this weird in less than twenty-four hours?
"Boyd is the only one who's going to see this contract, he's the one dealing with everything staff related, but he and Isaac won't tell anyone."
"That worked really well so far." Derek muttered, thinking of Scott.
"You're forgetting the part where I want people to know." Stiles cut in. "People know that your uncle has debts, they will notice that you showed up and his debts are gone. They will put it together. And if somebody stumbles over your contract, they'll think it's just a piece of paper to cover my ass. But it's not." Now he locked eyes with Derek. "This is genuine."
Derek swallowed thickly and turned back to reading.
In the end he signed the contract. He would have been stupid not to. They both could terminate it anytime they wanted to so there was no harm in seeing where this might went.
"What now?" Derek put the pen down and pushed the contract towards Stiles who signed it as well.
"Now." He gave him a feral grin. "We're going shopping."
"We? What."
"No offense, buddy, but your wardrobe is not quite on par with what you expect from a personal assistant."
"Says the guy in sweatpants and Captain America t-shirt." Derek countered but he had to admit, that Stiles had a point. He didn't own a suit, let alone a nice one.
"It's Wednesday." Stiles said as if that explained his casual clothes. He had his phone out and was scrolling through his contacts.
"What has that to do with anything?"
"Wednesday is my day off." He explained, phone at his ear. "My bother-me-only-in-case-of-an-emergency day off. And I don't mean out of coffee emergencies, I mean we-have-to-evacuate emergencies." He paused and Derek heard a female voice answering his call. "Hey, Lyds. I have a job for you."
Chapter 5
Masterpost