Gambling Debts 29/?
Chapter 29
The wolf part of Derek was all "Alpha!" and wanted to wag its tail. He was itching to bury his nose in Peter's neck to take in the scent of his alpha.
But the rest of him was kind of frozen in panic. Was Peter here to drag him back home?
"What do you want?" Derek said after a long second and crossed his arms defensively over his chest.
"You're my beta." Peter stepped closer and for a moment it looked as if he wanted to hug him. But they were out on the street, surrounded by people, so Peter just laid a hand on his shoulder. Derek shivered under the touch. It had been so long since his alpha had touched him.
"I wanted to see you." Peter said in a low voice. They stood close and somehow there had formed a bubble around them. As if the humans knew that this was a private pack moment. Not consciously of course but on some level humans always noticed the apex predators around them especially in moments like this.
"Making sure that I'm working off your debt?" Derek asked in an equally low voice. This was nothing he wanted to discuss in front of an audience.
"Actually." Peter withdrew his hand and stepped aside, mentioning for Derek to follow him. It took only a few steps to get away from the people still crowding the sidewalk and to give them some actual privacy. "I was hoping that you would be done with that by now."
"Why?" Derek asked, dread settling in his stomach. "You have the next one lined up?" It was only partly meant as a sarcastic comment.
Peter didn't answer right away.
"You didn't."
"Well." Peter drew out the word. "Since you left I had to compensate for the money you don't bring in any longer."
"Since I left?" Derek raised his eyebrows at him. "You were the one who set this up. Maybe you should have thought about what would happen to my three jobs that were barely enough to keep us alive when I'm busy working off your debt." He let his anger show in his voice.
"Don't forget who's the alpha here." Peter shot back with a flash of red in his eyes.
Derek felt the muscles in his jaw working and he stood his ground for a moment longer but in the end he lowered his gaze.
"That's what I thought."
The irony was that Derek probably could pay off a good chunk if not all of whatever debt Peter had this time. He hadn't touched the ten grand Stiles had paid for listening to his offer when they had first met and since then his paychecks were just piling up on top of that. The burgers on their date yesterday had been the most expensive thing he'd bought from that so far.
But he doubted that it was a good idea to tell Peter that. On the other hand, if Derek was not mistaken, Peter was here to pimp him out to the next guy he owed money to.
"Mr. Hale." Suddenly Stiles joined them, a broad grin on his face. "What a pleasure."
This was not the Stiles Derek had seen at the arcade, this was the Stiles who successfully managed a casino. This Stiles was a shark, like he called the people at the top of the food chain in this city.
"Mr. Stilinski." They shook hands. "Is this a bad time?"
Derek wasn't sure if he was referring to Stiles' equally disheveled appearance or the fact that they were all standing on the sidewalk with the lights of police cars flashing in the background.
"There's not much I can actually do until the SWAT-team has gone through the building." Stiles shrugged. "You don't happen to know anything about this, don't you?"
"Bomb threats are not my style." Peter dismissed him easily.
Derek doubted that his uncle had anything to do with this, it really wasn't his style and what would he gain from this anyway?
"So, what brings you here at this early hour?" Stiles asked.
"I was wondering when I can have my beta back." Peter came right to the point. "Derek has been at your service for quite a while now, I'm sure you got more than worth the money I owed you."
This wasn't something they should discuss here in the open but Derek was glad that Stiles didn't take them somewhere private. He wanted to get rid of his uncle as quickly as possible.
However, he couldn't shake off the bad feeling he had about this. This was Stiles' chance to get rid of him. They had a fantastic date yesterday and the way their relationship had grown over the last few weeks, Derek was hoping for some kind of future with Stiles. But what if Stiles didn't want that? If this was just a thing they had for a while before they parted ways?
He was pretty sure that his worries were unfounded, Stiles had blurted out an "I love you" just yesterday but he just couldn't help it. So Derek was holding his breath for Stiles' answer.
"Mr. Hale." Stiles said with the friendliness of a shark. "I think you overestimate your nephew's … qualities." He said the last word with a drawl that made Derek blush. He knew that Stiles didn't mean it but it was still humiliating standing here while Stiles and his uncle were talking about him like he was some piece of meat.
"Besides, if I recall correctly, our agreement was that Derek has to do whatever I want until I deem your debt payed off." Stiles said with steel in his voice. "And I have to say, I grew rather fond of him."
Peter considered that for a moment.
"You never had the intention to let him go again." He concluded not without a hint of respect in his voice. If anything Peter respected smart and conning people.
Stiles just smiled.
"Derek is still my beta." Peter tried another angle. "He needs me. For his own sanity. Werewolves need their pack, he might even become dangerous without me."
Strange that he was worried about that now, when he needed Derek to get him out of another predicament, and not when he had given him to a stranger without remorse, Derek thought but didn't say out loud. Not that his opinion was required anyway.
"We can work out a schedule." Peter suggested with a winning smile.
"So you can rent him out by the hour?" Stiles asked. "No."
Peter opened his mouth to object but Stiles shut him up with a raised hand.
"You're Derek's alpha and he needs you, I get that." He said. "I won't stand between you, for Derek's sake. Derek is going to give you a call when and where he wants to see you."
Peter glared at him, his mouth a thin line.
"You can't just set up conditions under which I'm allowed to see my own beta." He said in a dangerous low voice and there was the red again in his eyes.
"For one-hundred thousand dollar he's all yours again." Stiles didn't back down.
Peter just nodded to that.
"However, I understand that you're missing out on Derek's contribution to your pack's income." Stiles didn't point out that said pack only consisted of Peter and Derek. "I might have an idea to help with that, I'll give you a call." With that he turned on his heel. "Derek?"
Derek intended to follow him but Peter grabbed his arm.
"Derek." He pressed the word.
Derek just looked down at the hand on his arm until Peter let go of him.
"I'll call you later." He promised and then hurried after Stiles, leaving his alpha just standing there.
When he caught up with Stiles, he was already talking to Boyd. Derek only caught the end of what Stiles was saying but it looked like he was dumping everything on Boyd and Isaac for half an hour so that he and Derek could have breakfast?
"C'mon, let's sneak out for a moment." Stiles said to him and ducked into an alley. They weren't heading to one of the locations Derek and Isaac had arranged for their guests and Derek was glad about that, they wouldn't get a breather there.
Instead Stiles guided him to a diner Derek had never noticed before. It was a bit hidden and he doubted many tourists found their way here.
With a sigh of relief he sank into a booth at the far end, away from the few other patrons in here. Stiles took the seat across from him.
The waitress brought them coffee and the menus and then left them alone to decide.
"Are you okay?" Was the first thing Stiles said to him since he had dismissed Peter.
"I'm fine." Derek said but deep down he felt shaken and he was sure that Stiles knew that. Peter could ruin everything. He was his alpha, if he ordered him to come home, Derek didn't have any other choice than to obey.
"What I said to him." Stiles made eye contact with him. "You know that I didn't mean it like that, right?"
Derek knew that and he couldn't help but marvel over the fact that Stiles had lied an alpha werewolf in the face. However, thinking about it, had Stiles lied?
He had used questions and had let Peter make his own assumptions but Derek couldn't think of a single thing Stiles had said, that was an outright lie.
Smiling, as if he knew exactly what was going on in Derek's head, Stiles reached for his coffee.
"You should try the pancakes, they're delicious here." He said but then he changed the topic again. "Peter's right, you know that, don't you?" He set the cup aside. "He's your alpha, you need him. And not only for the touch thing."
Derek didn't answer, not sure if he liked where this was heading. He had been sure that Stiles wouldn't kick him out and the way he had dealt with Peter … he had said that he intended to not let him go again. But …
"Stop overthinking." Stiles cut in. "I'm just saying that you should see him once in a while. You don't have to live with him for that."
They had never been a cuddly pack. Even when he had lived with Peter, he had rarely seen him and their interactions had been the bare minimum they both needed to stay sane.
"And that's not the reason he wants you back." Stiles pointed out. "He wants you so you can work off another debt or just bring in money."
It was sad but true. Since the first time had worked so well, Peter now saw it as a valid option to rent Derek out for money.
"So." Stiles drew out the word, making Derek perk up in interest. He sounded like he had a plan. "What if I, out of the goodness of my heart of course, decided to pay you for your services?"
"You already are." Derek didn't get it.
"Yeah, but Peter doesn't know about that."
They were interrupted by their waitress and Derek did order the pancakes much to Stiles' delight.
"No, seriously." Stiles picked up where he had left off as soon as they were alone again. "If I paid you for working as my assistant, you'd be able to give Peter enough money to get him off your back. It would cut off hours you could be working off Peter's debt, of course, basically prolonging your time of service infinitely." Stiles spread his arms. "And everybody will be happy. Peter won't know that you're happy but he doesn't actually care so who cares?" He paused waiting for Derek's reaction. "If you want to stay, that is." He suddenly didn't sound so sure of that any longer. "You can go back to him, if you want to."
"No." Derek shook his head. "I want to stay." After last night he wanted to stay forever. "It's a good plan."
"Thank god."
They finished their breakfast, the pancakes were as good as Stiles had claimed them to be and the noises Stiles were making over eating them did some other things to Derek but they didn't have time for that now. They hadn't even cleared their plates, when first Stiles' phone and then Derek's rang.
Right, they had a bomb threat to deal with.
Chapter 30
Masterpost