Page 117 of Alpha Mates

I smile. “You mean the one I keep telling you to stop ordering from?”

He smirks proudly. “That’s the one,” he muses. “Sweet veggie noodles, right?”

“Yes,” I admit, laughing as Aiden kisses each of my knuckles before he pulls me up with him.

“Come on. We’re done for today, which means tomorrow’s stresses are for Future Julian,” He leads me out of the meeting room. “Tonight, I want you to myself.”

“What about the noodles? Won’t they be joining us.” I tease, and his smirk doubles.

“I’ll make an exception.”

Chapter 23

Aiden

“Roxanne,” I call as I prop against the cafeteria’s back door. “The love of your life is here!”

Laughter echoes from the kitchen and familiar faces send smiles my way while they call for their boss to deal with her favourite student. I grin back at my spectators, loving their teasing as much as I do the food they made specially for me.

“Alright, settle down, ladies,” Roxanne scolds as she appears, my bag of goodies already in her hand. “This kitchen isn’t going to clean itself.”

The catcalls quiet down as the woman of the hour stops in front of me with a less-than-impressed glare readied behind her orange-framed glasses. “I thought you were leaving this place. Told me as much a few weeks back, if I remember right.”

“Yeah, that was the plan, but things changed.” I shrug, not about to get into my love life with Roxanne—no matter how good her cheeseburgers are. “Everything alright with you?”

“It will be, if you’ve got my money,” she says, all business as usual.

“This is why I love you,” I tell her, digging out the twenty from my back pocket.

“Andthisis why I love you, sweetie,” she says, taking the bill with her first genuine smile before she hands the brown bag over. “Your favourite, plus the mushroom one you asked for, and some extra fries just for you.”

I peek inside and grin as greasy meat fills my nostrils. “You’re the best.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she grumbles, waving me off as she heads back into thekitchen. “Scoot before I get blamed for you not being in class.”

With a parting smile and wave to the rest of the ladies, I slip out of the cafeteria and head off in search of my mate. Julian said he needed to help Beckett with some work today, so he’d skipped lunch, and I planned to rectify that.

I find him seated on a bench at the front of the school with his beta, books splayed out on the table between them.

“Beckett, this is basic math,” I hear Julian say as I amble closer. “We’ve been going over this for an hour now. What are you not getting?”

“Everything,” Beckett groans. “Nothing about math is basic. What the hell are we finding?” He perks up, green eyes widening. “Ask yourself, Julian, what is ‘x’ really? I’m telling you, these aren’t answers—we’re calculating some shit to build a nuclear bomb. I can’t be expected to build a fucking bomb, I’m in high school.”

Julian stares at his friend for a hot second with a defeated expression I’m sure I’m rocking too. I knew Beckett wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but I always thought he was at leastinthe shed.

“I’ll just do it,” Julian sighs, grabbing Beckett’s book.

“You’re doing his workandyours?” I ask as I stop behind him. “That doesn’t seem fair.”

Julian tosses his head back at the sound of my voice, and the strain in his eyes dissolves instantly as he smiles up at me. My heart stumbles, and I almost do too, but I manage not to look like a complete idiot as I lean over to set the greasy bag down.

“You good, Jewels?” I ask, sliding my hands over his shoulders.

He nods quickly, his smile somehow turning even sweeter. “I’m just helping Beckett out. It’s nothing major. He could do it if he applied himself,” he quips with a pointed glare at his friend.

“If you want to build a bomb, be my guest,” Beckett mumbles, boldly reaching for the bag. I slap it away before he can touch it. “Ow!”

“Control your sausage fingers—that isn’t yours.”