The Alpha Plague Read Free

before he had the chance to, a loud bang crashed into the window next to him.  
    Rhys’ heart leaped into his throat and he spun around to find himself face to face with the messy-haired Dave. His afro looked like a bird’s nest. “What the fuck, man?” Not that he needed to ask; the stubble and bloodshot eyes told Rhys exactly what Dave had been up to. When he wound the window down, the heat of the morning rushed into the car with the reek of stale booze. Surprise, surprise.
    “I’m sorry, mate,” Dave said.  
    Rhys looked past Dave at the house he’d just left. Like Dave’s house, it provided affordable living for the young professional. “You fucked Julie again?”
    A half smile, and Dave shrugged. “How long have I got before you leave?”
    After a glance down at the dash, Rhys said, “Four minutes.” He had six, but Dave always needed the wiggle room.
    Without another word, Dave jogged toward his house. A sprint would have no doubt reproduced most of the consumed alcohol from the previous night, and Rhys didn’t need to see that, even if it did mean Dave moved slower.
    The electric window whirred as Rhys did it up again, and the leather seat groaned when he leaned back into it. Despite the cool air conditioning, the heat of the sun warmed his face, and he closed his eyes. One day, Dave would surprise him by being on time.  
    Yeah, right.

    ***

    When Dave opened the car door, Rhys opened his eyes again. A glance at the clock, and he quickly sat upright. The cheeky fucker had taken twelve minutes from him; it best not fuck things up for seeing his boy. The opportunities for him to see Flynn were few and far between. The last thing he needed was Dave ruining that, even though he couldn’t ever know what time to pass Flynn’s school because his mother was so damn inconsistent. When they’d been together, Larissa kept time like an army sergeant. Now she turned up whenever she fucking liked. She used it as a way to fuck with him, a way of repeated punishment for his one mistake.
    “Sorry again, mate,” Dave said as he strapped his seatbelt on. “I don’t have my alarm at Julie’s.”
    Rhys made a quick check over his shoulder and signalled before he pulled away. Being pissed with him wouldn’t help, but Rhys couldn’t let go of the tension that gripped his jaw. Not that he could really blame Dave; he could have left him after ten minutes like they’d previously agreed.  
    A deep sigh, and Rhys rolled his shoulders. It loosened the tension slightly. “What’s going on with you two? That’s the fifth time in the past fortnight that you’ve stayed over there.”
    “You know what it’s like, mate; we go out on the piss, bump into each other all drunk and horny, one thing leads to another…”
    “Why don’t you just start dating her? You’re thirty-five now, Dave, you ain’t getting any younger.”
    “Exactly.”
    Rhys raised an eyebrow at him. “Huh?”  
    “I have less time left in my life,” Dave explained. “Do you seriously think I need to fill what’s left of whatever existence I have with the bullshit of being attached to somebody? I like fucking; I don’t like going to garden centres on a Sunday and picking out potted plants. Besides, you’re hardly a shining example to follow when it comes to relationships.”
    “That was below the belt, mate.”
    “Tell me I’m wrong.”
    Rhys shook his head. “Whatever.”
    “Do you remember when you were out on the weekends with us? The wild nights on the town with the boys?”
    Of course he remembered them. The hint of a smile lifted his lips.
    Despite his apparent lethargy, Dave jumped on it. “See? They were fun times… bullshit chat up lines that worked more often than not, a different woman every night, dancing until the early hours, and a takeaway on the way home. When you wake up in a strange bed with a naked woman and a half-eaten kebab in your pocket, you knew you’d had a good night. How’s that not fun?”  
    When