Chapter 39 - 37

"Royal flush" Jules proudly lay down his cards and casually gathers the chips they bet in the middle.

"Dude are you cheating us or something?" Chad groaned, eyeing the other Alpha suspiciously. Martin suddenly called them out here at Keith's place to play poker. They have been playing for over three hours now and out of the ten rounds they did, Jules won eight of them with Keith and Martin winning the rest.

Poker has been the go to game or past time of the three childhood friends even before Martin joined the gang. Their activity depends on where they gather, it's usually billiards if it's at Jules' or drinking if at Chad's. Since the friends love to play poker, they even invested in buying the same chips casinos are using for official poker games. They have a cash vault that Keith maintains in his house and they would exchange it for chips before the game. Though they play with money it doesn't involve a big amount, not that they are not capable of betting millions but it's just a game for them. They are in it to bicker with each other and release some steam.

"Hey Martin did you see?? Did he do anything suspicious? " Chad said, turning to the other Alpha.

"Man, I'm a bodyguard not a detective." Martin replied raising his hands up in surrender.

"Just admit you are an idiot." Jules said mockingly to Chad while counting the chips in front of him.

"Watch your language Professor, is that what you teach the students at your school?" Chad replied grumpily. "I'm watching you." Chad said pointing his two fingers in his squinting eyes then to Jules who just ignored him.

"Whatever. Are we doing another round or not?" Jules asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I'm getting bored already. Keith's not even taking us seriously." Chad said, pouting at his friend. "He prefers playing with his phone. Are you waiting for pretty boy to call you?" He said leaning over Keith's to look at the screen of the phone he is holding. "Don't tell me he's ignoring you already? Is it my time to shine?" Chad gasped exaggeratedly, covering his mouth with his hands. "I knew it I'm really his type. Well what can I say I'm everyone's dream guy. If I remember correctly, the mom already loves me." Chad stood up and proudly took a bow.

"Pretty boy?" Juled asked curiously when Keith didn't reply to Chad and instead just give their frivolous friend a deathly glare.

"Ohhh you don't know yet professor. Mr. Alpha here finally found his missing Omega." Chad informed Jules.

"Where? I mean you've been looking for over a month and despite your extensive network you were not able to find this Omega, so how?" Jules asked curiously.

"It's actually anti-climatic. I've been searching all over the country, even some of my men focus their time in finding the Omega, but he was just there working as an intern in Keith's company." Martin explained as if he wasted his time for nothing. Though honestly he wouldn't say the whole searching for the Omega resulted in a bust.

"Wait intern? That mean he's someone from our school? Whoa!" Jules could not believe it. The Omega was actually just nearby all these time.

"It doesn't matter how long or how far I searched for him, what matters is that I found him." Keith finally replied to his friends. He indeed found Alex but right now he is worried that his Omega is having a hard time explaining things to his mother about their bonding. Alex hasn't called or texted him since their phone call earlier.

"Spoken like a true romantic." Chad said, putting his arms over Keith's. "I'm proud of you my man, finally you realize you have a heart. If only Jules will do the same and finally realized how great it is to have sex then I can retire in an isolated island with my favorite model." Chad uttered dramatically.

"Want me to retire you permanently?" Jules replied, giving Chad a death glare. "Hey Martin, how much do I need to pay you to bury this idiot?" Jules said, turning to Martin.

"My rate is quite expensive, but for you I can give you a discount since we're friends." Martin replied in a serious tone though he's face says otherwise. Sometimes he really wonders how these three dominant Alphas managed to become this close after all these years. They have different personalities, Keith is the serious one, Jules is calm and most of the time have a stoic face while Chad is the frivolous and loud one. He honestly believes that if Chad is not around the other two Alpha would survive the whole day without uttering a single word. Well it was also Chad who inducted him in becoming part of this little gang of them.

"You guys are so mean. How could you make all the men and women cry by killing me?" Chad replied unaffected. "Anyway, I'm hungry. Keith, you got any food here?"

"You're the chef, you cook." Keith replied nonchalantly.

"Fine. You eat whatever I cook then." Chad replied and left the room, probably going to ransack Keith's kitchen.

Chad came back after a few minutes holding a large tray with four bowls of steaming soup.

"Instant noodles? Seriously? You're the self proclaimed "godly chef" and all you can come up with is instant noodles?" Jules mocked but grabbed a bowl nonetheless. Chad actually always cooks instant noodles whenever they play poker at Keith's. Chad personally stocked up the instant noodles in their friend's house.

"We need some MSG in our system once in a while, that's how you survive in this world." Chad raised his index finger as if giving a life lesson to his friends. The other two Alpha grumpily pick up their bowls too.

Martin couldn't help but chuckle to himself. Asking these guys to hangout definitely lifted his mood. It always surprised him that whenever one of them asked to meet up, everyone would not hesitate to come, well unless they are out of town or out of the country. He never really had a close friend of his own while growing up and he envied these three guys for having each other. Sometimes he feels like an outsider when they talk about the old days but Chad was too hyper and too dramatic to make him feel left out for so long. He honestly believes this group will not last if not for Chad. He may be annoying at times but you can count on him to keep things together.

"Hello." Keith answered immediately as soon as his phone rang. Though he was quick in answering the phone, the gentleness in his voice can be clearly heard in that simple "hello" which left his two childhood friends dumbfounded. It was the first time for Jules to hear his friend talk like this to someone. On the other hand, Chad already witnessed how gentle Keith treats his Omega but it still caught him off guard hearing Keith talk like that to someone. "Okay I'll be there." Keith ended the call afterwards and bid his friends goodbye.

"Just go, we'll clean this up or rather I'll ask your butler to clean this for us." Chad talked to Keith's back who just left the room as quickly as the typhoon. "You two, don't you dare bond with someone, I don't want to eat my instant noodles alone."

Both Alpha did not respond and both were lost in their own thoughts.