Peter Hale was the last person Isaac had expected to come out of the back so he just stood there, trying to process what was happening.
When Peter spotted Isaac, he came fully out of the room for which he had to open the door far enough to allow Isaac a peek inside. It was an examination room but there was not a dog sitting on the table. It was a woman. She was sitting hunched over with one hand pressed to her side while she had a white-knuckled grip on the metal table with the other. Sweaty strands of hair were hanging into her face and she looked pretty much out of it.
Peter was quick to close the door behind him but the short glimpse Isaac got on her was enough to spot the blood on her shirt and the hand she was pressing to what he assumed was an open wound.
"Doc," Peter urged Deacon to which the vet nodded and left to presumably dig a bullet out of the woman. It was the only explanation Isaac came up with. For a second he wondered if he'd stumbled into a movie by accident because shit like this only happened in Hollywood, right? But then Peter Hale was on him.
"Who are you working for?" Peter asked. He was close and when Isaac backed off, he followed suit until he had Isaac cornered against the counter. There was no receptionist behind the desk and the vet was gone. Not as if Isaac expected help from that front. Deaton was almost as scary as Peter.
But now would be a good time for Scott to come in which of course he didn't. He was most likely waiting for him behind the building and it wouldn't even occur to him to come looking for Isaac inside.
Peter grabbed him by the front of his shirt.
"I asked who you're working for," he repeated his question in a dangerously calm manner.
"I'm not working for anybody," Isaac hurried to say, his voice toppling over. Was Peter armed? "I'm just a student."
"You said that." Peter studied him carefully and didn't let go of his shirt. "But you pop up too often for it to be a coincidence. Tell me, have you been to any pawn shops lately?"
"What?" Isaac had no idea what Peter was talking about. What had pawn shops to do with this?
This close Isaac smelled the blood on him. Peter's hands were coated with dried blood. Had he been the one who'd hurt the woman? Most likely not, he had brought her here, seeking help, but Isaac saw it in his eyes. Peter Hale was capable of cold-blooded murder.
"That was you." Peter gave him a toothy smile. "You were there and now you're here."
"I'm here to pick up a friend." Isaac tried to back off farther but the edge of the counter was already digging into his lower back. "He called me. His bike broke down. He's waiting behind the clinic for me." The words rushed out of him. Somebody was waiting for him. Somebody might come looking for him. He wanted Peter to know that.
"The first time was an accident, I believe that." Peter didn't back off but he loosened his grip on Isaac's shirt. "That club is quite popular among gay students. I might even buy into bumping into you around campus by accident. But the pawn shop? Right when Coach is setting up my delivery? And now here? That's called a pattern."
Peter studied him for a moment longer, waiting for an answer, but Isaac had no idea what he was talking about.
"How much is he paying you?" Peter changed his question.
"Nobody is paying me," Isaac almost yelled. "I don't even have a job. That's why I went to the pawn shop, it's cheap."
Isaac was close to peeing his pants but at the same time, he was getting angry. He was not stalking Peter Hale and for sure nobody was paying him to do so.
"It's not my fault that I see you at every corner." So far Isaac had avoided looking at him but now he locked eyes with him. "From my point of view, you're stalking me. I should call the cops on you."
"And tell them what exactly?" Peter asked but he took a step back, giving Isaac room to breathe.
But Peter was right. Until the cops arrived they would have plenty of time to whisk the woman away and it would be his word against Peter's. And Deaton's. Hell with his luck, Scott would side with them. Sweet oblivious Scott had no clue about what his boss did after the clinic was closed for the day, he would swear up and down that they were only treating animals here.
The only other thing Isaac had on Peter was his relationship with Professor Stilinski and even if it was morally questionable to fuck your nephew's husband it was not illegal. Not that he could prove that one either.
"Maybe I should talk to Professor Hale, then," Isaac said with more bravado than he felt. That statement would either get him out of this situation or get him killed immediately.
Peter leaned in close again.
"Not a word to Derek."
Isaac felt his breath ghosting over his skin with those words, sending a shiver down his spine.
Peter wanted to say more when suddenly a door opened in the back.
"Isaac?" Scott asked before he even came down the hallway. By the time he came around the corner, Peter was standing at a casual distance.
"Man, I was waiting for you outside." Scott huffed in annoyance but then he spotted Peter. "Oh, sorry, we're closed. My boss must have forgotten to close the front door."
He looked around for the animal Peter should have with him which of course was not there. Isaac, however, used the moment to slip past Peter and get over to Scott.
"I found a dog, I think he got hit by a car." Peter looked genuinely worried about the imaginary dog. "Your boss is taking care of him."
"We should leave," Isaac said before Scott could offer his help. He did not want to think about what would happen if Scott opened the door to the examination room. "What's going on with your bike anyway?"
"I told you it's acting up lately." Scott let Isaac distract him, "I'll have to figure out how to get it into the shop tomorrow."
With a hand between his shoulder blades, Isaac steered his friend back into the hallway, he would feel better once he was out of Peter's line of view.
"It was nice meeting you, Isaac," Peter said before they could disappear around the corner. "We should talk again soon."
"Yeah," Isaac made and hurried to get out of sight. If he never saw Peter Hale ever again he would be grateful but with his luck, he would run into him twice before the end of the week.
"What was that about?" Scott asked but Isaac cut him off with a "nothing". It was tempting to tell him what had just happened but Isaac doubted that Scott would believe him.
Scott hadn't recognized Peter as the guy from the coffee shop, the man Isaac had seen at the club, and who Allison had identified as Peter Hale. Scott had called him obsessed with his professor's affairs and to him, this would just be an extension of that. He hadn't seen Peter threatening him and if Isaac was honest, it was hard to believe. Besides, he couldn't explain any of this without dragging Professor Hale's secrets out into the open and he was not going to do that. It did, however, make him wonder if the professor knew about whatever the fuck his uncle was involved in.
Plus, Isaac did get the threat in Peter's parting words. He didn't know how far Peter would go but Isaac was not willing to put Scott's life at risk. And to be honest, Scott was even sober worse at keeping secrets than drunk Isaac. He would at least tell Allison and that was the last person Isaac wanted to drag into this.
So he just followed Scott out the back door and he only dared to breathe easier when Scott locked it again.
"You can drop me off at Allison's place," Scott said, totally oblivious to how shaken Isaac was.
He just wanted to get away from the clinic as quickly as possible so Isaac nodded numbly and got in the car.
"Why didn't you call Allison to pick you up?" Isaac wondered with a delay. By now she should be done at the archery range but at the same time, he was glad that it had not been Allison who'd run into Peter here. He didn't want to think about how that would have ended.
"She's out with Lydia," Scott replied easily. "Didn't want to interrupt girl time when I knew that you would love a distraction. Bet I caught you in the library." Scott beamed at him.
"I have to catch up on some things," Isaac defended himself. His new hobby was eating up time he didn't have and he had to work his butt off if he wanted to keep up with his classes. Ironically enough it was Professor Hale's class he cared about the most. He didn't even need that class. His life would be much easier in a lot of ways if it weren't for that class but for some stupid reason Isaac liked it. He liked Professor Hale and he didn't want to disappoint him.
"Why her place when she's out anyway?" Isaac wondered, desperately searching for something to think about other than his encounter with Peter Hale.
"I want to be there when she gets home," Scott said suddenly thoughtful. "Dunno, she seems off lately." He paused and Isaac could tell that he wanted to say more but knew that he probably shouldn't. "She forgets to eat, she's not sleeping well either. She doesn't want to be alone."
Isaac knew that feeling and he saw a lot of it in his near future as well. He was already checking the mirror to see if Peter Hale was following them.
Isaac dropped off Scott and then he went back to his dorm. He locked the door and for once he was glad that there were other people in the building. There were constantly people coming and going and Isaac would be lying if he said that he recognized every face but somebody significantly older than the average student did stand out. If Peter came here somebody would notice him. At least that was what Isaac told himself.
Once he had the locked door between himself and the rest of the world, Isaac staggered on shaky legs over to his chair. In his mind, he kept seeing that woman. He hoped that she was okay but somebody with what had pretty much looked like a gunshot wound sitting on a vet's table after closing time was most likely not okay.
What kind of shady stuff is Peter involved in, Isaac wondered. He had given off a dangerous vibe when Isaac had run into him at that coffee shop but back then Isaac hadn't given it much thought. He hadn't pegged him for violently dangerous. Now Isaac wasn't so sure about that. He might end up with a bullet in his head.
"What the hell was that about the pawn shop?" Isaac asked into the empty room. He had been to one the other day but he hadn't seen Peter there. So how the fuck did he even know?
Thinking about it, the shop owner had mentioned somebody named Peter while he'd been on the phone. Isaac only remembered that detail because he'd laughed about the idea that he was talking about Peter Hale. Peter was a common name, there must be hundreds of Peters in New York alone.
What crept him out about this the most, however, was the fact that Peter knew that he'd been there. Isaac had been the only customer at the time, he remembered that clearly. It had been the reason the shopkeeper had been willing to dismantle half of his window display just to show Isaac that tripod.
So how did Peter know that Isaac had been there?
