There's a tracker on his car hidden under the bumper, and he has no idea who has put it there.... This is the worst thing that could possibly happen.
And his boss certainly won't be pleased about this once he's called him and explained the situation.
God, he's not looking forward to having that conversation.... But it's a conversation that he has to have. Even if he really doesn't want to.
Unless....
Unless since it seems that both James and Jeremy are asleep, considering neither of them have made their way outside to confront him, and no light has flicked on in their bedroom upstairs, nor can he see either of them standing in the window watching him. He could always just jump on one of the bikes and go out and do the job that way.
That might be the best option, he thinks. Save having to call his boss, and he's fairly certain that there won't be a tracker on any of his bikes. Although, just to be safe, he could take one of James's bikes. But then there's the issue of James being able to tell that one of his bikes has been used.
And anyway, it's not like he's not used one of his motorbikes to head out on a mission in the past. It's probably quicker than a car also. Easier to take shortcuts to get to the location after all. Only downside is there's no GPS if he were to need it unlike there would be if he was to take his car.
Well, there is always GPS on his phone, and thankfully he has another phone that he uses besides his actual mobile for this job. A phone that both James and Jeremy don't know about, so there's no way that they can track him by phone if they're suspicious of him, or just simply want to know where he is.
Making up his mind, and really not wanting to call his boss that he cannot do the job tonight, he grabs his gear out of his car and heads off to the shed where his and James's bikes are kept.
He double checks every one of his bikes, making sure there's no tracker on any of them, before taking his best and fastest outside after getting changed into the bike gear and helmet he keeps in a wardrobe in the shed. Where he mounts the bike and drives off to take care of business.
Hoping like hell that whoever was following him isn't still out there waiting for him....
Inside and upstairs in the bedroom, James sighs as he watches out the window, careful not to be seen as he watches Richard drive off on one of his bikes.
"He's taken one of the bikes now." He sighs, turning to look at Jeremy as the alpha walks over to him.
"Shit..." Jeremy sighs. "He must've noticed Wilman following him."
"And found the tracker by the looks of things..." James adds.
This isn't what they had planned when they had put that tracker on Richard's car and had requested help from their close friend and colleague Andy Wilman to follow Richard after they had gotten a little tired and worried about Richard constantly sneaking out of the house at night every few weeks. They hadn't intended on Richard to find out about any of that.
And they wouldn't have had to do anything like that if Richard would just be honest with them and tell them what he's up to. What he's been up to for what very well seems like years now.
They've ruled out an affair. Richard never reeks of an unfamiliar alpha, beta, or even omega when he gets home. Although, that could always be explained away by him showering before he returns home to wash away the stink. But Richard just doesn't seem the type to have an affair.
And anyway, as bad as it may sound, not many alphas or betas will even acknowledge an infertile omega half of the time, claiming them to be too broken and useless to be of any good. Which means with Richard being sterile, very few alphas or betas will even look his way. Or much like other infertile omega have in the past, he'll get beaten, because he's a "useless" omega.
Luckily though, on those occasions where Richard has gotten beaten up, he can usually take care of it himself. Surprisingly well, too. Richard can certainly put up a good fight, but James and Jeremy still worry about him when it does happen. And the fact that he goes out by himself in the middle of the night every few weeks doesn't sit well with them for the precise reason of unfriendly alphas and sometimes betas approaching him and trying to start shit with him due to his status, and the fact that he's pretty open about his infertility.
Although, considering Richard's celebrity status, most alphas don't tend to bother him in any negative way because of his issues. Or maybe they just don't bother because they know both James and Jeremy will do something about it if they do much as last a finger on him, Jeremy in particular - and Jeremy is one big alpha. So that tends to keep the arseholes away from Richard.
And honestly, James and Jeremy don't give a fuck that Richard is sterile and cannot give them kids. It didn't matter to them when they had first met all those years ago and when the three of them got together and Richard had told them about his infertility. It was one of the first things he had told them when they had gotten together, and that didn't matter to them at all back then. And it certainly doesn't matter to them now. And besides, both James and Richard are perfectly fine with being stepfathers' to Jeremy's three kids from his previous marriage.
Plus, at this rate they're getting a little too old to be having their own kids together now anyway. And their jobs are a little too important to them to have kids. And if Richard was able and actually wanted to get pregnant... well then that would interfere drastically with filming and would really affect their ability to travel to different places to film because they'd have a child to worry about.
And honestly, they wouldn't actually have been too opposed to having kids if it was to happen. They're not against it by any means (although James has never shown much desire for it), just thinking logically with their jobs, it's just not really ideal for them. Even if it were possible for them.
"Fuck..." Jeremy sighs, leaning against the wall next to the window James is looking out of. "He's much more observant than we thought."
James hums in agreement. "He always has been." He says. "When he wants to be, anyway."
Richard isn't stupid and they know it. They just had hoped that he wouldn't end up finding the tracker they had hidden on his car, or for him to notice Wilman following him.
Just hopefully he hadn't noticed it was Andy following him....
Hopefully he hasn't realised that it's either of them that was tracking him. Because they know for a fact that Richard won't be happy about it.
But what about them? Are they supposed to just sit back and let Richard do whatever the fuck it is he does in nights like this, without even telling them what it is exactly he's been up to?
What if he's getting up to something dangerous that could get him hurt? Or worse?
They don't want Richard hurt. They had more than enough of that when he had crashed in that fucking dragster.
"Maybe when he gets home we should confront him about all this." Jeremy suggests. "Make him tell us the truth."
"Do you really think that'd work?" James asks. "I think us putting a tracker on his car and having Wilman follow him will make him lose some trust in us to even begin to open up and tell us what the fuck is going on."
He does feel quite bad about it. They both do. They never wanted to put a tracker in his car and have someone following him. But what else are they supposed to do, when Richard won't even talk to them about whatever the fuck it is that he's been doing?
"He already seems to not trust us enough to tell us what the hell he's been up to." Jeremy points out. "Especially if it's been going on for years like we suspect it has."
What Jeremy says is true. Whatever Richard's been hiding for god knows how long, he doesn't seem to trust either of them to actually tell them what he's very clearly hiding from them. And they have a feeling that whatever it may be, it's been going on for years. Before they had even met and gotten together. Which is another reason they've ruled out it being an affair.
If it was an affair that's been going on for the last ten years, the amount of time the three of them have been together, then surely something would've come out by now.
Even before the three of them had ended up mated to each other, Richard's been hiding something from them. This sneaking around in the middle of the night isn't a new thing. Not by a long shot.
It's been going on for years, now that they actually think about it. And James and Jeremy have only just decided to get to the bottom of it all.
"Fair point." James says. "But he might be guessing that we're suspicious of him."
Jeremy goes to reply, but as a car pulls up down the driveway, the two of them look out to find Andy driving over to the house. No doubt coming to report to them what he'd seen. If he had seen anything before Richard had no doubt realised that he was being followed.
So they go down and let him inside before he has the chance to even knock on the door. And as they let him in, they have a good feeling that they know what he's going to say.
"I'm assuming Hammond found the tracker on the car?" Andy asks. "He did notice me following him, but I I'm not sure he realised that it was me."
James sighs, as the three of them walk into the kitchen, flicking the light on. "Yes." He says, as he goes about making a cup of tea for them all, figuring that they're definitely not going to be getting any sleep anytime soon. "Now he's taken one of the bikes."
Andy sighs as he takes a seat at the table. "I thought I saw a bike coming out of the drive." He says. "So you two seriously don't know what he's been doing when he leaves in the middle of the night?"
"No." Jeremy shakes his head. "And we think that whatever it is that he's been up to, he's been doing for years."
Andy frowns. "Like, years as in...?"
"As in before we had ever met." James says, as he grabs three mugs out of the cupboard as the kettle boils. "He's been doing this, whatever it is, for years now. And we've only just now decided to attempt to figure out what he's up to."
Jeremy nods. "I don't know why we never really paid much attention to it in the past, but actually thinking about it, there's always been something off about his random midnight excursions."
Whatever is so off about it however, they've not figured that part out yet. But they're hoping that soon they will.
They're just not sure how they're even supposed to get Richard to actually talk to them about it. To have him understand that he can trust them with whatever all of this might be.
Unfortunately, since Richard's clearly found the tracker in his car, and had seen Andy following him, albeit maybe not realised that it was Andy, they're not so sure if they'll be able to get anything out of him anytime soon. No doubt he now thinks that they're getting suspicious of him.
Which in all honesty, they are. But all they really want to know is what he's been doing.
All they want is for Richard to open up to them and just tell them what the hell he's been doing for the past... god knows how long, when he slips out at night.
Because they know for certain that he's not being honest when he says he's just going out for a drive. As if that were true, he wouldn't return home only to then get on one of his motorbikes and drive off again....
And he most certainly wouldn't have searched around his car for a tracker as soon as he had got out of his car after returning home.
Richard's very clearly hiding something that's been going on for a long time, and they intend on finding out exactly what their omega has been keeping secret from them....