Chapter 2
CHAPTER 2
TEN
I hadn't meant to go back to the human's place. I really hadn't.
And yet I'd shown up just as he was leaving the apartment, and I'd found myself following him in my invisible form. Outside the coffee shop, I'd slid into a shadowed alley to change into a visible form before heading into the coffee shop.
I'd found an empty table in a corner and settled to watch the human, unable to stop myself. He was tiny, barely 5 ' 2 " if that. If not for his stocky, muscular build and thick beard, he'd look like a kid.
Placing his order, the human settled at a table to wait for his order, his back to me. He scrolled through some social media app on his phone, and a woman approached him a few moments later.
The human stiffened the moment he saw the woman, his back going ramrod straight, and I sat upright, on high alert. Clearly, he knew this woman, and judging by his reaction, he didn't like her very much.
Without waiting for an invitation, the brown-haired, pale-skinned woman settled across from him, her lips pinched and her eyes narrowed.
Pushing away the sounds of everything around me, I focused on those two, using my superior senses to listen in on their conversation.
"What are you doing here, Ara?" the human asked, his voice curt, and Ara rolled her eyes.
"The coffee, obviously."
The human snorted. "You hate the coffee here, as you've reminded me multiple times."
Ara scowled, then eyed the drink a barista had brought over for him. He must've been a regular or a friend of the barista, since everyone else seemed to be collecting their drinks from the counter.
"I thought you were broke. That's a pricey drink."
"What do you want, Ara? Wasn't the money you stole from me enough?" The human sounded tired, and I was tempted to go over there and tell the woman to get lost.
Ara's eyes flashed with anger, and I caught a tremor go through my human. Was he...scared of her? I eyed him, looking past his layers of clothing, past his bruised skin?—
I blinked. He had bruises covering his torso, as if someone had repeatedly hit him with something hard.
Anger rushed through me as I glared at the woman and my human's reaction to her. Had she hurt him?
"The money was the only good thing I got from our relationship," she hissed, leaning forward as my human pressed his back against the chair, pulling as far away from her as he could manage. "It's not like you have time to spend it with how much you work, so I just did you a favor. Clearly, you aren't hurting for it, Matty." She nodded at his drink, as if getting one good coffee meant he was suddenly rich.
"My name is Matthew," he gritted out, sounding like it wasn't the first time she'd called him that.
I'd had enough.
Before I knew it, I was stalking across the room until I stood at their table. They both glanced up at me, and I ignored the woman in favor of meeting my human's gaze for the first time.
And there it was. The thing that my subconscious was so sure of even if I couldn't consciously sense it until now. We shared a bond, and this small human with dark soulful eyes and fear-stiffened shoulders was mine . My human. My mate.
"Hey, Matthew. Sorry, I'm late," I said smoothly, then turned to eye the banshee. Actually, calling her a banshee was an insult to banshees. "And who are you?"
Her eyes narrowed at me, and she scowled. "I'm his girlfriend. Who are you?"
"Ex-girlfriend," Matthew cut in before I could reply. "And you should leave, Ara. I have nothing to say to you."
I raised a brow at Ara, then held a hand out toward the exit. When it looked like she was going to be stubborn, I let a bit of my demon side flash into my eyes, making hers widen as she scrambled to her feet and left in a hurry.
Taking her empty chair, I smiled at Matthew.
"Hello, I'm Ten. I'm sorry about interrupting like that, but you looked like you could use it."
Matthew stared at me for a long moment, then said, "This isn't really a dream, is it? This is all really happening."
I blinked. Why had he thought this was a dream?
Then I remembered that he'd woken up with new furniture in his locked-from-inside apartment and his rent paid. Of course he hadn't thought it was real. No human unaware of the existence of magic and supes would.
How would I tell Matthew about it? I remembered Calux asking the same question in our chat group last month, and the answers hadn't really been anything practical. I'd have to figure it out myself.
"Uh, no. This is real. Sorry?"
Matthew shook his head. "Nah, it's been more good—if not confusing—than bad, so it's all good. And thanks for the rescue. I really did need it."
I smiled at him and nodded. I was tempted to ask him questions, about his ex, sure, but mostly about him. I wanted to know him, know what made him the perfect fit for me, and what made me the best person for him.
But I didn't want to rush him or scare him off, so I decided not to. I'd have to woo my mate slowly, properly. I also couldn't deny I enjoyed watching him go about his day, and I wouldn't mind doing a bit more of it.
"If you're okay, then I'll leave you to drink your coffee in peace," I said as I stood up, and Matthew gazed up at me with a stupefied look before nodding.
"It was nice to meet you," he added after a beat, and my smile widened.
"The pleasure was all mine, Matthew."
Matthew
A shiver raced down my spine when he said my name in that deep voice of his, and I watched in silence as he casually strolled toward the exit, and it wasn't until he'd disappeared from view through the glass walls of the coffee shop that I looked away.
What in the absolute hell was happening today?
First I'd woken up in a room with new furniture and my rent paid for the next six months, then my ex had found me in a coffee shop she'd declared she would never set foot in, and then I was rescued by a hot, dangerous-looking guy who'd been nothing but kind.
I shook my head and focused on sipping my drink, humming as the too-sweet warm liquid slid down my throat, warming me up from the inside.
It would be Valentine's Day in a week, and I was single. Ara and I had gotten together a few weeks after Valentine's Day last year, and I was glad I'd broken up with her when I had. No way did I want to spend a day meant for people who loved each other with that woman.
Once my coffee was sitting warmly in my belly, I returned the mug to the counter and headed out. The sun shone down weakly through the clouds, and a cool breeze wafted through the crowds, and I crossed my arms, tightening my coat around myself to ward off the chill.
As I walked back home, I wondered if all that furniture would still be there. How could anyone have gotten it in there without waking me up? And why would they do it anyway?
My head hurt as I tried to figure out how the furniture ended up in my apartment, and when I came across my landlord in the lobby of my building, I decided to see if he could tell me anything about it.
"Did you give the keys to my apartment to anyone else?" I asked Bill, a forty-something man with short black hair, pale blue eyes, and a constant five-o'clock shadow. He wasn't bad-looking by any means, but I still regretted the offer I'd made him last night, especially since he had the key to my place, and I was afraid he'd decide to 'take me up on my offer' sometime without warning.
"Why would I do that? You paid your rent," he said, and I nodded quickly.
"I did," I said, even though I really hadn't. I decided not to mention my new furniture since it was clear he didn't know anything about it, and raced up the stairs after a mumbled "Thanks!" before he could mention the text from last night.
The fact that some random person somewhere out there also knew of the offer I'd made had my cheeks turning hot, and I shook my head as I reached my apartment.
It wasn't like I'd ever have to face that stranger. They knew nothing about me except the fact that I'd offered to sleep with my landlord so he wouldn't take away my apartment, and I wasn't the only person to have ever done shit like that. I knew the lengths people would go to to survive, and what I'd done barely scratched at the surface of it.
Letting myself in, I closed and locked the door, then turned around to look at my place. The new couch and mattress were still there, and so was the sturdier set of table and chairs.
Ever since my mom kicked me out for kissing a boy at seventeen—I'd just realized I was bi, and known she wouldn't be accepting, but I'd gotten careless—I hadn't had many material possessions. All the things that had been replaced had been junk I'd rescued from the trash or left behind by the last tenant, but these new things were mine. They were gifts from someone, and I didn't know how they'd managed to change the mattress while I was sleeping on it or even any of the other stuff. I didn't know why they'd done it either.
If it was near Christmas, I could have kidded myself into thinking the gifts were from Santa, but they weren't. Someone had gotten these things for me, but I had no idea who could've.
The only person who had ever truly loved me was my dad, but like me, Mom had 'sent him away,' divorced him when I was fifteen, because he'd realized he liked men. He'd been willing to stay in their marriage for me because he loved me and Mom, even if it wasn't in the same way Mom wanted him to love her. But Mom couldn't handle the 'humiliation,' and so she divorced him and refused to allow him to ever see me.
When she kicked me out, I tried finding my dad, but with only a name, there wasn't much I could do. I wished I could see him again because I knew he'd welcome me back into his life with a smile and a hug.
God, my thoughts were all over the place today.
My stomach growled, and I rolled my eyes. While the coffee had been warm and filling, it wasn't food, so I trudged across the room to my little kitchenette, and opened the fridge to get some milk for cereal, only to stop short at the sight of my fridge.
A carton of milk, eggs, cold-cuts, cheese, fresh vegetables...there was everything. Had the person who'd changed my furniture also stocked my fridge? But how? How had I not noticed any of this happening? What kind of magic was this?
Had they drugged me or something? Was that why I hadn't woken up when a stranger was running around my home making it better like some kind of fairytale dwarf? Or was it gnomes?
"Get a grip, Matthew," I mumbled to myself. I stared at the contents of my fridge for another few moments before grabbing two eggs, some veggies, and some bacon.
Whipping up a quick breakfast, I settled on my new dining table with a steaming plate, and moaned happily after the first bite. It'd been so long since I'd eaten a good breakfast like this. Most days, I gobbled up a bowl of cereal with cold milk so I wouldn't be late for work, and I rarely had groceries to make anything like this even on my days off since it was exhausting to go grocery shopping after a long work week at the hospital and the nursing home where I worked during the night, and people really didn't make deliveries in this part of the town. Not grocery deliveries, anyway. I usually spent my weekends—or the random days off I got from the hospital sometimes—catching up on my sleep and snacking on protein bars and takeout.
"Thank you, my invisible keeper," I mumbled as I ate another bite, deciding then and there that I was done trying to figure it out. I was not going to be the dumb guy who looked a gift horse in the mouth. I just hoped I hadn't made some half-awake deal with the devil in my work exhaustion. That would be bad.