Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Duncan
Life was really unfair. A few months ago, when Charlie had been so immensely happy that he couldn’t ever stop smiling, I’d signed up on Mate Match and waited.
And waited. And still nothing. My roommates loved to give me such a hard time about how desperate I’d become because I was always checking my phone, hoping for a new match.
Still, no matches had come. I’d given up and deleted the app.
So when Charlie had mentioned Clay, the super-sexy gorilla shifter that I was too shy to make eye contact with, was my match, I didn’t know what to say. I truly hadn’t known.
My panda was immensely upset with the fact that Clay had up and left. I still didn’t know what was going on, but the hope was that I’d be able to get some answers from Charlie.
“Uhh…can I talk to you?” I asked Charlie. “Alone? We don’t have to go far.” I glanced over at Charlie’s mate. He looked…irritated. I didn’t understand what I’d done to upset him, but maybe he was just irritated because that was who he was.
Charlie stood up. “Sure, Duncan. Let’s go out back, and we can sit outside and chat.” He pushed on Silver’s shoulder when he started to get up. “Alone,” he said with meaning.
I was immensely relieved. I followed Charlie outside, and when I quietly closed the door behind us, I followed the koala shifter over to where he’d been sitting earlier with his brother-in-law.
“I don’t understand,” I said at the same time Charlie said, “What’s going on?”
We both smiled.
“You first,” Charlie insisted.
I nodded. “I did have the app. I did sign up. But I deleted it a while ago because you and everyone else were always teasing me about always checking it.” I sighed. “It’s not wrong for someone to want to find their mate.” I looked down at my lap.
“No, it’s not,” Charlie said. “I’m sorry, Duncan. I didn’t mean to tease you, and I’m sorry you took it that way. I thought it was cute, actually.” Charlie got up and sat beside me. “Tell me what’s going on? Are your roommates still being assholes?”
I sighed again. “Yeah, but I can’t afford to live on my own,” I said.
“I deleted all of my apps and changed my phone password when I caught Jake going through it, swiping on one of the apps.” That had been such an embarrassing moment.
Not only had he messaged a few different guys, but he’d told them where I worked and when.
“Why didn’t you say something?” Charlie asked.
I shrugged. “What were you going to do? You’re here with your mate, you’re living your best life, and the last thing I wanted to do was drag you into the mess that is my life.”
Charlie rolled his eyes. “All right. Well, first thing we’re going to do is get you in contact with Clay.” Seconds later, his eyes went wide, and I was suddenly concerned. “Oh, maybe you don’t want to? I didn’t even consider that.”
I shook my head. “You’re kidding, right? Would you really not want Silver? Seriously?”
Charlie grinned. “So you believe there’s a connection between the two of you?”
I shrugged. “I couldn’t say. I’m definitely attracted to him, but I don’t really know a whole lot about these things. I just wanted to get your gift to you,” I told him before I stood.
Charlie jumped up. Well, as fast as a pregnant man could. “I need to open it.”
“Naw. It’s nothing too amazing. I just wanted you to have something special for your little one.”
Charlie bit his lower lip. “Actually, we’re having twins,” he told me.
“What?” I asked, stopping about two steps away from where we’d been sitting and looking back at him. “We still don’t know what we’re having, but it’s twins, and we’re both really excited.”
I smiled at Charlie, but it was forced, and I knew it. I was both happy for him but also surprised and a little worried. Charlie was little, even compared to me. And Silver…wasn’t. I had a feeling that the babies were going to be on the larger size, even if they were twins and would be smaller.
“That’s…congratulations,” I told him. “Are you doing okay?” That made sense as to why Charlie was already showing so much. He wasn’t big to start with, but twins…that was a lot.
Charlie chuckled. “I’m good. Silver is really spoiling me, and we’ve been talking about it a lot in the last couple of weeks since we found out, and I’m going to take an extended leave of absence from work.”
I nodded. I didn’t blame him for that. I didn’t have that luxury and wouldn’t ever, most likely.
I lived with three other roommates in a two-bedroom house.
It sucked, but we were all broke. I worked two jobs and took any extra shift I could get.
Why? Because I had nothing. I’d never had anything, and probably never would.
“I’m really happy for you,” I told him. The door opened, and Silver stood there holding out a phone.
“Charlie, Clay is messaging you. Did you want me to answer him, or did you want to?”
I smiled at Charlie again. “I’m going to get. I might be able to pick up a shift tonight, so I’ll get out of your way.”
“The message is about you,” Silver said.
“Yeah,” Charlie said. “Clay matched with Duncan on Mate Match. He probably has lots of questions.”
Charlie grabbed my arm, and I was too surprised to pull away from him. I let him lead me into the house, and once inside, he read the message and then snorted.
“You need to swing by Clay’s place,” Charlie told me as he went to the kitchen.
I couldn’t see what he was doing, but I already knew there was absolutely no way I was going to go to Clay’s place.
I wasn’t about to go embarrass myself even more in front of the sexy gorilla shifter.
“Here’s his address,” Charlie said when he came out, holding out a piece of paper.
I shook my head. “I’m not going to go to the guy’s house. Why would I do that?” I shoved my hands into my pockets.
“Because he’s wondering what he did wrong. He was matched with you, but you showed no interest in him at all.”
“It was a bit of a surprise, is all,” I said. “I can redownload the app and message him through it.” I wasn’t going to swing by the guy’s house. That was weird. It was rude. “If you want, you can tell him I’ll message him through the app,” I said instead of agreeing to go by Clay’s house.
Charlie looked confused, but it was Silver who spoke up. “You don’t need to do that,” Silver said. “He wouldn’t be opposed to you stopping by his place. He only lives a few blocks away,” he added.
I nodded slowly and took the piece of paper that Charlie had been holding out toward me. “Thanks. And congratulations again on the twins.”
I would miss Charlie at work. I didn’t see him often, but when I did, he was always in a good mood, especially now that he was mated.
Would my life be drastically different if I had a mate?
I would hope so. But I’d been dumb to even sign up for the Mate Match app because I had absolutely nothing to bring to a relationship.
I lived with roommates. I was a waiter, times two.
I had a job at the zoo restaurant, and I also worked at a bar in the evenings or nights.
I did everything I could to make ends meet, and I was still broke most of the time. Life just wasn’t fair to some.
I quickly left the house, quietly closing the front door behind me and hurrying away. I wasn’t fast enough, though, because Silver followed me.
“Duncan, wait up,” he called out. “Please?”
I froze. Silver was nice enough. I didn’t really know him. He often appeared a bit grumpy, but I think that was probably just how gorilla shifters looked because Clay seemed kinda grumpy as well. I turned back to Silver. “Yeah?”
“I’m not going to tell you what to do or even suggest anything.
But my brother is a good guy, and I’m not just saying that because he’s my brother.
He annoys me most of the time.” My eyebrows rose in disbelief.
“I’m not telling you this to scare you away.
He truly is a good guy. But I didn’t know he was wanting a mate.
It’s great he is, and maybe the app will work for the two of you like it did for me and Charlie. ”
I nodded a few times. “Thanks,” I said. I gestured over my shoulder. “I’m going to go if you don’t have anything else to say.”
Silver sighed. “I just want to suggest that you give it a try. Despite what you might feel like regarding things…life in general, the massive amount of questions you answered on that app has paired you with my brother. He would be a good mate.”
“Thanks,” I said again. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
I started to walk away, happy that I’d parked down the street.
My old wagon was so out of place in this neighborhood, it wasn’t even funny.
I was sure that whoever lived in the house I parked in front of was probably wondering who polluted their neighborhood with their clunker.
It didn’t look pretty—far from it—but it was solid.
It almost always started, and that was important.
I hurried down the street, and when I got to my car, I pulled the door open and sighed in relief when I turned the key forward and the car started.
The usual loud, clanky screech told everyone within earshot that I was finally taking my clunker away from their pretty neighborhood.
That would be my luck if it had decided that now was one of those times that it wasn’t going to start.
I pulled on my seat belt, and after checking the road for others, I pulled out and left the neighborhood.
Yeah, Clay didn’t live far from Silver’s house, but there was no way I was going to drop in and say hi.
Would I go home and message him? Probably.
I’d be even dumber than usual not to. If nothing else, I could accept a meet-up and let him know that there was no way we would ever be paired.
People like Charlie got paired up with guys like Silver and his brothers. Not guys like me.