6. Kalen
6
KALEN
I walked around the house one last time to make sure that everything looked even in the roof work I just finished. It came together remarkably quickly, and I feared that somewhere along the way I let the shingles go crooked or wavy. It was the same task over and over and over again, which meant that success should be easy, but also that I could space out and mess up horribly.
Thankfully, it was not the second. I had to admit, it looked pretty good. That summer spent with my dad redoing pride roofs had really paid off. I hadn’t realized exactly how much I’d picked up because I had just been the one who did what my dad said, as he said it—never anything past it. Hammer this nail, carry this shingle, etc., etc.
I needed to call him and thank him for the skill. I also needed to tell him about finding my mate, but not until I figured out things with Arlo. Right now we were in a holding pattern, and it was my fault. I didn’t want to make him uncomfortable… ever, but for sure not when I still had a lot to finish up. That would put him in a bad spot, and he already had enough stressors with the storm damage.
“Looking good.” The roof was officially done. I would run the hose over it to make sure I didn’t have anything askew, but I felt confident in my work.
Most of the clean-up was done. The leftover shingles were in the shed, and the old ones were already in the dumpster I rented, as was the old plywood I replaced. All that was left was making sure the nails were gone.
I went to my trunk to grab the pole magnet I borrowed from a neighbor, and went into the backyard to sweep for nails or other bits of metal that might be there. The last thing my mate needed was to walk outside barefoot and end up with a nail in his foot. And as careful as I planned to be, there were going to be some nails even after I swept. They were tricky like that.
I broke the yard into imaginary sections and methodically swept each one multiple times. Just with that, I’d collected far more than I wished had existed. I tossed them in the dumpster, and then went back and started again. Until I could do all of the areas and not get a single nail, I was going to keep going.
My lion wanted to go and run, not do this—until I reminded him that this was for our mate’s safety. And suddenly, he was all in. I had to admit, he was being pretty patient with my snail’s pace. At this point, I wasn’t sure if it was me who was going slow or if my mate wasn’t feeling it.
I’d planned to tell him multiple times, but when the time finally arrived, I second-guessed myself. Every. Single. Time.
Tomorrow, I was going to move on to working inside the house, and I’d have more opportunities. Or so I kept telling myself. He worked from home, so I’d probably see him just as much as I did with the roof repair, which was nowhere near enough.
It was time to make a plan and follow through, no matter what. We’d never move forward if I never started the conversation. It wasn’t like a human would say, “Hey, I’m sensing a lion here… are we mates or something?” That would be nice, though.
A car pulled into the driveway, parking across the sidewalk because the dumpster was in the way. I didn’t recognize him. It wasn’t any of the tree crew, that was for sure. But when they saw me, their face morphed.
They were pissed, and I wasn’t sure at what.
Did they think my pull magnet was a weapon? It didn’t look like one to me, but I was also the one holding it.
“Hey, man, be careful. I’m grabbing the nails. Don’t want one of them coming through your shoe,” I called out preemptively so he had no reason to be scared.
Scared? He wasn’t.
Angry? Very much so.
He marched straight up to me, finger pointing at me, nearly hitting my chest. “How dare you.”
What was he so mad about? All I was doing was fixing a roof… unless…
“Excuse me?” Maybe it was a mistaken identity. I didn’t know who he might think I was, but—yikes, if that were the case.
“I said, how dare you!” He took another step forward, my personal space now depleted. “Taking advantage of Arlo like this!”
Take advantage? How the heck did he get to that conclusion?
“I don’t know who you think I am, but I assure you, I haven’t taken advantage of him.” What the eff was going on? He came barrelling in here and practically had flames coming out of his ears.
I inhaled deeply—yep, definitely human. Crap. I couldn’t even let my lion closer to show I wasn’t to be messed around with. I needed to deal with this like an average person with no animal inside.
“Listen, you must have the wrong person. I’m the handyman.”
“Yeah? And did you give him an estimate?”
And it was finally starting to make sense. He, like Arlo, was worried about the final number. In hindsight, I should’ve made up a figure. But I didn’t and now this guy was up my ass. But also, why was he so invested?
“No, we’re waiting for the insurance company to let us know what they will pay out.” That sounded reasonable, right? I wouldn’t take the money, of course. Arlo should keep it for any upgrades he might need in the future. But it was a way to push the entire conversation back a bit.
“Likely story.” He folded his arms. “If you think you can just come in here, do work, and then put a lien on this house so that you get it, you’ve got another thing coming. No one is going to mess with my Arlo.”
Not Arlo. My Arlo.
Mine.
Yes, ours. Behave. Not that I wanted to.
“Listen, dude, I promise you, I am not here to con him. He called. I came. I’m working. Done.” I figured the fewer details the better, but the way he was glaring at me, maybe I miscalculated that.
“Yeah, okay.” He scowled. “So riddle me this, if you’re not here to con him, then why exactly are you here?”
Because he’s my mate, the one fate put on this planet just for me. Because my job is to make his life better, to take care of him, to be there when things went wrong.
“Because he called and needed the help.”
Why was this so confusing to him? I had done nothing to indicate I was here to steal from him in any capacity, and still?—
Ours. My lion growled, and it nearly escaped my chest. Shit. My lion was saying that—he thought—he thought that Arlo and this guy were together.
Fuck. This was worst-case scenario playing out in real time. Arlo had someone in his life, someone that wasn’t me, someone that was protective enough that they hadn’t even sensed the danger they were in by poking a lion, someone who was… human.
“Listen, I am not trying to get between you two. I promise. I’m just helping him. He needed the help.”
Before any conversation could go further, the man stomped off into the house.
What I wanted to do was follow him and fight for Arlo, but I couldn’t. If that was who Arlo wanted to be with, then that was that. He didn’t need someone coming into his life and adding drama. He had enough stressors with the house situation.
But knowing this was the right thing to do and that I was giving my mate what he needed didn’t make my heart hurt any less.
It didn’t make my lion any calmer.
It didn’t make any of this any better.
I took a few cleansing breaths and then went back to work, picking up nails—this time, counting each one as I did so as a distraction. Because if I allowed myself to, my mind would wander into that house where I imagined the two of them kissing, telling each other sweet nothings or—or more.
And I was not okay with that.
But I’d have to be.
Because if I was going to be a good mate, I had to be one in the way Arlo needed me to be—which might mean giving him up before he was ever truly mine.