His tone changed, lightening. “So, Sunday. You coming to the game? Cheering for your mate, I hope?”
“I’m not sure.” I chewed my lower lip, then nodded to some fellow students who greeted me. “Part of me can’t stand seeing Lach get bruised up or trashed on the field.”
There was an unclassified noise on the other line. “What about your mate? Not concerned if he gets hurt?”
I let out a nasal laugh that turned a few heads around me. The campus was packed—it was the five p.m. rush hour, with students and university staff moving through their own little private worlds and deadlines.
“He never gets hurt.”
“And how do you know that with such confidence, if you’ve never been to any of his games?”
Busted. “Well, maybe I asked around…or watched a few videos.”Many hours of videos.I called it educational stalking. Before he could say another word, laugh at me, or call me astalker, I announced, “He’s my mate. I’m entitled to, um, some research.”
A low, slightly hoarse chuckle slipped through the line. “Sure you are…”
“Does your mate mind? That you’ve, you know, slept with girls before?” I asked as I dug through my bag for my keys, frowning when my fingers landed on everything except them.
“Wouldyoumind?” he volleyed, cool and amused. “I mean, I didn’t know her before. And it’s not like I slept with that many.”
“Well, you can’t’ve slept with as many girls as the Terminator.” I finally found the keys and pushed the building door open. “Everyone has, at this point. And I just know there’ll be a million girls drooling all over his in-need-of-a-ladder body during the game.” I massaged my chest absentmindedly. “That’s another reason I don’t want to go. I can’t stand that!”
Rudy chuckled, softer this time. “I’m sure he hasn’t noticed a single one of those girls since the moment he saw you, Bunny Doc! Besides, maybe he…wants to see you at the game?”
I scoffed, stepping into the stairwell. “Then explain the four girls I saw around him at the party! He didn’t exactly look miserable. Didn’t seem to care that he had a mate. Unless…he forgot. Oh, Stephen, what if he forgot me?”
He went silent for a beat.
“But they weren’t really touching him, right? And what was he supposed to do? Shove them away and staple a note to his chest that says, ‘Back off, I have a mate’?” He was being sarcastic, but it sounded like a great idea to me.
“Yes. If he loves me, he should,” I admitted without thinking.
“Well, maybe he will,” Rudy said.
“As if!”
“Yvaine…” He trailed off, pausing for a second or two. I could count his inhalations. “Ever thought your mate might not be with or talk to other girls at all?”
“And how would you know, Mr. Expert-of-Mates?”
He laughed huskily, before his voice dropped an octave. “Well, silly bunny, because you’d feel chest pain every time he’s with someone.”
Oh…true.
“The weird thing is, I used to feel these periodic chest discomforts. Not really pain, but they stopped after my first date with Sillas. It was weird. Made no sense. But I think it must’ve been the stress at school and the hospital…” I trailed off. When I didn’t receive a response, I pulled the phone back to check if he was still there, then realized the line had gone dead.
I called him back, a little confused.
He picked up with a growl, breathing unevenly. “Sorry, I dropped my phone.”
“Are you okay, Rudy?” I asked, alarm creeping in.
“Yeah, yeah,” he snapped.
Rude!
“Right… Anyway, how do you know for sure that I’d feel pain? We haven’t mated.”
“I just know,” he said. Quiet. Absolute. Certain.
