It wasn’t my fault that he took that idea and ran with it. And it certainly wasn’t my fault that the first person he told knew someone who needed a place right away and was happy to take it unseen. And it most definitely wasn’t my fault that I agreed without asking any questions.
Fine, the last part was my fault, but I had to. I was already borrowing from budget line items this month and were only a couple weeks in. If the guy was awful, I’d just kick him out. My hope was that he would be quiet, keep to himself, and be a bear. Was that too much to ask? Probably.
I sucked in a deep breath, kicking myself for being so irresponsible. Had either of my brothers done this I’d be livid. And rightfully so. So much for me being the responsible one.
By the time they were walking up the steps, I’d reached the door, swinging it open to greet them and possibly help carry things in. I wasn’t sure what I’d expected. But someone dressed like one of our first class travelers trying to balance a bunch of bags of what I guessed was his stuff as two boxes sat at the endof the walk wasn’t it.
“I’m Candrin. Saul had to drop me off and hurry back.” He nearly dropped one of the bags and I raced to prevent it falling and managed to—barely—and was nearly knocked over myself.
Candrin, this stranger turned roommate, smelled like juniper and sandalwood and it had my bear dancing and my cock expanding. This was not good. This was really not good. Especially given that nothing about this man was shifter. Nope. Our new roomie was 100% human and an omega.
“I got this and I’ll grab the two at the end. You can put your things down, then I’ll give you a tour and help get your stuff to your room.” I headed toward the boxes, realized I’d forgotten to introduce myself thanks to his scent and figured it would be too awkward to do it from there.
I carried the boxes up the stairs and he was still standing where I’d left him. They were light enough for me, but he was human, a human that didn’t look like he worked a very physical or dirty job. He probably had a fancy office with windows on two sides and a hefty paycheck.
If the Saul person dropped him off without any help, my guess was Candrin justgot dumped by his other half, and we were a landing area until he figured out what to do next. He could very well be gone before Oberon got back from his two weeks camping and possibly before Huston returned from his conference.
“You coming?” I finally called when I didn’t hear any footsteps.
“Yeah.”
I reached his new room and walked straight inside, setting the boxes on the floor. If the belongings we brought into the house were the only ones he had, it was a good thing the room was furnished completely, including bedding.
“Sorry you said to put things down and we’d have a tour so I thought I was supposed to wait. My name's Candrin.” He introduced himself again.
I found it odd until it clicked why. I still hadn’t told him my name. His scent made it impossible to think clearly for that kind of formality.
“Tanner.” I stepped back from him, hoping to avoid his aroma. It didn’t work. I wasn’t sure anything could. “This is your room. You paying weekly or monthly?”
“Can I do weekly until I get situated? I know that weekly costs more in the long run, but I am unexpectedly in a not great way financially.”
Yeah it was a break up. That sucked, but also it wasn’t my business. I was, however, impressed that he saw paying weekly as the less optimal of choices in the long run. A lot of people wouldn’t have seen that.
“That’s fine.”
“I do have the first month though. Does that work?” He took out a bunch of cash and handed me most of it.
“Thanks.” I slid it in my pocket, already deciding what budget line items needed replenishing first. “Now rent is only part of your payment. Let’s go on a tour and then I’ll tell you about our cleaning schedule.”
Candrin’s eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open.
“Don’t worry. I won’t make you clean the septic tank or anything like that.” We didn’t have one, being close enough to the city for public water and sewage, but it snapped him out of his shock and that was the point. I walked out and continued narrating thetour as he followed behind me.
I wanted to tell him the fun little details of this house as we came upon them, but keeping my bear at bay and my semi only a semi, I had to constantly think of random boring or gross things while I showed him around, resulting in a really curt overly quick tour.
I did take more time discussing the chore schedule, but that was only because I created it and it was a bit complicated. Given Candrin didn’t look like he’d done a chore a day in his life, slowing down was imperative.
“Any questions about the chores?”
He shook his head.
“Good. And be sure you do them when you are supposed to. It’s easy to say I’ll do it tomorrow but then it never gets done.” That was why I had to make the chart and schedule in the first place. Left to their own devices, my brothers would have all chores done tomorrow and never today.
“Another thing, being Saturday we should probably discuss it sooner rather than later… please don’t bring guys home. Go to their house or a hotel or an alley, I don’t care which, but we don’t like waking up to strangers in our house eating our breakfast and sitting in our chairs.” And it had nothing to do with me wanting his stupid and alluring scent all to myself. Fine it wasn’t stupid, but it was making me feel that way so close enough.
“I’m not going out. So no worries there.” He stuck his hands into his front pockets. “I have a bag of food, can you show me where I can keep it?”
“Sure, what kinds of things? We have a system.” Or rather I had a system my brothers followed so I kept off their case.
