“He seemed pretty nice when I spoke to him.” Everyone did, in fact.
“Yeah, well, maybe I’m projecting and it’s just me losing my mind over here. These things are usually nailed down months before the gig kicks off, not days and weeks.”
I tap my fingers on my thighs, trying not to stress over the amount of work looming in front of me. “They just need some more tweaks and I should have something to send to Steve in a couple of days. A month really isn’t that long to produce something that’ll work on such a big scale.”
She grunts. “Tell me about it. Maybe you shouldn’t have hidden yourself away so well and we could have found you ages ago.”
“Remind me when I build that time machine.”
“Oh girl, I will. You’re taking me with you. There’s plenty of shit I wouldn’t mind changing.”
“Noted.” I stretch my back and try to shift my weight off my ass cheeks, which have gone numb during our conversation. “Thanks, Jules.”
“I think our first session of girl talk went well. Although don’t blame me if I call you at two in the morning when I’m drunk and sad because a hot guy was an asshole to me.”
Jules doesn’t seem like someone who gets emotional all that easily, so I think I’m in the clear.
“I look forward to it,” I reply.
Chapter 23
Dorian
Iflop onto the sofa beside Micah and let out a pained groan.
He pauses in braiding his hair away from his face to grin at me. “What’s up, man? You finally get bored of hiding out in your room?”
I shoot him a flat look, although I’m not sure it translates now that I’m back in my shades.
“Had to find some time to nap, seeing as I’ve not been getting much sleep over the past few nights. Too much grunting and groaning from your bedroom, keeping me awake.”
His cheeks flush and he rubs the back of his neck like he’s embarrassed, although his grin doesn’t fade. “Shit. Sorry, man. I guess I’m getting even after all those years seeing your bare ass whenever I walked in the room or on the tour bus at the wrong time.”
I glance around, not wanting Sin to hear evidence of my checkered past. I won’t pretend like I’m a saint or anything, but I’d rather no one rubbed that in her face when she’s just found out that fate has lumped her with me as a mate.
We’ve already gotten off on the wrong foot and... fuck, I want her not to hate me for my past, since there’s nothing I can do about it now.
“I need to tell you something,” I say to Micah as dread pools in my gut.
I don’t really know how to tell him that the first person he’s ever shown attraction to in the time I’ve known him is also my fated mate.
He sits forward, clearly sensing the nerves sloshing around inside me. “Sure, man. What’s up?”
“It’s about Sin. She, er, walked in on me yesterday when I wasn’t wearing my glasses.”
“Shit.” He’s on his feet and across the room before I can stop him.
“She’s fine,” I call after him, jumping to my feet and stumbling after him. “This was yesterday, man. My eyes didn’t affect her.”
He pauses and blinks a bunch of times.
“She—”
“She’s your mate?”
Well, he certainly cottoned on faster than I did. I scan his features, searching for... I don’t know what. I just know I’d feel pretty conflicted if I’d just started dating someone and she turned out to be fated to someone else.
Not that I’ve ever thought about it before. Fated mates aren’t exactly common. Especially pairings between a monster like me and someone who’s mostly human, like Sin.
