I hesitated for a moment on my way over to help Duncan pack. “That makes that easier, then,” I told him. “How many of these clothes are yours?” I asked as I looked into the closet.
“The stuff on the left is mine. There’s a divider in the middle.”
I nodded, pulled the clothes out all at once, and then placed them on the bed. “Do you have another bag? Or even a basket?”
Duncan’s eyes lit up. “I have a basket. It’s empty because I did laundry yesterday.” He turned around and went to the corner where there was an empty laundry basket sitting on the floor. It looked sturdy enough, and after Duncan set it on the bed, I picked up the clothes, folded them in half, and placed them in it. There weren’t many, and I wondered where the rest of his things were. “Anything else? Do you have books or anything like that?”
Duncan nodded. He pulled out a box from under the bed, one of the types that was fireproof and locked. He turned the numbers, and after aligning the correct sequence, he opened it. He quickly looked through and then nodded to himself before closing it again. He dropped it on top of his clothes in the basket and then moved back to putting clothes in the bag that were from the dresser.
I took several deep breaths but wasn’t going to say anything. Not at the moment because Duncan was currently willing to move in with me. If I said anything to upset him, he might change his mind, and that absolutely wasn’t what I wanted. Instead, I pulled out my phone and messaged Silver.
Me: We need to talk about Duncan’s soon to be former roommates. When I walked into the apartment, they quickly hid something but I didn’t get a good look at what. They’re having a get-together, and the place is trashed out there, which okay. Maybe they will clean it. I think there is one of their friends that might end up being an issue for Duncan. He’s not a roommate but seems to be here a lot from what Duncan has said.
“Everything all right?”
I quickly slid my phone back into my pocket and shook my head. “Not really,” I told him. “I’m not a fan of this arrangement or situation.”
Duncan nodded. “I can understand that. We can talk more about it later if you want. But I’m basically ready.”
I looked around and found it sad that the room looked pretty much the same. “You’re ready?” I glanced again. “You have all you want for now?”
Duncan shrugged. “I have all of my things right here,” he said. He placed a backpack in the basket with the other things. The bag looked to be almost full, which was a relief. It seemed that Duncan either had many more clothes that needed to be folded, or he’d filled it with other things while I wasn’t looking.
“All right. If you’re sure you’re ready, go ahead and go down to the truck through the front. I’ll walk you out and make sure nobody bothers you. Then I’ll come back and move the dresser back in place and go down the outside way.”
“No,” Duncan said. “You go that way. The window is small, and you’ll struggle to fit through.”
I glanced at it, and he was probably right. I could get through if I absolutely needed to, but if I was being honest, it was betterthat he go out the window. I placed the bag on top of the basket and picked up everything. My heart ached at the meager belongings that my mate had. Maybe he had more things stored in his car. It was possible that he didn’t have a lot of things because he moved often. I didn’t know at the moment, but I was going to discuss that with him later on as well.
I nodded, took the basket with the things in it, and walked out the door. Duncan closed it quietly behind me, and only after I heard him move the dresser back in front of it did I take off for the front door. I growled at the others, and I had no doubt that they heard me because the music had been shut off, and everyone was standing around, staring toward the hallway that led to the bedrooms.
“He still owes rent. He can’t just move out.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Don’t worry. I’ll be talking to the leasing office tomorrow about him moving out. Expect to hear from me and my brothers if there are any issues,” I warned them. I would be sending an off-hours email later, or Silver would, so we had the advantage of documenting our time earlier with our intentions before any of them could get to the office and possibly try to make things more difficult for Duncan.
It wasn’t that I had any sort of connections with leasing offices or the like. But after doing what I did for as long as I had, I knew from just being in the apartment for a few minutes that things weren’t quite as they should be.
I didn’t think there were issues from the office’s side of things, but that would be sorted tomorrow. Right now, my first concern was getting Duncan moved into my place. Well, what would be our place going forward. I left the apartment without another word, and when I got to the ground floor and the building’s breezeway entrance, I saw Duncan walking around the side of the building toward me. When he saw me, the immediate relief on his face had me worried.
“I’m fine,” I told him. “Did you think they would try something?”
“There are a lot more of them than there are you.”
I chuckled. “True. They turned off the music, thankfully, and I might have used that to my advantage and growled at them.”
Duncan’s eyes widened. “You growled at them?”
I shrugged. “Yeah. My gorilla saw them as a possible threat to our mate, and I absolutely growled at them. It won’t be the last time that I growl at someone when you’re around, Duncan.” We were at the truck, and he opened the back door for me. I set the basket on the seat, and when Duncan handed me the larger bag he’d taken, I placed it on the floor in front of it. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly before I stepped back and closed the door. “Up you go,” I told him after opening the front door for him. Once Duncan was inside, I closed that door and rounded the front. I glanced back at the building, happy that my mate was with me and would no longer need to be there, but immensely sad since he obviously didn’t have a whole lot of things.
“I’ll take you to your car, and then you can follow me back to the house, all right?” I said after climbing in and starting the truck.
“Yeah, sure.”
I glanced over at Duncan because we were still in the parking lot, and there was plenty of time to look his way. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” He sighed. “My car is going to look so out of place at your house.”
I smiled over at him. “It’s all right. There are all types of vehicles in our neighborhood,” I told him. This was actually true. Granted, his car was probably one of the rougher-looking ones I’d seen, but if I had my way, it wouldn’t take long for him to be in something newer.
