I crossed the room, not sure if he intended for me to join Duncan or if I was supposed to help Charlie. I opted for going into the kitchen and helping my pregnant brother-in-law. He looked at me with wide eyes and then subtly indicated that I should go to the table. I grabbed a water from the fridge and then sat down across from Duncan. It gave me a good view of the adorable man. Duncan offered a smile that looked a bit forced before he went back to looking down at the table. Was he nervous? Scared? Uncomfortable? Had I done something?
“So, Duncan,” Charlie said as he carried a large piece of cake from the kitchen to the table, where Duncan was sitting. “Anynew matches on any of your dating apps?” He set the cake down in front of Duncan, who looked up at Charlie with wide, rounded eyes. He glanced at me before looking back at Charlie, who started laughing.
“You know,” Charlie said, “I was actually sitting with Clay just before you arrived. I watched as he hit Submit on his own Mate Match profile, and we were both a bit shocked to see it come back with a match a few minutes later.”
Charlie glanced at me, then back at Duncan, who was immensely interested in the cake. I didn’t blame him. It was good cake.
“When did you decide to join Mate Match?” Silver asked me. Charlie stood, and Silver took his place, only to have Silver pull him onto his lap. They were cute together, and it had been obvious from the very beginning that my brother was completely in love with his mate.
“I’ve been considering it for a while now, but I finally got around to filling out the profile last night. Charlie encouraged me to actually hit Submit today though.”
Charlie cleared his throat. “And?” he asked, looking at me expectantly.
Why was dating so difficult? I was forty. I’d be forty-one later this year. “And…” I looked at Duncan, who was more playing with his cake than eating it. “Like Charlie said, I got a match.” I tried to get Duncan’s attention, but he seemed as if he wasn’t really interested. “But I’m not sure he would be interested,” I added. That had those brown eyes looking up at me, but he quickly glanced back down.
Charlie seemed as if he’d had enough. He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Really, Duncan? There is no way you didn’t know that Clay was matched with you,” Charlie said, calling out Duncan. “You’re constantly checking your phone at work every time I see you.”
Duncan looked up at Charlie with wide eyes. I felt my body go cold when Duncan gave Charlie a look and then immediately hid his face again. He wasn’t interested. That was too bad because my gorilla was certainly shouting about the adorable little red panda shifter.
“I’m going to head out,” I told them as I stood. It took a lot to stare directly at Charlie and Silver, especially since I could see Duncan had looked up at me when I stood and spoke. “If you need anything, you both know where I’ll be.” I looked over at Duncan briefly. “It was nice to meet you, Duncan. Sort of meet you, I guess,” I added. I’d not really met the man. He’d not said a thing to me, which…okay. I could understand. Gorilla shifters were large. We could be intimidating without even trying, and at times, that really worked against us. It wasn’t intentional; we were just large shifters, as well as larger humans.
I left before anyone could say anything, and Silver didn’t have a chance to come after me because his pregnant mate was sitting on his lap. Charlie said something to Duncan, but I didn’t stick around to hear exactly what it was.
I heard the usual sounds of a neighborhood as I walked to my truck, which was parked on the street down the road a bit, but when I climbed in and closed the door, I was left with silence. Usually, I enjoyed the silence, but for some reason, right now, I wanted anything but that. I sat there for only a moment before starting the truck and pulling away from the curb. I lived less than a five-minute drive away, but I didn’t feel like going home. Instead, I drove past my place and down the block to Mica’s. I knew before stopping that he wasn’t home because his truck wasn’t parked in his driveway.
That meant I would actually need to head back to my own place. I didn’t want to go back to mine, but I would. Mica most likely wasn’t the best person to talk to about certain things anyway. That was probably Silver, but I didn’t really want to talkto him at the moment. Most likely, I’d end up punching him again.
I turned around in Mica’s drive, and I’d made it about halfway back to my place when he called me on the phone.
“Hello,” I said as I answered the phone.
“Did you need something? You turned around in the driveway but didn’t stay.”
“Yeah. You’re not there.”
“No. I went out with Flint and Slate.”
“Seriously? Without me?”
“Man, we’re at the bar. You never want to go to the bar to pick someone up.”
I listened for a moment and shook my head as I pulled into my own driveway. “There’s no way you’re at a bar.”
“Not currently. I’m outside because you turned around in my driveway. You should come on out. Maybe you could find someone to spend the evening with.”
Immediately, my mind went to moppy brown hair and a lopsided smile. “No, thanks,” I told him. “I just pulled into my own driveway, and I’m thinking about opening a beer or two and just relaxing in my Jacuzzi or something.”
Sure, it was June, and I didn’t need to be in the Jacuzzi for heat. But it was inside, in a temperature-controlled room off my bedroom. It was more of a relaxation thing, and it was often where I went to relax my mind.
“Seriously?” Mica said. “You’re going to go sit in hot water instead of coming to the bar?”
“I am. Enjoy your night. Maybe you’ll get lucky and find that perfect someone.”
“No way,” Mica said. “For a night, sure. But no longer than that. I don’t even want to exchange names. Then they get attached.”
I rolled my eyes. “See, that’s why I’m not leaving my place to come join the three of you. Besides, you didn’t bother to invite me in the first place. I obviously wasn’t wanted around.” I pushed the button on the visor to open the garage door.
“It’s not like that, Clay. You know that.”
