I stared out the passenger window down the street. “Enjoy your evening, and good luck,” I said before I ended the call. I turned off the truck and got out. I knew my brothers didn’t mean anything by not inviting me to have beers with them. I was also aware of the fact that they all didn’t want mates, and they knew that after Silver had found Charlie, I had seriously started thinking about finding mine.
Would I love to have a mate? Yes. That was why I’d signed up for Mate Match. Did I think it would find my fated mate for me? I couldn’t say for certain, but my gorilla was more than passingly interested in Duncan.
I walked into the garage, wondering if I would get as lucky as Silver. I touched the button on the wall as I opened the door, and the garage door started to close. I loved my family, I truly did. But in the past few months, the dynamic had changed considerably. Sure, Ma had certainly overstepped boundaries when she’d signed Silver up for Mate Match, and she had finally seen just how wrong that had been. At least I hope she had. As far as any of us knew, she’d not signed the rest of us up on any new sites beyond what she’d already done.
My first stop was the kitchen to grab a water as well as a beer. Then I walked to the back of the house and into my bedroom. My place was a bit different than Silver’s in the fact that my main bedroom was on the ground floor. Well, I guess one of the main bedrooms. There was another complete en suite and bedroom upstairs, but it was smaller than the one down here, and it definitely didn’t have a Jacuzzi off it.
I entered the room, placed my drinks on the edge by the water, and then turned on the jets. After I went back to the bedroom and stripped off my clothes, placing them in the hamper, I returned to the Jacuzzi room and stepped into the bubbling water. My muscles weren’t necessarily sore from anything, but I still always found spending time in here relaxing. It was a place where I didn’t need to worry about work, clients, trying to figure out dating, or how not to upset my brother or, more importantly, his mate.
I sat down on the seat that wrapped completely around the tub and sat back. There was a jet that was positioned perfectly at my lower back, and I leaned back and closed my eyes. It didn’t take long for me to decide that I’d be messaging Charlie a little later to see if I could get any sort of help with regards to Duncan.
I’d honestly not expected a match nearly as quickly as I’d gotten one, but I wouldn’t ever complain. I would try and see if Duncan was willing to at least go out on a date with me. The worst he could do was say no. The best would be that he’d agree, and we were able to connect on a level like Silver and Charlie did. My gorilla liked that idea, and I made a mental note to message him through the app once I was out of the Jacuzzi.
I didn’t know if it was because I’d hit forty last year or if it was because my older, grumpy brother had changed a great deal since he’d met his mate. We all loved Charlie and were protective of him, but none more so than Silver.
I’d asked my brother once when he knew that Charlie was his mate. He told me that his gorilla knew right away, but it took a bit to convince his brain that was the case. Not too long, though, because they claimed each other the same night they met. Was that what my gorilla had been trying to tell me? Was Duncan my mate? If he was, then I was his, yet he seemed as if he didn’t want much to do with me. How was that possible?
It suddenly hit me. Maybe he didn’t want a mate? I thought about that for a moment before shutting that thought down. He was on Mate Match. He had signed up to find his mate. Was he not happy with who his possible mate was? Maybe he had an issue with my size? I tried not to be intimidating, but that didn’t always work. When you were six five, you drew attention because of your size.
I quickly realized that sitting in the Jacuzzi this evening was not relaxing me like I had hoped. Normally, this wasn’t an issue, but my mind was too unsettled for me to relax. I needed answers, and I wasn’t going to get them in the Jacuzzi. I stood, turned off the jets, then carefully climbed out. I grabbed a towel from the shelf, and after quickly drying off, I tossed it in the hamper and then went into the bedroom to find a pair of shorts. Once those were slipped on and I had my phone and a fresh bottle of water, I sat on the couch and opened the Mate Match app. It didn’t take long to find Duncan’s profile since he was my match.
When I opened the messages between us, they were unsurprisingly blank, but I was a bit shocked to see hearts floating up from the bottom to the top of my phone screen. I had absolutely nothing to lose, so I opened with a greeting.
Me: Hi Duncan. I’m excited about the prospect of getting to know you. I’d love to take you out on a date at some point. Just get back to me and let me know if these are things that you’d like to explore as well. We were matched for a reason, and I hope you are willing to give this a chance.
I didn’t know what else to say to him. After I hit Send, I closed the app and opened my text messages. I thought about it for a moment and decided to message Charlie instead of mybrother. It wasn’t as if Silver wouldn’t be reading the messages anyway.
Me: Hey Charlie. I won’t bug you too much. I was wondering if you knew if I had done something to upset Duncan? Maybe he’s just not interested? My gorilla certainly was, but I got the impression that he really wasn’t. Can you help me out here? Please?
I set the phone down and tried my best to wait for a reply from either of them. I wasn’t exactly the most patient person, but I was known for being a bit more patient than Silver. Hopefully, I wouldn’t have to wait too terribly long to hear from one of them.
Chapter Two
Duncan
Life was really unfair. A few months ago, when Charlie had been so immensely happy that he couldn’t ever stop smiling, I’d signed up on Mate Match and waited. And waited. And still nothing. My roommates loved to give me such a hard time about how desperate I’d become because I was always checking my phone, hoping for a new match. Still, no matches had come. I’d given up and deleted the app. So when Charlie had mentioned Clay, the super-sexy gorilla shifter that I was too shy to make eye contact with, was my match, I didn’t know what to say. I truly hadn’t known.
My panda was immensely upset with the fact that Clay had up and left. I still didn’t know what was going on, but the hope was that I’d be able to get some answers from Charlie.
“Uhh…can I talk to you?” I asked Charlie. “Alone? We don’t have to go far.” I glanced over at Charlie’s mate. He looked…irritated. I didn’t understand what I’d done to upset him, but maybe he was just irritated because that was who he was.
Charlie stood up. “Sure, Duncan. Let’s go out back, and we can sit outside and chat.” He pushed on Silver’s shoulder when he started to get up. “Alone,” he said with meaning.
I was immensely relieved. I followed Charlie outside, and when I quietly closed the door behind us, I followed the koala shifter over to where he’d been sitting earlier with his brother-in-law.
“I don’t understand,” I said at the same time Charlie said, “What’s going on?”
We both smiled.
“You first,” Charlie insisted.
I nodded. “I did have the app. I did sign up. But I deleted it a while ago because you and everyone else were always teasing me about always checking it.” I sighed. “It’s not wrong for someone to want to find their mate.” I looked down at my lap.
“No, it’s not,” Charlie said. “I’m sorry, Duncan. I didn’t mean to tease you, and I’m sorry you took it that way. I thought it was cute, actually.” Charlie got up and sat beside me. “Tell me what’s going on? Are your roommates still being assholes?”
I sighed again. “Yeah, but I can’t afford to live on my own,” I said. “I deleted all of my apps and changed my phone password when I caught Jake going through it, swiping on one of the apps.” That had been such an embarrassing moment. Not only had he messaged a few different guys, but he’d told them where I worked and when.
“Why didn’t you say something?” Charlie asked.
