I shrugged. “What were you going to do? You’re here with your mate, you’re living your best life, and the last thing I wanted to do was drag you into the mess that is my life.”
Charlie rolled his eyes. “All right. Well, first thing we’re going to do is get you in contact with Clay.” Seconds later, his eyes went wide, and I was suddenly concerned. “Oh, maybe you don’t want to? I didn’t even consider that.”
I shook my head. “You’re kidding, right? Would you really not want Silver? Seriously?”
Charlie grinned. “So you believe there’s a connection between the two of you?”
I shrugged. “I couldn’t say. I’m definitely attracted to him, but I don’t really know a whole lot about these things. I just wanted to get your gift to you,” I told him before I stood.
Charlie jumped up. Well, as fast as a pregnant man could. “I need to open it.”
“Naw. It’s nothing too amazing. I just wanted you to have something special for your little one.”
Charlie bit his lower lip. “Actually, we’re having twins,” he told me.
“What?” I asked, stopping about two steps away from where we’d been sitting and looking back at him. “We still don’t know what we’re having, but it’s twins, and we’re both really excited.”
I smiled at Charlie, but it was forced, and I knew it. I was both happy for him but also surprised and a little worried. Charlie was little, even compared to me. And Silver…wasn’t. I had a feeling that the babies were going to be on the larger size, even if they were twins and would be smaller.
“That’s…congratulations,” I told him. “Are you doing okay?” That made sense as to why Charlie was already showing so much. He wasn’t big to start with, but twins…that was a lot.
Charlie chuckled. “I’m good. Silver is really spoiling me, and we’ve been talking about it a lot in the last couple of weeks since we found out, and I’m going to take an extended leave of absence from work.”
I nodded. I didn’t blame him for that. I didn’t have that luxury and wouldn’t ever, most likely. I lived with three other roommates in a two-bedroom house. It sucked, but we were all broke. I worked two jobs and took any extra shift I couldget. Why? Because I had nothing. I’d never had anything, and probably never would.
“I’m really happy for you,” I told him. The door opened, and Silver stood there holding out a phone.
“Charlie, Clay is messaging you. Did you want me to answer him, or did you want to?”
I smiled at Charlie again. “I’m going to get. I might be able to pick up a shift tonight, so I’ll get out of your way.”
“The message is about you,” Silver said.
“Yeah,” Charlie said. “Clay matched with Duncan on Mate Match. He probably has lots of questions.”
Charlie grabbed my arm, and I was too surprised to pull away from him. I let him lead me into the house, and once inside, he read the message and then snorted.
“You need to swing by Clay’s place,” Charlie told me as he went to the kitchen. I couldn’t see what he was doing, but I already knew there was absolutely no way I was going to go to Clay’s place. I wasn’t about to go embarrass myself even more in front of the sexy gorilla shifter. “Here’s his address,” Charlie said when he came out, holding out a piece of paper.
I shook my head. “I’m not going to go to the guy’s house. Why would I do that?” I shoved my hands into my pockets.
“Because he’s wondering what he did wrong. He was matched with you, but you showed no interest in him at all.”
“It was a bit of a surprise, is all,” I said. “I can redownload the app and message him through it.” I wasn’t going to swing by the guy’s house. That was weird. It was rude. “If you want, you can tell him I’ll message him through the app,” I said instead of agreeing to go by Clay’s house.
Charlie looked confused, but it was Silver who spoke up. “You don’t need to do that,” Silver said. “He wouldn’t be opposed to you stopping by his place. He only lives a few blocks away,” he added.
I nodded slowly and took the piece of paper that Charlie had been holding out toward me. “Thanks. And congratulations again on the twins.”
I would miss Charlie at work. I didn’t see him often, but when I did, he was always in a good mood, especially now that he was mated. Would my life be drastically different if I had a mate? I would hope so. But I’d been dumb to even sign up for the Mate Match app because I had absolutely nothing to bring to a relationship. I lived with roommates. I was a waiter, times two. I had a job at the zoo restaurant, and I also worked at a bar in the evenings or nights. I did everything I could to make ends meet, and I was still broke most of the time. Life just wasn’t fair to some.
I quickly left the house, quietly closing the front door behind me and hurrying away. I wasn’t fast enough, though, because Silver followed me.
“Duncan, wait up,” he called out. “Please?”
I froze. Silver was nice enough. I didn’t really know him. He often appeared a bit grumpy, but I think that was probably just how gorilla shifters looked because Clay seemed kinda grumpy as well. I turned back to Silver. “Yeah?”
“I’m not going to tell you what to do or even suggest anything. But my brother is a good guy, and I’m not just saying that because he’s my brother. He annoys me most of the time.” My eyebrows rose in disbelief. “I’m not telling you this to scare you away. He truly is a good guy. But I didn’t know he was wanting a mate. It’s great he is, and maybe the app will work for the two of you like it did for me and Charlie.”
