I nodded a few times. “Thanks,” I said. I gestured over my shoulder. “I’m going to go if you don’t have anything else to say.”
Silver sighed. “I just want to suggest that you give it a try. Despite what you might feel like regarding things…life ingeneral, the massive amount of questions you answered on that app has paired you with my brother. He would be a good mate.”
“Thanks,” I said again. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
I started to walk away, happy that I’d parked down the street. My old wagon was so out of place in this neighborhood, it wasn’t even funny. I was sure that whoever lived in the house I parked in front of was probably wondering who polluted their neighborhood with their clunker. It didn’t look pretty—far from it—but it was solid. It almost always started, and that was important.
I hurried down the street, and when I got to my car, I pulled the door open and sighed in relief when I turned the key forward and the car started. The usual loud, clanky screech told everyone within earshot that I was finally taking my clunker away from their pretty neighborhood. That would be my luck if it had decided that now was one of those times that it wasn’t going to start. I pulled on my seat belt, and after checking the road for others, I pulled out and left the neighborhood.
Yeah, Clay didn’t live far from Silver’s house, but there was no way I was going to drop in and say hi. Would I go home and message him? Probably. I’d be even dumber than usual not to. If nothing else, I could accept a meet-up and let him know that there was no way we would ever be paired. People like Charlie got paired up with guys like Silver and his brothers. Not guys like me.
I didn’t have a family. Well, not any that I knew of. I was abandoned at a fire station when I was a baby, and that was all I knew. There was no note, nothing left with me, and I’d grown up in the system. I was never adopted because for whatever reason, people didn’t want to adopt a baby shifter of unknown species.
I’d struggled most of my life, and when I finally started shifting, I’d been happy to learn that I wasn’t some massive predator shifter that might go rogue and go on a killing spree.I was certain my red panda was basically harmless, but I didn’t shift often.
I was broke, struggling to survive, and lived with three other guys to afford to live. Sure, there were cheaper places to live, but it was difficult when you didn’t have enough funds to up and leave any one place.
I stopped at the entrance of the neighborhood, and once it was clear, I turned left and pulled out into traffic. It would take probably thirty minutes to get home, and the first thing I was going to do was see if they needed me at the bar tonight. I wasn’t scheduled to work tonight, but they knew I would take any extra shifts they were willing to offer. I wasn’t the only one though, and Stephen, the bar’s manager, tried to rotate the extra shifts between all of us to keep things fair. I got it. It helped make for a happier workplace.
I drove through traffic and was happy when I finally turned onto the road that led to my apartment. That feeling left when I saw a familiar car parked in the visitor’s parking. I didn’t want to deal with Dave. He was an asshole who thought he was superior to everyone else. Instead of pulling into the reserved spot that I paid for every month, I kept going and circled around to leave the parking lot. I just didn’t have it in me today to deal with him. When Dave was over, Mark hid in our room, and Jake and Chris became even bigger assholes than they usually were.
I drove down the street and pulled into the parking lot of a fast-food place and parked. This absolutely wasn’t how I wanted to spend my Sunday. I ran my hands down my face before I picked up the phone.
Me: Hey Stephen! Need any extra help tonight? I’m open if you do.
Seconds later, a reply came in, and I frowned.
Stephen: Sorry, man. It was Lily’s turn to get the extra shift. With it being Sunday, you know we won’t be too busy and only need the one extra.
It was disappointing, but I did understand. That meant I either had to figure out somewhere else to be for the evening until Dave finally left, or I would have to hope for the best when I rushed through the apartment and headed for the room I shared with Mark.
Me: Thanks anyway. See you on Tuesday.
I hit Send. Stephen’s reply came in shortly after.
Stephen:
Since I had the app open, I moved from Stephen to Mark.
Me: Is Dave there? I saw his car. Is he being his usual lovely self?
Mark: It’s not just Dave. Jake and Chris decided to have a get-together. I locked our door and pushed the dresser in front of it before I crawled out the window. I’m crashing at my sister’s apartment with her and her roommates because there were about twenty people in our tiny-ass apartment when I left. There is no way the police won’t get called. If I’m not there, I won’t be caught in that mess.
I groaned in frustration. It would have been nice if Mark had messaged me to let me know, but it also wasn’t hisresponsibility. He’d spilled the beans when I messaged, which was more than some roommates would have done.
It looked like I was probably going to be sleeping in my car for the night. It wasn’t ideal, but it had been one of the reasons why I had no issues with buying an old station wagon. There was enough room in it to lie down, and although I didn’t really want to, I knew that if I went home, I’d never have any peace.
Sure, I could climb up the emergency exit and go into the bedroom through the window like Mark had left, but I didn’t want to have to. One of us would have to do it tomorrow, but I was with Mark on this. I didn’t want to be there. I never wanted to be there, but I didn’t have much of a choice. I couldn’t afford a place on my own. Mark and I had looked into places that the two of us could rent together, but he was a student and only worked part-time. He could barely afford the rent on the place we had, and we split everything four ways.
I sort of kicked myself for not staying longer at Charlie’s and eating more of at least the cake. But I should have accepted the offer of free food. I was going to have to figure something out for supper, but more importantly, I needed to figure out where I was going to park for the night. I didn’t want to get a ticket, but I also didn’t want to have my car towed either. I didn’t necessarily want a burger from the place I was parked at, but they had a value menu, and I could get a pair of burgers for under five bucks, so I went inside to get something to eat before I found somewhere to park for the night.
Once I had my burgers and a drink, I sat down and pulled out my phone. It had plenty of battery, thankfully. Before I could download the Mate Match app, I saw there was a text message from Charlie.
Charlie: Here’s Clay’s number. 867-5309 Maybe message him? If you want to double-check to see that you were his match, here’s a screenshot of his phone that he sent me. I’m not trying to be pushy. I swear I’m not hormonal and pregnant and want everyone to be happily mated. You just didn’t seem yourself and I’m a little concerned. Is everything all right?
I looked at the pic, and sure enough, that was my profile. My eyes widened when I saw the match rate. Ninety-nine percent? How was that possible? They had said they normally matched around eighty percent compatibility. But that much?
