Behind the Eight Ball (20 page)

Since it was so late in the evening, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and then drove out to where I lived. We parked and sat looking at the house.

“Well, time for round two,” I said.

“Yeah, except Marshell’s not going to be as nice.”

“Hey.” I tugged his sleeve until he looked at me. “You’re my mate. He doesn’t have to like it, but he
will
show you respect, or we’ll leave. I won’t let him give you a hard time, and I’ll make that plain to him.”

Relief rushed across Heller’s face. “Thanks.”

“No, don’t you thank me like I’m doing you a favor.” I cupped his chin. “My defending you is your right. You’re my mate, and you come first. No one, and I mean
no one
, comes before you. Understand?”

A smile lit Heller’s face. “Yeah, I understand. I guess…. We don’t really know each other, you know?”

“No, we really don’t.” I rubbed my thumb over his bottom lip. “But I know what I feel for you isn’t like anything I’ve ever felt before. I like you, Heller. Like you as a person, you get me? I enjoy your company. You make me laugh. We might have jumped into this, but I don’t regret that. There’s attraction here, and I already care for you. We’ll make it work.”

“Thank you for that,” Heller said. “That’s exactly what I needed to hear.”

We locked the truck and Heller followed me inside. What I hadn’t said to Heller was I could fall in love with him very easily. He wasn’t an easy person by any means, but after he dropped the shield he’d built around him, I’d seen the vulnerable man beneath.

His life certainly hadn’t been trouble-free. I knew about his sister, but what about parents? Other family members? I’d already gathered he’d shut out his friends. Did he truly have no one? He came off as a narcissistic diva, but that didn’t worry me. I could handle anything he threw at me.

We entered the house, and I heard the TV playing in the den. I sent a prayer to whoever might be listening with the request for Marshell to act nice. I’d settle for him not acting like an ass too. I loved him like a brother, but I wouldn’t let him hurt Heller. I really, really hoped I wasn’t about to have to choose between the two. Marshell wouldn’t like the end result.

“Hey! Where are you guys?” I called out.

“Lawson? We’re back here,” Marshell answered.

I tugged Heller back to where they were. Marshell was sitting on the couch watching some stupid reality show. Janelle was across from him, working on her laptop.

We joined them, and I felt Heller stiffen next to me.

“Hey there!” Janelle looked up from the computer and grinned at me. “We were starting to wonder if you were going to show up today.”

“We had some things to do first. I met Heller’s Alpha and the rest of the betas.”

Janelle put the laptop down and stood. She walked to us and briefly hugged me, then Heller. “Congratulation on your mating.”

“Then—wait. Dammit. How do you
do
that?” I stuck my hands on my hips. “How’d you know?”

“Please, sweetie. Between his scent all over you and the fact you no longer smell human, it’s easy enough to guess what happened last night.”

She waggled her eyebrows at me, and I grimaced. “I’ve told you about that. So I smell different. Good to know. But you don’t smell any different to me, and I know my senses have improved since we mated.”

“That’s because you didn’t have my scent while you were human, so you don’t have anything to compare what I smell like now,” Janelle said.

“Believe me, her scent is different now that she and Sam have mated.” Marshell stood.

“Oh? Well, congrats to you too. I take it the whole biting thing got worked out?” I asked.

“Let’s just says you weren’t the only one getting busy last night.” Marshell rolled his eyes. “Poor me, even with ear plugs and blasting my music, I couldn’t drown them out.”

“Oh yes, poor you,” Janelle sniped, glaring at Marshell. “Now you know what Lawson and I had to put up with all those times you brought screamers home.”

“That last one was particularly loud,” I added.

“Where’s Sam?” Heller asked.

“I took him home not long ago so he could clean up,” Janelle said.

“So….” Marshell crossed his arms and turned toward Heller.

Shit, I was going to kill Marshell if he started some crap with my mate. Heller narrowed his eyes, and I tensed. Dammit, Heller’s Alpha had made me feel welcome, and the betas were nice to me. Heller deserved the same.

Okay, Brier was a bit on the cool side, and Aidric acted like he had a stick stuck up his ass, but still. No one gave me crap there. Seconds dragged by. Yup, I was going to have to kill Marshell.

Then a smile broke across Marshall’s face, and he held his hand out to Heller. “Thank goddess you got your head out of your ass and mated Lawson.”

My mouth fell open.
Um, what?

Heller eyes widened, and he glanced down at Marshell’s hand like he had no clue what to do with it. Slowly he reached out and clasped it. “Um, what?”

Marshell pulled him forward and hugged him. “Welcome to the family.”

Marshell suddenly stiffened, and I could have sworn I saw him sniff my mate. Before I could say anything, he released Heller, a smile still plastered across his face, except now it looked a little strained. My mate, bless his heart, looked as confused as I felt.

Marshell turned to me, and I poked him in the chest with a finger. “Hold your horses. What the hell, Marshell? Wasn’t it you who was so against me being with Heller? Never had anything nice to say? Rode his ass every time you saw him? That
was
you, right?”

“I rode his ass
because
I wanted him to wake the fuck up and see what he was throwing away by rejecting you. Every paranormal knows how special mates are, and I’ll be damned if I was going to stand back and let that happen, no matter what his hang-ups about humans were. He was punishing you for something
someone
else did. That’s wrong.”

“God, Marshell.” Slack-jawed, I stared at him. “Arrogant much?”

Heller hissed. “You interfering son of a—”

“Yes, I did, and I don’t regret it.” Marshell finally huffed out a breath and slumped slightly. “Look, I’m sure Lawson told you he and I were lovers a long time ago. Yes, I knew that misbegotten jealousy would help drive you into acknowledging him and stop your running. But I love him like a brother, Heller. I couldn’t stand by and let you walk away from him without at least trying to… do something.”

“So you made me fight for him.”

“Yes. I made you fight for him. He deserves happiness. He deserves a mate. He
deserves
you, Heller.”

“I… I thought you thought I wasn’t good enough for him,” Heller said quietly.

“Oh man,” I groaned, my heart breaking.

“I’m sorry, truly. I did what I did because I knew you
were
good enough for him. And
that’s
why I did everything I could to make you see that.” Marshell clapped Heller on the back. “Welcome to the family, little brother.”

“Shit.” Heller eyed those massive arms whacking him on the back. “Little brother?”

Marshell smirked. “There’s nothing
small
about me, trust me.”

Both Janelle and I groaned. Heller just laughed and shook his head.

“So….” Marshell motioned for us to all sit. “Been to meet the Alpha, huh? Who else did you say?”

“The rest of the betas,” Heller answered.

“Well, don’t keep us in suspense,” Marshell said. “Names, man.”

“Oh. Well, there are four of us. The other three are Aidric LeClair, Brier Fendon, and Remi Ginn. Our Alpha’s name is Armonty Hoyer, and his mate is June Hoyer. Dolf is their only child,” Heller replied.

“Uh-huh. Are you the only mated one?” Marshell asked.

“So far out of the betas. I think I’ve mentioned Dolf has two mates, and they’re both male,” Heller said.

“Good to know same-sex pairings aren’t a problem in your clowder,” Janelle said.

“Just human ones,” Marshell pointed out.

“We’re working on that,” Heller said. “Trust me, we’re working on it. I’m sure Kirk will pull in Lawson to help the cause.”

Heller continued to talk about his clowder for a while, and then we watched TV. I offered Heller a drink, and he followed me into the kitchen to see what we had.

“Let’s see. We have sweet tea, Sprite, and orange juice. Any of that sound good?” I asked.

Heller leaned against the counter. “Got any unsweetened tea?”

“Ah, let’s see.” I opened the refrigerator and looked around. “Nope, just sweetened tea. You like unsweetened?”

“Cats can’t taste sweet things.”

“Oh wow, interesting. What about one of the other two?”

“Sprite’s good. It has a sharp, sour taste.” Heller looked at the microwave clock. “It’s getting late too.”

“Yeah.” I fixed his drink and me some tea.

“So what time do you have to be at work tomorrow?”

“I opened last week, so this week is Marshell’s turn,” I said. “I’ll probably go in around noon to see if they need any help. Why?”

“Because I was hoping you’d spend the night.”

Heller

I ACTUALLY
hoped he’d spend more than just one night, but I didn’t want to spring that on him. Now that we’d mated, his place was with me.

“I’d like that. Come on. The sooner I pack some clothes, the sooner we can get out of here.”

“Sounds like a plan.” I followed Lawson to his bedroom.

All he had in his room was a bed, a dresser, and a small desk. The furniture didn’t look great either. I sat on the edge of the bed while he packed a small duffle with enough stuff for several days. Good. The more time we had together, the more I could work on the idea of him moving in.

After Lawson packed a bag, we said good-bye to Janelle and Marshell and left. By the time we got back to my house, it was around ten.

I took Lawson’s duffle to my bedroom, then returned to the sitting area to find Lawson curled up in a chair. “Are you hungry?”

“I could eat, sure.”

“Do you want me to cook, or do you want to throw some sandwiches together?”

“Got chips?” Lawson asked.

“Yeah.”

“I vote for the sandwiches.”

I fixed us a bite to eat and we settled down to eat in the living area. “So Marshell has a nice side. Who’da thunk it?”

Lawson snorted. “It’s a closely guarded secret. Honestly, though, he has a heart as big as he is tall. He’ll do anything for those he cares about, as we just saw.”

“And he cares about you,” I added.

“Don’t think you’re going to get off easy just because you two didn’t see eye to eye at first.” Lawson took a bite of his sandwich and swallowed. “You’re my mate. He’ll be all up in your business too, you just watch.”

I frowned at my sandwich, like it had anything to do with this. “Can I protest?”

Lawson laughed outright. “I did, for all the good it did me. You’ll learn to live with it.”

“Maybe he’ll have a sudden urge to move to Alaska.” Maybe if I bought the airline ticket….

“Snakes don’t like the cold.”

There went that idea, and it had been such a good one too. “Well, hell.”

“Aw, he’s not that bad.”

That was like saying a toothache only hurt a little. Besides, if Alaska was out, there was South America. “Right, and maybe if you say it enough, I’ll believe it.”

“I have a better idea. Why don’t we finish up here and go to bed.”

“We slept most of the day. I’m not sleepy.”

“Who said anything about sleeping?” Lawson winked.

I stuffed the rest of the sandwich in my mouth.

IT WAS
Monday morning, and I was up and fixing breakfast. I’d set the alarm since Lawson didn’t want to get his days and nights messed up, but I woke before it went off. I’d already called and talked to my Alpha. He gave me the week off since I was newly mated.

There were things I still needed to talk to Lawson about… like the joining ceremony and him moving in with me. The subject hadn’t come up last night since I was too busy sprawled out on the bed with Lawson working his fingers, then his cock, up my ass.

I couldn’t believe how much I’d missed by refusing to bottom. Or maybe it was just because it was Lawson. Either way our sex life was freaking awesome. I heard the alarm go off. Moments later I heard the toilet flush.

A few moments after that, Lawson walked into the kitchen. He wore a pair of blue flannel night pants and a dark-blue muscle shirt. He must have packed those because he’d slept nude, something I fully endorsed. But this looked good too.

“Mmm, good morning,” I said. Yeah, he looked real good. “Perfect timing. Breakfast is ready.”

“Morning.” Lawson backed me up against the counter and kissed me. I opened to him, enjoying the minty freshness of my mate. He must have found my toothpaste. Lawson leaned back after the kiss and sniffed loudly. “Mmm, what’s that scent? I smelled it last night too.”

I grabbed a handful of that taut, sexy ass of his and squeezed. “That’s me—my desire.”

Lawson ground his groin against mine, his breath picking up. “Right, Janelle told me about that. What do I smell like?”

I inhaled deeply, pulling his scent into me. “You smell like the ocean—sharp, clean, and a tad bit salty. Best thing ever.”

Lawson rubbed against me. “You do like salty things, don’t you?”

I blushed right down to my toes. His come tasted different than anything I’d ever experienced before. I joked I’d get addicted if I weren’t careful. Lawson offered to “feed” my habit.

“Look at you too, all dressed and ready to greet the day.”

I’d gotten up, showered, dried my hair… and then I cooked breakfast.

“Makes me want to drag you back to bed and muss you all up again.”

I was all for it, even if right that second, parts of me weren’t. I must have frowned or something because Lawson suddenly hugged me.

“Oh man, you’re sore, aren’t you? I’m sorry, babe.”

I nipped his bottom lip and then nudged him back. I was happy in his arms, but breakfast was getting cold. Damn if I was cooking all this again. “Um, yeah, just a bit. Come on, let’s eat.”