Page 11 of Eddie

It was sweet, especially considering what Eddie knew about Jenna’s situation. He wished he could get his hands on Matthias now, but unfortunately for him, he’d have to wait. Not for long, though. In just over twenty-four hours, Matthias would be here.

Shit. How was Eddie supposed not to freak out?

“Matt?” someone called out on Matthias’s side of the conversation.

Matthias’s sigh was heavy. “I have to go. She probably wants me to lift something heavy or something. I guess the sooner we’re done, the sooner we can leave. Her ex said he’d give us a few hours to pack her stuff, and I don’t want them to see each other again. I had to stop Jenna from clawing his eyes out earlier.”

Eddie blinked. He was curious about Jenna, but at the same time, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know more about her. She sounded terrifying. “She sounds nice.”

Matthias laughed. “She can be, but only when she wants to be, and that doesn’t happen often. It definitely doesn’t happen with people who dump her.”

“Matt!” Jenna called out again, sounding impatient.

That meant the call was over, but that was okay. “I’ll text you,” Eddie promised.

“I’ll text you back,” Matthias said. He sounded like he was smiling.

Eddie hoped he was. He didn’t know how complicated Matthias’s life was, but he wanted to provide a little happiness if he could, especially in this situation. As long as he made Matthias smile, he could say he was satisfied.

And he had.

EDDIE HAD KEPT HIS promise and texted Matthias throughout the day. It had helped more than Matthias expected, but he probably should have known it would. After all, Eddie wasn’t just a guy. He was Matthias’s mate.

And he knew it.

They hadn’t talked about it yet because Matthias refused to do so on the phone, but they would tomorrow. Eddie had guessed the bond between them, which wasn’t a surprise. Even though he was human, he felt it. If Matthias had to guess, Eddie had a lot of shifter friends and probably human friends who were bonded to shifters. Matthias wasn’t sure whether or not he was happy about it. He’d been nervous about telling Eddie, so maybe it was good that he wouldn’t have to, especially since Eddie seemed to have taken it well. At the very least, he hadn’t outright rejected Matthias, and he seemed to want to see him again. That couldn’t be a bad thing.

“You’ve paid more attention to your phone than to me,” Jenna complained as she dumped another bag in the back of Matthias’s truck. Matthias was leaning against the truck, texting Eddie on his phone. He’d asked Eddie if he wanted to go to dinner with him, and he was waiting for an answer. He was nervous, even though he was pretty sure that Eddie would say yes.

“I have a life outside of fixing your mistakes, Jenna,” Matthias grumbled, squinting at his phone screen.

Jenna snorted. “Please. You don’t have a life.”

“I actually do. So, how much stuff do you still have inside?”

She shrugged one shoulder. Now that Tommy had been gone a while, she didn’t seem to care much about him anymore. She probably didn’t. She was very passionate, but her passions turned cold quite quickly once she lost interest. Tommy wasn’t willing to go along with what she wanted, so she didn’t care about him anymore. It was a good thing for Tommy, but unfortunately, it meant her attention was now on Matthias. He still wasn’t ready to tell her about Eddie, although he would have to come up with something to explain why they were stopping in Green Hill tomorrow.

Matthias’s phone vibrated, and he looked down at the screen again. Eddie had answered his text, and he was willing to see Matthias for dinner.

Matthias’s heart raced. Tomorrow evening, he’d be with his mate. They’d talk about their bond and what would come next for them. Considering the distance between their places, one of them would have to move, and Matthias was ready to do it. The more space he put between himself and his family, the better, but he’d have to explain that to Eddie. Not all families were as messed up as Matthias’s. In fact, he was ready to bet that most families were nothing like his. He hoped that the family Eddie had grown up in was normal. He also hoped he would never have to introduce his mate to his parents and his siblings.

He was pretty sure he wouldn’t get a choice when it came to that, unfortunately.

Matthias slipped his phone into his pocket and turned his full attention to his sister. He knew that if he didn’t, they’d still be here in a few hours, and Tommy would come back. That was probably the worst thing that could happen as long as Jenna was here, which meant that Matthias had to get her out as soon as possible. “Let’s go inside and check,” he said.

“I packed most of it,” Jenna said as she followed. She was wearing flip-flops now, which was better than her running around barefoot. Matthias had noticed several dogs in the area as he’d been leaning against his truck, and none of their owners had stopped the dogs from peeing in the front yards.

Matthias shuddered. He didn’t want to think about how filthy she would be when she climbed inside his truck.

He walked into the house. He knew his sister well enough to realize that none of the things left inside belonged to her. There were a few conspicuously empty spaces that made him wonder if she’d packed some of Tommy’s stuff, too, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to open that can of worms. Jenna would tell him to fuck off if he asked, and he didn’t really owe Tommy anything. If the man hadn’t wanted Jenna to take anything of his, he should’ve stuck around while she packed, right?

He turned to Jenna. “All right. Let’s go.”

She grinned. “I can’t wait to get home.”

“Well, you’re going to have to wait a little longer. I don’t want to drive all the way back today, so we’ll find a room for tonight and for tomorrow night.”

“What are you talking about? Of course we can go home tonight.”