Page 14 of Mating of Convenience
“Dude.” I leaned forward. “You think I didn’t notice that you’ve been avoiding me?”
Nathan shrugged. “So what?” He stared at the coffee mug in front of him. “It’s not like we’re a couple anymore.”
“I know that. I just… I wish we could have stayed friends.”
Nathan looked me dead in the eyes, and I could tell, at that moment, he wasn’t impressed with me at all. “You didn’t exactly stay in touch either.”
“No. It was too hard,” I admitted.
Nathan’s eyes narrowed. I couldn’t blame him. I’d been the one to dumphimafter all. But that didn’t mean it had been easy on me. It wasn’t like I broke up with him because I didn’t love him anymore. He had to know that;I told him. I broke up with him because he wanted children. Hereallywanted children—some days it was all he could talk about! And I… could never be the kind of omega he needed to make that happen.
But that didn’t mean that I didn’t love him more than anyone who came before or after him.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “For everything.”
I truly was sorry. The hardest part of it all had been knowing that I would hurt Nathan. My heart squeezed painfully in my chest at just the memory of the way he’d looked at me when I told him that I was leaving and why.
Nathan looked at me for a second longer and then he shook his head. “Forget about it.”
“I’d really like to try to be friends again,” I tried, the cup of coffee all but forgotten in front of me. “If you can do it. I’ve missed hanging out with you.”
“I’ve missed hanging out with you too.”
A small weight lifted off my chest, hearing Nathan say that. “Remember our game nights?” I asked. “I haven’t found anyone who’s as good at slaughtering virtual zombies with me as you are.”
“Oh God, you’re still playing that stupid video game?” Nathan actually laughed at that. It was so good to hear that sound a smile took over my own face as well.
“It’s not stupid!”
“Yeah, but you’re so bad at it!”
“I’ve gottenlotsbetter,” I claimed, although I really hadn’t. I just loved joking around with Nathan like this, as if we were still friends, hanging out after school. My life in Oceanport hadn’t exactly been easy after my mom passed, but Nathan had always managed to make my days brighter somehow. He’d actually had a bit of a reputation for being trouble when we were in middle school, and I’d had a reputation for being weird because I drew ‘tattoos’ on my body with permanent marker. But I saw Nathan for the gentle soul he was, and he offered me the cast on his broken arm as canvas for my designs. From the get-go, we’d simply understood each other.
I missed that.
It had been easier to ignore while I was away in Boston, but now that I was sitting here with Nathan, my coffee going cold, I couldn’tnottry to reconnect. “Want me to prove my awesome zombie slaughtering skills to you?”
Nathan hesitated, but then, to my relief, he took the bait. “Want to bet on it?” he asked. “I bet you twenty dollars I can beat your ass in ten minutes or less.”
“Deal. How’s Friday evening sound to you? I’m staying at Conner’s place now.”
“Cool.” He stuck his hand out to me and we shook on it and little sparks raced up my body from the point of contact.
“I’m glad we had this talk,” I said, trying my best to ignore that feeling while Nathan let go of my hand again very quickly.
“Yeah.” He gave me a smile. “Me too. It took a while, but I think I’m finally over you.”
“Great,” I made myself say, even as his words twisted my guts for reasons I didn’t want to think about.
* * *
To my surprise,the house actually wasn’t empty when I made it to Conner’s. I was greeted not only by the enthusiastic barking of his dog, a Husky by the name Kitiara, but also by the sound of voices coming from the living room.
I took a moment to pet the gorgeous dog in front of me, and then I stepped over to the living room door to see who Conner’s visitor was.
As far as I knew, my friend didn’t usually bring guys home--which is probably why he thought it was a good idea to talk about his collection of first edition fantasy novels to the poor guy trapped on the couch with him. The alpha feigned interest, but he was also stealing glances at his wristwatch. I resisted the urge to drape my hand over my face. This was painful to watch. At some point, I was gonna have to teach Conner how to lay the moves on an alpha.
Today wasn’t going to be that day, though. Conner had heard me come in—or he’d heard Kitiara greet me, so he interrupted his date. “Hey, Raph. You’re home late.”
