Without Reservations (6 page)

“Huh?” His hand caressed Keaton’s cheek but his eyes never left Keaton’s lips. “You have such pretty lips, Bit.”

Keaton’s cock twitched.
Damn.
How could he remain strong against that? The man couldn’t fake his eyes shifting or an erection, Chay did want him. And Keaton’s idiotic over-hormonal body reacted. His own eyes blurred as Chay tried to kiss him again. He moved back with a groan and blinked several times, trying to regain control. He’d never felt such a physical pull for someone. “Chay, I thought we were going to go get a bite to eat?”

Chay blinked and drew back, a dazed look on his face. “Oh yeah. Yeah. We need to eat. At the poker games we usually sit around and drink. So it’s best to have something in your stomach before you go.” He stepped aside and let Keaton exit, then shut the door and checked to make sure it locked.

“I don’t drink, remember?”

“At all?”

Keaton shook his head. “Nope. I do stupid things when I drink.”

Chay grinned and opened the passenger side door of his truck for Keaton. “Like what?”

Keaton rolled his eyes at the open door, but didn’t argue. He felt ridiculous having his door opened for him, but it also felt kinda nice too, so he decided to shut up and go with it. “I giggle. And you know that dizzy feeling drinking gives you? Well, I’m terrified of falling over, so I crawl.”

“You crawl?” Chay shut his door before jogging around to his side and getting in. “Like on the ground, on all fours?”

“Yes. Is there any other way to crawl besides on all fours?”

“Uh, no, but the vision of you crawling around with that nice little ass of yours in the air…”

Keaton swallowed. Chay thought he had a nice ass? Well hell, he wondered what Chay would do if he just offered it up?
No. Bad.
He was supposed to be taking things slow. “Uh, Chay?”

“Yeah?”

“Lay off.”

“Yeah, good idea, sorry. Guess I need to get a grip, don’t think the guys would appreciate me coming to poker night with a boner.”

Yeah, that’s what Keaton was afraid of, and damned if he wasn’t hard too. God, what had he gotten himself into? Poker night, with a bunch of straight men.
Oh goody.
“This is a bad idea.”

“No, it isn’t. You are going to have to meet my friends eventually.”

“Chay, I’m socially retarded. I don’t get along well with others.”

“You got along great with my parents.”

“Yeah, but they are older. And I didn’t exactly get along with your mother. Anyway, I’ve always gotten along with older people. But people my own age…I’m a nerd. I’d rather be home reading, or watching a documentary on Civil War military campaign tactics. I make people uncomfortable.”

Chay chuckled. “Are you trying to tell me you’re missing a show on the Civil War?”

“No. I’m recording it.”

“You’ll be fine, Bit. And for what it’s worth, you don’t make me uncomfortable.”

Keaton snorted. “Yes, but you’re weird. You’re even a wolf and I don’t intimidate you.”

“What do you mean?” Chay glanced at him, his eyebrows furrowed.

“Chay, most wolves steer clear of me. Didn’t you notice your dad’s reaction?”

He shrugged. “He said you were strong.”

True, but he
had
mentioned it. Most wolves sensed Keaton’s strength and avoided him. Chay was an exception. “Are these friends of yours pack members?”

“Nope. Only one of them, Bobby. The rest have no idea that werewolves exist.”

Keaton sighed. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. At least wolves wouldn’t pick on him.

* * *

After dinner they drove by the store to get a couple six packs of beer and some water for Keaton, then straight to Chay’s friend’s house. Following a quick round of introductions they sat down to play poker. There were only five of them. Bobby, the only other wolf in attendance, Simon the guy who owned the house and Remi.

Remi was, well, he was something else. He looked Apache, with his shoulder-length black hair, high cheekbones and beautiful tanned skin, but he had the lightest green eyes Keaton had ever seen. They reminded Keaton of peridots. And his body…he was about Chay’s size and build.
Yum.
In fact, the man could be Chay’s clone from the back. He was simply gorgeous. Unfortunately, he was one of the biggest assholes Keaton had ever met.

They were playing Texas hold ‘em and talking sports when Remi put his poker chips on top of his cards, going out for the round, and leaned back in his chair. His attention zeroed in on Keaton. “So, Keaton, you ever date any of the college girls you teach?”

He’d known it was coming, not
that
specifically, but a question regarding his sexuality or rather fishing for answers in a roundabout way. Remi had been sizing him up all evening, making snide remarks here and there. Keaton glanced at Chay.

Chay shrugged and looked back at his cards.

“No, I have not, nor will I. It’s unethical for a professor to date students. They can fire me for it.”

Remi snorted. “Come on. All right, but you’ve thought about it right? I mean how could you not?”

Keaton rolled his eyes. “Never. I like my job.”

“I knew it. You’re a fag.”

“Remi,” Chay, Bobby and Simon yelled at once.

Keaton smiled. He’d known from the moment he agreed to come with Chay that this would be brought up. It wasn’t like he acted like some queen or something, but his size and youthful appearance always made macho straight guys think “gay”. Which he was, but…well, yeah he was, therefore it was a moot point. He had every intention of answering in the affirmative, but before he could the table rattled slightly.

Remi jumped up, glaring at Chay. “What the fuck did you do that for?”

Chay came to his feet, glaring right back. “Stop being a dick. You’ve been giving Keaton shit since we got here. First you called him a pussy for not drinking, now… Quit being a dickhead.”

Simon tossed his cards on the table and cocked a brow at the two men. “Give it up, Chay, he’s been a dick since elementary school.” He looked over at Keaton. “Sorry, man. Just ignore him. Don’t take it too personal. Remi is an asshole to everyone.”

Bobby shot Keaton an apologetic glance and cleared his throat. “Uh, Chay? Remi?”

“What?” They both answered. Neither of them moved an inch. They continued trying to stare each other into the floor.

“We gonna play or what?” Bobby asked.

Chay sighed and sat. “Yeah.”

“Hey, I
was
playing. Chay’s the one who assaulted my shin.” Remi took his seat. He gave Keaton one last good glare and took a swig of his beer.

Things calmed down for about three more hands after that, then Remi started in again. He upped the ante a dollar and looked from Chay to Keaton. “Where did you meet Chay?”

Keaton glanced at Chay, and back to Remi. “At his clinic. I brought a wounded, uh, dog in to him.”

Bobby shifted a little in his seat. “You’re the wo—dog…I mean you’re the one who brought the dog in? My brother mentioned it the other night. He heard from the game warden that someone shot a dog and Chay patched it up. Glad he made it. The authorities need to look into that, we can’t have people going around shooting dogs.”

Keaton nodded. First, Joe Winston, now Bobby. Apparently, Chay’s pack liked to gossip like his did. “That was me.”

“Have you met Jasmine yet?” Remi asked with a smile.

“Jasmine?” Keaton raised a brow.

Chay cleared his throat and opened his mouth to speak, but Remi interrupted him. “Chay’s girlfriend.”

What?
Keaton tried not to react, but he wasn’t sure how successful he was because it felt like someone punched him in the stomach. He couldn’t get air into his lungs. Could a person pass out from sorrow? He didn’t look at Chay. He couldn’t. He shook his head and smiled at Remi. “No, I haven’t. Maybe after Chay introduces me, we can double-date sometime.” Okay, yeah it was petty, but he wasn’t happy with Chay at the moment. He could have told Keaton about a girlfriend.

“No, we cannot, because Jasmine is
not
my girlfriend. We dated exactly twice. That hardly constitutes a relationship.”

“But you fucked her.” Remi smiled so big his pretty white teeth gleamed, then he glanced back and forth between Chay and Keaton.

Oh God.
Keaton felt sick to his stomach. Logically, he knew Chay wasn’t a virgin. He even knew it had been with women, but why did it hurt so much hearing about it? He had no claim on Chay…not really. Had Chay been getting serious about this woman before Keaton showed up on his exam table?

Chay leaned back in his chair and took a drink of his beer, acting for all the world like the conversation wasn’t important. Even though Keaton could smell the underlying scent of unease coming off him. It was irritating. “Are you practically engaged to everyone you fuck?”

Remi shrugged. “Okay, point taken.” He picked up his cards and looked at them again, his eyes twinkling over the top of his cards at Keaton.

He had no idea what Remi’s problem was but the man obviously had it in for him. Which didn’t bother Keaton too much, until Remi and Chay started reminiscing—at Remi’s instigation of course—making it clear that the two had been friends for a long time.

By the time they left, Keaton felt downright dejected and to make matters worse, the ride home was silent.
Not good.

Keaton knew Remi had purposely set out to upset him, and damn it, it had worked. The man had brought to light what he’d known from the beginning. He didn’t belong in Chay’s world.

Somehow, after meeting Chay’s parents, he’d kidded himself into thinking everything would be smooth sailing assuming Chay could get over the whole “gay thing”. Which was stupid on several counts. Number one, he actually cared about Chay. Chay was a good person, no way was he willing to watch the man’s life go to shit because of him. Number two, Chay would be miserable being an outcast from his friends and family. Unlike Keaton, the man was a social being, he liked people. Number three, hell, number three didn’t really matter, because number one and number two made Keaton change
his
mind.

“Bit, I’m sorry. I don’t know what got into Remi tonight. He’s not usually so…obnoxious.”

Keaton sighed. Damn, he was going to miss Chay calling him Bit. How screwed up was that? “Don’t worry about it, Chay.”

The truck stopped next to Keaton’s car. “How about tomorrow we just get something to eat here and watch the documentary you recorded?”

He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against the window. It would be easy to agree to a date and not be here tomorrow when Chay got here, but he wasn’t a coward. “No. I don’t think that is a good idea.” He looked at Chay. “This isn’t working, Chay. We need to move on.”

“What? No fucking way, Bit. You are not going to brush me off because my friend was an asshole to you.”

Why couldn’t this be easy? Keaton should have known any mate destined to be his would be his equal when it came to being stubborn. Then again, he’d have thought his mate would be gay too. “Chay, I’m not going to argue with you about this. I don’t want to see you again. Goodbye.” He got out of the truck and didn’t turn back. He made it all the way into his apartment and leaned against the door before he started questioning his decision.

He hoped like hell he was doing the right thing, because damn if his heart didn’t ache. He barely knew Chay but the thought of never seeing him again cut like a knife.

Keaton slid down the door and pulled his knees up, resting his head on them. Why did everything in his screwed-up life have to be complicated? Why couldn’t Chay have been gay? Why did he have to care for the man after such a short time? God, his chest hurt…bad. His nose was stopped up making it hard to breathe and his stupid eyes were blurry.

Fuck.
He was actually crying.

* * *

Chay sat there dumbfounded for about five minutes, before anger took over. He was
not
going to do this every time Bit got upset over something. The sooner Bit understood that the better. Chay got out of his truck and stormed up the steps to Keaton’s apartment. He didn’t even bother knocking. He knew Bit could hear him, smell him. “Keaton, open the damned door.”

The locks clicked then the door flew open. Bit’s frowning face appeared in the crack of the door. “Why are you still here?”

Were Bit’s eyes red? Did he smell tears? Chay pushed him back and walked into the apartment. “Because my mate is throwing a temper tantrum.”

“What?” Bit shut the door, spun around and leaned against it. “I am
not
throwing a temper tantrum. Damn it, Chay. Can’t you get it through your thick head… You don’t want me.”

“What? You don’t have any clue what I want. You may be a goddamned genius, Dr. Reynolds, but you don’t know everything. Why don’t you get
that
through
your
thick head.” He grabbed two handfuls of those glorious platinum curls and pulled Bit’s face up to his. He was a little rougher than he should be, but he felt entitled. He was pissed. He slanted his mouth down over Bit’s. His tongue plunged in, seizing Keaton’s mouth, staking his claim.
Let Bit digest that.

Surprisingly, Bit kissed back. He clutched Chay’s forearms and made this sweet little whimpering sound that went straight to Chay’s dick.
Damn, what a sweet sound.

He broke off the kiss, staring down at his mate. Keaton
had
been crying. There were tear streaks on his face. Chay relaxed his hold on Keaton’s hair a tad. What else could he say to the man to get through to him? He finally settled on the truth. “I have always wanted you. I’ve wanted a mate since I was four years old. And it’s always been you. I didn’t know it at first, but I do now.” He ran one hand down that angelic face, feeling Bit’s cheek. “I dreamed of
you
. Of
this
face.” He bent and kissed Bit’s cheek where he’d caressed. “Of
these
freckles.” His lips brushed over the bridge of Keaton’s nose. “
These
stunning blue eyes.
This
pretty blond hair. It was
you
. God, you’re beautiful.”