Page 6

I snuck into the diner, which was pretty empty apart from a handful of hardy regulars who met each day for coffee and a chat. Sliding into a booth, I took off my damp jacket and I was still shivering when the waiter took my order. Coffee warmed me up somewhat, and I tucked into apple pie while perusing the menu trying to decide which pie to buy for Mateo. And Scotty. Now that he was sharing our apartment, I should take him a treat, too.

Treat. Wrong word to use when thinking of Scotty. I gulped my coffee, the caffeine flooding my veins and renewing my energy level.

There was a scuffle and mumbling near the entrance as a customer raced in. Shit! I grabbed the menu and hid behind it. Too late. A large hand plucked it away, and it was replaced with a grinning face. Benjamin.

“Hello, stranger.” The whale shifter studied me, all smiles. “Whatcha doing apart from sitting in a puddle of water?” He jerked his head under the table, and, sure enough, there was a puddle.

“Needed to get away from the production crew, and Mateo was craving pie.”

Wrong word. I knew it as soon as it was out of my mouth. His eyes lit up. “Craving? Is he? You didn’t tell me? I’m one of his closest friends. Why didn’t he say anything?” His voice was at shriek level 10 by the time he was done and had run out of breath.

I flapped my hands as heads glanced in our direction. “Inside voice, Benjamin.”

“Sorry.”

“And no, he’s not. We’re not.”

“Oh man I’m sorry.” The waiter brought Benjamin his coffee. “I know it’s been tough.”

The whale shifter and his mate, Randy, now had a baby of their own. We were one of the few couples in our friend group who were childless and not by choice.

“Have you had the talk?” he asked.

“We know about the birds and the bees, if that’s what you’re asking.” That brought a smile to my lips. The first one in a while. And that took my thoughts back to Scotty.

He made a face. “Very funny.” He took a fork and stabbed at my pie, and I slapped his hand away. “Tell me to butt out if you want, but Mateo is a shell of his former self.”

In another time and place, anyone referring to Mateo’s shell would have gotten a laugh. But there was nothing to laugh about in this situation, and Benjamin didn’t know the half of it. I’d run away instead of admitting it to myself and I couldn’t tell my mate. He’d be devastated.

I put my head in my hands.

“And you’re not doing any better. Go home to your mate, Colton. He needs you. You need each other.” He paid both our checks and, as I contemplated the wild weather while holding Mateo’s pie, Benjamin offered me a ride home. “Can’t have you out in this weather.”

Everything was calm as I crept into the B&B. I could hear Scotty at the top of the stairs, regaling one of the production crew with tales of wild storms when he was growing up. Mateo appeared from the direction of the kitchen, and I held up the paper bag. “Pie.”

“Thanks, babe.” He had a squirrely look on his face, which was odd. Normally he would have grabbed the bag, opened it and taken a bite of the treat without saying a word. Scotty’s laughter drifted down from the second floor, and we both peered upward. But the movement had us gazing at one another and thenlooking away as if we were kids getting caught with our hands in the cookie jar.

I couldn’t do this. Keep a secret from Mateo. We’d always been honest with one another. But this would hurt him, and he was already broken. I pulled him into the kitchen, and the door swung closed behind us.

“I have something to tell you,” I blurted out.

“Me, too.”

“I love you more than anything, and that will never change. We’re bonded for life.”

He nodded, the pie apparently forgotten in his hands. This was so hard. How do you tell the love of your life that you were attracted to someone else while still loving them? There was no rule book.

I went on, “It’s Scotty…”

Mateo squirmed and avoided my gaze. Had something happened while I was gone? Did Scotty fuck up somehow? The last thing I wanted to do was fire him, but perhaps one of our friends could give him a job. That would take him, his bear, and his tantalizing aroma away from me.

But my mate stepped in, not waiting for me to finish. “I’m infatuated with Scotty.” The look of despair on his face had me wanting to hold him close. “I’m so sorry.” A single tear streamed over his cheek.

“Then we have a problem,” I said. Or did we? “Because I feel the same way.”

6

SCOTTY