Page 35 of A Broody Mate for the Human

“You don’t know her as well as I do.” I smile a bit. Right, I completely forgot… I was so caught up in my relationship with Matthew and the way he controlled me that I forgot that I have my friends in my life. I didn’t even dare to talk to Ye-Joon properly because I was scared Matthew would get upset. Annie and Ella will have my back always.

Jun gets up to grab us more cake. When he returns, I look at him. “I need to think about this for a bit,” I admit. “My thoughts are going crazy. Let’s talk about something else for now. Like… when are you seeing Luca again?”

Jun obliges, and I’m thankful he allows me to shift the topic. I’m so relieved that two of the nicest werewolves I know found each other. I didn’t know Luca was into guys, though I had a feeling he was, or I would have probably rooted for them even before that.

It’s good to have the focus off me for a moment, as I need to think properly about what I do next.

When Jun and I part ways, I plan on going home. On my way, I decide to give Annie a call, and it’s so good to hear her voice. As expected, she isn’t upset that I kind of avoided her for the last couple of days and instead eagerly accepts my offer to catch up on what happened.

When I hang up, I run into the last person I expect, face first into his broad chest. “Matthew?” I blink up at him.

“You haven’t called or written,” he mutters.

“You were the one who ditched me in that mall and just left,” I point out.

Matthew furrows his brows but doesn’t say anything. Meanwhile, I’m at a loss as to what to do. Everything was crystal clear when I left Jun earlier, but now, eye to eye with Matthew, seeing him in front of me, it gets so much harder again.

“You were with him again, right?” Matthew inquires.

“Who?” I ask, dumbfounded and completely oblivious to what he is talking about now.

“That Asian guy… I saw you in the coffee shop with him.”

I frown. He saw me and Jun having coffee earlier today? Is this the reason he wanted to meet me? To make sure his favorite possession wouldn’t run off with a better guy? I could tell him that Jun found his mate, but I don’t. It’s none of his business, and I’m sick of defending myself for things that aren’t my fault. “Yes, he is a friend.”

“I don’t want you to be in contact with him,” he huffs.

I wrap my fingers around my phone tighter to calm down and remain level-headed. “You can’t control who I am meeting, Matthew.”

Before I can even react, he snatches my phone from my hands and crushes it between his fingers. My mouth drops open in shock. Did he just lose his mind!?

He glares at me. “You can’t see him again!”

I want to punch him or yell at him, but I don’t quite dare to. All my alarm bells are going off. He just destroyed my phone… what comes next? My face? “I’m not going to ditch my friends for you,” I finally say.

“Why?” he grabs his head between his hands like it hurts. “Why are you like this?” he hisses.

“What?” I ask, starting to get annoyed. “A guy?”

“It’s not normal,” Matthew mutters. “This is not normal.”

I can just watch him, a dull feeling spreading inside me. I want to tell him that being gay is definitely the least of his problems. There are a ton more he has to tackle first. I just don’t know if I want to be the guy who leads him through all of this.

Chapter thirteen

Even if it's ugly

*DAVE*

Asusual,whenthingsget uncomfortable Matthew just runs off to God knows where… or who. Meanwhile, I try to look at the damage he has done.

There is no saving my phone anymore. However, I collect the remaining pieces from the street and extract the SIM card. There are a few scratches on it, and it’s slightly bent, but nothing I can’t fix. Or so I hope.

At least one thing in my life I might still be able to fix.

I can’t believe he destroyed my phone, my property. The broken look in his eyes when he claimed that being mated to a guy wasn’t normal did make me feel sorry for him, but dude, enough is enough.

I decide to go to my favorite electronic shop, a small slightly shady looking one. The owners are a Turkish couple—Ozan and Elif. Ozan looks like a gang member but actually is a laid-back and fun dude, while Elif is a cute and bubbly person who is into cosplay.