Page 4 of Messy AF (At First #3)

four

~ Warren ~

C loudy and volatile, the skies over Circle City rumbled with the arrival of the forecasted storm, echoing my own turbulent emotions.

Ever since the incident in the kitchen, I had been on edge, hyperaware of every word, every touch. I hadn’t slept at all the previous night, my mind too full of thoughts of Tobi.

I had caught him easily when he’d toppled sideways out of his chair, and I could have simply steadied him, or maybe moved him to the sofa. After seeing how disoriented he had been after other attacks, though, I hadn’t wanted him to wake up alone and scared.

But I hadn’t anticipated how overwhelming it would feel to have him in my arms.

Gods, he had fit so perfectly, and when he’d curled into me, even in sleep, it had completely undone me. Holding him, listening to the steady thrum of his heart, his crisp, sun- drenched scent saturating every cautious breath I took—it had felt right in a way I hadn’t expected.

Then he had woken up, a little shy, a little unsure, but still just as snuggly, and my heart had damn near leapt out of my chest. When an undercurrent of desire had tinged his scent, it had taken everything in me to remain even semi-professional.

Oddly, while I had been holding myself together by a frayed thread ever since, Tobi seemed much less guarded. He smiled more often. He laughed at my stupid jokes. Best of all, he had stopped hiding what he needed and actually asked me for help.

But everything had changed.

Instead of easy companionship, I found myself questioning, worrying.

Did he notice the way my pulse quickened when he stood too close? Had he caught the flash of hunger in my gaze when our eyes met? Did he feel the same magnetic pull I did, the longing for something…more?

“Warren?”

“Hmm?” Shoving those inappropriate thoughts to the back of my mind, I looked up from my seat at the end of the sectional. “What is it?”

Tobi had claimed his favorite spot in the corner, his laptop open in front of him. Work seemed to be going well today, and I had been keeping to myself, careful not to interrupt his focus.

He stared at me over the top of his computer and tilted his head. “You know you don’t have to sit around here all day. I can manage on my own for a couple of hours if there’s somewhere you want to go.”

“It’s only been three days,” I teased. “Are you tired of me already?”

He chuckled, the sound quiet but unselfconscious. “No, but you have to be bored just sitting there watching me work.”

On the contrary, I didn’t find it boring at all. I loved the expressions he made while he edited, like the faint smiles or the way he crinkled his nose sometimes.

“Don’t worry about me. If I get bored, I can find something to do.”

“Yeah, I know, but you—”

He cut off abruptly, and we both turned to look at the front door when the bell rang.

“Are you expecting someone?” I asked. “A delivery?” Given the crappy weather, it seemed like a strange time for a social visit or an aggressive sales pitch.

His brow creased, and he shook his head. “No.”

Three sharp knocks sounded from the front of the cottage. I mirrored Tobi’s frown.

“Whoever it is, they really want to talk to you.” I glanced toward the door again. “Do you want me to answer?”

He considered the question for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, I guess we should see who it is.”

Another knock—impatient, insistent—echoed through the room.

More annoyed than curious now, I shoved up from the cushions and flashed across the room to the door. The security monitor on the wall showed a male about my height but leaner, dressed in a sodden raincoat with the hood pulled low over his eyes.

I hesitated with my hand on the knob and glanced back at Tobi. He didn’t appear alarmed, and while I trusted that I could handle any potential threat, I didn’t want to upset him.

Muscles tensed, I unlocked the door and pulled it open, stepping forward at the same time to fill the frame. The chilled wind from the storm rushed in, heavy with the scent of rain and wet earth.

“Can I help you?” I asked, raising my voice to be heard over the downpour.

The visitor hesitated, then pushed back his hood, revealing a youthful but haggard face, with purple shadows sweeping beneath deep-set eyes the color of burnt toast. He studied me for a long time, his scent drenched with anger and something almost wild.

“Where’s Tobi?”

“Who wants to know?”

Ignoring me, he lifted his head to shout over my shoulder. “Tobi? Tobi, are you in there?”

I recoiled, my ears ringing with the volume of his voice, but I didn’t retreat, not even when I heard Tobi call back from the living room.

“Peter?”

Still blocking the stranger’s entrance into the house, I glanced over my shoulder. “You know him?”

Tobi stared back with a furrowed brow but nodded. “Yeah, he’s my neighbor.”

Well, damn.

Peter pressed forward again, rainwater dripping from his sleeves, gaze shifting uneasily between me and Tobi. “Sorry,” he muttered begrudgingly. “I saw a strange car in the driveway. I was…worried.”

I forced a polite smile, though everything about him made my skin prickle. “Everything’s fine.” I didn’t know how much Tobi had told him about his condition, if anything, so I kept my response vague. “I’m just helping him out for a little while.”

“I want to talk to him.”

My hand twitched at his flagrant entitlement. “I don’t really think that’s up to you.”

“Peter, what’s going on?”

Distracted by the asshole on the porch, I didn’t realize Tobi had joined us in the entryway until I heard his voice from directly behind me. Frustrated with myself, I kept one eye on Peter as I angled away from the door to wrap my arm around Tobi’s waist, pulling him tight against my side.

“What are you doing?” I demanded, my tone sharper than I had intended.

“I walked like twenty feet.” He rolled his eyes, but he leaned into me rather than trying to pull away. “Besides, I knew you’d catch me if I fell.”

When he said things like that, or gave me that sweet smile, I was the one in danger of falling.

“Hey, Tobi,” Peter interjected, clearly tired of being ignored.

“Hey,” Tobi echoed, though he didn’t sound exactly welcoming. “What are you doing out in the rain?”

Peter hesitated, his jaw working as if chewing back what he really intended to say. “I wanted to make sure you were—” His gaze flickered to me, his eyes cold. “—safe.”

“Everything is fine,” I repeated, a hint of a growl in my voice.

Peter didn’t acknowledge me, though, his attention fixed on Tobi with a kind of intensity that set my teeth on edge.

Tobi glanced between us, confusion clouding his expression. “Why wouldn’t I be safe?”

The rain battered the roof in a steady percussion, filling the silence that followed his question. I watched Peter’s fists clench at his sides, a small, seemingly involuntary action. His so-called concern felt edged with something too personal for a simple neighborly call.

It hung in the air, uneasy and unspoken, but no less tangible. The bitter scent of anger still saturated the front step, touched with that wild undertone I now recognized as possessiveness.

“I heard raised voices,” Peter said, a brittleness to his words. “Just checking to make sure everything is okay.”

Tobi shifted his weight, his shoulders tensing as he leaned more heavily against my side. I didn’t notice anything in his scent that would suggest he felt threatened or uneasy, but his body language said he had detected the lie.

“I don’t know what you heard, but it wasn’t us.” He said it softly, but with a sharpness that dared Peter to refute him.

My pulse thrummed at the way he had included me in the statement, subconsciously drawing his line in the sand and declaring on which side he stood. I could tell from the spark of fury in Peter’s eyes that he had heard it as well.

“As you can see, Tobi is perfectly fine,” I said in a tone that didn’t invite argument. “You should go.” I leaned forward, forcing him back a step, and glanced up at the sky. “This storm is getting nasty.”

Peter’s upper lip curled, and a quiet growl rumbled in his throat, barely audible over the driving rain. Then his eyes slid to the side, his gaze lingering on the arm I still had wrapped around Tobi’s waist.

“Yeah. Sure.” He cast one last look at Tobi before retreating down the stairs. “I guess I’ll see you around.”

He hesitated on the last step as if wanting to say more. Then he ducked his head against the rain and strode off down the driveway.

I waited, watching until he had disappeared around the corner before closing the door and reengaging the locks.

“Well, that was weird,” Toby said with a shaky laugh.

“How do you know him?”

I had no right to information about their relationship, but I didn’t ask out of jealousy. Well, not only jealousy. Peter worried me.

“Like I said, he’s my neighbor.” For once Tobi didn’t fuss as I helped him across the room to the sofa. “Why do you ask?”

Instead of his usual place in the corner, he chose the cushion next to me, sitting so closely I could feel the warmth pouring off him.

“Just a neighbor?”

His eyebrows drew together, and his lips puckered in a cute pout. “Yeah. We have pizza and beer together sometimes, but we’ve never dated, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Clearly, Peter had read a lot more into those casual hangouts than Tobi had. “Are you aware that he’s a shifter?”

His eyes flared briefly, but a heartbeat later, the expression cleared, and he shrugged. “No, but I don’t really see why it matters.”

It mattered because shifters had a reputation for being dangerously territorial, and they didn’t give up easily once they decided something—or someone—belonged to them.

“I think he has a thing for you,” I answered instead, not wanting to frighten Tobi or freak him out.

“What?” He chuckled, startled and uneasy. “No. I would have—”

“Trust me.” I tapped the side of my nose. “Scent doesn’t lie.”

Tobi stared at me, uncertainty flickering in his gaze. “You can really tell? Just like that?”

I nodded, resisting the urge to smile at his skepticism. “You’ve really never noticed? The guy looks at you like he wants to devour you.”

He huffed out a dry laugh, then ran a hand through his hair, ruffling the already-messy strands. “Well, that’s…uncomfortable.”

His eyes darted to the window, as if half-expecting Peter to materialize on the other side of the glass.

“It doesn’t have to be,” I said softly, touching his arm. “But I do want you to be cautious. Shifters don’t give up easily. If Peter wants something, he’ll do whatever it takes to get it.”

Tobi chewed his bottom lip as he considered the warning. “And what if I don’t want him to like me that way?”

“Then we make sure he understands it’s not up for negotiation.” I spoke gently but firmly, steel certainty wrapped in velvet tones. “But you don’t have to worry about him while I’m here.”

He looked at me then, really looked, his eyes soft and vulnerable. “Yeah, but what happens after?”

He spoke barely above a whisper, his voice carrying a painful reminder of the ephemeral nature of our relationship. If given the option, I wouldn’t leave. Ever. But the choice wasn’t mine alone.

Taking a chance, I settled my hand over his, hope surging when he returned the gentle squeeze. “Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it.”