Page 71 of My Broken Mate

“It’s nice to finally meet you properly,” Ayden says. “I am Ayden.”

“Remy.” He proclaims. “Come in,” he says, stepping aside and letting us in his room.

Is it just my imagination, or is he looking at me longer than usual?

Again, my heart makes a joyful leap, only to sink to new depths when I spot his room. Goddess, it’s so tidy! How does he not go insane in my room with all the stuff lying around? I am not particularly messy, but it’s not super clean either. And I have a lot of stuff and decorations. Remy’s room is clean, tidy and has barely anything standing around.

“Dude,” Ayden says, ever so without filter. “Are you really living here?”

“I know, it lacks personality,” Remy says.

“No, that’s not what I meant,” Ayden exclaims.

I hide my grin. I love seeing Ayden panicking like this. He doesn’t know Remy yet, and how straightforward he can be. Thinking about it now, I realize that Remy never talked much to me, but when he said something, he was always pretty direct.

“It’s just so clean,” Ayden adds.

“Don’t worry, I am not upset,” Remy says. “You can sit down anywhere.”

Ayden sits down on the chair in front of Remy’s desk while I carefully sit down on his bed. There is no other place to sit, and with my short skirt, I don’t want to sit on the floor. Remy looks at me for a moment, then at his bed, before turning around to his wardrobe abruptly, as if he is embarrassed. Ayden just wiggles his eyebrows in my direction, making me feel flustered, too.

His bed feels soft, but not too soft.

I wonder how—

No! I don’t wonder about anything right now. Not the right timing, Kata!

I decide to distract myself by asking questions. “How come you have nothing lying around in your room?”

Remy looks at me again and then surprisingly gives me an honest answer. “I sometimes have trouble sleeping,” he says. “I figured it’s easier to sleep without any distractions.”

Wow, I didn’t expect him to answer so honestly! After the last couple of weeks of him dodging every question, he suddenly is so much more open.

What happened?

“I see,” I muse. “Makes sense. I hope you don’t find my room too crowded. I never thought about it. It’s such a mess there.”

“Not at all. It’s a very cozy room.”

He smiles at me. It’s a small smile, as if his facial muscles aren’t used to it and it’s all he can pull off. Still, I can’t help but instantly return it. I will make sure to make him smile a lot more from now on. Because if there is one thing I fucking know now, it’s that there is no way I will let him reject me or not fight for this mate bond.

Remy grabs a black buttoned shirt and some other stuff, and leaves Ayden and me alone for a moment to get changed. My eyes are pinned to the door through which Remy just left,as if I could develop some awesome superpower and make it disappear.

Ayden clears his throat, making me remember he is still here.

“You want me to leave? I feel like if I stay any longer, I might be invited to a weird threesome, judging by the tension in the room. And neither of you is my type,” he says with a shit-eating smirk. “You know, I can make up some excuse, take Fi to the concert, and you can fuck with your handsome guy.”

I groan. “Shut up, Ayden!”

“What? The tension is there! To me, it looks like you were worried over nothing.”

I gaze at him in surprise. “You mean it?”

“Babe, I have never felt that invisible in my life,” Ayden says. “He only had eyes for you.”

“But I don’t know… how, why… it wasn’t like that before? And why does he not acknowledge me being his… you-know-what?”

“Maybe he wasn’t able to show how he felt,” Ayden offers. “Maybe he felt the block to your bond as well, and wonders if maybe you don’t like him.” He pauses. “Maybe he got a little push, was honest with you, and realized it’s worth the risk and that he can trust you?”