Page 10 of Because You Rejected Me

Sam: Uh oh.

Me: What does that mean?

Sam: What did it feel like?

Me: Kind of like electricity, I guess, and an intense fluttering in my stomach. Then I caught his scent, and I felt the Alpha side of me take over. I wasn’t sure if I was gonna pass out or start drooling on him.

Sam: Yep. That’s what I was afraid of. Dammit, Ace. That makes things a lot more complicated.

Me: What is it?

Sam: You felt the mate bond. I’m sure of it. And honestly, I think Matt felt it, too, but he’s so mixed up, hurt, and confused right now that he doesn’t realize what’s happening. That and he’s not in a good headspace for this kind of thing. He just lost everything.

Me: What do I do?

Sam: Well, don’t call him ‘mate’ again, that’s for sure.

Me: I know that…

Sam: I guess you could try to prove to him you’re not a bad guy. If you want to pursue him that is

Me: I have no idea what I want. I’m just as confused as he is. Part of me wants to just ignore it and stay on the farm, but there’s another part of me that really wants to pursue him. But I don’t know what to do and it’s driving me crazy. If I go after him, it means I’ll have to give up all this peace and solitude that I’ve worked so hard to achieve. And I’m probably a bad person to date anyway. I haven’t been in a relationship for over a decade.

Sam: Now I know you’re upset. I don’t think you’ve ever sent me a text that long. Why don’t you just keep on with things as usual and I’ll figure something out.

Me: No. I don’t want to get you involved.

Sam: Too late :)

Me: Sam. Please don’t do anything weird…

Sam: Weird? When am I ever weird? Don’t answer that. Well, time for me to go to bed.

Me: Sam…

Sam: Goodnight!

It was incredible how I could feel Sam’s excitement through his texts. The guy had a bit of a reputation for trying to be a matchmaker. I wasn’t sure if he’d just watched Hello Dolly a few too many times, but he loved to try to hook people up. He’d been trying with me for years. But now that I’d foolishly given him a crumb trail to follow, he was off at top speed.

I tossed my phone to the side, sinking down into the warm water until I was completely submerged. The world was so much quieter there, nothing except the hum of the bathroom fan echoing through the water. For a brief moment, it helped quell the racing thoughts in my mind. Then, all that came to me were images of Matt. I could see those beautiful eyes of his and his short sandy-brown hair. I imagined what it would look like to see him smiling up at me.

My body reacted the instant I thought of him, my cock thickening under the water before rising above the surface. Blowing out a mouthful of bubbles, I rose back above the water, taking a deep breath. What I felt toward Matt was definitely sexual. That was easy to see. But there was something else there that I couldn’t quite put a finger on. I didn’t love him because, frankly, I didn’t fucking know him. But I had this urge to make him smile, to make him laugh, and to hold him in my arms and let him know that he’d never have to worry about anything again.

Sam called it the mate bond, but to me, it just felt like some weird infatuation. I wasn’t really the nurturing type, but there was something about Matt that made me want to take care of him and protect him from the world. He’d been through enough already. Ending up at Sam’s hotel meant it was bad.

But maybe, just maybe, if he gave me a chance, I could make things a little bit better for him. It would cost me that solitude I clung to, but the more I thought about him, the more I realized I didn’t have a choice in the matter. I was hooked, and there was no going back.

The only issue left was how I was going to win him over. I had no idea where to start with that. More than likely, he’d turn the other direction if I saw him and never give me a chance to explain myself. That’s what I would do if I was him. So, I had to come up with another method. Then again, if Sam had anything to do with it, I might get a chance sooner than later. I just hoped he didn’t go overboard and make things worse.

Either way, I needed some time to think, and that meant swimming. Tomorrow, I’d go to the beach to get my thoughts in order. For some weird reason, that always seemed to help. And this time, I’d remember the sunblock.

Why did life always have to be so complicated?

Chapter Seven: Matt

I left the hotel early the next morning with my backpack in tow. Not because I was running away but because I just needed to get out and burn some energy. After the events of the day before, combined with a massive amount of sleep, I was feeling a bit jittery. I’d probably call it anxiety, but it didn’t really matter what it was. I just needed to get rid of it.

Sam caught me before I left and wondered where I was going. He asked if I’d ever been to Michigan before, to which I answered no. With a grin on his face, he wrote down some directions on a piece of paper and handed them over with a twenty-dollar bill. I tried to turn it down, but he insisted. For some reason, he was pretty cryptic about the entire thing. All he said was that I needed to see it. I had no idea what it was, but I had a feeling Sam wouldn’t steer me wrong. He’d earned a bit of my trust the day before, and I figured it was safe to give his directions a shot. Besides, if something felt off or weird, I’d just turn into a wolf and run. That’s what I was hoping to do today anyway.

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