Page 21 of Losing My Rejection

A word crept into the back of my mind as I tasted him on my lips and caught the last traces of that smoky scent of his.

Mate.

Uh-oh. That wasn’t good. I guess it explained why I’d reacted to him the way I did the first time we met. Not that it made things any better. In fact, I was fairly certain things between us had never been worse. I couldn’t help feeling guilty even though I knew I wasn’t the one that made the move. It was Josh that kissed me.

“Andy?”

I glanced up, the voice of Sam pulling me from my stupor. He jogged through the sand until he reached me, a beer still clutched in his hand.

“Why did Josh run off like that?” he asked, his brows furrowed. “What did you do?”

“Me?!” I scoffed. “I didn’t do anything!”

“He didn’t run out of here like a girl dumped on prom night for no reason!”

Now I was irritated. Sam hadn’t even bothered to ask anything, he just assumed it was my fault. I pushed myself up, pointing a threatening finger at him.

“I didn’t do jack shit!” I barked back at him. “For weeks I’ve been practically ignoring that boy just so I didn’t piss him off again like I did at the market! All I wanted to be was his boss and maybe his friend if he’d let me. And now, the one time something goes wrong, you’re out here blaming me?!” I was surprised how upset I was getting, but there were so many emotions swirling around inside me that I couldn’t hold it back. “He’s the one that kissed me!”

“He… He what?” Sam’s jaw hung slack. “W-Why would he do that? He’s–”

“Straight. I know,” I said, throwing up my arms in exasperation. “I don’t fucking get it either!”

Sam just stared at me as I paced back and forth in the sand, unsure of what to do with all my excess energy. I was confused and torn. I didn’t know if I should run after Josh, leave him be, or fucking drown myself in the lake for being so stupid even though none of this was my fault. I’d been a perfect fucking gentleman.

But I also wanted him to kiss me again.

“So… uh… sorry I jumped to conclusions,” Sam said at last.

“Whatever,” I spat back. Already the irritation had passed. I was more worried about Josh than I was about Sam’s opinion of me. “It’s fine.”

“What are you going to do?”

“What the hell should I do?” I barked. “He’s straight! I don’t know why the hell he did what he did, but I doubt he wants to do it again.” My own words were like an icy knife in my chest. “And he already made it pretty clear he doesn’t want me. The memory of the day I met him is still pretty fucking vivid in my mind.”

“Maybe he’s changed,” Sam offered. “Shifter Grove does that to people.”

“What? Just changed his sexuality? His entire identity?” I scoffed again. “Right. Please, you and I both know that straight guys never really change. We’ve both made that mistake.”

Sam cringed a bit. He didn’t like it when people brought up his past. But there was a reason we were both in Shifter Grove. It was one of the things we had in common. Desperate straight guys loved to get their dicks wet, but when they got caught, it was always the gay one that took the fall.

“And my brain… or my wolf… both of them are being fucking stupid,” I added.

“What do you mean?”

“All I can hear is mate repeating in my head.” I hated saying it out loud, but I felt like I had to or I’d explode. “There’s no way, right? It’s gotta be a trick of the full moon. You know how all of us get a little crazy around this time of the month.”

“I don’t think the full moon has anything to do with your mate,” Sam replied. “I think that might have a bit more to do with fate.”

“Christ… don’t tell me you think this is a fated mate situation…” I begged. “I don’t believe in that superstitious shit to begin with.”

“Why not? You had a reaction to him the first time you met.”

“But he didn’t.”

“He was wounded,” Sam replied. “Deeply. I don’t think he was feeling anything.”

“Then why now?”

---