Page 27 of Christopher

Chapter Five

Things were getting better, which wasn’t something Chris had expected. He’d thought it would be harder, but he’d only had to open up once, and now, here he was.

He had no idea how he’d gotten pulled into this group, although between Dennis and Drake, it made . The problem was that neither Dennis nor Drake were here right now, so why was Chris spending time with Taylor and Jacob?

At least they were mostly ignoring him, which was what he wanted. The less they focused on him, the better it was. He didn’t dislike them, but they were firmly on Drake’s side, and Chris felt they didn’t like him much because of how he’d left Drake on the sidewalk the first time they’d met. It was weird because why would they want to spend time with him if they didn’t like him? Chris had no answer, and he didn’t understand these people.

He looked around the living room, wondering what he could use as an excuse to leave. Maybe he could mention he was planning to spend time with his sister?

“You’re not going anywhere,” Jacob said without looking up from his phone.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Chris answered.

Jacob glanced up and rolled his eyes. He was a gorgeous man, but that wasn’t what pulled people in. More than his face, Chris liked his personality. He was sassy and mouthy, and from what little Chris had seen of him, he never hesitated to tell people what he thought of them to their faces. He was never cruel about it, but if someone needed to hear some truth, he’d be there to tell them.

Apparently, that included Chris.

“You’ve been ready to run since you came in and saw Taylor and me sitting here,” Jacob pointed out. “I’m not sure why you stayed, since you don’t seem to like us very much.”

“I never said I don’t like you.”

“You didn’t have to say it. It’s in the way you behave.” He arched a brow. “Or are you trying to tell me that you don’t wish you could be anywhere but here?”

It was true that Chris had thought about leaving when he’d walked into the living room looking for his sister and had found Taylor and Jacob instead. They might be friends with Dennis and Drake, but Chris didn’t know them well, and he always felt uncomfortable meeting new people. He realized that if he didn’t spend time with new people, they would never become friends, and he wanted friends, but those two parts of his personality pulled him in different directions, and he never knew which one to follow.

He hadn’t had a choice. As soon as Jacob had seen him, he’d beamed at him and pointed to one of the armchairs. The order had been clear, and Chris had been unable to resist. He kind of wished he had now, but it was too late. Jacob had cornered him.

“I struggle to make friends,” Chris admitted.

“You don’t say?”

Chris flipped him off. “And I don’t like snarky people.”

“Please. You already love me, and you know it. Besides, even if you don’t, it doesn’t matter because Drake loves me, which means we’ll be in each other’s lives forever and ever.”

“Just my luck,” Chris muttered.

“I’ll tell Drake you don’t like me,” Jacob threatened.

“I’ll tell him you’re lying.”

“Why does it feel like I’m sitting in a room with two toddlers?” Taylor wondered out loud, interrupting the bickering.

He didn’t look angry, so Chris forced himself to relax. Jacob wasn’t wrong when he said that they’d be in each other’s lives forever. With Chris being Drake’s mate, he’d see a lot of Drake’s close friends, and Jacob and Taylor, along with Eddie and Dennis, were it. That meant that Chris needed to get along withall of them. He didn’t have to become their best friend, but they had to tolerate each other.

He wasn’t sure where he and Jacob stood. Jacob had ordered him to stay, but he kept poking fun at him. Coming from anyone else, Chris might have been offended, but something told him that this was just how Jacob took care of people. He pushed and prodded until they told him how they felt, and once he knew, he took charge and solved the problem. Chris wasn’t sure what he did when the problem came from the person themselves, but he thought he was going to find out soon. Jacob wouldn’t let this go.

“You love kids, so that shouldn’t be a problem,” Jacob told Taylor.

“Yeah, but I can make kids happy by giving them a lollipop, and I can’t do the same with you.”

“I wouldn’t mind a lollipop,” Chris offered.

Taylor grinned at him. “I’m sure Drake can give you something to suck on.”

Chris spluttered. He should have expected that kind of joke, really. From what Drake had told him, he and his friends were pretty boisterous when they were together. Besides, it felt as if all of them had been placed on this earth to tease Chris. Being with Drake was going to keep him on his toes, and while initially that had made him nervous, now he realized he didn’t mind. Maybe that was why Drake was his mate. Maybe he needed all of this—the friendships, the snarkiness, the teasing, and of course, the love.

Because these guys loved each other. Chris had always been close to his family, but it had been kind of a necessity because no one else in the pack would let them come close. They’d all known that the alpha was angry at Chris’s mother for not choosing him and for having children with other men, and even though Chris and his siblings had nothing to do with that, they’d been proof of it. The alpha led, and the pack followed, so Chris hadn’t hadfriends. Kyle and Jennifer were his friends, he supposed, but they were also siblings, so it wasn’t quite the same. Some days it felt like they were forced to love Chris because they were related, but the same couldn’t be said about Taylor and Jacob.

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