Page 30 of Christopher

“I don’t think Chris would dump you, but don’t you think he deserves to know the real you? What would you think if you realized he’d been hiding his personality from you?”

He wasn’t wrong, and Drake was aware of that. That didn’t make it any easier for him to let go of the thought that if he wanted Chris to stay, he needed to not be himself.

It had been hammered into him time and time again that he was weird, talked too much, was too needy, and a bunch of other stuff. Over the years, he’d tried pushing all of it down, but it had never really worked.

Drake needed it to work this time around. He couldn’t afford for Chris to leave him. Chris was his mate, and he was the most important relationship Drake would ever have. Even if he had to sacrifice a bit of himself to make sure Chris stayed, he felt it would be okay.

* * * *

After spending what had to be one of the weirdest afternoons of his life with a bunch of Drake’s friends, Chris felt pretty good about their date. Even though Drake hadn’t been there, Chris had gotten to know him better, which was all he wanted. Hopefully, he’d find out many more things about Drake during their date.

He was excited. Initially, he’d been panicking and wary because he hadn’t known what to expect. In the movies and books, everything was always perfect from the beginning. What they shared was special, so of course the movies made it look like it didn’t take any kind of work. What kind of fated mates fought or disagreed?

But that wasn’t real life. This was, and Chris was finally getting over the feeling that he didn’t have anyone.

He did. His family wasn’t going anywhere, even though they were now focusing on other things and people, and he had Drake. With Drake came a bunch of friends, and there would always be the pride. They were still giving him a wide berth, but he’d realized it was his fault. They didn’t know what to make of him, and they couldn’t get to know him, because he wasn’t letting them in. Maybe he could change that.

He grabbed everything he needed from his room after getting dressed, looked around one last time, and headed out, satisfied. He wasn’t taking Drake to a restaurant this time. That had led to the ugly scene with Karl, and he didn’t want to go through that again. No, he had something else planned, and he hoped Drake would like it.

He made his way through the house, whistling. Some days, he couldn’t recognize himself. That was how much meeting Drake had changed him, and he kind of liked it.

He hadn’t liked the person he was before very much. He’d been wary of everyone, always certain he’d lose the people he cared about, to the point that he didn’t want to start caring about anyone else. He already had his family, and they were related, so they weren’t going anywhere. Why did he need anyone else?

But that kind of life was lonely, and Chris was glad he was finally making changes. It would take time for him to feel part of the pride, but he was taking steps in the right direction, and eventually he’d get there. Maybe the pride would even start feeling like home.

He walked past the open living room door and reached for the front door, but before he could open it, he heard footsteps behind him.

“Hey, Chris, can I talk to you for a second?” Dennis asked.

Chris looked around him, but he couldn’t see his brother. That was weird, because even though Dennis was Kyle’s mate, he and Chris weren’t really that close.

That was another relationship Chris had to build.

“Of course. What’s going on? Is it Kyle?”

“It’s not. It’s Drake.”

Chris frowned. Drake and Dennis were friends, so if there was anything wrong with Drake, Dennis would know. “Has something happened?” he asked, already pulling his phone out of his jeans pocket.

“No. I mean, something has happened, but he’s fine.”

“That’s not as helpful as you seem to think it is.”

“I just wanted to tell you what he’s doing. I think you should know, even though he’s not going to be happy.”

“Well, if he doesn’t want me to know, you shouldn’t tell me. I don’t want to break his trust.”

“I get that. I don’t want it, either, but it’s necessary before you find yourself in a situation you don’t know what to make of.”

That didn’t sound good, but there was only one way for Chris to understand what was happening, and that was allowing Dennis to talk. “Fine. I’m listening.”

Dennis looked around, but they were alone in the entrance. He leaned against the stair railing, looking like he was trying to find the right words.

“I don’t know if Drake has told you this, but he has several exes in town. He’s always been in love with love, and he’s wanted a relationship since the day I met him. He tried very hard to make things work every time, but since he was single when you met him, you can guess how that went.”

Chris’s memory flashed back to when he’d met Drake. He’d been on a date with Karl the asshole.

“Anyway, one thing Drake’s exes had in common was that they all felt the same way about him.”

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