Page 16 of Love in Unexpected Places

“I don’t think you can ever be normal.”

Matty scowled even though Theo couldn’t see him.“Very funny.”

“I think it is.You need to relax, Matty.You’re in this now, and unless you want to dump Sullivan on the side of the road, there’s no getting out of it.You might as well relax and go along with it.”

“You really trust him?Because you know how I am.I might blurt out something that Sullivan shouldn’t know, and he could betray us and tell the coven leaders, and we’ll be in trouble.”

“I need you to breathe.”

Matty did just that, sucking in a breath, then another, until he felt his heart slow down.He didn’t need to have a panic attack at a service station.

“Good,” Theo continued.“Chance and I trust Sullivan.So does Lester, and he knows him better than us.I know you’re worried, but I really don’t think Sullivan is doing any of this to get to the pack.”

“Why would he insist on coming with me, then?”

“He probably wants to get to know you.”

That sounded too good to be true.“Why?”

“Why not?You’re a good-looking guy, and as far as I know, Sullivan is single.He seemed interested in you the last time we talked, and he couldn’t look away.I think that’s why he’s there with you.”

Matty had a hard time believing that someone like Sullivan could be interested in him.Why would he be?There was nothing exceptional about Matty.He was cute, but he was also full of problems, and he didn’t feel like Sullivan should want anything to do with that.“He was interested in me?”

“I told him you were single.I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the next time he saw you, he decided to go with you.Look, no one is saying that you have to start dating him.I understand that now maybe isn’t the right time, especially considering who Sullivan is.If you did want to date him, though, no one would have anything to say about it.Chance and I want you to be happy, and if that’s with Sullivan, that’s good enough for us.”

“Even though he’s an enemy?”

“He’s not.We’re on the same side, Matty.He might be a mage, but that doesn’t change the fact that he wants to take down the coven leaders.”

He was right, but then, Theo was always right.Even though he wasn’t Matty’s alpha anymore, he’d always be his brother.Matty trusted him, and he wanted to believe that Sullivan really was interested in him.

He glanced to the side and watched as Sullivan opened the gas station door and stepped aside to let a woman in.He was a handsome man, and from everything Matty had heard and seen from him, he was a good person.He was smiling at the baby the woman was carrying and wiggling his fingers to get the baby’s attention.Surely a bad man wouldn’t do that.

Maybe this was Matty’s chance to finally do what almost everyone else in his family had done already—find someone to share his life with.

* * * *

Sullivan’s phone keptvibrating in his pocket, but he ignored it as he paid and headed out of the gas station.He wasn’t sure he wanted to know who was trying to contact him so badly.If something had happened at the coven house, there was nothing he could do about it, anyway.

He didn’t want to go back yet.He would have to tonight, but in the meantime, he was free.It felt good not to have to watch his back and everything he did or said.It felt good to know that right now, no one was watching him and that he could spend most of the day with Matty.He hadn’t planned this, but he liked how his day was going.His many problems would still be there when he returned home tonight, but he could take a day off, right?Surely, the coven leaders wouldn’t manage to destroy the coven by the time he went back.

Part of him wished they would, if anything, because it meant he wouldn’t have to deal with them anymore, but he felt guilty even thinking about it.Most coven members were good people who were too afraid to do anything.They wanted to protect themselves and their families, and Sullivan didn’t blame them for that.

Chance would never threaten someone’s family to get them to do what he wanted.He wasn’t that kind of alpha, and if someone had a problem with him, they could talk to him.Sullivan had seen how Chance had dealt with that man who’d stood up to him the last time Sullivan had visited pack territory.If Franklin had been in front of the coven leaders instead of Chance, he would’ve been dead after a few sentences.They wouldn’t have allowed him to show the same disrespect he had for Chance.

Sullivan couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to Franklin.Had he and his family left pack territory, or had he accepted Chance’s authority?He’d seemed like the kind of person who didn’t like admitting they were wrong, even when it was obvious they were.If Sullivan had to guess, he’d left, although Sullivan couldn’t say it was with or without his family.He hoped for their sake that they were still members of Chance’s pack.

Matty was on the phone when Sullivan reached the car, but he quickly said goodbye to whoever he was talking to and hung up.Sullivan raised the bag full of snacks he’d bought, smiling at the way Matty’s cheeks flushed.It was almost as if he was embarrassed, and Sullivan wished he knew who he’d been talking to.Maybe his sister?

“I bought snacks.I don’t know what you like, so I got a bit of everything.I’m partial to salty snacks.”

“I like chocolate,” Matty murmured.

“Well, there’s plenty of that in there.”Sullivan had wanted to be sure there was something Matty would eat, and he was pleased with the choices he’d made.

He didn’t check his phone until the two of them were back on the road.Matty was silent, and since Sullivan didn’t want to bother him, he decided to find out who was so desperately trying to get in touch with him.

Turned out it was Chance.

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