Page 12 of Mane Full Of Stripes
“I like the first two. We have both around here, so it’s something we can do after the ice skating. Maybe one of those driving courses so he can get behind the wheel of a fast car and race around the track.”
“Oh, that’s a good one.” Sena pushed her plate away and screwed up her brow. “A night in a haunted house. You can hold his hand as you go around the haunted building.”
“That’s good.” Apollo nodded at Sena. “Thanks. I have a few ideas now. I need to look at this mating differently. Show him that we can have fun and spend time together without him expecting me to want something in return.”
“Send a package to the nursery he works at. Books and items that he’d need. Some new soft blankets for when the children have an afternoon nap.” Lida put her tablet on the table. “There are plenty of websites you can go to and have a look.”
“That’s a good idea, Lida. I wouldn’t have thought of that. The cubs, I think they call them, are important to him, and he has to know you’re a teacher, so you have that in common.” Arvo looked at Apollo. “You could bring it up in conversation.”
“I knew there was a reason we were mates,” Lida beamed at Arvo, and Apollo groaned when he saw the heated look between his parents. Okay, he was old enough to know his parents had sex, because he was alive, but now? Hadn’t that all stopped now?
Sena mimed throwing up, then laughed when Lida pretended to hit her. “You think we reach a certain age and that all stops? When you’re happily mated, you’ll understand.”
“Yeah, nope. Don’t want to understand.” Apollo leaned back in his chair and sighed. “I have a mate.”
“Eww, am I going to have to put up with your sappy face now?” Sena rolled her eyes. “Poor Jost, being stuck with you. He’s such a nice shifter, too. Why did fate give him to you?”
“Because I’m Apollo.” He grinned, then laughed when Sena stared at him. “Apollo! Named after the gods.”
“Only because they had high hopes for you. Such a let down.” Sena grinned when Apollo flipped her off. “Remember, I’m trying to help you win over sweet loveable Jost. I could warn him off, you know.”
“You’d do that to me?” Apollo was a little shocked because he wasn’t entirely sure if she meant it as a joke or not. Sena had a vicious streak a mile wide if you really got on her bad side. Like the time he’d cut all the hair off of her dolls, and she waited three months to get her revenge. She’d changed his phone ringer to a woman screaming his name in ecstasy and called him in the middle of class. Repeatedly.
He’d been in detention for a week and that was one of the nicer things she’d done to him
“No, but it was nice to see the look of fear on your face. I actually want you to be happy and I believe Jost is perfect for you and you for him. He needs someone who will care for him. He’s been hurt, and he’s the last person who should be hurt.”
“I have no intention of ever hurting him. I guess I have a lot of planning to do.” Apollo smiled. He wanted to make Jost smile. He also wanted to see his mate naked and under him, but that would come in time.
First, he had to survive ice skating and hope his mate still wanted to be seen in public with him.
Chapter Seven
Jostlayonhisbed and stared at the clock, counting down the hours until he met Apollo for their date. When Jost had asked to go ice skating, he’d thought Apollo would refuse, but he’d appeared enthusiastic and had arranged it for during the week. They both had to work, so when he’d suggested getting something to eat after and going at an earlier time, Jost had agreed. It made sense to skate on an empty stomach. He knew he would hit the ice a couple of times. He hadn’t been ice skating in years, so was bound to take a tumble or two, and eating after would be nice.
A hot chocolate and a snack would be a nice way to end the evening.
Thoughts of his ex, Jenrick, invaded his mind, and Jost expected them. He was about to go on his first date since he’d left Jenrick, so he was bound to think of him now. Think of all the things he’d endured because he’d believed he’d loved Jenrick and that Jenrick had loved him. Obsession wasn’t love, though. Forcing someone to be who you wanted them to be wasn’t love. Hurting them when they failed to live up to your expectations wasn’t love. It had taken Jost a long time to realize what he’d gone through hadn’t been his fault. A long time, and therapy, and a loving family.
Those first few days after he’d walked away, he’d barely left his bedroom. He’d needed a place of safety to lick his wounds, to tend to the shattered remains of his broken heart, to heal the cuts and bruises Jenrick’s love had left him with. He hadn’t wanted his family to witness what he’d become, what he’d allowed to be done to him in the name of love. The way he’d become a shallow version of himself to please another.
It was strange that Jost hadn’t realized what was happening to him at the time. The shift had been so gradual he’d hardly noticed it. The odd comment about staying in instead of going out, the nights where Jenrick planned things so Jost would have to cancel, the small words that made Jost question if he was right in the way he thought. Jenrick had been a master manipulator and Jost had fallen hard. He’d wanted to please the shifter he loved. Wanted to make him happy even if it meant hurting himself to do it.
Jost stared up at the ceiling, remember the first time Jenrick had hurt him. A slap. Jenrick had apologized profusely, had blamed the stress of work and swore he’d never do it again, and he hadn’t. Not for months, until one night he’d been drinking and Jost wanted to go out. The screaming and shouting, then another slap that Jenrick had drunkenly blamed on Jost.
The next day he’d denied it, saying he didn’t remember it happening and that he would never lay a hand on the shifter he loved. How could Jost accuse him of that when he’d promised to never hurt him? And stupidly, Jost had believed him, because he’d loved Jenrick and wanted to build a life with him.
Looking back, Jost was grateful he’d never gone into heat, which had been unusual for him. Every six months he’d had a heat, but for the entire time he’d been with Jenrick, he hadn’t had one. Jenrick had hurt him for that too, because Jenrick wanted cubs and had expected Jost to provide them. He’d been looking forward to fucking Jost repeatedly through his heat. Something he’d told Jost gleefully one night.
Now, looking back, Jost could see Jenrick for who he was. A shallow, insecure shifter who needed to be with someone weaker than him, so he could be in charge. Jost had been weaker physically but not mentally or emotionally, so Jenrick had worked hard to break him down, and in the end, he’d succeeded. Now, though, Jost was regaining what he’d lost and now he had a date with a gorgeous shifter who was his mate.
Scary, but it also made him warm inside knowing this shifter was his. His nerves rose up, his stomach fluttering, his palms damp. What if he wasn’t good enough for Apollo? Apollo was the alpha of his dazzle, a strong confident shifter, someone many looked up to. And from what Jost had heard, he was an excellent teacher, somehow managing to engage his students in English. Jost hadn’t been fond of that class when he’d been in school, but then again, his teacher hadn’t looked like Apollo. Maybe if he had, Jost would have been a better student.
His phone ringing pulled Jost from his thoughts, and he picked it up, seeing Tam’s name on the screen. “Hey.”
“How are you? Ready for your date?”
Jost nibbled his bottom lip. “I’m nervous,” he murmured.
