Page 29 of Mate Match: Curtis & Jae
I had the house to myself, and honestly, I was feeling a little cooped up. Bored too. The house was clean. I was going to drive myself up the wall if I tried to do more work. What I really needed was to go outside. It was tempting to visit Curtis at work. We’d discussed me meeting his best friend and the rest of the crew, but I knew they were too busy and I didn’t want to set them back further.
“Why don’t you have lunch with Brady?” Curtis suggested when I called him from the grocery store down the street from his house.
“He’s probably busy.”
“What if he’s not? You don’t know until you ask.”
“Okay, fair. I’ll try.”
Brady answered on the third ring. “Hey, boo!”
“You busy?”
“Never when it comes to you. Want to get lunch?”
I laughed. “That’s what I was calling to ask.”
“Great minds! I know a place we should go to.”
We met at a packed bistro not all that far from the publisher where Brady worked, which was the same place I’d met him.We’d been friends ever since, bonding over heats, being omegas, the book world and troublesome alphas.
He leaped up from his seat to hug me as soon as I entered the place. I returned it, rubbing my wrist over his scent gland on his neck automatically. Brady relaxed just a fraction at the move.
“Missed you!” He sat and pushed a menu towards me. “I know what I want. The food is great here! Ah, I’ve missed your face!”
“It’s only been a few days!” I laughed before scanning the sheet in front of me. So many things sounded amazing. “What’ve you been up to?”
I was waiting, ready for Brady to launch into some steamy tales of dating those two alphas, Gio and Xavier. He’d been on a few more dates with them and fully expected to go through his heat with the pair. Instead, he was quieter. Tense in a way I wasn’t used to.
“Um… there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Everything okay?”
“Yes, and no. I’m fine… just… I think Gio and Xavier have someone else.” Brady bit his lip nervously, waiting for my response.
“Oh,” I said after a moment. “Did you know they were still seeing other people? You were only dating them, right?”
Brady sighed. “Yeah. I was, and not exactly. It hadn’t been discussed, just implied with how they were behaving, being all territorial.”
“So, how do you know there’s someone else?”
He told me about his recent dates with them where he’d seen information for a birthing clinic, women’s underwear, and pregnancy vitamins like the ones I took. There were signs all over their apartment that they had another person in their lives.
“Oh, shit! Sorry, babe, that’s awful. What’re you going to do?”
“Well, I contacted the admins of the group I met them through and they won’t do anything until I’ve got proof. So, that’s where you come in.”
“How?” I asked, mystified.
“Well, you need a decent clinic and I researched the fuck out of this one and it’s perfect for you. All you have to do is make an appointment at the clinic in about forty minutes, when Gio and Xavier are supposed to be there.” Brady sat back with a smug look on his pretty face. These alphas were going to regret hurting him. He thought they were going to be something, except they were just stringing him along.
“How did you figure out their appointment time?”
His chuckle was hollow. “Gio likes his calendars. He got a reminder which he dipped out of pretty quick. He’s been on edge since. I think he suspects I know about her and the baby.”
“Why didn’t they break things off with you?” It was so maddening to think of these alphas stringing my friend along.
“Xavier just does whatever Gio wants. I don’t think Xavi is as into this woman as Gio probably believes. Pretty sure he prefers male omegas. I think Gio picked her and Xavier went along with it.” I could see tears welling up in his eyes. “Thing is, I thought they wanted a baby with me, so I’ve been making all these plans, and it’s all bullshit!” Angry tears fell from his forest green eyes, making them red-rimmed. “How much longer were they going to string me along? Until after my heat? When I was pregnant, too?”
