by J. D. Light
He'd rushed me to the store like my head was about to fall off, or something, and bought me a brand new smartphone, actually glaring at me when I'd offered to pay for it.
Looking down at it now, I still wasn't sure if it had been worth all the drama and extra money.
Bunny's name was flashing across the screen, so I answered it quickly. "Hello?"
"Hey, sweet boy. I know today is your day off, but the new guy doesn't start for a few more days, and for some reason, we just got swamped. Do you think you can come in and work a couple hours until we make it through the dinner rush?"
"Of course! Green had to run and do something for Foster, anyway, so it's not like I can really hang out with him right now." Already in motion, I grabbed my shoes, and the keys to my old beat up car––that I absolutely would not budge on when Green tried to buy me a new one––and started to head outside.
Burke grabbed my arm, pointing to his own keys in his hand, telling me he'd give me a ride, while Bunny thanked me and hung up.
I smiled, but hesitated. "I don't want you to have to go just because of me."
"What else am I gonna do? Sit around and watch these two be lonely?"
"Ward might be lonely," Arry said, spinning his phone to reveal a shirtless torso. "But I'm 'bout to go find Romero, here, and question him about these alleged nine inches."
Ward made a face, and stood from his chair to walk up the stairs. "You're gross."
Arry laughed. "Maybe he's my mate!"
***
When Burke and I pulled into the lot, I was a bit confused when I saw Green's truck sitting in the parking lot, but excited. Regardless of the fact that I couldn't quit almost telling him I loved him, he was my absolute favorite person to be around in the whole world. Every minute I got with him seemed fake and amazing at the same time.
Burke had parked up front where everyone else parked, so I raced around the side of the building, needing to get my apron and clock in.
What I wasn't expecting, was to see my mate handing an envelope over to the man who'd played the part of the worst possible father to an orphan for twelve long years.
"I hope you brought the money, Avers. Don't think I don't know what that mark on his chest means. I could get twice as much if I had the fucking time to do it." Green sounded different. Not like mine. Not like the man I was head over heels in love with.
He sounded cold and hard, and I couldn't help but back up away from all of it, not wanting either man to see me at the moment.
"I have the money, cat. But this better be my boy, or I'll have my wolves wipe out your entire town." Brian pulled three, eight by tens out of the envelope my mate had handed him, and I saw myself on them, in different stages of working at the diner.
That's why he'd taken the pictures.
In that moment, I honestly felt like my heart shattered.
Like a pressure so strong on my chest, that something had to give. Either my heart or my lungs were going to blow, and I needed my lungs to scream out my pain.
"Noooooo." It was a loud, miserable sound that drew the attention of everyone in the impromptu meeting of selling Rory to the most convenient bidder.
He was selling me back to Brian. That's all I could think, over and over. He'd chosen the cruelest way to get rid of me.
"Foster!" I heard Green yell, as he charged forward into Brian, taking him to the ground.
"I've got him!" Foster yelled back, running at me, and pressing me up against the wall, as men I recognized from back when I was being held by Brian, started running out of the woods toward me All clearly headed for either me, or where Green was beating the shit out of the man I loathed with every breath I took.
When men in black clothing followed them out of the woods, I watched in shock as they started throwing the wolves down on the ground, and cuffing them.
A man in a suit clasped Green's shoulder, stopping the brutal beating of a man who had passed out probably ten punches ago.
"Mr. Wilkes! Your mate needs you." His voice was deep and firm, like he was used to always being in control.
Green's eyes snapped around to where Foster was just starting to ease away from me, and I saw it then. The truth was right there in his shifted eyes.
He hadn't been trying to sell me back to the man who had imprisoned and punished me. He was saving me. I was finally free.
Marching over to me, he grabbed me hard, and buried his face in the spot between my neck and shoulder where he'd placed his mark a couple days before. I was a little surprised to feel the wetness, and then the obvious sob, but I clung to him, as he cried against my skin.
"I'm so sorry, Pretty Angel." He pulled back, his dark eyes back to normal now that the adrenaline had run its course. "I hate that you thought for even one second that I would want anything for your future, other than spending every single day and night with me."
"Fuck," I sobbed, nearly strangling him with my arms as I squeezed him to me. "I'm so sorry I doubted you. I see it now. I see how much you love me."
Smiling, while tears still ran down his beautiful, brown face, he leaned forward and pecked a kiss to my lips. "I do. I love you, so much. And I know you llllike pastries."
Giggling, I jumped up, wrapping my legs around his waist as he cupped my ass to hold me in place. "I love you, Green," I whispered, just inches from his face. "I love you so much, I feel like nothing is real. When I was wasting away in that cell, all I ever wanted was my freedom. I never dreamed I could have more than that, if I ever even got it. It's still so hard to believe that I found someone so perfect for me. The part of my soul I didn't even realize was missing. Thank you for setting me free for good."
With all the reverence I've ever seen in the eyes of the other couples I'd admired since moving here, my mate looked at me, squeezing me close. "You really are a pretty angel."
Epilogue
"So, that's really it, but I'm pretty convinced those are the guys. They are literally the only two doctors in the US that both specialize in chemistry, and have ties to known cult members."
Foster lit up, taking the notecard I'd written the names on with wide eyes. "Shit, Green. This is more than any of my guys could find. How did you get this?"
Cringing, I glanced around. "Not necessarily in a legal fashion."
"Ah." Foster nodded, standing a little to put the card in his back pocket. "Say no more."
I frowned at my mate and Burke, as they both let out the same, wide-eyed, choked-up noise while staring over their shoulder, as the chubby, suspender-wearing, accountant-looking man sat down at the table to our left.
They both started flapping excitedly, while Foster and I blinked in confusion. A confusion that was only compounded when Arry bounced up to the table excitedly, pointing, what looked like, to himself, but turned out to be at the man behind him.
"Did you see him?" He whisper-yelled, making all three of them squee and start flapping again.
"What the fuck is wrong with you three?" Foster finally asked when his mate sighed dramatically, saying, "He's perfect."
"We found a man for Ward," Burke growled at his mate from between his teeth.
Foster and I got identical smacks, as we both tried to lean around the trio to look at the man, who was frowning at the menu, and mumbling something about calories to himself.
"Him?" Foster asked, looking at the three like he knew there was something he was missing.
"Yes," Arry said, entirely too fan-girly for a man his size. "The cute little chubby in the suspenders, glasses and a bowtie. A bowtie! Can't you just see him and Ward snuggled up on the couch reading?"
Oddly, I could. "Don't you think Ward, and his lack of social…anything is going to scare off a cute little guy like that?"
"Oh, no'" my mate said, making me want to take him in the back and do naughty things to him with that beautiful smile on his face. "He's going to take one look at that cutie, and fall madly in love."
"Excuse me," the soft voice behind Arry said. "Do you, uh––" He
cringed a little, pulling back.
To be fair, we were all five probably resembling the cover photo of a pamphlet about mental institutions, and whether they were right for your loved one, with the way we were all looking at him.
"Sorry, cutie," Arry said, going strangely professional for the first time ever. "Are you ready to order?"
"Uh, yes. But I was also going to ask if you were from around here? My father sent me to speak with a writer…Oh! Maybe I should start with the fact that my father owns a publishing company out of Illinois. Uh…anyway, he sent me to talk to a writer he wants to publish, because the man won't answer his phone, and my father really needs to talk to him, so he can see…never mind. That's not important to you."
Taking a deep breath and giving us all a self-deprecating smile, that I swear the three fan-girls sighed over, he shook his head. "I'm looking for a Ward Butler. Would any of you happen to know where I might find him? The address we have is a PO box."
"Oh, this is priceless," Burke whispered, making Foster smirk at his mate, who wasn't paying him a bit of attention.
"You wait right here, cutie pie. It just so happens that Ward is here." Arry's blue eyes were big and full of amusement when he turned to our table to very pointedly say, "And he's a writer."
Arry scurried off, almost crashing into a very disgruntled looking Bunny when he drifted around the corner.
Ten seconds later, he reappeared, pushing an angry Ward out in front of him, as the man all but dug his actual heels into the faux wood, porcelain tile. "I have no intention of meeting with an old, uptight bigot about my work, which he hasn't even read."
When Ward lifted his eyes to the man he'd just called an old, uptight bigot, I wished I'd thought to get my phone out. Those dark green suckers widened to the size of the plates he put all Burke's cheese fry orders on, and he nearly got toppled when he forgot to lean back into to Arry's shove.
"Oh my," was the breathy reply that came from suspender's direction, making the fan-girls all sigh again, and Foster and I chuckled.
But, Ward's growled word nearly had me standing in line with Rory, Burke and Arry.
"Mate."
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(The following has not been properly edited yet.)
Chapter One
How many times did I have to tell this old asshole that I wasn't interested in signing on with his publishing company? I could almost guarantee he hadn't read one single word of any of my books. He no doubt had people to do that.
The first time he'd called, he'd said something about as a man writing romance novels, he was surprised I wasn't queer.
First, I was queer. Second, if he'd read my romance novels, he'd know that. And third, though I found it endlessly amusing that one of his underlings was going about trying to get gay romance novels published through the bigot's company without the man even knowing, I didn't want to have to speak to the man, so I was out on that one. Self-publishing was working just fine for me.
And now, for him to show up at my not job, in a room full of men who loved other men, to try to talk me into something I'd already told him no to, at least ten times?
I didn't want to cause a scene in Bunny's diner, so I dug my heels in when Arry tried to push me through the door.
"Come on, Ward. I guarantee you are going to love me for this one."
Jumping, as the man goosed me, and then gave a big shove, I was propelled through the swinging door out into the diner. "I have no intention of meeting with an old, uptight bigot about my work, which he hasn't even read."
When I had no choice but to look up, so I didn't trample some sweet old lady, or somebody's tiny little mate, I met beautiful brown eyes, behind nerdy, black framed glasses, perched on a chunky, adorable face, and my breath caught.
I also stopped pushing back against my friend, so was propelled forward, stumbling a few feet in the direction of that beautiful man. I knew when the sweet scent of something amazing hit my nostrils, it was coming from him.
He was mine. He was, "mate."
"I'm sorry, cutie," Arry was saying, as I tried to get my bearings. "I didn't get your name."
"Davis. Uh, Sanders. Davis Sanders. From Sanders Publishing. Well, I'm with them. I'm from Illinois. So is Sanders Publishing. It's my dad." His adorable face scrunched up. "Not the company. A company can't be a dad. Alder Sanders is my dad. He owns the company. Oh wow, is it hot in here?"
He picked up the menu and started fanning himself, his eyes wide as he looked at me. And just kept looking.
Chuckling, Arry gestured in my direction like he was working the letters on a game show. "Davis Sanders, this is Ward Butler. Ward, this cutie here, is Mr. Davis Sanders. Not raised by a publishing company."
I glared at Arry for a moment. Both for calling my mate cutie, and for making fun of him. But Davis just smiled and blushed.
"Yes, I ramble sometimes. Obvious––" He blinked, focusing on me. "You're Ward Butler? Oh shit! Oops! Can I say that here?" He put his hand over his mouth, looking around. Probably searching for small children. "I really should be muzzled in public. I tend to say things that offend people. Gorgeous men make me nervous."
His eyes widened comically, and he gasped, putting the other hand up there with the first, sealing both of them tightly. "Oh damn." He mumbled against the palm on bottom.
Where I enjoyed the compliment––and I knew it was for me, because he'd barely taken his eyes off of me––I was stuck on the muzzle comment. But I was picturing his pink lips wrapped around a bright red ball gag, as he looked over his shoulder while sitting on a pillow on his knees, tied naked with a pretty red scarf to a hook I was very soon to install in my room.
I felt pre-cum bubble from the head of my dick, and I groaned, reaching under my apron to adjust my cock through my jeans, right there in the middle of the diner, with a ridiculous amount of people watching.
I heard a muttered "eww" that I think probably came from Arry––not that that perv could talk––as my mate's hands slowly lowered from his mouth, when he caught the action.
He whimpered a little, and as I stepped closer, intending to sit with him, I caught the scent of his arousal, and my knees actually went a little weak.
Sliding in to the chair across from him, I did my best to smile through the uncomfortable pinch my pants were giving my dick. "What is it I can do for you, Hot Stuff?"
He pointed at himself, like he was asking if I was talking to him, making me chuckle when I nodded. "Uh––" He blinked at me for some time. My father."
Smirking, I rested my chin on my fist, staring into his pretty brown eyes. "I'm not doing your father."
Giggling, Davis shook his head. "Yeah, he'd just bitch the whole time that you weren't doing it right anyway."
He was so handsome when he smiled like that, showing off his tongue-able dimples.
"My father sent me to see if maybe you'd reconsider publishing with Sanders. I'm about one hundred percent positive he hasn't read your books. In fact, I'm pretty sure the only reason he keeps pushing for it, is because his pretty, blond editor suggested it, which he is convinced he can still get at his age. But anyone who knows her can clearly see she's into cat and definitely not into old man penis…but that is completely inappropriate, and so not what I was trying to tell you." Again, those pretty brown eyes were almost as big as the lenses in his glasses.
"Anyway, I absolutely love your books, but since my dad is slightly bigoted, I would assume he hasn't actually read them, and was originally trying to get you so he could impress his editor, but no
w he's obsessed, because you told him no. He's not a fan of that word."
"You are fucking adorable, " I blurted like an idiot. But he absolutely was.
When I heard giggles from the table next to us, I turned to find Burke, Rory, and Arry, lined up, all watching from different positions of moony-eyed adoration, while sitting at the table, looking between Davis and I like they were watching their favorite soap-opera.
Green and Foster were watching us too, but the smirky looks on their faces, said they were laughing at my expense.
When I turned back to my mate, he was blushing almost the color of his bright red bow tie. "Um, anyway. He basically made me come do this to make a man of me." His voice had gone ridiculously deep, like he was mocking someone, and then he rolled his eyes. "I have no idea what coming to Purdy, Nebraska to talk to you has to do with being manly…actually, I don't know what anything beyond having a penis has to do with being manly.
"I mean it's not like I lost my penis because I'm fat, and date other men. Though, I have heard if you lose thirty pounds, you gain like an inch in your length. I'm sure that's exaggerated." His head snapped up from where he'd been looking at the table, his eyes horrified. "Not that I have a little dick! It's perfectly average!
"Oh my goodness! That was loud. Why am I talking about penises again? I swear I'm not some sex crazed psychopath."
"I'm calling Bennett, he should really be here for this," Foster said, pulling out his phone.
"Don't you dare, " I growled, pointing at fan club.
"I'm going to get kicked out of this diner for indecent exposure or something. Eww, that sounds like I’m going to pull my dick out." Gasping, Davis spun a little in his chair, addressing the room. "I'm not going to pull my dick out!"
"This is the best conversation I've ever not been a part of," Burke said happily, smiling at my mate.
"Bennett, you have to come to the diner. Ward's mate is amazing." Rolling his eyes, he waited. "I don't care if your bear meat is getting cold. I promise, this is something you don't want to miss." Another pause. "You've got years and years to make grizzards!"