Home > Work > Wake Me Up Inside (Mates, #1)
21 " I’m gonna miss you, Hassick.”“Missing doesn’t cover it, Blondie. "
― Cardeno C. , Wake Me Up Inside (Mates, #1)
22 " Yes, it was a joke. It’s a good thing I’m moving back here, Pup.You’re clearly starved for intelligent company if you can’t evenrecognize humor when it’s right in front of you. I blame Toby for this.The man still laughs at fart jokes. "
23 " Aren’t we waiting for Lori?” Jonah asked.Toby didn’t turn around as he answered.“Nah, she isn’t coming. We’ll meet up with her later today.”Great. Lori was too pissed to see him and Toby was likeAntarctica. Jonah still wasn’t completely sure why they were so angry,given the fact that Zev hadn’t told anyone back home about theirrelationship. Well, there was one option; his old friends weren’tcomfortable with him being gay. Tough shit.Jonah figured the best way to deal with the situation was to face ithead-on. But as soon as they got into Jonah’s car, Toby started fiddlingwith the radio. Jonah decided to bide his time and wait for Toby tofinish what he was doing so they could talk. He almost lost hiscomposure when the other man landed on a Barry Manilow song andkept it there. Toby had to be the only Fanilow under the age of fifty.“So I’m guessing Lori told you about that guy in my apartmentlast night.”Toby’s posture immediately stiffened. Several long momentspassed before he answered.“Yeah, she did.”“Anything you want to ask me about it, Toby? Might as well getit out there. No reason to walk on eggshells around each other.”“Ooookay,” Toby responded, drawing out the word. He took adeep breath and turned to face Jonah. “Did you stumble across aclearance sale on jackass cream or something? Maybe they wererunning a special on lobotomies?”Well, that was an unexpected response.“Huh? Whatta you mean?”“What I mean, Jonah…,” Toby said in a louder voice, “is that Iknow we’re all just a couple of bad decisions away from being one of those weirdos who buys fake nuts and hangs them on the back of hispickup truck, but you really managed to win the stupid cake last night.”Okay, this conversation wasn’t going exactly how Jonah hadplanned, but he still felt the need to defend himself.“Stupid? Why? Because I’m gay? That’s not a bad decision,Toby. It’s not a decision at all.”Jonah pulled into a parking lot of a decent diner, turned off thecar, and turned to face Toby. The conversation was tense and awkward,but at least Toby’s atrocious music was no longer making Jonah’s earsbleed. Jonah would have preferred hearing his car engine drop out anddrag across the asphalt than another cheesy ballad.“No shit, Sherlock. But cheating on Zev is a decision. A reallybad decision.”Jonah’s mouth dropped open, and he snapped his eyes towardToby in shock. Holy crap. Toby knew about his relationship with Zev.That meant Lori knew. As much as he hated being hidden from Zev’sfamily and life back in Etzgadol, Jonah didn’t want the man to beforced out against his will.“You know?”“Know what?”“About, um, me and Zev?”Toby rolled his eyes.“Of course I know. Just because I was blessed in the looksdepartment doesn’t mean I was shorted anything upstairs. I’m not anidiot, Jonah. "
24 " The conversation was tense and awkward,but at least Toby’s atrocious music was no longer making Jonah’s earsbleed. Jonah would have preferred hearing his car engine drop out anddrag across the asphalt than another cheesy ballad. "
25 " Jonah reached up and brushed Zev’s brown locks off hisforehead, the expression on his face tender.“We’re done with high school now, Zev. I’m leaving for collegein two days. I’m tired of pretending.” Jonah took a deep breath beforecontinuing. “This is attraction,” he finished softly. "
26 " Okay, then, how does Zev not having sex with me make sense?You just said you’ve been sleeping with Lori since high school. Youwent to nursing school out of state, so clearly that didn’t stop you.”“That’s different, Jonah. My relationship with Lori isn’t like yourrelationship with Zev.”Jonah wasn’t surprised, he was just tired. Of course Toby wouldsee the relationships as different. Two men couldn’t possibly feel abouteach other the way a man feels about a woman. Apparently having agay uncle couldn’t change that type of thinking.“Right. Because we’re gay. Our relationship can’t be asmeaningful as yours,” he responded sarcastically.“No,” Toby replied, looking straight into Jonah’s eyes with asomber expression. “What you have with Zev is much deeper.”Jonah’s mouth dropped open, and he stared at Toby. As long asJonah had known the other man, he’d had a thing for Lori, and, as faras Jonah knew, they were very happy together.“Last night when we came to your place, Zev flipped out. Did youknow that?” Toby said.Jonah shook his head. He’d been sitting in his bedroom andhadn’t heard a thing.“Well, he did. He lost it and ran outside. I followed him andcaught up to him in the alley. He’d punched a hole in the side of your apartment building and he was kneeling on the ground, vomiting andcrying.”Jonah’s heart broke. So that was how Zev had acquired thoseinjured knuckles. He didn’t want to hear any more.“I didn’t know what the hell was wrong,” Toby continued. “Icouldn’t get him to come inside and I didn’t want to leave him out therealone. Once his stomach was empty, he just kept dry heaving andshaking. Eventually Lori came out and told me what’d been going onbefore we got there.” Toby glared at Jonah. “I wanted to go upstairsand kick your ass myself when I heard there’d been another man inyour bedroom. You wanna know what stopped me?”Jonah couldn’t bring himself to respond. He was still thinking about Zev crying on the street. The man was always so strong, so steady and confident. He’d never seen Zev cry, and the knowledge that he’d caused that level of pain made Jonah feel sick.“I knew that if I so much as looked at you crosswise, Zev would’ve crippled me. No matter what you’d done to him. "
27 " I DON’T disagree with you, Mother, Clarissa is a very beautifulwoman. But I’m not going to date her.”Zev didn’t bother trying to hide the frustration in his voice.Honestly, how many times would he have to tell his family that hewasn’t interested in their setups? He leaned his large frame against theback of the leather couch and rubbed his palms over his eyes. He wasexhausted. Sleep rarely came to him, and when it did, he remainedpartially alert, terrified of losing his humanity while he wasunconscious. He was barely hanging on as it was; this intervention wasthe last thing he needed. "
28 " Glad to hear it. Because if you don’t get your shit together, man,I’m going to gift wrap it, slap a big, ugly bow on top, and send it to youfor your birthday. "
29 " But, Jonah, don’t freak out now, but….” A deep breath, and then Zev finished speaking in a rush, “You are a shifter.” BOTH men were quiet for a long time. Zev was allowing his words to sink in, letting Jonah absorb intellectually what Zev was certain the man’s body already knew innately—that he was not only a man, but also a wolf.“I’m a shifter?”Zev nodded.“And you think this… why?”“I know this because you shifted last night. When we were together, you shifted and you were beautiful. Damn, Blondie, your wolf is just as gorgeous as your man.”“I shifted?”“Yes.”“Into a wolf?”“Yes.”“Last night?”“Yes.”“I shifted into a wolf last night?”“Yes, Jonah. When you add up all three clauses they make a very pretty sentence, and the meaning stays the same. "
30 " Zev had grossly underestimated how much he’d miss his friend.He’d underestimated the ingrained need coursing through him to bewith his mate. And, worst of all, he’d underestimated the length of theirseparation. When Jonah moved away that summer day twelve yearsprior, he tore a hole in Zev. And Zev was starting to wonder whetherJonah was ever going to come home to stitch that wound closed. "
31 " The human buried within the wolf’s skin exerted every ounce ofcontrol he had and forced his wolf to move back, lest he frighten hisbest friend. Zev raised himself off Jonah on shaky legs and backedaway into the corner. He rolled himself into a ball and whimperedquietly. He hurt. Every nerve ending in his body wanted to touch Jonah.He needed to claim his mate, but he couldn’t because Jonah was maleand human. Zev had never known pain as intense as that which coursedthrough him as a result of the denied need to be with his mate, to tietogether and join with him in all ways possible.“What’s wrong, Pup?” Jonah approached Zev with his hand out,palm up. He squatted down by the huge wolf and looked at him withconcern. “Are you sick?”Jonah’s position brought his crotch dangerously close to Zev’sface. The young man’s enticing scent was strongest in that part of hisbody, and Zev couldn’t stop himself from raising his head and resting itin Jonah’s lap, sniffing at him and burrowing as close as he couldthrough the protective barrier of his mate’s pajama pants. He rolledonto his stomach, hiding an arousal that he knew would frighten andrepulse the human, but kept his head in place on Jonah’s thigh with hisnose close to Jonah’s sex.With his mate near, he could feel Jonah’s heat, smell Jonah’sscent. They were together. It was enough. It had to be enough. For now.The last thought—an internal promise from Zev’s human to his wolfthat the separation from Jonah’s body was only temporary—was whatZev’s body needed to soothe out the cramping that had taken over hisintestines. "
