Sometimes you have to get over bad memories to create new ones.
Trevor has known who his mate was for years, but he’s so painfully shy and insecure that the most he’s done to woo him has been leaving him cupcakes on his porch. He knows he’s going to lose him if he doesn’t finally make a move, though, and with a not so gentle push from two of his friends, he calls Micah.
Micah is still dealing with bad memories from his shifter ex-boyfriend, and he’s glad when he meets Trevor. Trevor looks unassuming and sweet, and Micah is thrilled, until he finds out Trevor is just like his ex. He runs, thinking he’ll never see Trevor again.
Family and friends conspire to get Trevor and Micah together, and it works, until Micah discovers his father has been hiding a secret that could put Trevor and the entire pride in danger. Will Micah and Trevor’s fragile relationship survive, or will the past push them apart?
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Trevor
Copyright © 2016 Catherine Lievens
ISBN: 978-1-4874-0759-9
Cover art by Latrisha Waters
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
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Trevor
Whitedell Pride Book Twenty-one
By
Catherine Lievens
Dedication
To Laura, Tanya, and Kathy, and to my family.
Chapter One
Trevor turned the car off and looked at his mate’s house. All the lights were off, so Micah clearly wasn’t home yet. Trevor didn’t know where Micah’s father was, and he frowned. He knew the man was hurt and couldn’t walk very well. Maybe Micah had taken him somewhere.
Trevor looked at the small box on the passenger seat. It was bigger than the ones he’d used before, because when Micah’s father had moved in with him, Trevor had started bringing two cupcakes instead of just one. He knew it was stupid, and ridiculous. He was an adult, yet he was sneaking around like a teenager, leaving his crush cupcakes and running away before Micah could see him.
He sighed and grabbed his box. He might as well leave it now that no one was home. He knew Micah was trying to catch him, and he wasn’t ready for that. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be ready.
He got out of the car and closed the door, shivering in the September wind. It wasn’t exactly cold, but it was late, so it wasn’t warm either. He slinked toward the house, looking around to make sure no one was watching him. He climbed the porch steps, crouched, and put the box next to the front door.
A car turned into the driveway and Trevor froze. The lights illuminated him for a moment, and when they turned off, he ran.
“Hey! Wait!” Micah yelled as Trevor passed by him, but Trevor didn’t obey. He couldn’t let Micah find him. He just couldn’t.
He jumped in his car and slammed the door. He could see Micah coming closer, and he was starting to panic. What would he say if Micah got to him? Could he deny he’d been the one leaving the cupcakes? Would Micah be happy to meet him, or would he ask him to stop? Trevor didn’t even know if Micah appreciated Darin’s cupcakes. Maybe he should just stop leaving them.
He turned the motor on, and after giving Micah a last glance, he drove away. His cheetah grumbled in his mind, because it had more courage than Trevor. It wanted their mate, and it had had enough of waiting just because Trevor was too chicken to get Micah.
Trevor’s heart slowed down only once he was in sight of the mansion’s gate. That was the only place where he felt safe, and he had to force himself to go out every night. It was getting easier—as long as Micah didn’t catch him. At least Trevor didn’t think Micah had seen him too well. Even if he had, there was no way he could know where Trevor lived.
Trevor fumbled with the remote and got the gate open. He parked far away from the door, because he needed a few minutes to himself, and when he got out, he leaned against the side of the car and took a deep breath.
That was close.
He should have been happy about it. After all, leaving Micah cupcakes was supposed to be a way to woo him. That would become difficult if Trevor never actually talked to him, though. He knew it, but he still wasn’t able to get over his shyness and his terror that Micah would push him away because he was weird, never mind a shifter.
Trevor shook his head and pushed away from the car. He walked to the house as slowly as he could. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be home, but rather that sometimes home was a bit too noisy and crowded for his taste. He wouldn’t have exchanged it for anything, though. He loved living there. It felt safe.
He pushed the front door open and wasn’t surprised to hear the TV blaring in the living room. Nysys and Keenan had been binge watching a series when he’d left, only twenty minutes earlier. They’d probably be at it for part of the night, or at least until Morin came to fetch Nysys and dragged him home.
Sometimes Trevor wondered why Morin and Nysys didn’t move into the mansion. Nysys spent most of his time there, and he and Morin slept in Nysys’ old room more often than not. Trevor wasn’t about to point that out, though. Morin intimidated him a bit, but then so did most of the men who lived in the mansion.
Trevor loved them all like family, but he was close only to a few of them, including Nysys and Keenan. There was no staying away from those two, even if Trevor had wanted to. They didn’t allow it.
He tried to slink to the stairs without being noticed, but he was pretty sure Keenan and Nysys had done something that let them know when someone entered the house. It was the only way to explain how Nysys’ head popped out of the living room just as Trevor set foot on the first step.
“Trevor!”
Trevor sighed and turned to face Nysys. “Yes?”
“Where are you going?”
“To my room.”
Nysys sauntered out of the living room. He was wearing a canary yellow pair of pajama pants and a lime green T-shirt. Trevor briefly wondered how he was able to fall asleep with those colors under his eyes, but Nysys was already taking Trevor’s hand and dragging him to the living room.
“Come watch TV with us.”
“I really should go.”
“No, you shouldn’t. Come on, I want to hear about your mate.”
“Uh...”
Nysys shook his head and pushed Trevor onto the couch next to Keenan. Keenan beamed at him and lowered the volume of the TV. Nysys sat on Trevor’s other side, and Trevor suddenly felt trapped. He looked from one man to the other, and he knew he’d been played. “You were waiting for me.”
Nysys nodded enthusiastically. “Yup.”
“Why?”
“Because we’ve been watching you for the past few months, and we know you’re still delivering cupcakes at your mate’s door.”
/>
“So?” Trevor asked, praying his voice didn’t tremble.
“So that’s the only moment when you step out of the house, and that means you still haven’t spoken to your mate.”
“How can you know that?”
“Twenty minutes isn’t enough time to have a nice conversation with anyone.”
Trevor blushed and looked at his hands. He’d folded them together in his lap, and he traced the seam of his jeans with one finger to distract himself.
“We just want to help,” Keenan said in a surprisingly gentle voice.
Trevor was so used to the terrible two being snarky and problematic that he sometimes forgot they were sweet men who loved their family. Trevor was part of it, as a pride member, and because they’d decided so.
He slumped against the back of the couch. “I know.”
Nysys and Keenan leaned back, bracketing him again. Keenan took one of his hands, and Nysys took the other. Nysys played with Trevor’s fingers, but Keenan just squeezed.
“We know you’re shy,” Nysys said. “And we know you’d rather be left alone, but we want to help. We’re so happy with our mates, and you deserve to be happy too. Come on, tells us about him.”
The way Nysys and Keenan often talked about the two of them together as if they were one person was creepy, but it was part of their charm. Trevor and the rest of the pride members accepted it as normal now.
Trevor shrugged. “His name’s Micah.”
“And?” Keenan gently prodded when Trevor didn’t continue.
“He’s human. He moved to Whitedell a year ago, for his job. His father moved in with him a few months ago, after he got injured.”
“How do you know all that stuff?”
Trevor blushed. “I might have asked Isaiah to look some things up.”
“I’m surprised. I’d have thought you’d look on your own.”
“I would have, but technology hates me. My last PC exploded, and I haven’t bought another one yet.”
“Exploded?” Nysys asked, a spark in his eyes.
“Yeah. I didn’t even do anything to it. It just... exploded. In the middle of the night. While it was turned off. Scared me to death.”
“Mmm, tell us more about it.”
Keenan reached out and slapped Nysys’ arm. “We need to talk about his mate, not about exploding computers.”
“Right. Tell us more about Micah, then.”
* * * *
Micah watched the car disappear down the street and shook his head. He knew he’d find two cupcakes on the porch, and now that he’d seen the person who apparently was leaving them for him and his dad, he knew it was a man. Not a woman, like his dad thought, but a man.
“Micah.”
Micah jerked toward his dad, who was trying to get out of the car. He was struggling, and while Micah knew he didn’t like asking for help, he also knew he’d be grateful if Micah offered. He hurried to the car, momentarily pushing away thoughts of his mysterious admirer.
“Here, let me help,” he proposed, offering his dad his hands.
His dad nodded and took them, letting Micah pull him upright. He waited until he was sure his dad was balanced to reach into the car and extract his dad’s cane. His dad made a face at it, like always, but it wasn’t like he could walk without falling on his face without it, so he took it from Micah’s hand and hobbled away.
Micah closed the door and locked the car, then hurried past his dad to open the front door. He leaned down and took the box that waited for him next to the door, and when his dad finally managed to get on the porch, he smirked at the sight.
“Your admirer left new cupcakes?” he asked.
Micah couldn’t very well hide the box, so he nodded. Besides, his admirer had been leaving the sweets every day for months. Micah’s dad would have found it weird if he hadn’t today.
“Wait, was that the reason why you shot out of the car as if your ass were on fire? Did you see her?”
Micah smirked. He liked knowing something his dad didn’t know. “Yeah, I saw the person who leaves these. Not well, but enough to know it’s not a woman.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
Micah’s dad hobbled inside and Micah followed him, closing the door after casting one last glance in the direction his admirer had taken. They ended up in the kitchen, and Micah put the cupcake box on the table as his dad sat heavily in one of the chairs. They both looked at the box.
“A man, huh?” Micah’s dad asked.
“Yeah.”
“You’re sure you don’t know who it could be? It’s been months. Why hasn’t he come forward?”
Micah took his jacket off and hung it to the back of his chair. “Maybe he doesn’t know I’m gay.”
Micah’s dad snorted. “How could he not? He knows where you live, and I’m ready to bet he knows a lot more than that. Honestly, if he didn’t merely leave you cupcakes, I’d have told you to go to the cops months ago. That guy’s a stalker.”
Micah’s dad wasn’t wrong. In the beginning, Micah had found it fun, and the cupcakes were good. He and his dad didn’t usually eat sweets, but they always ate the ones left for them by Micah’s admirer. He’d even started leaving two cupcakes when Micah’s father had moved in with him. That meant the guy was at the least spying on Micah.
“What do you think I should do?” Micah asked, opening the box.
The cupcakes were chocolate, with whipped cream on top and a red cherry. Micah slid the box toward his dad and his dad took one of the cupcakes. “Well, as much as I enjoy the cupcakes, don’t you think it’s time you did something?”
Micah took his own cupcake and gently unwrapped the liner. Now that he looked closer, he could see the cupcakes weren’t merely chocolate. There was a glaze under the whipped cream, and when he carefully broke the cupcake in half, the scent of cherry reached his nose. “Like what?” he asked his dad before licking the glaze off his finger. “Go to the cops? I’m sure they’ll find it funny. Yes, Officer, this man has been bringing me cupcakes for the past several months. That’s all he does, yes.”
“That’s not all he does. He watches you, obviously.”
Micah chuckled. “I’d be more inclined to take you seriously if you didn’t have whipped cream on your nose.”
Micah’s dad rubbed at his nose and Micah bit into his cupcake. It was chocolate and cherry, and he loved it.
“All right, so if you don’t want to go to the cops, what are you going to do?”
Micah sighed. “I guess it is time I do something.”
“I just don’t want you to get hurt. You might be right about the fact that the man seems to be harmless, but you can’t know that for sure.”
Micah chewed on a bit of muffin and swallowed. “What if I tried to talk to him?”
Micah’s dad arched a brow. “How? It’s been months, and you realized it was a man only now.”
“I could try to surprise him, or if that doesn’t work, I could write a note and leave it where he leaves the cupcakes.”
“I think I’d rather have you do that. You don’t know how he’ll react if you corner him.”
“I don’t think he has bad intentions.”
“Probably not, no. He’s had plenty of time to hurt you. It also doesn’t mean he doesn’t have bad intentions, though.”
Micah shrugged. He had the feeling his guy had a good reason for not talking to him. Someone who left him cupcakes couldn’t want to hurt him. If anything, it was a sweet thing to do. There was only one reason Micah could think about for someone to do it.
His admirer had a crush on him—that was obvious. Micah didn’t mind that. He’d have liked to know who the guy was, though. He’d been lonely since Erik, but it was better that way. The few one-night stands he’d had hadn’t been exactly satisfying, and he hadn’t dared leave his dad alone for the night since he’d moved in. He still wasn’t walking well, and the last thing Micah wanted was to
come home after a mindless night of fucking and find his dad sprawled on the floor. He could go without sex.
What he missed most was having someone to talk to, really. He had a few friends, even a best friend, but it wasn’t the same. He wasn’t sure he was ready for more yet, though.
Micah licked the last of the whipped cream from his fingers and licked his lips. “I think I’m going to try to talk to him.”
His dad nodded and crumbled the liner of his cupcake. “I can’t say I’m surprised. Just be careful, okay?”
“Of course.”
Micah watched his dad struggle to get up. His first instinct was to help him, like he had before, but he knew his dad wanted to start doing things on his own, and getting up from a chair was easier than getting out of a car. His dad had taken what had happened to him and the fact that he couldn’t live alone or work hard, and Micah tried to make it as smooth as possible for him.
Micah looked at his dad until he disappeared down the hallway to his room. He couldn’t do the stairs, so Micah had converted the living room into a bedroom. His dad hadn’t been happy and had grumbled, but it had needed to be done.
Sighing, Micah got up. He gathered the two liners and threw them away, then folded the box. He turned the light off in the kitchen, yelled a goodnight to his dad, and walked up the stairs to his bedroom.
He closed the door behind himself and took out the box he kept under his bed. He added the folded cupcake box to the ones he already had, feeling a bit silly, just like always. He couldn’t bring himself to throw them away, though. He didn’t know why, but after a while he’d stopped wondering. Who cared why? The things were pretty, and they comforted him.
He pushed the box back under the bed and flopped on the mattress, taking his phone out and sweeping his thumb on it until the number he was looking for popped up. He made the call, tapping the fingers of his free hand on the sheet under him.
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