Mal

by Catherine Lievens

  “I don’t blame you. I’m just not very comfortable with this kind of conversation.”

  Simon propped his elbow on the table and put his chin on his hand. “God, you’re so damn cute. I want a cute mate too.”

  Will’s blush intensified, and Mal decided it was time to save him. “We’re going back upstairs,” he said, rising from his chair.

  “We are?” Will asked.

  Simon wiggled his eyebrows. “To have sex?”

  “No.”

  “Then what are you going to do?”

  “None of your business.”

  Simon pouted, but Mal ignored him and dragged Will, cup of tea included, upstairs. He closed the door to his bedroom once they were inside and leaned against it. He looked at Will, who looked like Mal was about to eat him and he wasn’t sure whether it was a good or bad thing. It could only be a good thing in Mal’s opinion, but they still needed to have the sex talk, so he didn’t know if Will shared that opinion.

  “So. Sex.”

  * * * *

  Will gulped and swallowed a mouthful of tea to keep the fact he was embarrassed hidden. He didn’t think he succeeded, since Mal snorted and flopped on the bed. He rolled on his back and looked at Will upside down, his head hanging from the edge of the mattress. “I’m not going to eat you.”

  “I know.”

  “You don’t look like you do.”

  Will put his mug on the bedside table and sat cross-legged on the bed. Mal rolled again, and Will didn’t protest when he put his head in the groove created by Will’s legs.

  Mal looked up at Will, a smile playing on his lips. “Have you only been with Heath?”

  Will’s eyes widened. He hadn’t been expecting that question. “Uh, yes.”

  “Aww, that’s cute. How come?”

  Will sighed. “I’ve been in love with him since we were teenagers. It felt... like a betrayal, I guess.”

  “You’ve been? You still are?”

  “I’m still what?”

  Mal scrunched his nose. “In love with Heath?”

  He didn’t look angry, and Will didn’t want him to be. “No. I think I’ll always love him, though.”

  “Like I love Simon, Arlen, and Elliott?”

  “Yes. He was my best friend for so many years, and I miss it. I miss our friendship even more than I miss our relationship.”

  “Makes sense.”

  “You’re not jealous?”

  Mal rolled again, and this time he sat up. He crossed his legs, pressing them against Will’s, and settled in front of him. “Honestly? A bit. I just really need to try not to think about you and Heath together. I know I can’t keep you two apart, though. Like you said, you miss your best friend.”

  Will snorted. “I don’t think we’re even friends anymore, let alone best friends.”

  “Why not?”

  “Things have been uncomfortable since he mated with Jayden. Besides, he doesn’t even remember me.”

  “No, but you were friends for a reason. I’m sure that if you gave him the chance, you’d end up best friends again.”

  “I’m not sure I can. He forgot everything about us. I know it’s not his fault, but it’s too much.”

  “I get it. I’m not going to push you to be friends with him again if you don’t want to.”

  Will sighed. “It’s not that I don’t want to, but how can I when I remember too much of him and he doesn’t remember anything of me?”

  Mal patted Will’s hand. “It’s fine. How did we get to talk about Heath when I wanted to talk about sex anyway?”

  “You asked me if I’d had other lovers apart from Heath.”

  “Ah, right. Well, you know I’ve been with Paul, but he hasn’t been the only one. He was the last one, though, and it’s been almost a year.”

  “And he’s still after you.”

  Mal made a one shoulder shrug. “He’s not... well, you know he was abusive. He was very controlling, to the point where I didn’t have friends anymore. I didn’t even get out of the house most of the time, except for work. And he didn’t like that either. He tried to make me quit my job. He wanted to control me, and he obviously still wants that.”

  “Why? You said it’s been almost a year.”

  “I don’t know, and honestly, I don’t care. I guess it’s because I got away, and the hold he had on me slipped. He wants to get it back.”

  Will reached out and pulled Mal onto his lap. He hadn’t exactly intended to do that, but it felt right, and Mal immediately snuggled against his chest and sighed happily. Maybe Will needed to shed the careful and hesitant part of himself when it came to Mal. He needed to follow his instincts, because Mal seemed to like it. He wasn’t rejecting Will, and since he was Will’s mate, he probably wouldn’t hurt him by leaving him like Heath had done. He might, because he was human and he’d never feel as bonded to Will as Will would feel to him. Will couldn’t think of that, though, or he’d freak out and wouldn’t give Mal the chance he deserved.

  “Will?” Mal asked, his voice slightly muffled by Will’s chest.

  “Yes?”

  “We have to talk about other stuff, I think.”

  Will smiled. “Like sex?”

  “Well, yes, but that wasn’t what I was thinking about. I think we should see each other less.”

  Will’s heart sank. “What?”

  Mal straightened, his eyes wide. “I didn’t mean it like that! I just meant that you can’t continue coming here every night, not with a four hour drive. It’s too much, and you’re exhausted after only two weeks.”

  The tightening around Will’s heart loosened. “Yeah, I know, but what else can we do?”

  “We could see each other only during the weekend, or I could come over.”

  “What about your job?”

  Mal shrugged. “I’m just a guy who makes coffee. I can find another job with better hours.”

  “You’d still have to drive back and forth. It’s the same thing.”

  “But—”

  “You know that’s not doable.”

  Mal slumped against Will’s chest. “What do you suggest, then?”

  Will hesitated. He’d thought of it during the long hours behind the wheel, and there really was only one way to solve this with minor heartbreak. “I could move here.”

  Mal snapped his head up. “Move?”

  “It’s the only thing that makes sense. I don’t have a family, and I have very little friends. None of them are good friends, not like Arlen, Simon, and Elliott are to you. They don’t even know I’m a shifter.”

  “Your job, though.”

  “I’m sure I can find something in Gillham. There’s bound to be someone looking for a man to help administrate finances. And if I can’t find anything, I can always open my own business.”

  Mal didn’t look overly happy, and Will feared he’d made a mistake. He was probably going too fast. Mal had suggested they see each other less, and he’d suggested he’d moved closer. He really wasn’t good at this kind of thing.

  He shook his head. “Forget it. It was a bad idea.”

  Mal frowned. “No, it wasn’t. I just don’t like the idea of you having to dump your entire life to move here for me.”

  Will blinked. “Why not? One of us will have to do it anyway, unless we decide to break up.”

  “I don’t want that.”

  “Me either.”

  “But you wanted to take things slow. I feel like I’m pushing you to go too fast and that you’ll end up hating me for it.”

  Will kissed the tip of Mal’s nose. “I could never hate you. If you’d rather wait, then we can, but even if we decide me moving here is a good idea, it won’t be done in two days. It’ll take time, at least a month or two. Is that long enough for you?”

  Mal slapped Will’s chest. “Shut up. It’s way too long for me, actually, but I see your point. I’m going to miss you.”

  Will kissed Mal again,
this time on the lips. “Me too. These last two weeks with you have been incredible. I didn’t think I could be so happy again, and yet you crashed into my life, and here I am.”

  “You were the one to crash into me if I remember it right.”

  “Maybe. Doesn’t matter. The result is the same.”

  Mal kissed Will this time. He gently pushed Will backward until Will had to untangle his legs so that he didn’t hurt himself when Mal pressed his back against the mattress. This was definitely more than anything they’d ever done before.

  Mal was still in Will’s lap, and since Will was now on his back, it meant Mal was straddling him. It was giving Will’s dick ideas, and he didn’t know if Mal was comfortable with them. He didn’t know exactly what had happened with Paul yet, and he didn’t want Mal to think he was pushing him, even though it seemed like Mal was more than okay with everything.

  “Where are you going to live?” Mal asked when he stopped kissing Will.

  It took Will a few seconds to realize what Mal was asking, and even longer to think up an answer. “I don’t know. I’m sure I can find an apartment in Gillham.”

  “Why don’t you move here?”

  Will’s eyes widened. “With you?”

  Mal laughed. “Well, I meant with the pack, but I’m game if you want to share my room with me. You’ll have to make do with Simon, Elliott, and Mihaja, too, though.”

  Well, fuck. This really wasn’t the slow relationship Will had wanted, but he found he didn’t mind. He’d spent so much time in Mal’s house already. What would it change if he moved in? Only that he’d be able to wake up to Mal’s face every day. It didn’t mean they had to mate or have sex.

  “Yeah, okay.”

  Mal beamed, and Will wondered if waiting to have sex really was such a good idea.

  Chapter Four

  Mal whistled as he walked to work.

  He felt great, his life was almost perfect, and even the late October weather seemed to like him since the sun was shining. Will was moving in, only two and a half weeks after making the decision. He’d even found a job, and it hadn’t been hard at all since Kameron had practically begged him to work for the pack. From what Mal had heard, Erskine hadn’t been very good with finances, and while Kameron had done his best in the past year and a half since he’d become alpha, he now had too many things to do to continue. He was still looking for a personal assistant, someone who would help him deal with the pack’s everyday occurrences, and he’d been making puppy eyes at both Mal and Simon.

  Mal found it funny, but he’d said no—for now. He wasn’t a shifter, and he knew it would be a problem if he accepted the job. No one would listen to him, and he wouldn’t be able to help Kameron as much as he should. No, he’d stick to his coffee-making job for now, and once Will was settled and the thing with Paul was over, he’d see if he could find something else.

  He pushed open the coffee shop door and waved at the regulars. There were only a few of them at this time of the day, just after lunch and before the rush back home. One of them, Ethan, waved back and beamed at him. Mal suspected the guy had a half-crush on him, but Ethan had never mentioned anything, and Mal wasn’t about to open that can of worms.

  Mal slid behind the counter, kissed his colleague, Leila, on the cheek, and hurried to the back to hang his coat and put his apron on. “Where’s Trent?” he asked through the open door. He had to raise his voice for Leila to hear him over the distance and the music that played in the shop.

  “He already left,” Leila answered.

  “That asshole.” Mal emerged from the back room and closed the door. He smoothed down his green apron and walked to Leila’s side. “Why’d you let him?”

  “What was I supposed to do? Tie him to the coffee machine?”

  “Someone ought to. Or at least someone ought to tell the boss about it.”

  “Leave it be. There’s no one here anyway.”

  “Still. He’s getting paid to do his job, not to go home early.”

  Mal grumbled, but he grabbed a rag and went to clean the tables. Ethan smiled at him when Mal passed by, but Mal didn’t stop to chat. Once he was done cleaning up the tables, though, there wasn’t much for him to do. Leila was already taking care of the customer who’d just come in, and when Ethan smiled at Mal again, Mal shrugged and went his way. “Do you need a refill?” he asked, nodding at Ethan’s mug.

  Ethan peeked in the mug. “Yeah. Here.” He drank what was left in the mug and handed it to Mal. Mal took it away, rinsed it, and put it in the dishwasher as Leila got another hazelnut coffee ready. When it was done Mal took it to Ethan.

  Ethan put the pen he was using to take notes down and gave Mal a grateful smile. “Not a lot of customers today,” he said.

  Mal looked around again, and sure enough, the shop was still empty. “Yeah, well. You know how it is. Wait another hour or so and we’ll have too many customers to be able to keep up with.”

  “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

  Mal had taken a week off to help Will pack his things. That way they’d been able to spend most of the week together, even though Will still had had to go two work. “I was helping my boyfriend pack his stuff. He’s moving in with me.” Mal knew he was grinning like a fool, but he couldn’t help it.

  Ethan’s smile fell a bit. “You have a boyfriend?”

  “Yeah. It hasn’t been long, but you know. When it’s right, it’s right.”

  “And you’re already moving in together?”

  Mal frowned at Ethan for trying to make his small happy bubble explode, but he’d been the one to talk about it in the first place, so he answered. “He lives four hours from here right now, so it’s not easy to see him, and he found a new job here. It wouldn’t make sense for him to find a place only to leave it in a month or two.”

  “Uh-huh. And is this boyfriend tall, with dark hair?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Because a dark-haired guy is standing just outside the shop’s window and he’s glaring at me like he wants to kill me.”

  Mal grinned and started to turn. Will wasn’t supposed to be in for a few days, but maybe he’d decided to make it a surprise. It was a pity Mal had to work, though.

  Mal was still smiling when he faced the window, but the smile disappeared as soon as he realized it wasn’t Will on the other side of it, but Paul. Paul had found him, and he didn’t look happy.

  “Mal?” Ethan asked, and Mal knew he was wondering if Mal was fine. He probably looked terrible. He certainly felt like shit.

  “I’m fine.” Mal knew his voice was trembling, but he couldn’t keep it steady.

  He turned to look at Ethan and gave him a smile, but he knew it wasn’t convincing. “No, he’s not my boyfriend.”

  “Oh? He looks like he doesn’t like me talking to you, though.”

  “I have no idea who the guy is, but thanks for worrying. I need to go... work now, so. Bye.”

  Mal didn’t wait for an answer. He hurried toward the back room, bypassing Leila completely, his phone already in his hand. His first instinct was to call Will, but it would do no good. Will was in Walden, and the last thing Mal wanted was for him to drive here in a panic.

  “Mal? Everything okay? Did Ethan say or do something to you?” Leila asked, following Mal in the back room.

  Mal shook his head, but she wasn’t fooled. She cupped his cheek and forced him to look at her. “You look like you just saw a ghost. What’s wrong? If it’s Ethan, I’ll kick him out.”

  “No, it’s—it’s the guy outside.”

  Leila arched a brown and lowered her hand. She peeked out the back room, then faced Mal again. “The guy with dark hair?”

  “Yeah.”

  “He just came in.”

  Mal’s knees buckled and he had to grab one of the metal shelves to avoid falling on his ass. Leila’s eyes widened and she reached for him, but a voice Mal had never wanted to hear again called out before she could say a
nything. “Anyone? I want coffee.”

  Leila looked at Mal in question, and he nodded. “Go. He’s my ex, and he used to hit me.” There wasn’t any other way for Mal to say it quickly enough.

  Leila’s expression hardened and she patted his cheek. “Stay back here and call someone to pick you up.”

  “But—”

  “Mal. You can’t work while the guy’s here. It’s fine.”

  “I’ll ask someone to come sit in the shop, just in case, but I won’t leave.” Mal didn’t want to. He didn’t want Paul to start influencing the way he lived, not ever again.

  “Hello?” Paul called again, and Mal could hear the underlining anger in his voice, just like he had so many times before.

  Leila nodded. “Okay, but you’re not coming out of this room until your friend arrives.”

  “Yeah, okay.”

  “Good. Now call, and I’m going to give your asshole ex his coffee.”

  Mal nodded and Leila left, closing the door behind herself. Mal heard Paul ask about him and Leila answer that he wasn’t feeling well. He took his phone and dialed Nick’s number.

  * * * *

  Will’s phone rang while he was driving. He frowned and reached for it, never looking away from the road. He was nearly in Gillham, and he couldn’t wait to see Mal’s face when he realized Will was there two days early, and that he was there to stay.

  Will had packed everything, and most of his stuff would arrive in Gillham only a few days, but he had the most important things in his car, and he was ready to start this new chapter of his life. He couldn’t wait.

  He quickly looked down at his phone, and grimaced when he saw it was Nick. He didn’t know why the pack’s beta apparently wanted to talk to him, but he wasn’t going to answer. He’d wait until he reached the coffee shop Mal worked in, then he’d call back. He was almost there anyway.

  The ringing stopped, only to start again a few seconds later. Will was lucky enough to find a spot to park almost right in front of the coffee shop, and he frowned when he saw Nick striding down the street toward it, his phone against his ear, his expression grim.