Skaydal - Unsettled Beta

9

Zack

Being around Mato proved to be a daily struggle and I cursed Grayson for it. I both hated it and loved it, and wasn’t that just confusing as hell? I glanced over at where Mato stood with Triston – it was now a lot easier to tell the brothers apart. The café was coming together rather well and started to look as if they were envisioning it.

“What about over here?” Mato suggested, and I watched closely. Triston barely registered Mato’s suggestion before he was moving to a different spot. Mato huffed out in frustration, but either Triston didn’t notice, or he chose to ignore it. However, I had noticed, and I wasn’t going to ignore it.

“Hey! Triston!” I called out, startling both of them.

“Yeah?”

“You may want to take your head out of your ass and actually listen to your brother,” I snapped. Triston looked taken aback before he gazed over at Mato – who looked like he wanted to kiss me and rip my head off. I watched them a bit longer as Mato made his suggestion once again and this time Triston paid attention. I turned back to what I had been doing and I wasn’t at all surprised to see Carmen looking at me. “What?”

“Why do you fight against the bond?” she asked, and I rolled my eyes. This was not the first time she had asked me that question.

“I’m not,” I lied. Again. I was fighting the bond and although it was hard and kept me up at night, it was a lot harder to fight against Mato. The more time I spent in his presence, the more I got to know him. Like, I now knew that his favorite color was white even though he always wore blue. His favorite food was pizza and ice cream (not together), and he enjoyed classical music over rock or pop. He adored watching old movies and eating popcorn, but it was his kind and caring heart that made it harder not to be attracted to him. He was always offering a lending hand and, somehow, he always seemed to appear when someone needed help.

“You are destroying my brother,” she then hissed out and I sighed softly as I watched her storm off into the back. She was right though. I was busy destroying her brother. Because as much as I had noticed things about Mato, he had noticed things about me. Being thrust together on this project was a nightmare and I tried not to let anything show. I tried to be indifferent, but when it came to my mate, it was hard.

“Lunch is ready!” Jett announced as he came out the back with a large tray. Carmen was right behind him, and the smell of melted cheese, sizzling pepperoni, and mushrooms had my mouth watering. They set the trays down and we each grabbed a slice. And as every luncheon went on, the siblings teased each other, revealing more tidbits about my mate that I stored away to process later. Of course, I stopped being subtle about watching him days ago, so when he turned and smiled at me, I felt as though my heart had stopped.

“Care to go for a walk?” he asked softly, and I nodded. I shouldn’t be alone with him. I shouldn’t even talk to him, but I wanted everything he had to offer and more. We left the café and slowly walked along the main road until we got to the town square. Spending time like this with him was incredible and I cherish every second of it. The way he twisted the hem of his t-shirt nervously. The way he leaned toward me without thinking about it. The way he breathed deeply was as if I wouldn’t notice him sniffing me. When we sat down on a nearby bench, I watched him and waited. Clearly, he had something on his mind, and I didn’t want to hear it.

“Is everything all right?” I dared to ask. I was hoping whatever it was he wanted to talk about had to do with the café and not us.

“I’m horny!” he suddenly blurted out and I had the pleasure of watching his cheeks pinken in horror. Of course, his outburst wasn’t a surprise to me. I had been around him for the last couple of days and, honestly, the man oozed s*x from morning to night. My evenings were filled with getting myself off to images of him. I didn’t say anything in response. I was pretty sure I didn’t have to. I was positive that he felt my needs as well. We sat in silence, and I groaned softly as his arousal peaked higher and higher. I chanced a glance at him, and he was squirming against the wooden bench. The way that he was sitting didn’t allow me to see just how turned on he was, but I had the sudden desire to see him naked. I abruptly stood up.

“We can’t…I can’t…hook up with someone else,” I said as I rushed off toward my car. It wasn’t until I pulled up outside of Dax’s bar that I not only realized what I had said to him, but what I was planning on doing. I could feel Mato’s stress and pain so I quickly shut them down. There was no time for second-guessing. I headed inside and scanned the bar. It was rather busy, but I knew that a lot were luncheons, grabbing a quick meal or drink. I spotted Luke behind the bar and smiled. Target insight, I made a beeline for him.

“Oh, hey, Zack,” he greeted warmly, and I smiled. “Sorry, my shift is about to end, but Joel will be out shortly to help you,” I watched as he finished cleaning up when Joel showed up.

“Hey, man, what can I get for you?” he asked me, and I quickly shook my head.

“I’m here to see him,” I said gruffly as I pointed over at Luke. Joel nodded and moved on to attend to the other customers. Luke was eyeing me suspiciously, but I remained where I was.

“I’ll be right out,” he said before he left the bar and went into the back. I knew this was a bad idea, but it was like a storm was brewing and a tornado was on its way to destroy everything in its path, and I was helpless to stop it. He didn’t keep me waiting long and I followed him outside.

“Where’s your place?” I asked him and he frowned.

“About two blocks away from here, why? What’s going on?” he was confused but intrigued and I grabbed his hand and pulled him toward me. The soft squeal that escaped from him made me harder than ever. I wasn’t a fool though, my desire wasn’t for him, and using him like that was wrong.

“I’m going, to be honest with you Luke,” I growled out. “I don’t actually want you,” the look of disappointment was clear as day and I sighed. All of the signs were showing me that I should just leave but the tornado was closing in. “But you are the only one available right now,”

“And you want me to be ok with us hooking up when you don’t actually want me?” he spat out as he pulled away and stepped back.

“Yes,” I said simply. He watched me, thinking about my offer, and when he finally nodded and started walking in the direction of his place, I followed. He lived in an apartment complex and when he finally unlocked the door, I couldn’t wait any longer. I pushed him up against the wall and ground my hips against his. I wasn’t surprised to find him hard and wanting, but that didn’t stop me as I leaned in and suckled on his neck. Luke groaned as his hands roamed over my back as I continued to rut against him. Mato’s feelings were sneaking in, and I desperately needed him to stop. When the loud sound of my phone ringing broke through the gasping and moaning, I ignored it. I could guess who it was, but I didn’t want to think, I just wanted to feel. Luke pushed me away and we both stared at each other, panting hard.

“What do you want?” he asked, his voice low and rough.

“I want…I want…” I wasn’t even sure what I wanted.

“Do you top?”

“Ah…yeah,” I said as my eyes roamed over him. “Just so you know, if I wasn’t attached to him, I would be into you,” I admitted, and he smiled.

“By attached, I’m going to guess you are referring to the cute little nerd you brought to the bar the other day,” I felt as though he had slapped me.

“Cute little nerd?” those weren’t exactly the type of words I would’ve used to describe Mato because he wasn’t little, and he wasn’t a nerd. Well, not much of one.

“Yeah,” Luke said as he adjusted himself and my eyes were glued to the motion. “Look, this is not something I would normally do…I mean, I’m not Missy, but you are hot,”

“Ah…thanks,” I muttered.

“And if we are going to do this, then I want more than a quick f**k,” he was crude and to the point, and I nodded as I waited for him to lay out his terms. I didn’t do repeats. “Here’s the deal, you are mine for the rest of the day and you can leave in the morning,” I frowned at his terms.

“That’s it?”

“I want to be thoroughly f****d by you, Zack,” he said honestly, and warning bells started going off, but before I could say anything, he continued. “This is a one-time thing, Zack. Once you leave in the morning, there will be no repeats. The next time you have an itch to scratch, pick someone else,”

“Right,” I laughed. Luke was feisty and I found I loved that. “I agree to that deal,” I added, and Luke smirked as he pulled off his shirt. His toned chest and upper body made my mouth water, and I realized what he wanted. He didn’t just want mindless s*x, he wanted it to be drawn out and passionate. Again, warning bells were going off, but it had more to do with Mato than anything else and I hesitated.

“Are you sure you want to do this? You have time to walk away from here, Zack,” he said softly, and my gaze snapped up to meet his.

“I…yes,” I closed the distance between us and grabbed him. “Yes, let’s do this,” I growled out as I leaned in and pressed my lips against his. It felt wrong and my wolf was raging with anger. I pushed both aside and devoured Luke’s full, plump lips. I pushed away the image of Mato. I pushed away his anger and hurt, but most importantly, I pushed away my guilt as I gave myself over to Luke. When we broke apart, Luke led me to his bedroom, and I didn’t bother taking notice of anything. This was a one-time deal, and I wasn’t about to waste it by taking in the décor. I stripped out of my clothing and as I stood there in all my naked glory, Luke’s eyes roamed over me with appreciation.

“You are so sexy,” he whispered, and I tilted my head to the side.

“You still have on way too many clothes,” I pointed out and I enjoyed the faint blush that tainted his cheeks. Luke removed his jeans and boxers in one go and I nodded. “I can work with this,” I teased, before I stalked toward him and pressed our naked bodies together. I blanked out everything else and gave Luke everything I should have been giving to my mate.