City Alpha

Chapter Three - My Room

∎Justin∎

Justin parked his truck along the curb opposite a twenty-four-hour takeout restaurant. A popular pizzeria that they would often order from. He sighed as he took out his phone and dialed a familiar number. Just knew it was late, but it wasn’t too late, and he knew that his father’s beta would still be awake.

“Hey, Justin!” Carl greeted him and Justin smiled. Hearing his voice made him feel homesick. “Is everything alright?” Carl then asked worriedly.

“Yeah, yeah, everything is fine,” Justin hurried to reassure him. “Although, I did find my mate,”

“Oh! That’s wonderful!” Carl exclaimed and Justin smiled.

“But she’s human,” he then added as he thought about his mate that he had left in his house.

“Still, congratulations!”

“Yeah, thanks…I guess,” Justin wasn’t sure how to bring it up with his parents and now he was worried that he should’ve spoken to his father instead.

“What’s wrong?” Carl questioned. “Are you worried about your parents accepting her because she’s human?” the question hit home, and Justin sighed loudly.

“Maybe I should call my dad,” he said, instead of answering Carl’s question.

“That would be best,” Carl said. “As far as I know he is still in his office,”

“Ok, thank you,”

“Anytime, just don’t worry about it too much, ok?” Carl said firmly.

“Ok, I’ll talk to you later,” Justin said before he hung up and called his father. “Hey dad, I hope I didn’t wake you…” he said carefully. Although Carl had mentioned that his father could still be in his office, Justin was still careful as he posed the unspoken question.

“No, I was just finishing up this month's budget,” his father replied. Justin could hear that his father was tired, and he wondered if he should’ve waited until the morning. “Are you ok? You don’t normally call this late,”

“I found my mate!” Justin blurted out awkwardly. The silence that followed made him nervous as he heard his father’s breathing and nothing else. “She’s human,” he quickly added.

“I’m very happy for you,” Jeffery said, and Justin was relieved to hear the happiness in his voice. “Although her being a human does complicate things but…it isn’t unheard of,”

“Her name is Zoey,” Justin informed him, choosing to ignore his father’s last words.

“That’s a pretty name, where did you meet her?” his father questioned. “Tell me about her,”

“I don’t know much about her, but she’s a transfer student and the first time I saw her was in my business class,” Justin explained. “So, Cane got a call earlier from this girl in his English lit class and he has a major crush on her,” Justin knew that he was saying too much but he needed to get it off his chest. “Anyway, so this girl moved into the apartment Zoey was supposed to move into,”

“That’s unfortunate,”

“Yeah so, she asked Cane if he had any space for her stuff, you know…since she doesn’t have a place to stay…anyway, we agreed because Cane practically begged us,”

“Of course, he did,”

“Yeah, so he went to pick up Zoey-”

“Wait, you didn’t go and help your mate?” Jeffery asked, interrupting Justin.

“No, well, no, I didn’t know it was her that needed help,” Justin quickly explained. “When they came home, Marvin and I were tidying up and then Marvin went out to help Cane move her stuff into the garage but then he came back and told me it was her,” Justin paused in his story as he thought back to that moment. Never before in his life had he ever felt so overwhelmed. “Anyway, I went out and I helped her,”

“And now here you are calling me because you are freaking out?” Justin couldn’t help but chuckle at the way his father said: ‘freaking’, it was rather fitting as he did freak out.

“Yeah,”

“Well son, I have to ask you a very important question,”

“What’s that?”

“Where will Zoey be sleeping and spending her time?” the question threw him off as he realized that he had agreed to let his mate sleep on the sofa. He couldn’t tell his father that.

“Oh, originally we were gonna let her sleep on the sofa, but, but when I saw it was her…” Justin’s voice trailed off as he realized he wouldn’t be able to lie.

“And then you freaked out?” Jeffery teased playfully. “Look, Justin, just go back home and make other arrangements. If she doesn’t find another place to live within the week, let me know,” Justin didn’t even bother to ask what his father meant by that, he already knew that he would make some kind of plan to make sure Justin’s mate was comfortable. “And am I correct in assuming you don’t want your mother to know about Zoey?”

“Yeah, please, sorry,” Justin said softly as he lowered his head in shame. Even though his father couldn’t see him, that didn’t mean he didn’t feel bad about keeping secrets.

“Alright, but only for now,” his father said. “In the meantime, I suggest you go home and make her comfortable,”

“Yeah, I will,” Justin said before finally saying goodbye to his father. The conversation had made him feel a bit better and even though he hadn’t mentioned the kiss, he knew what he had to do. Justin got out of the truck and headed over to the pizzeria and ordered five large pizzas with different toppings. He knew what his friends would like but he took two other options for Zoey. By the time he returned to the house, he was ready to do whatever was necessary for his mate.

∎Zoey∎

When the door suddenly opened, Zoey stared at Justin, who walked in with a few pizza boxes. The smell of the cheesy goodness caught her nose, and she couldn’t help but smile. She was starved and she loved pizza. Marvin and Cane jumped up and hurried into the kitchen. While Justin had been gone, Cane and Marvin had made her feel quite at home. Although now that Justin was back, she was feeling a bit shy and unsure of herself.

“Hey, come on, Zoe,” Cane called out and she cringed at his nickname for her. She couldn’t understand why he chose to leave off the ‘y’ since it belonged there. Zoey got up and went into the kitchen. “Why’d you get so many?” Cane asked. “Are you trying to make us look bad?”

“Shut up,” Marvin said as he wacked Cane upside his head.

“I wasn’t sure what Zoey liked, so I got two other options,” Justin explained. Zoey couldn’t help but feel the butterflies in her tummy when she heard his voice. Although she still thought he is a spoilt brat and a jerk for just kissing her, she couldn’t deny the attraction she felt toward him. Zoey got comfortable on the bar stool as she enjoyed the pizza he had brought, not only was she happy to be eating something but she was fully entertained by Marvin and Cane. She tried not to think about Justin, who had taken a few slices and disappeared, she had to assume he went to his room. Zoey wasn’t sure why he didn’t like her, and she wondered if it was a problem that she was here. Suddenly feeling upset, Zoey politely excused herself and went into the bathroom Cane had shown her earlier. This was all her fault, and she had no idea what to do next. Although they had been kind enough to let her into their home, it was clear that big guy Justin wasn’t happy. Why did he kiss her then? Was it to shut her up because she had been nervously rambling? Zoey wasn’t too sure of herself anymore and she sat down on the tiled floor and quietly cried. None of this was how she had planned things to go. Ever since her father had died, things hadn’t felt right and that was the reason she had decided to move. Everything back home reminded her of her father and right now she wanted nothing more than to be back at home with her suffocating mother.

“Zoey?” she looked up at the closed door and frowned. Was that Justin’s voice? “Are you ok?” he then asked, confirming that it was him. Zoey quickly stood up and wiped at her face, however, she caught her reflection in the mirror and flinched. She looked like a mess. “Zoey?” his voice was followed by a gentle knock on the door and she started to panic.

“Um…” she muttered as she went over to the basin and tried to fix herself up a bit.

“Can I come in?” he then asked, and she froze.

“NO!” she yelled out as she turned back to the mirror. She did her best to fix her hair and clean up her blotchy face. When she figured she looked better, she took a deep breath and went to open the door. However, when she opened the door, Justin wasn’t there, and she poked her head out to see that no one was around. Disappointed that he hadn’t stuck around, Zoey went to the sitting room to retrieve her bag. She spotted a pillow and blanket on the sofa and smiled. Cane had probably brought that over for her. Zoey took out her favorite pair of purple pj’s and headed back to the bathroom to get ready for bed. It was too late for her to take a shower, so she did her best before leaving the bathroom. After putting her folded clothes into her bag, she turned around, ready to make up the sofa, but she froze.

“You can stay in my room,” Justin said before looking back down on his phone. Zoey frowned as she glanced over her shoulder. “You’ll be a lot more comfortable there,” he added. Zoey faced him once again, but he was very much into whatever he was doing on his phone. She sighed as she dragged her feet out of the sitting room and down the hall. Justin’s room was the last room at the end of the hall, and she carefully entered. This was a strange turn of events, but she was far too tired to argue with him. His room was plain and simple with a dark brown carpeted floor and cream-colored walls. His queen-sized bed took up most of the space in his room. She spotted a desk and chair but otherwise, there was nothing else. Not even side tables alongside the bed. Once again, Zoey wasn’t in the mood to worry about any of that now as she climbed up onto the bed and got under the covers. She smiled as she snuggled against his pillow, she could smell the deodorant he used, and she liked it.

∎Justin∎

There was no way he would be able to sleep. Her things were still scattered around the sitting room and that meant that all he could smell was her scent. He loved it and loathed it. How was he supposed to handle her living with them, when all he wanted to do was kiss her pretty plump lips? He didn’t dare think about the fact that his mate was now in his bed. Justin put his phone on the coffee table and did his best to get comfortable on the sofa. He had heard her crying in the bathroom. Both Marvin and Cane were just as baffled by her odd behavior and although he had tried to reach out to her, she was clearly not willing to let him comfort her. He couldn’t blame her; they were strangers after all. Justin knew that it would be better for him to inform his father that he needed assistance. He didn’t want Zoey moving out, but he knew they wouldn’t be able to keep up with the current living arrangements. Justin was more than prepared to make his mate comfortable. Starting tomorrow.