“Friends.” Keata patted her hand then nodded to Tank.
* * * *
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Keata ran excitedly through the door. He had made sparkly necklaces for all the mates and wanted to give them to each of his friends. His feet skidded to a halt upstairs when Cody came out of his room. Keata wondered if Jasper was in there. He tilted his head but couldn’t see past the large wolf.
“Keata, wait.” Cody held his hand up as he took a step forward.
Keata took a step back. He shook his head.
“Please. Can we talk?” Cody took another step only to have Keata take two back.
“We no talk. You love Jasper.” A sob tore from Keata as he spun on his heels, ran to his room, and locked his door. He tossed the necklaces onto his dressers as he fell across his bed crying.
It hurt.
He didn’t like this feeling. He didn’t want to be a mate if it was this painful. A soft knock sounded on his door, but Keata ignored it.
He didn’t want to talk to anyone. A shroud of sadness surrounded him in a fog. He didn’t want to leave his room ever again. It hurt too much.
After a moment the knocking stopped, and Keata rolled onto his side, holding his stomach to try and stop the pain. He eventually cried himself to sleep.
* * * *
Keata woke to someone knocking again, but this time the knocking was louder. He still ignored it until he heard Kyoshi calling his name from the other side. He didn’t want to talk to Kyoshi.
He wanted to be left alone.
Kyoshi finally gave up and left him alone. Keata pulled one of his books from his dresser drawer and lay there reading the story. It was a love story.
Great
. “It figure,” he grumbled.
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He tossed the book aside and grabbed the next one. Keata read into the night, ignoring his grumbling stomach. He would have to leave his room in order to eat, and he didn’t want to see anyone.
“Keata, please,” Cody called from the other side of the door.
Keata looked over at his digital clock. It was two in the morning.
What did Cody want? Why wasn’t he kissing and touching Jasper?
Maybe he wanted Keata to kiss both of them? Keata panicked at the thought. “No way.” He scrambled to get under his blanket, hiding himself under there.
He was a virgin, and he wasn’t throwing it away on someone that just wanted to play with him. No. Kyoshi drilled it into his head that he had to wait for that someone special and that once he gave it away there was no way to get it back, so Keata held onto it with a tight grip.
“Please,” Cody begged again.
Keata glared at the door. He was tired of these feelings. He wanted to go out there and punch Cody in his arm. How dare he make him feel this way!
He stood, walking to the door and then chickening out at the last second and walked back over to his bed. He crossed his arms over his chest and tapped his foot, angry as heck.
Keata screwed his face up in irritation and then stormed back to the closed door, pointing at it angrily. “No way,” he whispered, his lips twisting up in annoyance.
He paced in a circle, walking back over to the door and changing his mind about opening it a hundred times. “I not you toy,” he whispered at the door again. “You not get this if you not want it.” He pointed to his heart.
Keata walked over to his bed and picked his favorite manga up, throwing it at the bathroom door. “I not a toy!” This time he whispered a little louder.
He wasn’t sharing himself, and that was final.
He crawled onto the bed and pulled the pillow over his head, drowning out the sound of the man he loved.
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It still hurt too much.
* * * *
Cody wasn’t going to give up. He knew he fucked up big time, and he knew groveling was in his future. A lot of groveling. He would do whatever it took to win his mate’s trust. Loco had chewed him a new ass and also told Cody that Keata had cried when he saw Cody taking Jazz upstairs.
Cody had defended himself, telling Loco adamantly that all they did was talk and settle things between them. Loco calmed down somewhat after that.
He didn’t care what the other warriors thought of him. All he wanted was Keata. His baby was hurting, and Cody desperately wanted to soothe him. That was impossible if he couldn’t even get near his mate.
Cody knocked again, heard the soft cries, and his heart broke. He would leave Keata alone for now, but if his mate didn’t come out in the morning, he was breaking the damn door down.
He slid down the wall and placed his back against Keata’s bedroom door. Cody wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to talk to his mate if Keata came out. He also felt a need to protect what was his, so he stayed by the door.
A day late and a dollar short, don’t you
think?
God, I’m such a fucking idiot.” He banged his head back.
Cody may have foolishly waited to claim his mate, but he was never far from Keata. He hovered when the little guy didn’t know he was even around, and watched to make sure his mate was happy. It tore him up to see Loco and Tank take care of him. He knew the warriors wouldn’t make any moves on him, but that didn’t stop the urge to rip their throats out.
He cursed his stupidity. All his life he dreamed of his mate. Even when fooling around with his best friend, part of him craved it. When
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Keata showed up, Cody’s lack of common sense prevailed, his brain died, and he got stuck on stupid for months. It seemed no matter what his choice was, it hadn’t been the right one.
“Sucks, doesn’t it?”
Cody looked up to see Remi standing there. He nodded then stared down the hall in the opposite direction. He knew he fucked up.
He didn’t need anyone rubbing it in.
“You know you have to give him time. He’s hurting because of your bad decision to wait. You should have been honest with him from the beginning.” Remi sat down next to him. “Patience, my friend.”
“Since when do you care how I feel?” Cody bit out.
“Always. Just because we toss barbs at each other doesn’t mean I don’t care. I’m not the big asshole you think I am.” Remi chuckled.
Cody looked over at the wolf. He never really considered Remi a friend. They had always gone at it because of Jasper. Remi was always saying something insulting to his redheaded friend, and Cody had taken it personally. Now the guy was sitting here trying to support him?
“Yeah, I fucked up. I just wish he would talk to me.” Cody banged his head back against the door again, frustrated and tired.
“Does he know Jazz is gone?”
“No. Do you think he thinks I’m still with Jasper?” Cody hadn’t thought of that. He hadn’t touched Jasper since Keata had walked into his life, but he knew the mates had filled him in on their love affair.
Nothing stayed a secret in this place. Although he and Jasper were open about their relationship, it sucked that the mates informed Keata.
Things would probably have gone a lot smoother it they hadn’t.
“I would if I was him. He doesn’t fully understand the whole mating thing, according to Kyoshi. Tread carefully with him, Cody.
He’s innocent, naïve.” Remi stood and patted Cody on his shoulder.
God, this was messed up. His mate thought he was still fooling around with Jazz. He had to make him understand that they had parted
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as friends, not lovers. Cody needed to talk to his mate. Keata needed to know that he would never in a million years cheat on him.
Although he loved Jazz as a good friend, now his mate held his heart.
“Keata,” Cody begged through the door, “please. Jazz is gone. I don’t want him. I want you, my mate.” Nothing. Why had he been such a fool?
Cody closed his eyes.
Please let Keata forgive me.
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Chapter Three
Keata listened to Cody begging. He didn’t know what to believe.
Jasper was gone? Did Cody only want him because Jasper was no longer here? His head hurt from trying to figure all this out.
Keata slid off the bed and padded across the room. He placed his hand on the door. “Leap of faith,” he whispered. “’Cause you hurt heart, I beat with book.” Keata waved his fist at the door.
Taking a deep breath, he unlocked the door and stood back. He prayed he wasn’t making a big mistake. He knew he trusted too easily.
The door slowly opened, and Cody stepped in, closing it behind him. He leaned against the door, his eyes down. Keata stood there, tense. He wasn’t sure what to expect.
Part of him was excited at the fact that Cody was here, and part of him wanted to kick him back out.
“I’m sorry, Keata. I was stupid. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Cody shifted to his other foot, his head still hanging.
Keata had no clue what to say. He understood Cody’s words. He just didn’t know how to respond. What was Cody talking about? Why was he stupid?
“I not understand.” Keata took a step back when Cody pushed away from the door he had been leaning against. His eyes were filled with anguish which made Keata wanted to reach out, but the wolf had always run from him when he tried. He wasn’t going to be rejected again. Keata Kia was done being stupid for people. His needs had to start coming first because that was the only way he was going to be able to protect his heart.
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“You’re my mate. I…I wait to claim you. Jasper hurt, so I wait. I love Jasper—”
“No,” Keata cried as he ran to the bathroom and slammed the door. He knew he should have kicked him back out. Stupid, stupid, stupid him. When was he ever going to learn?
“Keata, wait. Listen.” Keata didn’t listen as Cody shouted to him to wait. He leaned his head against the bathroom door, the pain unbearable. His hands clamped over his ears, unable to take the pain in Cody’s voice.
So it was true. Cody was supposed to be his boyfriend, according to Tank, but the wolf just confessed to loving Jasper. His chest hurt with the grief he felt inside. His fists pounded the wall, angry at the way things were in his life.
“I love Jasper as friend, not boyfriend. I want you for boyfriend,” Cody called through the door.
“No. You no want me,” Keata cried from the other side. He slid down the wall and hugged his belly, the pain trying to come out. “You no want me,” he repeated softly to himself.
“Fuck this.” Keata heard the wolf shout as Cody snapped the handle and pushed the door open. He pulled Keata into his arms, but Keata fought him. If Cody thought he was just going to fall into his arms and forgive him, he had another thing coming.
Cody just stood there and held Keata as he pummeled his fists against Cody’s chest. He finally exhausted himself and settled down as the tears started to come. No matter how much he fought to keep them in, they flowed like a broken dam.
The wolf carried him to the bed and sat down. Keata was held for what seemed like forever as he cried himself dry. Cody petted his back to try and sooth him.
“Feel better?” Cody asked when Keata hiccupped.
“No, heartbroken.” Keata wiped his face as he tried to get out of Cody’s arms. It felt too good, and that was bad. He didn’t want to get used to being held only to have Cody run away again.
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“Baby, I’m not going anywhere. Promise.” Keata’s eyes widened when he realized he voiced his thoughts instead of thinking them. He hid his face in his hands, humiliated. His brain always seemed to melt around this wolf.
Cody chuckled. “I understood some of it, enough to know your fears now.” Cody kissed his temple. “Look at me, baby.” Cody pried Keata’s hands away from his face.
“No, red-faced.” Keata held his hands tighter to his face.
“Huh, do you mean embarrassed?” Cody leaned back to look down at him as Keata peeked through his fingers.
“Yes.” Keata nodded and closed his hands back together.
“Don’t be. Never be embarrassed with me.” The wolf hugged him closer. Keata shouldn’t be happy just to be held. The smell coming from Cody was good. He felt warm and tingly in the man’s arms.
“Never?” Keata spread his fingers apart again and peered at Cody between them.
“No, never.” Cody smiled a lopsided smile, and Keata’s heart melted. He tried not to let Cody into his heart. Too late. But that didn’t mean he had to give in so easily.
“You not want me,” he said angrily, refusing to let that smile sway him.
“Yes, I did, I do. Jasper my best friend for long time. I didn’t want to hurt him.”
Keata stuck his bottom lip out. “So you act like I not here?”
“I fucked up. I’m sorry.”
“Why I say okay?”
“Because I’m begging?” Cody grinned, and Keata almost gave in, almost.
“No, not good.” He pointed his finger up at Cody. “You hurt again, and I not talk to you for long time.”
“I don’t plan on hurting you.”
“We see.” Keata twisted his lips and looked over at the bathroom, refusing to give in, and he would if he kept looking at the handsome
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wolf.
“You don’t believe me?” Cody asked, gently tugging his chin back.
Keata narrowed his eyes. “I not so stupid as people think. I have feelings, and they hurt, too.”
“Will you give me chance?” Cody pleaded.
Keata could see the fear and hope in the wolf’s eyes.
“No hurt,” Keata whispered to Cody. He couldn’t take it if Cody hurt him again. He never wanted to experience that kind of pain again.
“Promise. No hurt,” The wolf kissed the side of Keata’s neck, his hand running down his back as he cupped Keata’s butt.
Keata pushed at Cody’s chest, shaking his head. “No earn.” His lips thinned as he poked his finger into Cody’s chest.
* * * *
Cody threw his head back and laughed. So he had to earn his mate’s cock? No problem. He could do that. After what he had done, he would crawl through broken glass if Keata requested he do so.