Microsoft Word - Corey-Toni_Griffin.doc (4 page)

"Umm… I didn't just say that all out loud, did I?" he asked, hoping he was wrong.

"Ah, yeah, and can I just say your professor sounds like a real piece of work. Anyone who managed to gain your love should consider himself a very lucky person."

"Thank you," Corey whispered, not sure exactly how he felt at having spilled his guts to Tommy.

Corey got up to leave. Tommy had gotten what he wanted, and right now Corey was feeling a little raw and needed some time to himself to think. He made his way to the door and was halfway there when Tommy stopped his again.

"Corey, one more thing before you go."

He stopped but didn't turn around.

"From what you said, you've been hurt badly, and I can understand that. I am in no way diminishing or

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minimizing the pain you went through when you were younger. But if you leave here knowing just one thing, make it this. Mates are forever. Give Ethan the chance. He wouldn't
ever
hurt you like that."

Corey closed his eyes and breathed deeply.

"As much as you might want to, Tommy, you can't guarantee that."

With those parting words, Corey walked out of the office and made his way through the house. He heard a door closing softly behind him somewhere, but ignored it in his bid for freedom. Corey needed to think and to do that, he needed to sit down in front of his computer and get lost in some code. That always calmed him and cleared his mind. With a plan in place, Corey headed home.

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Ethan quietly closed the door to his office and took a seat at his desk. He knew it wasn't exactly kosher of him to eavesdrop on the conversation between Tommy and Corey but Ethan needed to know how fucked he was in regards to his mate.

From what he'd heard and seen, Ethan had hope. He now knew Corey had been hurt deeply the one and only time he'd fallen in love. Did Ethan like the fact that his mate had loved someone before him? Hell no! But there wasn't anything Ethan could do to change the past. All he could do was look to the future, and that was exactly what he planned to do.

Ethan knew it wouldn't be easy to get Corey to agree to date him, but Ethan was tenacious and Corey was his mate. He was counting on this fact to help him wear down the stubborn Beta. Hopefully Corey wouldn't be able to resist his charms for long.

Determined to get his mate one way or another, Ethan stood and went in search of Tommy. After checking in the Alpha's office and finding it empty, Ethan headed for the kitchen. Chances were Tommy was more than likely eating.

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Sure enough, Ethan walked in just as Tommy was putting the finishing touches on a peanut butter, honey, and banana sandwich. Ethan scrunched up his nose at the thought of eating that.

Tommy looked up at him and chuckled at his

expression. "Don't knock it 'till you try it. This cub is certainly broadening my horizons when it comes to food."

Ethan just watched as Tommy finished making the sandwich then picked it up and took a bite out of it.

"Thanks, but I think I'll live."

"Your loss." Tommy shrugged and cleaned up one handed while he continued to eat.

"How much longer to the due date?" Ethan asked, curious.

"Due date's another four weeks away, but who knows." Ethan nodded. "I take it you heard my talk with Corey?" Tommy asked, changing the topic. For a heavily pregnant man eating a weird ass sandwich, Tommy sure did have that air of confidence down pat.

"Yep," he agreed. There was no point in lying, especially because he needed answers to his questions about Corey.

"What do you plan to do about it?" Tommy took another bite of his sandwich, but his eyes never left Ethan's.

"I plan to claim my mate," Ethan stated, with a lot

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more confidence then he felt.

"Good."

"I need to know a couple of things first that I'm hoping you can help me with."

"Oh, and what are they?" Tommy enquired.

"For starters, I need to know where my mate lives and what his phone number is. I can't very well claim the man if I can't find him."

"No, I don't suppose you could." Tommy reached in to his pocket with his free hand and pulled out his phone.

He searched for a moment before he looked at Ethan. "You ready?" he asked.

Ethan fumbled for his own phone and after a

moment, he had a new contact listing open.

"Ready."

Tommy rattled off the phone number, followed by an address. Ethan entered it and made sure to save everything.

"You might want to give him a little time today to gather himself before you go contacting him," Tommy stated, as he finished his sandwich and pulled open the fridge, looking for something else to eat or drink.

"I had planned to."

"Oh and another thing, next Monday, poker is being held at Corey's." Ethan grinned at hearing that.

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"You think I'll get an invite?" he asked teasingly.

"I doubt it, not from Corey at least, but you can come as Ben's and my guest, if you like." Tommy waggled his brows at Ethan before he turned back to the contents of the fridge.

"I would be honoured," Ethan laughed. "Thanks for the info. Hopefully I can start to wear him down by Monday."

"Good luck."

Ethan left Tommy just as the man started to pull out left-over Chinese containers and set them on the bench.

Ethan went back to his office, placed his phone on the desk, and got to work. He'd already taken enough time off this morning that he felt slightly guilty. Ethan had been hired to do a job, after all, and even with Ben currently not in the office, Ethan still had plenty to do.

His phone proved to be a major distraction though, as Ethan found himself looking over at the damn thing every few minutes. It got to the point that he had to put it out of sight to hopefully get some work done.

His mate was constantly in the back of his mind though, no matter where Ethan's phone was. However, he did finally manage to get a few good solid hours of work done. He'd been in contact with several packs across Australia, as per Ben's request. Ben wanted an update on all

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the packs around the country and also wanted to start enforcing non-discrimination laws in all packs.

Ethan knew what Ben wanted to do wasn't going to be easy. There were bound to be a lot of Alphas out there that were old, stuck in their ways, and also in their beliefs.

Ethan knew not every pack had problems, but there enough out there that did. Hopefully in time, things would get better.

Ethan looked down at his watch and realised it was coming up on one o'clock. His stomach rumbled with the need for food. Ethan stared at the drawer he'd tucked his phone in and wondered if he should give it a try.

He shrugged, figuring there was no time like the present. Ethan picked up his phone and opened his messenger app.

Would you like to have lunch with me?

He sent it.

Ethan placed the phone on the desk and tried to get back to work while he waited for a response. He didn't have to wait long, thank God.

Who is this?

Oh, stubborn man.
Ethan smiled. He could almost picture Corey's thin-lipped grimace as he had typed that response.

Who do you think this is?
Ethan chuckled to

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himself.

I have no idea.

It's your mate. Now, would you like to have lunch
with me?
Ethan highly doubted Corey was going to say yes, but he had to start somewhere.

I don't have a mate.

Even though Ethan could understand what Corey was going through, he hadn't expected those words to hurt quite as much as they did. He knew he needed to win Corey over and convince the man he wasn't going to hurt him.

Yes, you do, you sexy, stubborn, pain in the ass.

I'm not a pain in
your
anything.

Not yet anyway.
Ethan had hope for the future though.

I hope you will be shortly. Would love to feel you in
my ass.
Ethan knew he was pushing it a little but wanted Corey's thoughts on him.

Please don't message me again.

Ohh… Ethan grinned wickedly. Looked like he'd gotten to his mate after all.

So I take it that's a 'no' for lunch then? LOL.
He couldn't help himself. Ethan waited but no response came within five minutes, so he sent one final message.

Talk to you later.

He knew Corey had asked him not to message him

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anymore but hopefully this might start to prove to his mate that Ethan planned to stick around, no matter what Corey said or did.

Feeling upbeat, despite his mate refusing his lunch request, Ethan stood and tucked his phone in his pocket. He went to his room and picked up both his keys and his wallet.

Every lunch time over the past week, Ethan had been taking a drive around Atherton to familiarise himself with the town he now lived in. He also found himself stopping in to Declan's bakery on the way back. The small shop hadn't been open very long but from everything he'd seen, the place was extremely popular. Not once had he walked into 'Sinful Delights' and found the place empty.

Apparently the town of Atherton had a fairly large sweet tooth. He knew
he
did.

Ethan walked down the stairs and found Ben had returned. His was sitting on the couch, leaning against the arm, with Tommy stretched out between his legs. Ben's hands we gently caressing Tommy's stomach.

Ethan didn't want to interrupt them so he turned to walk past but was stopped by Tommy calling out.

He turned and headed back to where they sat.

"You heading out?" Tommy asked.

"Yep, wanna grab some lunch and have another

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look around town. I'll be back in an hour."

Tommy looked at him imploringly. "Any chance you plan to stop by Declan's?"

Ethan chuckled. "It may have crossed my mind."

He watched as Tommy patted Ben and the big,

tough Alpha sighed in resignation before he manoeuvred himself so he could retrieve his wallet from his back pocket. Ethan noticed how Ben kept an arm around Tommy the entire time, holding the man close.

Ben settled back down, reached into his wallet, and pulled out a fifty before he handed it over to Ethan.

Tommy looked excited as he watched the money

change hands.

"Anything in particular? Or just a random selection?"

Tommy started listing off sweets like they were going out of fashion.

"Definitely éclairs. Oh, and caramel slice. And a lemon bar. Oh, and a Kitchener bun. Throw in a couple chocolate donuts and maybe one or two of those giant chocolate chunk cookies he does, as well. They're heavenly."

Ethan looked at Ben and raised a brow as Tommy continued to list off what he was sure was the entire contents of Declan's bakery.

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"Whatever you get will be fine. I don't expect there to be any change from that note either."

Got it.

Basically he had carte blanche to buy as much as he possibly could with the money Ben had given him. Ethan knew Ben loved Declan's sweets just as much as Tommy did, but Tommy had grown up tasting his brother's creations and knew exactly what he liked best, which Ethan was coming to realise was everything.

He shoved the money in the pocket of his jeans and walked away while Tommy continued to recite off sweets.

Just as Ethan opened the front door, Tommy's words were cut off suddenly and Ethan heard a faint moan. He left quickly, not wanting to witness what he was sure was about to happen.

* * * *

Ethan had driven around the main parts of the town already. He'd investigated the main road, had parked his car, and walked the stretch, looking at all the shops lining the four lane split road.

Today, however, Ethan drove to Subway and got himself a large sub and a drink then followed the signs up through the streets to Halloran's Hill.

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Ethan parked his car, picked up his lunch, and had a look around. The place was fairly picturesque. There were barbeques up there where people could come and have a get-together and use the facilities for free. There was also a decent size kid's playground, a large grassed area where currently two people were throwing a ball down the slight incline and a beautiful golden retriever took off after the object.

An information centre also sat up top, along with a telephone tower. Ethan wondered around for ten minutes before he decided on a large, flat-topped boulder to sit on and set his lunch down beside him.

Ethan slowly ate his sub and looked out over the expanse of the town he now called home. He never would have thought that moving here would change his life so dramatically. Not once did Ethan ever expect to find his mate. Ethan knew he still had a ways to go before Corey was his, but he didn't mind the chase. After all, anything worth having was worth waiting for, and Corey was definitely worth having.

He looked down at his watch sometime later and realised he'd been sitting here for nearly an hour. Not wanting to leave but knowing he had to, Ethan collected his rubbish and threw it in one of the bins before he got back in his car and made his way into town to Sinful Delights.

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Ethan got out of the car and immediately his senses were swamped with the delicious smells from inside the bakery. His mouth started salivating at the thought of getting some of those sweet treats. Ethan quickened his pace and pushed open the door. Stepping inside, he immediately noticed that once again the small shop wasn't empty.