Brother’s Best Friends Are My Mates novel Chapter 19

Matt

Lia went off to spend time with Simone. She drove off, leaving me with Rain. But the two of us were supposed to head to the college to practice.

I kept thinking about my conversation and moment with Lia. My hand still tingled, something I was embarrassed to admit. Rain waved his hand in front of my face suddenly, making me jerk back.

“Rain, what the hell?”

“You dazed out,” Rain said, grinning sheepishly. “And we’re just sitting here in the driveway with the car running so I figured you’d want to hurry up and be on our way.”

I sighed. “Yeah, I’m going.”

The rain kept snickering in the seat beside me. I was tempted to slam hard on the breaks but that would make me pout and no one wanted a pouting Rain.

“So how are you and Lia doing?”

“I think you already know how the two of us are doing.”

Rain blinked. “Well, I have an idea but I want to hear about it from you.”

“We talked,” I told him, but then I realized this wasn’t going to have any effect other than making him want to keep pestering me with questions. “I realized that I was acting this way because I felt guilty about bullying her. Becoming her mate made me realize that I had no right to be her mate, but that’s what I am. What we all are.”

He sniffed. “Yeah, I had the same conversation with Lia the other day. I almost cried. She almost cried. We both almost cried together. It was a little strange. But it did help clear up a few things.”

“Don’t you think you could’ve told me this before?”

“I don’t know if you would’ve listened, Matt. You are stubborn. Guess Jesse could’ve said something because you listen to him more.”

I sighed. “Only if he’s in one of his scary moods.”

The college was quiet at this time of night. Rain and I exited the car, heading to the field. Colby and Jesse were already there. My eyes locked with Jesse. He smirked.

“I guess you and Lia patched things up.”

“How does everyone know this?”

Colby laughed. “Rain sent us a text saying that you and Lia had reached a new, comfortable point in your relationship.”

“I hate all of you,” I grumbled but they all knew I didn’t mean it. “Let’s just get some practice in. We have a big game this weekend, followed by our finals. Hard to believe we’ll be graduating soon.”

From there we were all hoping to get an official offer with the state’s rugby team. All five of us were hoping to become professional rugby players, but in case it didn’t happen we all had back-up plans. My backup plan was to become a coach. Still, let me stay in rugby but instead, I could teach the younger generation.

“Wait, Michael isn’t here,” Rain reminded us.

Colby sighed. “Yeah, Michael is busy with his mate. They did just officially mate so the coach understands.”

“Then I guess we’ll just have to practice without him.”

I tried not to sound disappointed. The four of us hadn’t seen much of him over the past two weeks he had been living with his mate. It was something I had to get used to.

They were forming their pack just like the four of us were forming our pack with Lia. I was almost still waiting for the last pin to drop, afraid that we might not get along as well as we used to do.

The fact of the matter was these guys were the best friends anyone could ever have. I didn’t want anything to happen or get in the way of their friendships. But I heard fights breaking out when more than one person shared the same mate.

We all got into our gear, ready to get straight to practice. I kept glancing over my shoulder, almost as if I hoped that Michael was going to show up at the last minute.

***

“Rain, I got this injury back in high school remember?”

Matt wasn’t the only one of us who had gotten injured during rugby but he was the only one whose injury was outlasting. It sucked that he had to go through it. The guy was stronger than me, never letting it bother him and if it did bother him, he tried to show that it wasn’t a big deal.

“Well, yeah… but still!”

“I appreciate you worrying about me but I can handle a sore shoulder. Some ice and over-the-counter pain medicine will have to be back to normal in no time.”

I sighed. “If you say so.”

It was hard for me to remember how Matt even got that injury because of how long ago it was. I think it was during our junior year. Someone from the other team had come out of nowhere and rushed at him in a move that was legal but not fair.

The result was Matt had to get some physical therapy. It wasn’t going to derail his career but he had to take care of it. When there was pain he had to take a minute and nurse it otherwise it could cause permanent damage.

Waiting outside with us was Lia. I grinned and waved at her. She paused and smiled. What struck me as amazing was that this time the smile even reached her eyes. There were times she was around us when the smile didn’t reach her eyes. (1

I hated to see that but it was understandable given everything she had been through with us over the past few years. Matt was right about that guilt. It was hard to move past and push to the back of your mind but I wasn’t going to let it bother me when we were working hard on making this mating group work! 1

Guess I got excited because when I got out of the car and Lia approached, this sudden urge approached me. I leaned down and kissed her fully on the lips. She froze, but for a moment started to respond, her lips parting ever so slightly in response to my kiss.

But then I heard growls from everyone around me. I jerked away, a growl escaping my own throat.

Shit. I didn’t mean to do this. Everyone was angry, but any rationality I had in my mind was gone. All I could think about was fighting those four guys who were supposed to be my best friends: my pack!

“Guys, why are you acting so strange?” Lia asked, sounding scared and desperate, but again my mind was so far gone that I didn’t pay much attention to what she was saying.