My phone rang, and I fished it out of my back pocket. Well, damn. Twice in two weeks? I slid my phone and put it on speaker.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Darren, darling…” She practically cooed. “Your father wanted me to call you about coming to Homecoming and making plans to see each other. We know you still have classes and training, but we do always have dinner with you when we’re not busy at the events.”
“Of course, I always look forward to it.” It was a lie. They always ate at the one bougie place in town, Lakeview Mansion. It was also where they stayed, upstairs in the penthouse suite that was always reserved for them every year. I hated that place, even if it was charming as fuck. The mansion, which was massive, stood in the center of the property with two new wings that were built later to house hotel guests. My parents stayed in the mansion and not the hotel. They liked feeling special and actually thought they were.
“I… I went ahead and did something that might make you a little…” Her breath came out in a huff. “I told your father last night.”
“Mom!” I whined. “I wanted to…”
“Now, Darren, you know how your father is, and I thought it might be better if I told him. He actually took it much better than I thought he would – which should make you quite happy. He only broke one vase, and that means it didn’t go too badly. He wants you to invite this professor to dinner.”
“What? Seriously?” I was fucking floored. My father never took anything easily. This had to be a red herring of some kind.
“Yes. Is that a problem? I think you would want to introduce him to your family since it seems he will one day join us. Even your father understands the rules of finding your fated mate, dear.”
“I… I can ask him.”
“Good. Do that, then. We’ll arrive on Thursday and have dinner that night with the President and other board members. So, it would have to be Friday. Let’s eat at the Mansion. I’ve made a reservation at eight for four. And Darren? Try to be nice to your father. He really does only have your best interests at heart, even if he isn’t great at showing it.”
“Yes, Mom.” I was always nice to him. I rarely challenged him about anything in my life ever before. He was just prickly about getting his way. It wasn’t me – it was him that had a hard time with any kind of change to his plans.
“Great. I’ll see you then.” She hung up. I tried to take a breath, and the enormity of what was about to happen hit me. Thomas was about to meet my parents. My parents were about to meet Thomas. It wasn’t Thomas that I was worried about.
Mom should have let me be the one who told Dad the news. My first instinct was to be pissed about it, but maybe it was the best way to tell him. He could get everything out of his system before meeting Thomas or seeing me again. It wasn’t like we had a choice, and I was glad that they understood that. Thomas was amazing. I could only hope that they saw the same person that I did when I looked at him.
How would he take the news? He would come and meet them – I think. Of course, that would mean that the future was rapidly becoming the present. I was ready. I hoped he was too.
11
THOMAS
Iwasn’t pissed at Darren when he called to tell me the news. I was petrified.
What if they didn’t approve of me. According to him, they had many things that they didn’t approve of, and my upbringing and lack of wealth were sure to be one of them, wasn’t it? But they were his parents, and I had woken up to the reality of what I was experiencing. I was Darren’s, and he was mine. Our souls were intermingled in the great unknown of fate and love.
It was time.
I was just terrified of what that meant.
It meant that I stopped hiding and pretending that this was something I had some kind of control over. Both Triple P and Doc emphasized what I already knew. I could no longer live without Darren. He had become the total of everything, and I was but a vessel that he filled with his being. I loved him. That had been the easy part since I had no choice. But I did with everything that I had.
Which was why I had made the decision that I made.
I was in heat. It raged through me like a volcano. It would no longer be denied, and I was too tired of fighting. I wanted it just as badly. My psyche, my soul, and my body craved Darren. I would no longer deny it.
The knock on my door made me shiver. This time he didn’t wait for me to answer, and the door opened. He stood there in his hoodie and joggers, and I had never seen him look so fucking hot before, and that was saying something – because he was always so fucking beautiful that it caused me pain to not look at him.
“I came late like you said.” His voice had a bit of a growl to it. “Is everything ok?”
“Yeah, I just thought we should move your lesson to later today. I… uh…”
He sniffed the air. “God… I can smell you from here.”
I stood up from my chair, and he shut the door before striding over to me. His mouth lowered slowly, and he sniffed my neck. I shivered at the heat of his breath.
“Thomas? I’m…” He took a step back, and his joggers had tented. “I can’t… Jesus! I don’t think… I have never been so hard in my fucking life.”
