With Abandon: With or Without, Book 4

“Sorry.”
    “’S okay.” Aubrey was torn between disappointment and relief. He stepped to the side, away from the
    bike and temptation as he cleared his throat. “Come on, I parked a ways down.”
    Bouncing, Matt fell in step beside him. “Cool. What do you wanna eat? I’ll buy.”
    “I’m buying. I came to take you to lunch. I get to buy, that’s how it works.”
    Matt frowned. “You always pick up the tab,” he grumbled.
    Aubrey’s face was going to crack with all this smiling. “Yeah, and? You know you’ve already lost
    this argument, right?”
    Matt snorted. “Hardhead.”
    “Hey, Matt. Wait up.”
    Aubrey and Matt turned in unison, bumping shoulders. Who the hell is that?
    A big guy, about six foot or so, jogged toward them. He was muscular and preppy with brown hair.
    Not a bad-looking guy, but not someone Aubrey would expect Matt to be friends with. This guy screamed
    popular, homecoming-king type. It wasn’t that Matt was a nerd or anything—okay, fine Matt was a little on the nerdy side sometimes.
    “Oh shoot. I forgot I was supposed to have lunch with Jordan.” Matt waved to the guy, proving
    Aubrey’s nerd theory, and Aubrey smiled. “Hi, Jordan.”
    Jordan cut his gaze to Aubrey, and his eyebrows lowered. The man smelled like wolf but not much
    else. It was odd. Odd enough that it garnered Aubrey’s undivided attention. People were rarely that
    unaffected by new meetings. Either Jordan was very unemotional or adept at hiding his responses. He
    didn’t seem strong enough to conceal his feelings, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. If one
    practiced enough, anything was possible.
    As the guy approached, Matt introduced them. “Aubrey, this is Jordan. Jordan, this is Aubrey.”
    “Nice to meet you.” Aubrey held out his hand, all his senses on alert.
    Jordan looked at the offered hand for a few seconds before he shook it. He didn’t tilt his head in
    respect. “You too.”
    To be fair, Jordan could be ignorant of wolf customs due to being newly changed or poor upbringing,
    but the rudeness set Aubrey’s teeth on edge.
    “Hey, Jordan, mind if I skip going to the cafeteria with you today? Aubrey stopped by and asked me
    to have lunch with him.”
    Jordan’s head swiveled to Matt, and a genuine smile curved his lips. His demeanor softened.
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    With Abandon
    Ah-ha. He wanted Matt. Aubrey should do something to indicate that he was not competition for Matt, just for appearance’s sake, but damn it, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He squelched the growl bubbling up inside him. No way would he encourage another man where his mate was concerned. Matt was his.
    Aubrey situated himself closer to his mate and swallowed down the bile trying to rise into his throat.
    “No problem, man. We’ll grab lunch tomorrow.” Jordan gave Matt a friendly smack on the shoulder.
    Was it Aubrey’s imagination or was Jordan watching him out of the corner of his eye?
    Aubrey did not like this Jordan character. Poaching bastard.
    Matt didn’t seem to notice anything out of the ordinary. He bumped knuckles with the guy. “See you
    tomorrow.” Matt continued out to the parking lot.
    Jordan headed in the opposite direction.
    Jordan didn’t look back, like Aubrey half-expected him to.
    “Aubrey? You coming?” Matt touched his arm.
    “Yeah.” He turned toward where his car was parked. “Who is that?”
    “Jordan? He’s in two of my classes. I met him the first day of school. Because we’re both wolves we
    hit it off. He’s a nice guy. He lives and breathes football, but since my own brother is the same way I can’t hold that against him.” Matt shrugged. “He’s fostering with the Atlanta pack while he’s here.”
    “Ah.” Matt didn’t sound interested in the guy other than as a friend, so Aubrey let it go. He had more
    important things to discuss anyway. “About last night…”
    Stopping, Matt gave his undivided attention. He swallowed hard, and the slight scent of unease
    surrounded him. “Yeah?”
    “I wanted to apologize for the way I handled things. I should’ve asked you to keep quiet instead of
    jumping your case.”
    Matt gave him a weak smile and nodded before he started walking again. “Where do you want to go
    for lunch?”
    Well damn. That hadn’t gone exactly the way Aubrey would’ve hoped. He hurried to catch up with
    Matt, pointing to the car as he did so. “Mexican food?”
    “Sure.”
    He stopped Matt with a hand