Touch Me (boyxboy)

22. Touch Me

Casper

A rather manic sort of laughter filled the room, and it took me a couple of seconds to realise it was coming from me.

I went back over to the sofa and flopped down on it.

I couldn't believe it. I would have never believed it. I never saw it coming.

I finally stopped laughing and looked over to see Joel stood silently next to the couch.

"The worst thing about this," I said, wiping my eyes from all the laughter, "the worst thing, is that this time I can tell you're not lying. You actually believe it." I let out a sort of snorting noise, in an attempt to stifle the laughter that was threatening to spill out once again.

I looked over at Joel. His eyes were locked onto me, giving off icy chills, and his arms were folded across his chest.

"I never thought you would turn into one of those demented werewolves that would swear blind that they were my mate."

The scowl on Joel's face deepened.

"I'm not saying you are definitely my mate, I am saying you might be. And in case you hadn't noticed, I'm not too thrilled about the idea either!"

Joel's words felt like a slap around the face.

Now a slap around the face can have one of two effects. It can bring you to your senses and clear your mind, or it can leave you sore and angry.

No need to guess what effect it had on me.

"Yeah right!" I sneered. "As if you wouldn't be thrilled to be my mate. Look at you. You're nothing but a bottom of the ladder servant wolf, with no chance of climbing any higher. You can't stand there and tell me you wouldn't want to be the alpha's mate, and enjoy all the privileges that would come with it."

My words seemed to hit Joel like little sharp stones. I watched as his whole body tensed up, and his eyes darkened like day had turned into night.

"Actually, you couldn't be more wrong," he growled, "I would never want to be mates with a jumped up arsehole like you."

He quickly made a dash for the door and as his hand stretched out towards the door knob, I could see it was shaking.

Before he opened it, he paused, took a few breaths, then turned round to face me again. The anger seemed to have vanished, and when I looked into his eyes, it was a sight that nearly took my breath away. They looked empty. Absolutely devoid of any emotion. The eyes that I had grown to love seemed to have withered and died away in front of me.

"And seen as I kept to my end of the deal, I'm reminding you to do the same and let Mark have his job back. You don't need to worry about me. I'll make sure that my work keeps me downstairs and out of your way."

"Wait!" I shouted, as he went to open the door. "I don't understand. What does you possibly being my mate have to do with Mark dropping those plates?"

Joel sighed. "He dropped them to create a distraction, because it looked like you were going to touch my face where I was bleeding."

I looked at him blankly, still not quite managing to connect all the dots.

Joel could see my confusion so continued. "Duncan put him on waiter duty to keep an eye on me, and to help if I got into any situation where we might touch, you know, sealing the bond..."

My head was whirring, trying to process all this information. "So, let me get this straight, so you've been trying not to create the bond?"

Joel let out a low chuckle, although I could see in his eyes that he wasn't amused.