With Abandon: With or Without, Book 3 by J. L. Langley Page A

lot, keeping pace with Matt.
    Once, he’d have thought getting to pick was the better deal too, but now he wasn’t so sure. He touched Jordan’s arm, slowing their forward progress. “If you need someone to talk to…”
    Stopping, Jordan furrowed his brow and stared right at Matt.
    A whiff of uneasiness tickled Matt’s nose and disappeared. Oh no, he hadn’t meant to make Jordan more uncomfortable.
    Jordan stayed there for several seconds, then the corner of his mouth inched up, so slight it was almost unnoticeable. “Thank you,” he whispered. Shaking his head again, he started walking. “Having a guy for a mate was a headache I didn’t need. No one would have understood.” Jordan hitched his backpack farther up on his shoulder. “What about you?”
    “My dad is the coolest guy on earth. He’d rather cut off his arm than force me to be something I’m not.” He couldn’t imagine not being himself. His chest burned with empathy. Poor Jordan. He’d lost his mate and he had to hide his true nature.
    “You’re lucky. What about your friends and pack? What about the guy you’re living with? Does he know you’re gay?”
    “Aubrey? Yeah, he knows. I think my pack knows too and—” Matt bit his bottom lip, embarrassed to admit that he didn’t really have any friends. Tara was sort of his friend, but she was Aubrey’s friend first, so did that count?
    “And?”
    “And I don’t have any friends who aren’t family or pack.” Matt’s cheeks heated.
    “If I find a gay bar, you wanna go with me?” Jordan asked with a hint of amusement.
    Maybe Matt did have a friend. “No way. You’re on your own, dude.”
    Jordan chuckled. “You’re really cute when you blush.”
    Matt groaned just as the chime indicating he had a text went off. Saved by the bell. He retrieved his phone.
    There was a message from Tara. Get home, it’s about to come a gully washer.
    Matt blinked and read it again. “What the heck is a gully washer?”
    Jordan grinned. “A rainstorm, and it’s pronounced gully worsher, not washer.”
     
    As Matt stepped into the apartment, thunder rattled the glass and lightning crackled across the sky. “Good God.” It sounded awfully loud this high up. He tossed the motorcycle keys on the table in the foyer and dropped his backpack on the couch. Talk about timing.
    He crept closer to the wall of windows. Something about the ominous clouds lent an otherworldly feel to the room. The way the apartment was dark except for the dim light of outside was mysterious, maybe even a little spooky. It grew darker by the second. Black thunderheads dominated what was left of the clear afternoon, and he had a perfect view of the quickly approaching rain.
    The phone rang as Matt started to sit on the floor. “Ack.” Matt slapped a hand to his chest. “Geez.” Backtracking, he snagged the phone and a pillow off the couch. The caller ID read: Ridgecrest , Corde. Corde? Wasn’t that the wolf who peed on the other guy’s house?
    Matt pushed the talk button before the phone rang a second time. “Hello?”
    “Hello? Is Aubrey there?”
    “Aubrey isn’t home yet. Can I take a message and have him call you back?” Matt rounded the dining-room table and tossed the pillow on the floor right in front of the window. The beauty of nature loomed before him, and his excitement grew. The hairs on the backs of his arms stood on end with all the electricity in the air.
    “Are you the guy who helps Aubrey’s brother with the pack kids in his new pack?”
    Matt winced. He should chastise the other wolf for mentioning wolf culture without knowing to whom he was speaking. He didn’t want to end up a lab rat because of a newly made wolf’s carelessness. But it wasn’t his place. He settled himself on the floor on his stomach. “Yes. I’m Matt. Corde, right? You called last week?”
    “Yeah. Umm… Hi, Matt.” He hesitated for only a breath and started again. “You heard about the situation the other