"You've been spacing out all day. Are you okay?" Arlo asked me.

He was right. I had been spacing out ever since I went to visit Eli yesterday—ever since he kissed me. I hated to admit it, but the dark-featured man had been on my mind twenty-four-seven.

Eli had kissed me and, if that wasn't enough, I had kissed him back. It was all still fresh in my mind like I was still there; still feeling his lips on mine, his hands holding the sides of my face, and my fingers running through his dark hair. I could still feel it all.

Of course, I didn't tell this to Arlo. I hadn't told anyone about the kiss yet and I wasn't sure if I was going to.

"I'm fine. Are you? You've been quiet since yesterday. Trouble with Cronan?"

Arlo diverted his gaze and shrugged. "No. It was nothing after all. He was just eating with a friend."

I knew he didn't believe his own words. Even if it was the truth—which I was fairly confident it was—Arlo wouldn't believe it. He had a habit of getting into his own head and I doubted that, even if I tried to convince him otherwise, he'd stop overthinking it.

I knew a lot of his overthinking habits came from the fact that they didn't share a mate bond. Though he hadn't gone into much detail about it, Arlo had been scorned in the past and I knew that as a result, he was determined to not repeat past mistakes.

My phone buzzed and my eyes drifted down toward it. The message was unsurprisingly from Eli. He hadn't stopped texting me since yesterday. The rule against unnecessary spam had long been thrown out the window.

I didn't click on the message though, instead, I turned my attention back to Arlo and asked, "Have you talked to him since yesterday?"

Arlo shook his head and I sighed. "At some point, you're going to have to. Would you rather be left always wondering what's going on when you aren't there? If you really want a relationship with him then you're going to have to communicate, you know that."

As much as I might've not liked Cronan, I cared more about Arlo than I did about my own feelings.

"I know that, but..." he sighed. "What if he doesn't want what I want, Reu? What if he..."

His voice trailed off and I could practically see a list of worst-case scenarios running through his mind.

"You won't know if you don't talk to him. Besides, do you really want to continue devoting time to someone you won't ever have a future with? I know you, Arlo and I know that would only hurt you. If Cronan doesn't want to be in a relationship then it isn't meant to be and you're both better off apart."

I knew my words weren't what he wanted to hear, but Arlo nodded nonetheless. He pushed himself up and sighed shakily.

"I guess I should go talk to him then."

"You know I'm always here if you need me."

With that, Arlo left the apartment. I stared at the door for a moment, silently hoping he'd be okay, before glancing down at the text Eli previously sent.

Eli: Hypothetically speaking, if I were to ask you to hang out right now what would your answer be?

Reuben: Aren't you supposed to be going out with Callie to see the wolf?

He wasted no time responding.

Eli: We're meeting up in an hour so I still have some time before then.

I hesitated for a minute, but the memory of our kiss flashed once again and I found myself agreeing before I realized it.

Reuben: Come to my apartment.

Eli didn't reply after that, so I took it as a sign he was on his way. I took the few minutes I had until he arrived to straighten up the house a little. Soon after, the door rang and I was immediately met with Eli's large smile—a complete change compared to his previously upset expression.

I let him in and Eli immediately took to looking around the place.

"You've been here before," I reminded him. "Stop staring and gawking like a tourist on vacation."

Eli pouted slightly. "I wasn't looking around last time because we were talking about the wolf and because..." he shook his head and instead said, "Let me look."

I rolled my eyes. I knew that what he wanted to say was that he hadn't done so last time because he was upset, but I didn't call him out on it.

"Is this your family?" He asked as he picked up a photo sitting on a table near the couch. It had been taken the day before I left with all my siblings and my parents. They described it as something for me to have so they were always close by.

"It is," I nodded and I could see a soft smile form on his face.

"You have so many siblings."

"Don't I know it," I muttered mostly to myself rather than to him.

"I'm a little jealous," he admitted.

"You're an only child?"

There was a conflicted expression on his face. "Yes and no."

"What do you mean?"

His smile dropped slightly. "Well, I'm an only child in the sense that I'm the only kid my parents adopted. They never wanted to physically have children and after me, they never thought about adopting another, but I have a brother and a sister out there somewhere. At least, I think I do."

"You think?" I couldn't help but question.

He shrugged. "I went into the system when I was young so some of my memories are fuzzy, but I remember being around another boy and a girl when I was younger. They're in most of the few memories I have from before social services came. So, I think they're my siblings, but I'm not sure. I think they'd be around twenty and eighteen now, just from the way I remember them. My dads tried to find out, but they haven't come across anything so far."

It hurt to hear. As annoying as my family could be, I couldn't imagine being separated from them, let alone forgetting.

Eli stared down at the picture for a few more moments before he set it down and turned to me with a grin, acting as if the last few minutes hadn't happened.

That was one of the things about Eli that I admired in a way. He was able to bounce back from difficult situations, but that simultaneously made me question just what had he been through to gain a skill like that. What type of life had he lived?

"Come on, I didn't come here to talk about depression stuff."

Though he was smiling, it seemed almost artificial. I wanted to say something, however, the look in his eyes told me not to. So instead I asked, "What did you come down here for?"

Like clockwork, Eli's eyes drifted down to my lips he shot me a coy grin and moved toward me. He leaned forward, leaving space for me to pull back if I wanted to, but I didn't. I closed the space between us and gave in to the kiss.

"That's been on my mind all day," Eli admitted.

I raised an eyebrow in feigned disapproval. "So you only came down here because you wanted to kiss me?"

He snorted. "Is that not why you agreed to let me come in the first place?"

It most definitely was.

"Of course not. I'm better than that."

I was not. Not at all.

Eli stared at me amusedly. "Right. You're one hundred percent better than that, Reu. What was I thinking? I better go now that I've shamed myself."

He started to move toward the door, but before he could get far, I grabbed his arm, pulled him back, and kissed him once again.

"See?" Eli smirked. "You're just as bad as me."

Maybe I was, but rather than agree with him, I repeated the process all over again.