Chapter 7

He’d gone to bed on Christmas Eve and around four o’clock in the morning it had hit Jared with the force of a blow that he was not being blackmailed. Wesley Black hadn’t been asking for money, he had been offering himself. Offering love. As a man. He recalled those odd words. ‘I’m sorry I’m not more.’ Did he somehow think that he was lacking? That Jared had not wanted him? Jared swallowed. Every time he thought of Wesley Black his heart ached alongside other parts. He’d thought Jared wanted and alpha male, or whatever that was.

He’d used the word ‘mate’ and Jared didn’t think it was the cockney term for ‘friend’ he was talking about. He’d refused to even allow his mind to process that word for so long, but Jared said it out loud in the four o’clock inky darkness and felt his heart clench in his chest so badly he had to getup and walk about.