Page 21 of Pack Nightmare

Pride swells in my chest at the praise. “Thank you. Now, please tell me there are concerns I’ll face that aren’t feces-related?”

Chapter Eleven

Jared

Sweat keeps building in my palms, and I wipe it on my pants for the fifteenth time before I finally build up the courage to hit ‘dial’ on my phone.

It’s late, and I can’t relax. The stress is eating me alive, so I decide to suck it up and do what needs to be done.

It only rings twice before she answers. “Hello?” Her voice is hesitant.

“Hey, Layla. It’s me. Jared.” Lordy, I sound like a moron.

“Yeah, I know. What’s up? Is everything okay?”

“Yes. Well, no.” I release the breath I’ve been holding and start again. “There’s nothing for you to worry about, but I needed to talk to you.”

“Okay…”

“I’m sorry. For being a jerk earlier.”

“Oh. It’s okay.” Her voice is faint, barely a whisper.

“No, it’s not okay. You told me you wanted to deal with it your own way, and I still interfered. And got jealous. And was angry at you for no good reason. It wasn’t fair, and I’m sorry.”

There’s a painfully long pause, and I swear if sweating bullets was an actual thing, I’d definitely be doing that right now because my shirt is soaked.

She sighs. “You’re right, it was unfair. But I do appreciate that you called to apologize. Landon and Milo explained that you sometimes get… protective, and you already told me how you felt about Derrek. But you’re not the only person with feelings, Jared.”

“I know.” I swallow hard, and my tone is glum.

But she’s not done letting me have it, apparently. “My feelings are every bit as valid as yours, and I’m allowed to feel how I feel about people, your ‘protectiveness’ aside.”

“You’re right.” Here it comes.

“So I think what we need to do is spend more time together.”

That gets my attention. “What?”

“You and I haven’t had a real chance to hang out, and aside from cheesy jokes and your generosity in delivering me coffee, I don’t know much about you besides football.”

“I know,” I sigh again, defeated. “My schedule is so tight, I swear it’s not an excuse! But I have to keep my grades up to stay on the football team, so if I’m not at practice, I’m usually trying to catch up on studying.”

“Milo mentioned you’re free on Sundays.”

“Oh, yeah, right. I usually am.” I make a mental note to thank him as soon as I get off this call.

“Why don’t you bring your books up here Sunday? We’ll get our work done and hang out, and you can have family dinner with me. I’m sure Roxanne would love it.”

Excitement spreads through my body, chasing away the anxiety of a few moments before. “Yeah, that sounds great, gorgeous. I’ll be there.”

She sounds a lot more friendly as we chat for a few more minutes before hanging up, and the tight ball of tension in my chest releases completely.

I’m not out of the woods yet, but I have to keep my jealousy tamped down when it comes to the new professor.

No matter what.

Layla

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