Page 27 of For What It's Worth

He became blurry, and I realized I was crying, laughing so hard tears flooded my eyes but I couldn’t remember the joke. Again. Jen was going to be upset with me if I kept forgetting his jokes. He might’ve thought I didn’t like him as much as Aidan or Enzo. Just the thought of Jen worrying about that made me cry harder, but this time, without any joy.

Then my nose was pressed against something soft that smelled like warm laundry that had just been taken out of the dryer. It was so relaxing my entire body sagged as I continued taking deep breathes. I tried getting even closer to the amazing smell. My lips touched something warm. And soft. Whatever it was, I liked it.

Pressing my lips against it again, I took in a deep breath, finding the scent even stronger. And something else. Was that … alpha arousal in my laundry? Hmm, I liked that. Taking another breath, I carefully licked where I found the scent, the slight salty taste mixing with arousal. A small vibration from whatever I licked added deliciousness.

My body responded to the arousal by pushing harder against where the smell was coming from. I could feel my legs already wrapped around something hard and wide and brought my dangling arms up until they found something spikey. Short hair, if I had to guess.

Another rumbling came from the warm feeling against my lips. I mixed in some kisses with the licks before attempting a small nibble, unable to stop the urge to bite. Every breath pulled heat into my veins, and I could taste the arousal getting stronger. There was so much heat turning around inside me I tighten my hold, locking my ankles and curling in my fingers. I ground down my hips, trying to relieve the tension.

“Koda,” a voice rasped.

It sounds a lot like Jen’s, and it only increased my arousal. I imagined it was Jen I was clinging to. That it was his arms tightening around me, his arousal scent making me ache for release. My kisses became more urgent, increasing in pressure until I thought of claiming my imaginary Jenson. I sucked on the skin, encouraged by the possessive growl rumbling against me.

Wanting to see if I really did leave a mark, I opened my eyes, happy with the slightly red skin.

“Happy now that you’ve marked me up, little bear?”

Weird. I figured once I opened my eyes, I would stop imagining Jenson. But I missed my alpha and the pain of his absence had tears coming to my eyes. Great, I was crying, and the arousal scent was leaving.

“Little bear, what’s wrong?” The panic from my imagination version of Jenson sounded very accurate and that just seemed to turn the tears on high.

“I want Jen,” I managed to get out through the coming sobs.

“What the hell?” That new angry voice sounded like Enzo, and that didn’t make me happy like I thought it would. I missed Enzo too, but I really wanted Jen right now. I wondered what they were doing. Did they see me dancing at the club? Did they want to take me home?

“Why is she crying?” Enzo’s angry voice asked.

“I’m trying to figure that out,” Jen’s voice said, never losing the softness, but still sounding worried. “Tell me what’s going on, little bear.”

“She had too much to drink.”

“That’s not helpful, Enzo.”

“None of this is helpful. She’s still crying.”

“I want Jen,” I repeated. The alpha might’ve made me nervous, but that didn’t mean I wanted him any less than the others. He might not beat someone up like I suspected Enzo would if someone looked at me wrong or make me laugh quite like Aidan would, but Jenson had a consistency about him that was comforting. He was my calm, and I desperately needed that.

There was a swaying motion and I held on tighter, to the point of fusing myself to my imaginary Jen and squeezing my eyes shut. Imaginary Jen wasn’t deterred by my grip. He continued to sway before falling suddenly. I screamed out quickly, but the fall was short, and I hadn’t felt any pain. I tried wiggling my toes to make sure I was okay but couldn’t feel them. That was good. If something was wrong, I would’ve felt pain.

“Koda, I want you to open your eyes. Can you do that for me?” I felt large hands cup my cheeks, and my head lolled as I gave my weight over to the grip. The hands tightened along my jaw, holding my head up. “Little bear, open your eyes and look at me.”

It took a lot more effort than I expected, but I managed to get one eye open before using all my will power to open the second. Everything was a little blurry at first. I blinked a few times, and then my heart stopped. Like actually stopped beating before restarting so hard I could feel it pounding at my inner chest.

I threw my arms around Jen, shoving my head into the crook of his neck and ignoring the stretch I felt in my thighs from this awkward position.

“You’re here,” I whispered.

“Where do you think you are, Koda?” he asked, one of his hands massaging the back of my neck.

My mouth opened to tell him I was in my dorm room, but something about the way Jen asked had me hesitating. I lifted my head and looked around, finding us on a gross leather couch that reminded me of something someone interviewing for a porno should be sitting on. A large wooden desk behind me had two computer screens on top and so many papers scattered on it I was surprised the A/C hadn’t blown them off. Two chairs were placed in front of the desk. The couch had the perfect view to watch someone at the desk yell at whoever sat in the chairs. Almost like it was a late addition.

Speaking of multiple people, hadn’t I heard Enzo earlier? And where was Aidan? Was this his office?

“Orsetta?” The Italian word caught my attention, and I found Enzo sitting next to me on the couch. Well, kind of next to me. Was it considered ‘next to’ if I was sitting on a lap and not the actual couch?

I felt like I was supposed to be answering a question, but I couldn’t remember, so I said, “Yes.”

“Yes, what?” Jenson asked.

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