Page 18 of Alpha Theo

“Boulevard of Broken Dreams?”

I snap my fingers. “That’s the one.”

Brooke tilts her head to the side a little, leaning back in her chair and folding her arms across her chest. She stares at me like she’s evaluating me, fitting puzzle pieces together.

“What?” I ask, crossing my arms to mimic her position. Her eyes dart to my muscular arms, then back to my face.

“Nothing,” she shrugs. “It’s a good song. Just interesting that you’d pick out that one.”

I arch a brow. “Why’s that?”

Brooke shrugs again. “It’s a song about loneliness. You don’t strike me as someone who’s ever been lonely.”

I scowl, sliding my feet off of her desk and shuffling in my chair uncomfortably. “I just liked the song. Doesn’t mean anything.”

“Okay.” She turns back to her computer, the glow of the monitor reflecting in the lenses of her glasses.

I blow out a breath, leaning back in my chair again and fiddling with a loose thread on the hem on my t-shirt.

If only she knew how inaccurate her assessment of me was. Just because I have people around me all the time doesn’t mean I’m not lonely. The girls I sleep with want one thing- a night with an alpha to brag to their girlfriends about. They don’t want to get to know me. No one does. Even my own friends can’t stand me half the time.

I guess I don’t blame them.

We sit in silence for a while and I just watch Brooke work. I watch how she wrinkles her nose in concentration, bites on her bottom lip gently. How her fingers glide across the keyboard. The characters she’s typing on the screen look like absolute gibberish- I don’t know how she makes sense of them.

“Are you debunking?” I ask, finally breaking the silence.

Brooke turns to me, purses her lips, then they spread into a smile. I’m not sure if I’ve seen it before, but her smile is stunning. It lights her whole face up.

She giggles- actually fuckinggiggles- and shakes her head. “I think you meandebugging. And no, not yet. I’m still stuck on writing the actual code.”

I rake a hand through my hair. “Yeah, that’s what I meant. I’m not fluent in nerd speak.”

She rolls her eyes, returning them to her monitor. “Too bad. I could use some help with this.”

“My sister got all of the nerd genes,” I mumble. “You’d be better off asking her.”

“That’s a good idea, actually,” Brooke replies, still typing. “But I’d have to get it in front of her so she could really dig in.”

Click. Click. Click.

“I’m actually heading back to Summervale tonight, if you wanna come,” I offer. “My old man asked me back for some reason.”Probably to remind me what a colossal failure I am as a son.

She snaps her head around to look at me, big blue eyes lighting up. “Really? I mean, that would be great, I could really use another set of eyes on this and Quinn’s great with coding.”

I shrug, playing it cool even though her reaction makes me feel like a rockstar. “Yeah, no problem. Just wear a jacket, it can get chilly on the bike at night.”

Brooke’s smile fades from her face. “Your motorcycle?”

Duh. I nod.

“Oh, uh…” She takes her hands off of her keyboard, wringing them in her lap. “I… can’t.”

What the hell? A few seconds ago she was stoked to ride back with me. I narrow my eyes, studying her again. “Why not?”

Brooke shakes her head. “I’m not comfortable with motorcycles. They’re dangerous.”

I arch a brow. “Have you ever even been on one?”

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