Page 88 of Alpha Theo

“Hi,” Brooke breathes, staring up at me.

The corner of my mouth ticks up. “Hi.”

“I, uh…” she looks down, wringing her hands. “I think we should probably talk.”

“Yeah,” I agree, a little too enthusiastically.

She glances back up at me, a coy smile tugging at her lips.

I feel like my body’s being drawn to hers like a magnet. I shuffle closer, invading her space.

“I’m so sorry, Brooke, about everything,” I murmur, reaching out to stroke my hand down her arm. Sparks ignite between our skin.

“I know,” she sighs. She doesn’t shrug my hand away. I let it linger on her arm, relishing in the feeling of being close to her, of touching her.

Then I say “hold on”- taking a step back and putting up a finger. “Stay right there.”

I dart away, jogging to the side of the building where I dropped my phone and water bottle before practice. I pick up my phone and start unwinding my headphones from around it as I jog back to Brooke.

“Here,” I pant, holding the headphones out to her. “When you asked me that question the other night, I didn’t have a great answer. I’m not good with words, so I thought…”

“What question?” Brooke interrupts, furrowing her brown in confusion.

“Whyyou.”

Brooke slowly nods, eyeing the headphones skeptically. Then she takes them from me, putting the earpieces in one at a time.

I unlock my phone, scroll to my Spotify app. Pull up her playlist and find the song I’ve had on repeat for the past couple of days. Hit play.

I study her face as ‘Something’by the Beatles starts to play through the headphones.

I stumbled upon this song during one of my many cycles through Brooke’s playlist over the past few days and all I’ve wanted to do since is play it for her. I’m not great with words, but music is her language. I know how much it means to her, how it speaks to her. Maybe the song can tell her how I feel better than I can.

Her eyes go wide at first, then her expression softens. She just gazes up at me as the song plays and my heart swells in response to the look on her face. It’s like I can see her walls coming down ever so slightly, inviting me back in.

When the song ends, she pulls the headphones out of her ears, handing them back to me with a funny look on her face.

“So there’s my answer,” I sigh as I take them from her and start winding them around my phone again. “There’s just something about you, Brooke… something different, special. I don’t know where this is gonna go, but I know I don’t wanna lose you.”

I shove my phone in my pocket and step closer. The pull is so strong- I’m itchy to touch her again. I reach out for her arm as I look into her eyes, trying to read her expression. Then her lips spread into a sly smile.

“The song was a nice touch,” she says.

Then she looks past me and I turn my head, following her gaze. A few of the squad members on the field are glancing over at the two of us curiously. When I look back at Brooke, her smile is gone, replaced by a look of apprehension.

“Can we talk somewhere else?” she asks, chewing her bottom lip nervously.

“Yeah, of course. C’mon.” I turn, moving my hand to the small of Brooke’s back to guide her with me across the field toward the gate of the complex. She steps away from my hand and picks up her pace, like she can’t get off of the practice field and away from prying eyes fast enough.

Fuck, is she embarrassed to be seen with me? Ashamed to be associated with me? Is that why Gray said Brooke wanted us to keep quiet about the mate bond?

We pass through the complex gate and head for the nearest path into the forest. She doesn’t say anything, just hustles down the path in front of me. When I look back to see the complex is no longer in view through the trees, I clear my throat, slowing to a stop. Brooke picks up on my signal, stopping and turning around to face me. I take a step closer, but she holds up a hand to prevent me from invading her space again.

“I’m sorry,” I grumble. “It’s…”

“I know,” she breathes. “I feel it too. The pull.”

I nod solemnly.

---