Page 31 of Alpha Jax

“Okay.” Quinn looks up at me, a faint smile on her lips. “Goodnight, Jaxon.”

“Goodnight,” I grunt, tearing my eyes away from hers. I can’t even look at her right now- every time I do, my mind goes straight to the gutter. I’m definitely going to hell for thinking these deviant thoughts about my buddy’s sister.

I can walk away, but I can’t turn them off. As soon as I’m back in my room, I know I’ll be jacking off to the thought of fucking Quinn right there on the practice field. As long as I’m not actually acting on those thoughts, right?

Because I want to. I wanther. And I’m not sure how much longer I can deny myself.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Quinn

“So he just got up and walked away?” Kyla asks incredulously as she lathers shampoo into her hair.

“Shhh!” I dart my eyes around the locker room- Kyla and I are the only ones in the showers right now, but there’s no telling who’s at the sinks or toilets on the other side of the wall and I don’t need anybody eavesdropping on this conversation.

Kyla mouths the word ‘sorry’, still sudsing up the shampoo on her head.

I smile and roll my eyes, turning around under the hot stream of water to rinse the soap off of my chest.

“My bad,” Kyla whispers beside me. I can barely hear her over the sound of splashing water from the showers. “I forget sometimes that it’s a secret. And that there are always people around at this place.”

I flash her anther smile, knowing she didn’t mean anything by it. I keep my own voice low, though. “Maybe we should come up with a code name for him or something.”

Kyla giggles deviously. “Ooh, I like that idea. How about… the nine-inch wonder?” she asks, waggling her eyebrows.

I reach over to slap her arm, the sound amplified by the water on our skin and the echo of the shower room. I can’t help but laugh, though- her comments always kill me.

“How about… the cowboy?” I wink.

Kyla furrows her brow in confusion. “I don’t get it.”

I hold up a hand, wiggling my index and middle fingers. “Fastest fingers in the west.”

She cracks up, doubling over laughing. Once she regains her composure, Kyla straightens, catching her breath as she steps back to rinse the shampoo out of her hair.

“The cowboy it is,” she laughs. “Seriously, though… you guys were finally alone together, and he just got up and left?”

I blow out a breath, lathering soap onto my body. “Yeah, basically. I mean I could tell that he wanted the same thing that I did…”

“Which was to fuck each other’s brains out,” Kyla supplies, and I reach over to smack her arm again.

“Maybe. I don’t know. At least a kiss or something. But… it’s a really bad idea. So, I guess it’s good that he left before anything happened,” I ramble.

Kyla rolls her eyes, turning around and wringing the water out of her hair. “I think you’re both making a bigger deal out of this than it is. So what if he’s your brother’s friend? Didn’theget with one ofyourfriends?”

“Yeah, but he’s mated to her,” I murmur, rinsing off. “Mate bond trumps any objection I could’ve had to them being together.”

“Maybe you and the cowboy are mates.”

“Yeah right,” I snort. “The chances of that are like one in a billion. Besides, I didn’t know about Theo and Brooke until after they were already mated. So I’m not sure how I would’ve felt about them as a couple or how we would’ve navigated that. But I don’t think I’d have the same reaction that he’d have.”

I’m exaggerating, of course- the chances of us being mates are better than that, but still not great. I mean, I’m not that naïve- the odds of me being mated to the second guy I’ve ever slept with? Slim to none. I’m not going to get my hopes up about it.

Kyla looks over at me, arching a brow. “You think you would’ve been fine with it?”

I shrug. “Probably. They’re good together, and she brings out the best in him.”

“So why wouldn’t Theo be fine with it?”