Page 13 of Alpha Jax

Kyla lets out a laugh, doubling over. “Oh fuck, this is too good.”

“Would you quit?” I whine, folding my arms over my chest indignantly. I can’t help but crack a smile, though. As ridiculous as this situation is, it’s a little amusing.

I’ve had one one-night stand in my entire life. I thought the guy was a complete stranger and we maintained anonymity by not even exchanging names. And now it turns out that he’s not only a six-pack alpha, but he’s one of my brother’s closest friends.

A laugh escapes my lips as I think it all over, because honestly, it’s so ridiculous that it’s comical.

What are the fucking odds?

CHAPTER EIGHT

Jax

I’m still in shock. My mouth is dry, my pulse is racing, and I feel like my stomach is gonna fall out of my butt.

The search for my mystery girl is over, but it turns out that she’s theonesingle female in the entire six-pack who is off-limits: my best friend’s little sister. I can’t help but wonder whether the universe is playing some twisted joke on me right now.

I knew there was something familiar about her that night, but I couldn’t quite place it. Seeing her standing next to her brother today, though, I wonder how the hell I could’ve been so blind- the family resemblance is striking. This is the sister I knew Theo had, but never met. The one he asked me to look out for just last week. Of course, when I agreed to that, I had no idea I’d already broken bro code in the worst way…

Fucking hell, when I was telling Theo about my mystery girl that day, I was telling him abouthis own sister!Ingraphicfucking detail!I don’t know how I’m ever going to be able to look the guy in the eye again. Not only did I defile his baby sister- multiple times, in multiple ways- but I told him all about it!What kind of creep does that?!

I’ve gotta move away or something, right? Because there’s no way in hell I’m going to be able to live with this secret. I mean, I’m already acting like a damn fool and I’ve only just put two and two together. Theo’s bound to find out, I’ll get my ass kicked, and I’ll totally deserve it. I only hope that our friendship can survive this egregious misstep.

You wanna know the worst part about this whole thing?I’m still fucking attracted to her.How messed up is that? I now know who she is, yet I haven’t been able to take my eyes off of Quinn since Theo introduced us earlier; I’ve just been standing back and watching her like a creepy fucker. She looks even better than I remember, if that’s possible- even more stunning in the light of day. And damnit I can’t stop picturing her naked.

I force myself to look away, to focus on anything else. Gray suggests that we get started, and after he gets the crowd’s attention, he begins by introducing squad leadership and offering some opening remarks about the purpose of the reserve squad and thanking all of the recruits for volunteering. Then he turns things over to me, and I talk a little bit about what they can expect from training over the next month, introducing the other squad members that are going to be leading the training sessions with me: Fallon, Casey, Adrian, and Logan. Since today’s their first day, we won’t work the recruits too hard- Casey put together a circuit training workout for them to tackle. Once we get started, the other alphas take off, and I feel like I can breathe again now that Theo’s not in the immediate vicinity. I still try to avoid looking Quinn’s way, though.

The whole time the recruits are doing their exercises, I’m stewing about this fucked up situation I’ve found myself in. And the more I think about it, the more I realize that I have to talk to Quinn, if only to clarify whether she plans on telling her brother anything about that night. We’ve gotta get on the same page about how we’re going to play this.

On the last circuit, I weave through the crowd of recruits, acting like I’m observing their workouts but really just making my way closer to Quinn. I don’t want it to seem obvious to anyone else that I’m seeking her out- but I’m really, really bad at being sneaky. I hate secrets. Keeping Theo’s secret about Brooke from the other guys almost killed me, and that was only for a few weeks! Now I’m supposed to keep this secret from Theo… forever?R.I.P, Jax.

I know full well that Quinn’s off limits, but my wolf has other ideas. As soon as I focus my gaze on her, he’s perking up, taking notice as my dick twitches to life in my gym shorts. She must’ve tossed off her t-shirt at some point during practice- she’s just in leggings and a sports bra, a thin sheen of sweat glistening on her suntanned skin. My eyes are drawn to her bare midriff, the black ink on her ribcage- a phoenix tattoo that I distinctly remember licking. I swallow hard, my heart rate rising.

Quinn picks up her water bottle, popping the top and tipping it back. I watch her every move in fascination- the way her throat works as she swallows down the water, the way she wipes sweat from her brow with a forearm. She must feel my eyes on her because she whips around to face me and hers meet them. At first, the look in her eyes is startled, but it quickly softens- and damnit if her big hazel eyes don’t look exactly like her brother’s.How could I have missed that?!Quinn doesn’t say anything, just watches me approach her with interest, a smirk tugging at her lips as she swallows another sip of her water.

I don’t even know what to say to her. Here I was, freaking out all through practice and concluding that I needed to talk to her, and now I can’t think of a fucking word to say. At least that’s what I’ll tell myself later, because my brain doesn’t seem to work and all I can manage to mutter is, “Did you know?”

“What?” Quinn chokes- literally chokes on her water. She sputters for a moment and lowers her water bottle, frowning and wiping at her mouth with the back of her other hand. “Are you seriously asking me that?” she hisses in a low voice. “Of course I didn’t fucking know! Did you?”

I don’t know why I asked her that- she seemed just as surprised as I was when Theo introduced us. And now she seems pissed.Nice going, Jax.

“What, you think I have a death wish?” I chuckle wryly.

“Maybe,” she scoffs, capping her water bottle. “I don’t know what your damage is, I don’t know a thing about you.”

“You know a few things.”

Damnit.Again, speaking without thinking. Quinn’s eyebrows shoot up.

“I mean, I… forget I said that,” I mutter, shaking my head.

“Theo can never know,” Quinn says quickly, running a hand through her long hair. It’s a rich, chocolate brown color, with some lighter strands interspersed from spending time in the sun.

“Yeah, no, I agree,” I say, still stumbling over my words. “If I’d known who you were, it never would’ve happened.”

“Right,” she snaps, though there’s a flash of something in her hazel eyes that I don’t recognize, and she looks away quickly. “We should probably just steer clear of one another.”

Something’s off about her tone, but I don’t have time to think it over or respond because the next thing I know she’s dropping her water bottle, shrieking, and taking off at a sprint, leaping into another guy’s arms.

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