Page 16 of Alpha Jax

“It’s because your brother’s a squad leader, isn’t it?” she pouts.

“I think it’s more because I’m here for the IT unit, too, so I’ll be staying on permanently.” I reach out to clap her on the shoulder. “At least you only have to endure the bunk beds for a few weeks, right?”

Kyla makes her way over to my bed, throwing herself on it. “Can’t I just stay in here with you?”

I giggle, flopping down on the bed beside her and turning my head in her direction. “Sure, why not?”

“Well…” Kyla props her head up on a hand, a mischievous smile on her lips. “Now that you’ve been reunited with your sexy stranger, aren’t your nights gonna be a little…busy?” She waggles her eyebrows teasingly.

I grab for a pillow on the other side of me, whacking Kyla with it. “I told you, that’s gotta stay quiet!” I scold in a low voice, rolling onto my side and propping myself up on an elbow to face Kyla. “Besides, that was a one-time thing.”

“Why, because he’s your brother’s friend?” she asks, louder than I’m comfortable with given the fact that the door’s wide open. I shush her with a warning look and a finger to my lips, and when she speaks again, it’s at a much lower volume. “Sorry, but doesn’t that make it even better? The whole forbidden fruit thing, it’shot.”

I shake my head, my smile vanishing from my face. “It isn’t happening again.”

The truth is, what Jax said earlier is still bugging me:‘If I knew who you were, it never would’ve happened’. I feel like that’s a really fucked up thing to say to a girl. Even after I found out who he was, I never once thought to myself that I wish it hadn’t happened. I mean, yeah, the whole situation is pretty messed up, but I wouldn’t have taken that night back for anything. Clearly, he would if he could, like it wasn’t worth it.

This is exactly why part of me didn’t want to see him again- now that I have, my memory of that night is tainted by the knowledge of Jax’s regret.

“Why not?!” Kyla asks, baffled.

“It’s just too…complicated.” I blow out a breath, rolling onto my back to stare at the ceiling. “And I don’t need complicated right now,” I add with a wave of my hand.

Kyla doesn’t press further, and I’m grateful for it. I don’t need to explain myself to her- after everything that happened with Clay this summer and leaning on Kyla through it all, she just gets me.

After a minute or two, Kyla speaks up again. “What about that other hot guy from after practice today? The one with all the tattoos?”

“Huh?” I ask, wrinkling my nose as I turn my head to look at her again. “Logi?”

“Wait… is that the best friend?”

I nod, and her eyes widen.

“Holy shit, Quinn!” Kyla exclaims, slapping my arm with the back of her hand. “You didn’t tell me how hot he was!”

I chuckle, shaking my head. “I don’t think of him that way.”

It’s the truth- I know that Logan is attractive, but he’s always been my ‘Logi Bear’, filling the role of my brother after Theo left home to move to the complex. Our relationship has never been anything but platonic.

Unfortunately, Logan and I lost touch a little bit over the last year because Clay wasn’t a huge fan of me having male friends.Go figure. After I walked in on Clay and Camilla, though, I called Logan crying, and he comforted me like no time had passed. That’s a real friend right there.

“How could you not?” Kyla asks dubiously. “Dude’s like sex on a stick.”

I let out a laugh- this girl comes up with the wildest sayings.

Kyla suddenly sits up. “Oh! I almost forgot. I heard through the grapevine that there’s a bar around here that the squad goes to on Saturday nights.”

“Yeah?” I ask, pushing up on a hand and arching a brow.

She nods, dark eyes sparkling with mischief. “We’re definitely going.”

“Sure,” I shrug.Guess I’ll just have to be careful not to pick up any of my brothers’ friends this time.

I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror across the room, frowning. I look a mess.

“I’ve gotta hit the showers,” I sigh, pushing up off of the bed.

“Go ahead,” Kyla replies, dangling her feet off of the edge of the bed and kicking them. “I live here now.”

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