Page 50 of Alpha Jax

Another fucking knock tells me that isn’t happening. “Quinn?” the voice calls again, more insistent this time.

Quinn slams her hands against my chest, panic in her eyes.Fucking great.I stifle a groan as I pull out, hauling my body off of hers. She immediately scrambles to her feet, searching the floor for the clothes we left there last night, retrieving her own items and tossing mine at me.

“Just a second!” she calls out, right as my t-shirt hits me in the face.

I slide off of the bed, joining Quinn in hurriedly dressing.

“What’s your plan here?” I ask under my breath, giving her a sideways glance.

She yanks her cotton sleep shorts up her hips, straightening and running a hand through her disheveled hair as she looks around the room wide-eyed. “There,” she hisses, pointing to the closet. “Hide.”

My head tips back in exasperation and I heave a sigh. “You can’t be serious.”

Oh but she is. The look she gives me when she folds her arms tells me she means business, and I don’t question her again. Instead, I scoop my shoes up in a hand, heading over to get in the fucking closet.

I start trying to cram my big body in there amongst her clothes and Quinn crosses the room to help, shoving hangers aside and pushing me in further. It’s fucking humiliating. The last thing she does is hold a finger to her lips to indicate silence before pulling the closet door closed, and then I’m plunged into darkness, surrounded by the faint scent of Quinn that’s on her clothes.

I hear her footsteps as she strides over to the door and pulls it open. “Hey, Brooke!”

“Hey,” Brooke breathes in response, then I hear her footsteps enter the room. “What took so long? Did you oversleep or something?”

“Yeah,” Quinn replies quickly. “Forgot to set my alarm. Total bonehead move.”

“Happens to the best of us,” Brooke chuckles.

“So what’s up?” I can picture Quinn cocking out a hip, resting a hand upon it like she so often does.

“I just wanted to come check in on you, see how you’re doing. Theo and I have both noticed that you seem off this week… he’s getting himself all worked up again over what happened with that Tony guy on Saturday. I wanted to chat with you about it and see how you’re feeling before he bombards you and tries to rehash everything.”

Damn, I’d almost forgotten about that creep trying to manhandle Quinn over the weekend. It feels like so much has happened since then, it never occurred to me that it could still be bothering her. Guilt gnaws at my insides as I turn it over in my mind. Here, I’ve been more worried about sticking my dick in her than checking in to see if she’s alright.

“I’m fine,” Quinn sighs in response. “Seriously. I haven’t even given it another thought, and Theo shouldn’t either. If I’ve been off this week, it’s just because I’ve been busy with all this training and still trying to get my feet wet with IT.”

There’s a pause, and I’m wondering if Brooke is going to accept Quinn’s explanation when I hear her blow out a breath. “Yeah, okay, I get that. Just wanted to make sure you were good.”

“All good here,” Quinn replies, and I can hear the smile in her voice. “Thanks for checking in, though.”

“Of course,” Brooke chirps. “And your brother’s still gonna, so you may wanna get whoever’s in your closet to clear out before he gets here.”

Fuuuuuck. I’m already standing still, crunched in an awkward position in my dark hiding place, but I freeze even the slightest of movements, my chest tightening.

“What?” Quinn croaks, her voice strained.

Brooke drops her own voice low. “I can hear him breathing.”

My blood runs cold, and I clamp a hand over my mouth to muffle any sound. Was I breathing loudly? Maybe, given how stuffy it is in this fucking closet; we probably should have considered the fact that whoever was at the door has shifter hearing before I went into hiding.

I hear Quinn curse under her breath, but Brooke just laughs. I hold my breath as I listen for Brooke to leave and the door to close, waiting for Quinn to free me from confinement. A moment later, she’s pulling open the closet doors and I’m stumbling out again, squinting against the bright sunlight.

“You’ve gotta go,” Quinn says through gritted teeth, panic evident in her tone.

I nod in agreement. “I know.” I hate leaving her like this, though- her anxiety is agitating my wolf. I step closer to her, taking her face in both hands and planting a kiss on her lips. “I’ll text you later?”

“Yeah, sounds good,” she says hurriedly, pulling away from me and rushing for the door. She yanks it open and sticks her head out, looking around before ducking back in. “It’s clear, go now,” she hisses, waving me over. I trudge to the door and she sticks her head out one more time before shoving me through it, sending me on my way.

My heart hammers in my chest as I take off down the corridor. I don’t chance a glance back toward Quinn’s room, just speedwalk in the direction of my own, my body humming with nervous energy. Thank fuck I don’t run into anyone- my heart’s still racing by the time I’m tucked safely inside my room, officially in the clear.

And while I’m relieved, it’s not lost on me how close that was. Too close.

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