Page 53 of Alpha Jax

“Looking good, keep it up,” he says casually, eye-fucking the shit outta me before he turns to walk away to observe the other recruits.

I sink my teeth into my bottom lip, turning back to Kyla sheepishly. As soon as I make eye contact with her, she starts cracking up.

“Lookin’good, Quinn,” she teases as I step closer to her.

“Stop,” I warn, giving her a little shove- though I can’t help but smile, too.

Kyla waggles her eyebrows. “Guess that answers my question from earlier.”

I roll my eyes, folding my arms over my chest defensively.

“Hey, I’m glad you decided to go for it,” she continues, clapping me on the shoulder. “How’d your brother take it?”

I give a little shake of my head as I get a sinking feeling in my gut. “He doesn’t know.”

Kyla scrunches her nose in confusion. “Huh?”

“There’s no need for him to know,” I say quickly, my voice low. “It’s just a physical thing, and what Theo doesn’t know can’t hurt him.”

My friend just stares at me dubiously.

“It’s better this way,” I add. “It’s just fun. Anything else would be too… messy.”

Kyla arches a brow, studying me like I’ve just sprouted a second head. “Sure, because banging your brother’s best friend behind his back isn’t messyat all.”

“Shh!” I hiss, looking around wildly. There are too many people out on this field. Shifters with impeccable hearing.

She mouths the word ‘sorry’, glancing around and stepping closer to me. “Just be careful, Quinnie. The Clay thing is still pretty fresh, and I’d hate for you to get hurt again.”

“I’m always careful,” I sigh.

As we step away from one another to resume sparring, though, Kyla’s words bounce around my head, nagging at me. I muddle my way through the rest of practice while the first seeds of doubt take root, and as soon as I get to my phone afterwards, I shoot Jax a text message.

Quinn:Can we meet up tonight? We need to talk.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Jax

‘We need to talk’

When strung together, I’m pretty sure those are the four most unsettling words in the English language.

After I got Quinn’s text earlier, I re-read it over and over, trying to decipher her meaning. Then I racked my brain trying to figure out if I went wrong with her somewhere since waking up in her bed today. I mean it all started out good, right? I definitely wasn’t the only one enjoying the sex this morning when we were so rudely interrupted. At least I got her off before Brooke came knocking- I, on the other hand, was stuck with blue balls.

She seemed fine when I checked in on her during training this morning, too. A little jumpier than normal after our close call, but I didn’t miss the seductive sway of her hips or her flirty little glances. Or the way she was staring at my mouth like she wanted a taste. Everything seemed good between us… so what gives?

I wonder if she sent me that text on purpose, so I’d have to sweat it out all afternoon. Because not gonna lie, as cool as I’m trying to be about everything, it has me totally freaked out. Does she want to talk about something completely benign, or is she gonna try to pull the plug on our fling already? Because I’m not ready for this to end.

While Quinn’s message left me questioning everything, I played it casual with my response, only asking her to name the time and place. And then I tried not to read into it when she said to meet around the back of the complex after dinner- which isn’t exactly a sexy location.

The sky is dusky when I step out of the complex, the days getting shorter now that fall is upon us. I exit through the gate, then pay close attention to make sure I’m not being watched or followed as I trudge around the side of the complex to the parking lot, passing it and ducking around the corner at the other end. Nobody comes back here- it’s all dirt and overgrown brush. I couldn’t tell you the last time I’ve been back here, or why Quinn picked here of all places to meet up, but my heart stutters when I round the corner of the building and see her.

She’s leaning back against the wall of the building, one foot up resting upon it with her leg bent at the knee. She’s dressed casually in leggings and a sweatshirt with her long dark hair hanging loose around her shoulders. This is how I like her best- when she’s dressed down like she is now, all natural beauty on display. Because make no mistake, the girl is naturally fucking stunning.

She hears me coming, snapping her head in my direction, her hair whipping around her face. And as I stride toward her, drinking her in, I throw up a prayer that this isn’t the end of things between us- because I don’t know what I’ll do if it is. It hasn’t even been a week, but I’m already addicted to Quinn in ways I can’t explain.

“Hey,” she breathes as I approach, tucking her hair behind her ears.

---