He chuckles, raking a hand through his hair. “Sorry. Couldn’t help myself. Now c’mon, swim with me, beautiful.”
I might’ve gone swimming with him, before he called me beautiful. It just sounds wrong coming from Judd’s lips when I’ve grown accustomed to hearing it from Jax’s, though, and suddenly I’m thinking about Jaxon again and the way he says that word, and the way he touches me so reverently when he does… and the last thing I want to do is keep flirting with someone who isn’t him.
“I, uh… I’m gonna have another drink, then I might come in,” I say with a wry smile, moving past Judd and back up the bank.
“Suit yourself,” he calls after me, splashing out to join his friends.
I stoop to pick up the cup I dropped while Judd was carrying me, shaking it out as I head back over to the kegs for a refill. My head’s spinning a little bit, and again, I’m not sure if it’s the beer or my own wayward thoughts.
Nobody’s around the kegs, so I pick up the nozzle to fill my cup myself- though when I hold it over the rim and press down, barely a trickle comes out. I’ve never used a keg before, but I’m guessing this means it’s empty? I press and unpress the little lever on the nozzle several times, to no avail. And then I feel him prowling up behind me.
I don’t need to turn around to know it’s him. There’s something about his presence that I just recognize- that my wolf has started to recognize. She perks up, the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, and I know Jax is near. Even before his scent hits my nostrils, even before he’s sliding in beside me and taking the nozzle from my hand.
“Here, let me,” he grumbles, putting his other hand on the tapper and pumping it a few times. He side-eyes me as he does, and there’s something stormy in his expression.
“Hi,” I breathe, frozen like a statue beside him and clutching my cup in my hands.
He doesn’t respond right away- he just gives the tap a few more pumps, then holds the nozzle over my cup, pressing the lever down. Golden liquid immediately starts flowing into my cup- so I guess the pump is the key to working the keg. I’ll know for next time.
“Why don’t you go for a walk,” Jax murmurs, staring into my cup as he pours the beer. “And I’ll come find you.”
“I don’t…” I start, but then I catch his gaze and the words are lost on my tongue. The intense look in his eyes tells me that this isn’t a suggestion- it’s an order.
And why the hell does that excite me so much?I suck in a breath, my heart hammering wildly against my ribs.
“Okay,” I croak as he pulls the nozzle away from my cup and starts filling his own. I bring my cup to my lips for a sip of liquid courage, giving him one more side-eyed glance over the top of it before I walk away. There’s a fire in his eyes that sends a wave of heat straight to my core.
I’m what most would consider an alpha female, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t thoroughly enjoy this cat and mouse game of ours. I take a look around- Theo’s in the water with Brooke wrapped around him, and they’re clearly in their own little world. Kyla’s laser-focused on Boyd, and Logan and Vienna are chatting happily. Gray has joined Fallon in the swimming hole and Shay is floating nearby with Judd and Connor.
Nobody’s looking in my direction or paying me any attention as I slip into the treeline at the edge of the bank, making a quiet exit into the forest.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Jax
Life at the complex is so structured that occasional days like this are necessary to boost squad morale and maintain our sanity. We put it to the squad members and recruits as a last-minute thing, but in truth, me and the other squad leaders have been planning this for a few days now. At our meeting earlier this week, Theo pointed out how unseasonably warm it was going to be on Saturday, and from there the idea for an ‘impromptu’ party at the swimming hole started to take shape.
This isn’t the first time we’ve done this, so it didn’t require a whole lot of planning on our part. All we really needed was a hot day, a big speaker for music, and booze. It’s not easy to get the kegs out here- the owner of the Goldenleaf bar drives them out on an ATV, and then me and the guys have to haul them the rest of the way from the trail down to the swimming hole. It’s worth the inconvenience, though, because these parties are always a hit.
Once we got things set up, it was nice to kick back and have a beer with the guys. More and more people started to arrive, and I was feeling good a couple beers in. That is, until Quinn showed up in a canary yellow bikini and a pair of sinfully short cutoff jean shorts and turned my world upside down. She has a way of doing that whenever she’s around- I’m always distracted by her, agitated to be so close, yet so far away. I keep hanging with the guys, trying to act nonchalant, but I’m looking her way more often than I should be.
At one point, we make eye contact, and I’m hoping she’s planning on coming over here and saying hey to Theo or something so I can be close to her for a few minutes. No dice, though- she looks away, and I go back to trying to act like I’m not distracted, half-listening to the conversation the guys are having when I see Judd fucking gawking at her as he walks up the bank from the swimming hole. Then he’s chatting with her while he pours her a beer and following her back over to her friends.
It shouldn’t bother me like it does. We set rules precisely so we wouldn’t have issues like this- what was it that Quinn said?No complications, just fun. But it sure doesn’t feel like fucking fun watching her flirt with another guy from across the bank. I try to stop looking in that direction, try not to think about it- but I’m getting really fucking agitated the longer those two talk.
And then that fucker puts his hands on her. He jumps behind her, wraps his arms around her waist, picks her up off the ground to carry her- and I see red.
I hear the crunch of plastic as my fist clenches around my cup, beer splashing out onto my hand and chest.
“Whoa, dude, you alright?”
Reid. I turn to him, blinking. I can feel that my wolf is close to the surface, and from the look on Reid’s face, I know he’s showing in my eyes.
Fuck. At least Theo’s in the water with Brooke, and Brock’s engaged in his own conversation a few feet away.
“Yeah,” I grind out, channeling all of my focus into shoving my wolf back down. “I’m fine.”
I’mnotfine, though. In my peripheral vision, I see Judd set Quinn down at the water’s edge where she splashes at him, laughing. Bile rises in my throat at the thought of his hands on her, touching what’s mine…