Page 265 of Secret Shifters Next Door

“Not fast enough,” I grumbled. “The last twenty-four hours have been the worst I’ve had in the past few years. I’m ready to get back to work and put this curse stuff behind me.”

Tate leaned closer to whisper. “You sure you don’t want to wait a couple of days? Really let it sink in and think about it without your emotions clouding everything?”

I shook my head, grimacing in irritation. “No way. I need to get it over now. Save myself the pain. I saw the way it affected you guys. Aches, pains, nausea, nightmares, cold sweats. I’ll be damned if I put myself through all that pain because I refuse to claim my dead brother’s ex-girlfriend.”

Jared whistled. “Dang. That’s some heavy shit. I don’t know what I’d do if…”

Tate and I glanced at Jared, staring off behind us with an almost awestruck expression and faint grin on his slightly ajar mouth. Frowning, I turned to see what had him looking like a lovestruck teenager.

Ava walked through the doors. I sighed in irritation, but my panther felt wholly different emotions—anger and jealousy.

The look on Jared’s face got even more ridiculous as she caught sight of me and walked toward us. A growl caught in my throat when I saw Jared couldn’t take his off her. It actually made me angrier at my own panther than I was at Jared. Why the hell shouldn’t he look at her? Loath I was to admit it, Ava did look gorgeous this morning.

Tate, hearing my stifled growl, muttered, “You may be ready to write this off, but it sounds like your panther has other ideas.”

I rolled my eyes and hissed, “Well, that’s too bad. Sucks to be the cat. It’s not happening. He’ll just have to get over it.”

The panther hissed in my mind, angry and heartsick. I’d never felt such disappointment from it.Tough shit, I thought, hoping it heard and understood the words loud and clear.

Ava didn’t look any more excited to be here than I was. I couldn’t blame her—I’d basically beaten down her door the day before and demanded to know why she was there. Then I more or less commanded her to meet me here. If our roles were reversed, I’d have looked a little irritated, too. We weren’t on great terms to begin with, and what I was about to tell her would only make things worse.

“Blayne,” she said. “I’m here. What do you want to tell me?”

When she noticed Tate and Jared, her cheeks went red. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ignore you all. Are you friends with Blayne?”

A year or two ago, Tate would have done the strong-guy-intimidating thing he used to always do. But Harley and the baby had mellowed him and changed him into a much more polished version of the man I’d always known. Now, he was practically a gentleman.

He leaned forward, stretching out a hand. “Tate. Blayne and I are friends and business partners. This is Jared, another of our friends,” he said, gesturing to the other man.

Jared was still gaping at Ava. He’d be drooling any second. He seemed unable to talk much less form a sentence. I nudged him. “Pull yourself together, man. You’re embarrassing me.”

He blinked and finally snapped out of whatever spell he’d been under. Maneuvering the boxes of pastries under one arm, he extended a hand toward Ava. “Sorry, yeah. Jared. My name’s Jared. That’s my name. Uh…Jared.”

“Christ,” I groaned, covering my eyes with my hand.

If Ava thought he was an idiot, she didn’t show it. She only smiled and shook Tate’s and Jared’s hands in turn. “Tate, good to meet you.” She looked at Jared. “And, hmmm, if I’m not mistaken, your name is Jared. It’s nice to meet you, too.”

Jared flushed a deep red, and he looked down at the floor, embarrassed. “Yup. Nice to meet you too,” he muttered.

Ava’s gaze bounced from the two of them back to me. “So, you guys are friends. Does that mean”—she pointed back and forth between us—“you are like him? Like…you know,speciallike he is?”

My panther damn near rolled over and exposed its belly, purring and yearning for her to pet it. I gritted my teeth and urged it to shut the hell up.

Tate and Jared smirked at each other before Tate said, “We’re similar, I’ll say. A little bit bigger and much less fuzzy. Listen, we need to get to the office. It was nice meeting you, Ava. Come on, Jared.”

As they headed for the door, Jared kept glancing over his shoulder to check out Ava, and I had to suppress yet another growl from my panther. The beast was acting like she was already mine. I tried to remind it for the thousandth time that she was not ours. Would never be ours. It had to give up on the thought.

It was useless, though. All I received in return was an irritated snarl that echoed through my mind as I awkwardly stood next to Ava and placed my order.

The barista obviously thought we were together, which made things worse. I ordered a black coffee with cream and sugar, but Ava got something with caramel, whipped cream, and a bunch of other stuff I didn’t pay attention to. When they handed it to her, it looked more like a milkshake than coffee.

I led her to a table at the back, away from most of the patrons. The farther away, the better. I didn’t want anyone hearing the crazy shit I was about to spill to Ava. They’d probably call the cops on me, the ranting psychopath.

Sipping at her dessert in a cup, Ava took the seat across from me and gestured toward me. “Okay, Blayne. I’m here. What do you want to talk about?”

I licked my lips and got to it with no preamble. “Well, Ava, you obviously know about shifters, right?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, Blayne,” she said with a tone of condescension. “I dated one, and I know you’re one as well.”

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