Page 79 of Escalating Alpha

Fuck a duck.

19

Sunday morning, I came back from my run to find an unexpected visitor waiting in the lobby. I blinked at him a second and went over to him while stretching for my cooldown.

“Your mom doing well? You went to meet up with her on her couple-month vacation, right?”

Jason nodded. “It was great. I was thrilled to have the time to get to see her so happy. Thanks for making it happen and—thanks, Sera.”

I studied him, getting too much off of him that it made my wolf uncomfortable. “Why are you here, Jas? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” He sighed when I made it clear that I wasn’t buying that. “Let’s go inside and talk with less ears.”

I snorted. “Everyone hears everything anyways.”

“Yeah, but the peanut gallery andsilentbodyguards say a lot and you don’t need that right now.”

Okay, that worried me. I wasn’t really in the mood for this, but… When was I ever?

Seriously, when was anyone ever in the mood for bad news or problems?

Yeah, never.

We went up to my apartment and I set out some food, not really being hospitable when this was a surprise thrown at me and one I didn’t think I’d like.

“You’ve been crying in your sleep and telling people not to go,” he said after eating a few pieces of fruit. “It’s not getting better.” He sighed when I shot him a nasty look. “Carter called. He can hear it—makes sure he hears it because he’s worried about you, Sera.”

“So instead of talking to me about it, he called you of all people?” I asked as I set down the container of frozen egg bites too hard. I hit the buttons to warm up the air fryer and made it clear to Jason that I wasn’t thrilled.

“He didn’t know who could help you and wouldn’t risk pissing you off. My natural setting pisses you off, but we’ve also been through too much and still came out the other side as friends. Plus, he said he would have been able to help you, but he fucked up, so it was his job to find his replacement.”

“Chatty Carter,” I grumbled and focused on putting together everything else for breakfast. I was really,reallyenjoying planning my own meals. I ate a ton now as a powerful supe, and while I hadn’t understood it in the beginning, Dain had taught me a lot and now I did.

Now I got to adjust what I needed for me and… It was nice. I enjoyed it.

Which made Dain feel incredibly guilty and sad, but I couldn’t hide how I felt from him. I hoped we could get to a place where he joined me or we worked together on stuff. I did miss the quality of chefs preparing all of my food.

I was no slacker but also not near the level of famous chefs.

“Just spit it out, Jas,” I sighed when he took too long trying to think of what to say and how to handle this.

Handle me.

He gave me a look like he wanted to strangle me. What did he really expect?

Plus, the feeling was mutual.

“I’m here to help you make the call to your dad that you clearly need to make and I think you know that. Carter thought I was the best person since I’ve known you the longest and we’ve helped each other through all the family bullshit. But this is all since you met Stacey and learned… You know what needs to happen.”

I nodded as I laid out the already cooked bacon to zap it quickly. “How often am I doing it? Did he tell you that?”

“Two or three times a night. When you hit that level is when he called me,” Jason admitted. “You’re not loud, and he said who sleeps next to you doesn’t even always wake up and hear it. But it’s getting worse instead of better.”

I blinked at him. “Does he just sit up and listen to me sleep?”

He sighed and scrubbed his hands over his head. “He can’t help you when you need it because of what happened—what he did. He’s trying to do what he can from a distance.” His eyes filled with sadness. “I maybe understand that and him better than any of your other guys.”

“Jas, I don’t want to hear the details of how my mother tried to kill me,” I told him firmly.

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