Page 45 of Her Forbidden Shifters
This wasn’t Jacob. Not the one I had been partners with for so long. He was normally jovial, and in a perpetually good mood, but ever since Noah came around with this case, there was a change in him. Even more so since earlier this morning. I couldn’t put my finger on why. I mean the deeper meaning behind his mood. And not the obvious answer. The obvious one might have been part of the problem, but I just couldn’t see it being the whole reason for his attitude.
Not to mention, he had already made himself clear on how he felt about my sleeping with Liam. Loud and clear. But what was done was done and there was no taking it back. I refused to regret my actions because they were done in an effort to save my own life. After some time, he would come to see that.
“Seriously,” I said, “You can talk to me about whatever is bothering you.”
“You didn’t seem so keen on hearing anything I had to say earlier, so why start now?” His words were deep, yet distant.
“That was different,” I said. “And I’m not going to go down that road with you again since you don’t want to believe anything I have said when it comes to that.”
He snorted. “The road works both ways, you realize.”
I blew out a raspberry and settled my attention on the moving scenery outside my window. Talking with him wasn’t helping things. I didn’t understand what was going on with him, but I shrugged off my concern for the time being and tried to put my focus on the task of getting the heirloom out of Avery’s apartment and getting out without hitting any snags.
But the more I tried to think about Avery, the more I thought about Noah and the change in him. Liam too. The three of them were acting oddly and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I wasn’t so sure I was ever going to figure out what was going on between the three of them.
Again, I tried to refocus, but it still wasn’t working.
I had to address the white elephant riding in the back seat of Jacob’s car before things boiled over and a lot more damage was done than could be repaired.
“About last night,” I started.
“Savannah, don’t,” Jacob said, gripping the wheel tighter.
“I really did try everything I could first,” I said. “You should know me well enough by now to understand I wouldn’t break a rule or exploit a loophole if the situation wasn’t dire.”
“At least he wasn’t Noah,” he muttered. Though he was trying to keep the words to himself, I heard them, and they only worked to raise my frustration.
“And what if he was?” I asked, becoming irritated with him. I settled my focus on him and watched his every move.
He shook his head. His jaws clenched continuously, and the leather wrapped around the steering wheel creaked with the tension Jacob was squeezing it with.
“You know what?” I started then clenched my fists together so tight they shook and let out a deep breath. “Never mind. You don’t deserve an explanation. You are not my keeper. I do not have to go through you before sleeping with anyone. Boss or not. Ex-boyfriend or not. Rules or not. You’re not the sex police of the SOTF.”
“You can do so much better than this,” he snapped.
“Do better than what? Going to the methods that work when I’m close to dying?” I asked.
“No!” he said and glanced at me. “Sleeping with our boss.”
“So, you would have been more okay with me sleeping with some random stranger than our boss?” I asked, trying to keep my voice from turning shrill.
“Yes.” He didn’t bother to further explain himself.
I stared at him for several seconds, waiting for the anvil to drop. Maybe for him to start laughing and touting he got me. When he didn’t, I had little doubts in regard to how serious he was.
I said, “Well, if you can’t tell, I don’t exactly have a line of suitors standing at my door waiting for me to call on them for sex magic or any other attention I may require at any given point, so from where I’m standing, unless you and I are dating, you get no say in who I have sex with. Period.”
His eyes shifted to mine for a split second before returning to the road. If he had a response, he didn’t give it. Things between us fell silent and the tension increased even more. I took to staring out the window and trying to keep the tears at bay. It hurt to think he was more concerned I slept with our boss than doing whatever it took to survive.
Minutes later, Jacob hit the brakes and jerked the wheel toward the curb. We had arrived at Avery’s. I had yet to step a foot out the door before I realized something was wrong. And not the tension that had settled between me and Jacob. I stared out the window as sterile air surrounded me. There was something off about the apartment building. Static prickled my skin as I looked out of the window and toward the apartment Avery lived in.
“Well, we’re here,” Jacob said, sounding as though he was running out of patience. “Time to get out of the car and grab that heirloom.”
I held up a finger stuck out my tongue.
The static had a bitter tinge. One that turned my blood cold if I thought about it too much. Something was up, and my intuition told me it wasn’t good. But I had to get that heirloom, or I wasn’t going to be able to locate Avery. Finding her was an absolute must.
“What is wrong?” Jacob asked.
