He focused on the phone and Rachel, ignoring the fact that Daryl was shamelessly watching him.
“I must’ve exhausted myself on the run.”
Laughter met his comment. “So I heard.”
Groaning into the handset, Jason covered his eyes. “Is there anyone who doesn’t know?”
“Only me and Jenn know at the minute, but if you smell like each other and sex, then I think the others will have an idea soon enough.”
Jason groaned again. They were going to have to tell them. “Cam wants us to let people know in an appropriate manner. Any ideas?”
“Um . . . I guess me and Jenn could have a quiet word with our units. That way it’s not a shock, but you don’t have to make a big thing out of it either.”
He looked at Daryl, who’d heard everything.
“Sounds reasonable,” Daryl agreed. “But what are we telling them?”
Jason opened his mouth, then closed it again. He really didn’t want to have this talk with Rachel on the phone. “Er . . .”
“How about I just say that the two of you are casually dating and anything they smell is none of their business.” Rachel sounded matter-of-fact, as if it was no big deal. Jason guessed it wasn’t. They weren’t the first shifters in the same pack to mess around, and they wouldn’t be the last.
Daryl nodded, so Jason said, “Yeah, okay. Thanks.”
“No problem.” She sighed. “Right, I better go round up your food, and Nathan.”
Jason suddenly remembered why he’d asked for the phone. “How is he? And Rob? Did they heal all right?”
“Yep. Both fully healed now.” She sounded happy, so Jason guessed nothing else had happened.
“I’m tentatively hopeful that they’ve put their differences behind them now.”
“That’s great.” His stomach grumbled louder than ever. “I better let you get on with things.
Thanks, Rach.”
“No problem.”
They hung up, and Jason retreated back to his bed and slipped under the quilt.
Daryl joined him again, perched on the side, half-turned to face him. “Why didn’t you ask me about Nathan and Rob?”
“Because you’ve not left the room either.”
“No, but I spoke with Rachel earlier. You sleep like the dead.”
Jason shrugged. He didn’t want to admit to Daryl that he’d lain awake worrying for hours before finally dropping off. Not when Daryl had fallen asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, clearly unconcerned about anything. Wanting to change the subject, he asked, “What about the others in Jenn’s team? Are they all right with it?” He was thinking mainly of Kevin and Tom. After Rob, they’d been the most vocal in their dislike of Nathan and support of Newell.
“Jenn seems to think Kev’s okay since he was there and saw it all. Apparently the others haven’t said much about it, but no one’s complaining either, so I guess that’s a good thing.”
“I guess.” Jason fiddled with the pillows behind him, debating whether to do this now or wait.
He’d never been a fan of putting things off. “We should probably have that talk now, don’t you think?”
Daryl stared at him, studying his face for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, okay. Let me put some clothes on.”
Yes, please do.
The fewer distractions, the better.
