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He was still as confused as ever before. “I don’t get it. What was that pissing contest between those two? Do they know each other?”
McKenna shrugged. “I have no idea, but Taylor is very possessive of me, especially right now. I had to talk him into letting me come to Mama’s for dinner without him. But if I’d known you were bringing Mendez, I would have. Then again, maybe it would have been a bad idea with the way those two are acting toward each other.”
Jack’s hackles rose. “He didn’t want you to visit your family? Has he put his hands on you before?” He gripped her upper arms in a light hold. “Tell me the truth, Mickie. I won’t stand for anyone treating you that way. I might not have been home a lot in the past ten years, but I still have older brother rights.”
She gave a soft laugh. “I’ll never deny you your right to intimidate anyone I date. But this is different. Taylor is it for me.”
“You don’t know that,” Jack argued. “Not that I wish you unhappiness, but if he’s manhandling you or hurting you, I’ll fucking make him disappear.”
Her brows shot up. “You would hire a hitman?”
“In a heartbeat when it comes to you or Mom.” Jack wasn’t kidding. Family meant everything to him, even though he hadn’t told them about his diagnosis or the fact he was gay, but it wasn’t as if McKenna told him everything.
That’s a bullshit reason, and you know it.
“He’s not hurting me, Jack. I swear.” She walked over to the tree and leaned her back against it, crossing her arms under her breasts. “He’s a panther shifter.”
Jack blinked at McKenna. “Come again?”
“I’m not supposed to tell you, and Taylor was completely against it for several reasons, but the main one is because you’re so famous. Their world is to be kept secret at all costs, Jack. You have to promise never to breathe a word of this.” She smiled. “Though I suspect you’re going to get the same talk soon enough.”
Jack took a step toward her, seeing Taylor move a step forward from the corner of his eye. “You’re not making any sense, Mickie. What do you mean mate, and did you just call your boyfriend a cat?”
None of this made any sense to him. Jack wasn’t sure what to think about this entire confrontation and conversation. It was as if she was speaking another damn language that Jack knew nothing about. “Are you on drugs?”
“No!” McKenna rolled her eyes. “I swear I’m not on drugs, nor have I been drinking. There’s a whole other world right beneath our noses, Jack. Taylor is a black panther shifter. He can shift into one. I’ve seen it. I swear I have. Fate handpicked me to be his mate, and Taylor has claimed me.” She gave him a huge smile. “Congratulate me.”
“Um, congratulations…”
She lurched forward and hugged him. “Congratulations to you too!”
Jack set her away from him. “For what?”
She blushed. “I probably shouldn’t say anything, but Mendez is your mate.”
Jack stumbled back as he gaped at his sister. “What?”
She took his hand in hers. “I don’t care that you’re mated to a guy. I’d love you no matter what. Gay, straight, whatever. In the shifter world, gender means nothing.”
Jack yanked his hands away from hers, his heart pounding in his chest. The world tilted sideways as he digested everything she’d just said to him. McKenna knew he was gay? Who else had figured that out? Who else knew and was waiting to use that information to blackmail him? In his line of work, he couldn’t trust anyone. Not that he thought his sister would ever spill his secrets.
“Jack.” McKenna reached for him, but Jack moved farther away. He felt like he was going to be sick. He saw Mendez heading right for him, Taylor following suit. As soon as Mendez reached him, Jack cocked his arm back and slugged him.
“You knew and you didn’t say a fucking word to me! We did… we just…” He couldn’t bring himself to say what he wanted to say with McKenna and Taylor standing there. His sister was pulled into Taylor’s arms, and then Taylor moved them back.
Mendez just stared at Jack.
“I’m sorry.” McKenna looked on the verge of crying. “I told him you were his mate.”
“I can’t even right now.” Jack took off toward the car. He jumped in and started the motor since Mendez had left the keys in the ignition. He tore out of the parking lot, almost swiping a tree as he raced away.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Jack pounded the steering wheel. He was in shock, and he knew it. He wasn’t thinking rationally. All he wanted to do was get away from them, to think. He’d been forced out of the closet, but not only that, if McKenna was to be believed, Mendez wasn’t even human.
Jack raced past his mother’s house as his thoughts hit him a million miles a second. He couldn’t even sort them out as he passed Salvador’s and headed for Route 26. He finally slowed then pulled over, gripping the wheel so tight that he should have ripped it right off.
If he were being honest with himself, truly honest, McKenna knowing wasn’t what had sent him over the edge. It was a culmination of things. His fast-paced career, fearing he would be ruined if anyone found out he was gay, his diagnosis, which he was still trying to deny, and his growing feelings for Mendez.
As much as he’d told himself he had to keep their sex on the down-low and that it couldn’t get complicated, it had already been complicated before they’d crossed the line. Mendez wasn’t human. God, Jack wasn’t sure what to do with that. He hated himself for spoiling McKenna’s happy moment, for the crestfallen look on her face when he’d yanked his hands away, but it had all been a complete shock to him.
