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I cringe, burying my face in my hands. “Oh god, what?” I ask, my voice muffled behind my palms.
“Maddox wants me to bring my girl over to meet his mate.”
I jerk my head up from my hands, snapping it sideways to face him. “Well that’s not happening,” I scoff.
“Obviously,” he grumbles.
A bleak silence descends on us, my mind racing out of control. This was all seemingly going so well, and now… well, I have no idea what comes next, if I’m honest. I’m a girl who likes to have a plan, and this is something I haven’t thought all the way through. It’s probably a little late to try to make a pros and cons list and approach this thing analytically.
“So what are you gonna do?” I finally ask, my voice barely a whisper.
“No idea, I was hoping your brilliant mind would be able to come up with something.” He darts me a glance, arching a dark brow.
That inquisitive look of his is so devastatingly handsome I can hardly stand it. I study his face, mapping out the sharp features of his side profile as he turns back to focus on the road ahead of us.
Why can’t this just be easy? I’m not sure if I’m in love with Javi yet, but I’m definitely in extremelike. When it’s just the two of us, things are so comfortable and natural. I feel like I’ve known him for years, when in reality, it’s only been a couple weeks. The outside world is the wildcard- his pack, my own, and how those around us will view our budding relationship. The longer we keep it hidden, the scarier the prospect of coming clean becomes.
“I’m not ready to tell them, Javi,” I admit, shaking my head. “I just… I have some things to figure out first.”
Like if he’s really who he says he is.
The images that the surveillance patrols have collected are just sitting in a folder on my computer, still untouched. Because on the off chance my search turns up something nefarious, I’ll haveno choice but to walk away from this. Fromhim. And I’m not ready to face that.
“I could talk to my best friend about it, see if she’ll come with me to meet Maddox and play the part,” he mumbles.
“What?” I blurt, his words landing like bullets and making me flinch. “Who?”
He adjusts his grip on the steering wheel, glancing over at me. “I’ve told you about her before, remember?”
My inner wolf sends a surge of possessive energy raging through me, that sick feeling of jealousy I had last night rearing its ugly head again. “You told me about your best friend, but you neglected to mention that it was ashe,” I scoff bitterly.
Javi furrows his brow. “Does it matter?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know.” I bury my hands in my hair, tugging at the strands as I try to think back to the conversation we had about this friend of his. I’ddefinitelyremember if he’d mentioned she was female. Did he purposefully leave that out, or did it honestly just never come up?
When we were texting once late at night, he said his best friend was over in his room hanging out. Ohgod, she was in hisroom! Were they lying on his bed together, laughing about my blind naivety with every incoming text?
“We’rejust friends,” Javi reassures, as if he can sense my inner turmoil eating away at me. “She’s like a sister to me. It’s just like you and any of your guy friends.”
“Maybe I should crash your littledatethen,” I snap.
“You should, she’s been wanting to meet you.”
He reaches over to grab my hand, but I retract away from him like his touch burns, folding my arms over my chest and huffing out a breath. “Pull over.”
“What?”
“Pull over, Javi!”
He hits the brakes, cranking the wheel to the right to pull his truck onto the shoulder. Gravel spits out from beneath the tires as the vehicle slows, and as soon as it rolls to a stop, I fling the passenger door open and jump out, slamming it shut behind me.
I honestly have no idea what’s come over me. It’s like I’m having an out-of-body experience, so worked up that I can’t even think straight. I turn away from his truck and stalk toward the woods, my arms still folded tightly across my chest, face pinched in an angry scowl.
Distantly, I hear Javi getting out of his truck, his own door closing.
“Lo, wait up!”
His footfalls echo off the ground as he jogs to catch up to me, grabbing onto my bicep and tugging me around to face him.
