Page 14 of Chasing The Alpha's Son
With my eyes closed, I breathe in through my nose, and then I say it: “He was with another guy.”
Aisha scrunches up her face.
“Uh-uh, nope. Not on my watch. Come on.” Aisha stands, downing the rest of her drink; she pulls me to my feet and marches us toward the ballroom.
Like a stampede of rhinos, we explode through the doors, huffing and sweating. The crowd seems even livelier than before, while I’m starting to feel more and more frazzled.
“Can you see him?” Aisha asks.
I scan the room. “Nope.” Then my eyes catch on a tuft of wavy blond hair. “But there’s his friend.”
Jasper is nowhere to be seen, but his blond Shawn Mendes look-alike friend is chatting with two girls in backless dresses over by a drinks table. Aisha takes two steps forward and stops. Her shoulders drop.
“Him?You don’t have to worry about him.” I should be relieved, but Aisha’s icy tone makes me think I maybeshouldworry about him, just not for the reason I was thinking.
“Who is he?”
“His name is Clayton Bridgers. He went to boarding school with Jasper and me. But Jasper and him have been friends since they were pups. His father is Walter Bridgers, the pack’s financial adviser.”
“I’ve heard of him.”
Of course I’ve heard of him. After the pack’s defense forces—which are headed up by Olivia’s father, Beta Salazar Castillo—the treasury is the next most important pack institution. The Bridgerses have been in charge of the pack’s finances for centuries. Some people think they’re even more wealthy than the Apollos.
“The Bridgerses and the Apollos go waaaaay back,” Aisha says, glassy-eyed. “Jasper and Clayton’s friendship was basically written in the stars.”
“If you all went to boarding school together, are you friends with him too?”
Aisha scoffs and shakes her head.
“Sometimes Jasper can act like a pompous, privileged ass, but Clayton, he’s the prince of entitlement. The very definition of a rich, white, privileged asswipe.”
Aisha really doesn’t like this guy, which kind of makes my cheeks warm. “He looks it too.”
“Anyway, you don’t have to worry about him and Jasper. Clayton is as straight as they come.”
A lump lodges in my throat and I struggle to swallow it down. That word she used—straight—as if implying I’m the opposite, the other thing—the thing I can’t even say out loud.
“Max!” I turn at the excited, high-pitched sound of my name and find Jodie running at me, arms wide, teeth showing in this big grin. “You came!”
Jasper’s little sister wraps my waist in a tight hug, which I return awkwardly. Coming up behind her are Melissa and Alpha Jericho, with a trail of security guards in their wake.
“Of course I came,” I say. “Wait how did you know I—”
“I invited you, stupid,” Jodie says, swishing her hips from side to side. She’s wearing a green gown and looks about a foot taller than when I last saw her. “I wanted to see you.”
“Jodie was very insistent that you be her allocated guest,” Melissa says, sounding a little annoyed about it, like she was hoping Jodie might invite someone her own age and give Melissa a night off.
“Wow!” My face is suddenly the temperature of the sun, and I just know I’m the color of a fire engine. I can’t help rubbing the back of my neck. “Thank you.”
Jodie gestures for me to come closer, so she can whisper in my ear. I lean down and she cups her little hand around her mouth and leans in.
“He misses you.”
I start up in an instant and almost choke as I meet eyes with the alpha. Jericho has come to join our little reunion, and he doesn’t look too pleased.
“Maximilian,” he thunders, his deep bass drowning out the strings.
“Sir,” I say, half bowing, half curtsying, and wholly losing it.
