Page 71 of Chasing The Alpha's Son
She flutters her lips as if expelling pent-up energy, then nods.
“Oh my Moon Gods!”
“Calm down! I still don’t know if she’s even into girls.”
I press my lips together. I want to tell Olivia so badly, but it still isn’t my place to out Mia.
“What are you doing?” she asks, and I wish I was blessed with a better ability to lie. “What do you know?”
“I can’t say,” I snap frantically. “Just…don’t ask.”
She side-eyes me questioningly. “Okay.”
We both sit back against the bench and turn our gazes to the sky. The moon is hanging massive and low, staring us in the face.
“I can say one thing,” I offer. “If we’ve learned anything in the last fifteen minutes, it’s that you can’t avoid the inevitable.”
“Ain’t that the truth.”
I turn to Olivia.
“So stop avoiding her.”
The packhouse is strangely quiet when we head back inside. The festivities of the evening, not to mention the food and sherry, have wiped just about everyone out. We make our way to the parlor, which is lit only by the dying embers of the fire and the multicolored string lights on the tree.
“Okay,” Olivia says. “You’ll be okay getting back to your room?”
I kind of like the idea of having Olivia as my personal bodyguard but I can take it from here.
“I’ll be fine, thanks.”
“Okay and…thank you.” Olivia pulls me in for a very rigid, too-tight hug that catches me completely off guard. Once the shock has worn off, I hug her back.
As she heads off toward the royal suites or whatever they’re called, Jasper emerges from the shadows. He looks tired, his hair is a little mussed, and his white button-down is untucked, loose at the collar.
“Hey,” he says.
“Hi.”
He looks worse off than I feel, and I was the one who was attacked. My chat with Olivia has left me feeling strangely upbeat. From Jasper’s expression, I don’t think he’s sharing my optimism.
“I’m sorry, Max. I should never have let him get that close to you… I…” Jasper sighs and rubs his eyes. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine—I had Olivia. What about you? What’s happened to Clayton?”
“Clayton has been confined to his room; he’ll be sent back to the pack in the morning. He’s actions are…inexcusable.”
“Okay, great.”
The lights from the Christmas tree are reflecting on Jasper’s cheeks, lighting one red and the other green. Tonight Jasper came to my rescue, he protected me like he said he’s meant to this whole time. But here he is, five feet away, and I feel more distance between us than ever before.
“Are you—”
“This is what I meant,” he interrupts. “This is why we can’t be… We can’t be together.”
“Jasper—”
“No, Max. Imagine if more people found out—more people like Clayton. I can’t put you through that.”
