Chapter Thirteen
Without bringing attention to myself, I moved with haste up the stairs and stepped into the house. My phone was up on the nightstand, so I quickly ran up the stairs and swiped it to life.
I had a few texts from my salon; everything was good. Mary loved me. They were surviving.
I called Rayne as soon as I finished sending back the salon a thumbs up.
She answered quickly.
“Helloo there!”
“Rayne. Jake is pulling an Arson. I repeat— Jake is pulling an Arson. What do I do?” It was like déjà vu all over again.
“I knew it. What is he saying?I’m what you deserve, baby? You’re not ready yet? I want to see you pregnant and getting round with my child inside you?”She lowered her voice at the last bit, mocking her lover.
“Gah! He already pulled the first one withI’m your alpha; I know what you needspeech. Now he just pulled theyou’re not ready yetpart. What the hell am I gonna do? I don’t want this life. I came here and I think a small part of me knew we would have fun, but that’s what you thought with Arson and he was in love with you and wanted you to be his forever. Rayneeee.” I had officially gone from mildly annoyed and horny to freaking out.
“Why don’t you want that life?” she asked honestly. I rolled my eyes.
“Come on. I am not the type of girl that likes to get dirty. I mean, what they do here is really awesome. I saw all the animals today, and there is the cutest baby tiger that I’m going to mother the rest of the week. But it’s just like a weird vacation. I’m all make-up, hair, and my salon. Jake is really hot, and he is realllly good with his tongue. But I don’t think we could be around each other for any real length of time.” Even as the words came out of my mouth, my mind was screaming it was a lie.
“I don’t know, Cammy. Things and wants change. I wanted a guy, but I didn’t think I would get a real alpha man like Arson. I also didn’t really know if I wanted kids and here I am, knocked up, eating Fruit Loops because that’s all this kid has been craving today. Maybe it’s worth a shot.” I mulled over her words. I hadn’t told her yet that I wanted a family. She probably still thought I was living the single life, screwing with a bunch of hot guys. Maybe it was a stupid thought, but I didn’t want her to think I was trying to take away her thunder. I hated to think that.
“Ok, I’ve got to go, but tell Cammy Jr. I love her!”
“Run all you want, but take it from me—love will catch you and knock you on your ass. Talk to you later.”
We parted with those sweet words of hers.
Love. Pshhh. That was definitely not happening. I sat on the bed and looked around the room. I was a straight shooter, usually. But here I was, freaking out over something that could be nothing. I wasn’t ready to open up to anyone yet about my new want of a family, so that was my secret for now. I stood up, feeling like Xenia on the verge of kicking some ass. If Jake thought he was going to lead me around, then he had another think coming.
I was Cammy Freaking Jennings; I once switched my bestie’s toothpaste with lube. I was a force to be reckoned with.
I marched myself right back out to the backyard, where pretty much everyone had cleared out and gone back to their work. Only Derek, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb aka Autumn and Helen, and Jake, were chatting.
“Ok, get. Scoot, skiddaddle!” I shoo’d them away.
“Excuse us; we were just talking about something important,” Autumn foolishly opened her mouth. Poor child, I know she didn’t understand the predicament she was in. I mean, I know I looked like a sweet, redheaded cupcake on the outside, but I was a cherry bomb on the inside. Deciding to nip this whole thing in the bud, I walked right up to Jake and laid claim to his lips right in their faces.
Yep. Cammy Jennings was metaphorically peeing on Jake Wild.
I gripped his shirt, keeping him right in my grasp. I could practically hear the rolling of their eyes, but as long as I was getting the point across, I didn’t care.
Jake had a grin on his face as I blew his mind, obviously enjoying my cavewoman maneuvers. When I pulled back, I looked at the girls with a little headshake and raised brow. My attitude pretty much said,what? You wanna roll now? Bring it, bitches!Both girls rolled their eyes but walked away. I turned to Derek to see him silently cracking up. His hands raised in a surrender position when he met my glare.
“I’ll see you two around. Good luck, Jake.” He laughed and walked away backwards, afraid to put his back to me. Yeah, I was a bad ass. I turned back to Jake, who had the biggest grin on his face. I felt like such a hurricane to the other people, but seeing his grin made me feel like a thunderstorm—soothing to some people on a warm summer day.
“Okay, listen here, Mr. Alpha Animal Man. You don’t know me that well, so I’m going to impart some wisdom on you.” I pointed my finger for emphasis. Which he unfortunately gripped, and pulled me up against his body.
I was a flailer when I got hyped up like this.
But this close to him, I couldn’t flail. I felt like a cat in the bathtub. My inner cherry bomb was being doused, which fizzled my whole spiel.
“I can’t let you have it when you’re holding me!” I honestly felt like he just wrapped me in a calming blanket. No one could be angry when they were being held like this. Dammit!
Hearing my words, his damn smile just got bigger!
“I’m curious. I’ll let you do your thing.” He let me go, then went to sit on the wooden step, ready for what I was going to do.
