“Okay,” I accepted his word, trusting him completely.
“Go to sleep, Jem,” Kade whispered in my ear. “We’ll talk about it when we wake up.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Kade
To both my and Drey’s surprise, the punk claiming rights to Bella accepted my challenge to claim by blood almost immediately. My curiosity piqued, I googled his name and was even more surprised when the image that popped was of a perfectly ordinary looking man.
A teacher, according to his Linked-In profile, he was thirty-two and a little on the bookish side, with a neatly trimmed beard and a slight hint of a premature bald spot. Not at all the type of man I would expect to be part of a black market semen-selling, baby stealing scheme.
He was also listed as a member of Jeremy’s familial clan, which was odder still since my Omega claimed not to recognize him when I showed him the picture. “The warrant lists his name as Carlton.”
“Kade, I swear. I’ve never seen that guy before,” Jeremy insisted, still staring at the picture. “And I know everyone in my clan. He can’t be a member.”
“Huh.” I was still puzzling over that bit of weirdness when Jeremy raised his hand to his mouth, trying to stifle a giggle. “You okay?”
He nodded, still pinching his lips together.
“Okay. Tell me what’s so funny.”
“I was just wondering if he’s googled you, also.”
“Why?”
Jeremy pushed my hands off the keyboard and typed in my name. The first picture that popped made me groan. “Oh, hell.” It was from the dating site profile that Jeremy had found me on and, between my neatly shorn hair and demure dress clothes that hid the build of my body, I looked nearly as unimpressive as my opponent. “I keep meaning to change that picture.”
Jeremy’s brows yanked together, but he didn’t comment.
“It was one of my fake ID pictures from a mission when I was fresh out of the service,” I explained. “I was supposed to be a computer programmer.”
“Nailed it,” Jeremy said dryly. “If he looked you up and found this, I guess we know why he isn’t scared of you.”
I had to admit that that was a good point.
“Well, it doesn’t really matter, I guess,” I commented with a yawn. “We’ll see how he feels about things day after tomorrow.” I reached for Jeremy, my jaw dropping when he sidestepped my hand. “What’s wrong?”
“Why do you still have a profile up?”
“Excuse me?”
“You said you’ve been meaning to update the dating profile,” Jeremy huffed. “Why is it still up?”
“We’ve been pretty busy,” I stammered. “I mean, you know I’m not using it or anything. And I won’t. I told you, I’m all in.” I reached for the laptop again. “I’ll delete it right now, baby.”
Jeremy sighed. “No. Don’t do that.”
The panic I’d sidestepped when he wouldn’t let me touch him piled on full-force. “Baby! Don’t do this,” I begged. “I love you. I’m sorry!”
Jeremy stared at me for a long moment before comprehension lit his eyes. “No, doofus! I’m not breaking up with you,” he huffed, shaking his head. “If whatshisfacehasfound it, I think it would be weird if it suddenly disappeared, that’s all.” Jeremy stepped closer and reached for my wrist, dragging my arm around him. “I know I’m being stupid. I’m sorry.”
Relief washed over me and I dragged him closer, holding him tight. “It goes away the minute the fight is over,” I promised.
“Okay,” Jeremy cuddled close. “Is it bedtime yet?”
I raised a brow. “Have you even looked at those class materials that Chuck left you?” The guilty look on his face assured me that he hadn’t. “I need to get some conditioning in. Why don’t you start on school stuff while I get my sweat on?”
“Ooh,” Jeremy teased, ogling me. “Are you gonna be naked? Maybe I should come help.”
