Chapter Twenty
Emelise
Sunlight streamed through a crack in the curtains and Emelise rolled over with a groan. “Oh fucking hell,” she muttered and buried her head under the covers. “I know I drank too gods-damned much when I wake up with my head hurting.”
“You and me both,” Lily mumbled from her side of the room. She glanced at the time and sighed. “It’s seven in the morning—too damn early to be awake.”
“Tell me about it.” Emelise didn’t want to move but she knew lying there wasn’t going to help anything. “If we didn’t have to start loading my shit into a U-haul truck, I’d go back to sleep,” she said and yawned. “I’ll hit the shower first; you can rest a little longer.”
Eme took her phone into the bathroom with her and looked at it for the first time since they’d left New Orleans. She winced when she saw that she had three missed calls and five unread text messages, all from the same number. She was betting they all came from a very arrogant, albeit sexy, leopard. She ignored the voicemail messages and opened the texts while she waited for the water to heat up.’
We need to finish the talk that was interrupted the other night.
Ignoring me isn’t going to change anything, cher.
When she read the third one, she knew he’d been informed she’d taken the road trip to Phoenix.What were you thinking, taking off when you know the jaguars are stirring up trouble?
Damn it, cher, your impulsiveness, and stubbornness are going to get you hurt.
When you get back here, you’ll be lucky if I let you out of my sight, woman. If it wasn’t for Lily letting Declan know you are both okay, I’d be on my way to Phoenix right now to hunt you down. We will be talking when you’re back.
Emelise could practically hear the growl of his anger coming through the text. Who did he think he was? They weren’t even together and he was acting like he owned her. Damn Alphas and their arrogant ways.
She stripped and slid into the shower with thoughts of Caine filling her head. “Stop it, Emelise, no thinking about him. You’ll have to deal with him soon enough,” she admonished and washed up so that Lily could have a turn in the shower before they went to get breakfast.
Lily
Lily sat up in bed while Emelise was in the shower and reached for her phone where she’d left it charging next to the bed. She had a text from Shelli telling her to have fun on her impromptu vacation but that was it. Fifteen minutes later the bathroom door opened and Emelise walked out.
“Your turn,” Emelise said as she came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her.
Lily stretched and crawled out of bed. “If we get done early, do you want to head back tonight or still wait till tomorrow?” she asked as she made her way toward the bathroom door.
“It’s a thought, but I’d rather start out fresh in the morning,” Eme replied.
“Alright, it was just a suggestion,” Lily said before she closed the bathroom door behind her.
Hours later, long after the last box was loaded into the truck and they’d gone to get something to eat, Lily collapsed into bed and stared up at the ceiling. “You were right, heading out tonight would have been rough.”
“I know I was right.” Eme gave her a cheeky smile. “You just want to get back to your hunky wolf.”
“And you’re avoiding your equally hunky leopard,” Lily fired back.
“Too true, too true,” Emelise admitted. “I got some texts from him; he wasn’t happy when he found out about our little trip.”
“I told you he wouldn’t be. If Caine thinks he’s going to cow you by growling at you though, man, is he in for a rude awakening,” Lily said with a tired laugh.
“Damn right he is,” Emelise said just as tiredly. “I vote we sleep and head out first thing.”
“Sounds good to me,” Lily replied. She crawled under the covers and was soon sound asleep.
