“Nothing. I’m just glad you came out for Addy.” It sounds like there’s something else she’s not saying, so I fold my arms and pin her with a glare until she sighs.
“He was worried you weren’t going to come.” I blow out a sigh and she quickly adds, “You better not tell Addy I told you that, or he’ll be pissed-off at me. But that’s part of the reason I told him I’d come. I didn’t want him to feel like he was all alone.”
I frown at my sister. “He’snotall alone.”
I’m bracing for a challenge, but to my relief, she just sort of smiles. “Yeah. I’m glad to see that. Let’s go back over there. Looks like the crowd’s thinned out a little.”
Bunny’s face brightens again when we get back over to the table.
“He got to officially meet Gigi!” Bunny tells Sarah excitedly. “She came by earlier to say hi and good luck and all.” His big blue eyes sparkle with mirth. “Oh, and you should’veseenthe way some of these women were throwing themselves at Jack. A couple of them were flirtinghard, and he was completely oblivious!”
Sarah cackles so loud she puts a hand over her mouth to stifle it. I frown at her, but she just grins as she looks between me and Bunny. “I can totally believe that. I’m sorry I missed it,” she says.
I glower at both of them. “Seriously? I think you read too many of these books,” I tell Bunny as I wave towards the table. “Do Ilooklike the kind of person somebody would want to flirt with?”
I don’t realize Olivia and Gina are following this conversation until I turn to find both of them staring at me, too. “Uh,yeah,” they say, almost in unison.
“You’ve totally got that dark, brooding alphahole thing going on,” Olivia pipes up. “It’s freakingcatnipfor a lot of these readers.” She nods authoritatively before adding, “Oh, and the bun, too.”
Well, fuck me. Bunny cracks up and I huff out a sigh of irritation. “I’m going to sit back down where I was before. Just —just come get me if you need a hand carrying anything out, Bunny,” I tell him.
The word is out of my mouth, but I don’t realize my mistake until I see the eyes of Bunny and all three women go wide.Christ. I scowl. “What?” I can practicallyfeelall those stares shrinking me down to nothing.
Bunny puts a hand over his mouth to hide a smile. I point at him. “Don’t you start.” I stare down the rest of them, my brows pulled low. “A guy can’t use a pet name once in a while?” I snap.
I purposefully keep my expression glowering as I make my way back to where I was sitting before. “Alphahole, my ass,” I mutter underneath my breath as I settle down and pull out my phone.
6
JACK
Bunny starts in on me before we’ve even left the parking lot. “They thought you calling me Bunny was cute,” he says.
I exhale a harsh sigh as I head towards home. It’s later than I expected. Even though the days are long this time of year, just the red glow of late dusk lingers above the horizon.
“JesusChrist. I don’t know why all of you made such a goddamn big thing of it.”
Bunny bites his lip. “Um, I don’t think anybody said anything but you.”
“They didn’thaveto,” I tell him. “I could see it all pretty fucking clear on their faces.”
“Is that why you didn’t hang around with us after that? Because you were embarrassed?”
“I wasn’t fucking embarrassed,” I snap. It’s close to the truth.
“It’s alright,” he says. “I just told them you were a little shy, and they totally understood.”
“What?” Bunny’s words hit me like a shock of cold water. “The fuck! I’m not fuckingshy.” When I take my eyes off the road long enough to look at him, I think I see him hiding asmile. “Jesus Christ —shy?” I repeat, my brain toggling between furious and flummoxed.
The cab of my truck suddenly feels twenty degrees hotter. I turn the air-conditioning up to full blast, aiming a scowl at Bunny as I blow out a long, aggravated sigh. “I almost don’t want to know, but what the hell would ever give you the idea that I’m fuckingshy?”
When he doesn’t say anything after a few seconds, I shoot another glance in his direction. He looks like he’s weighing his words carefully. Biting his lip, he pulls out his ponytail and runs a hand through his hair. Guess my outburst caught him by surprise. But how the hell did he expect I’d react to a pronouncement like that?
“It took me a while to realize,” he says slowly. “I mean, I don’t see you interact with a lot of other people on a regular basis.”
“That’s because I don’t,” I mutter.
Bunny huffs out a laugh. “I’ve noticed. Who do you even have in your phone contacts, anyway?”
