“You have kind of avoided the subject, buddy,” Dad joins in.
“Well, it was scary, it’s not something I want to talk about…”
“But there’s more to it, isn’t there?” Mom says, staring me down, looking into me like she knows I’m lying. “What aren’t you telling us, Max?”
I feel like a hamster backed into a corner by a python. There’s nowhere to run and no way I’m getting out of this without giving them something.
Maybe now is my chance to come clean. Tell them everything. They want to know. They’re begging to know. The door is wide open and all I have to do is step through.
I open my mouth to speak.
UBER NERVOUS
“So did you tell them?” Katie asks.
“No, I completely chickened out.”
We’re in an Uber on our way to the Plaza. Through some magic of the universe—thanks to their parents’ connections—both Todd and Simon were invited to the Yule Ball and they both asked Katie to be their date. Apparently, this was the cause of some angsty tension between the bro twins, but it’s lucky for me. Aisha had a late rehearsal and could only meet me once the ball was underway. With Katie going I had someone to get ready with and I wasn’t forced to rock up outside like some interloper.
On the back seat next to me, Katie is clutching her purse. She’s wearing a red dress that shimmers like a ruby, her hair is tied up, and her eyes are shrouded in a puff of smoky eye shadow. City lights reflect on the glittery highlighter she’s used on her cheeks as we crawl uptown. It’s a marked difference from the frilly cocktail dresses and the pastel palette I’m used to seeing on her. The whole look is more grown-up, but it suits.
“You know they’d be totally fine with it,” she says, making me roll my eyes. “Even the alpha is fine with it. That’s what you said, right?”
“Yeah. He was totally cool about me and Jasper.”
“So what makes you think your sweet, down-to-earth, equal-opportunity-supporting parents won’t be?”
I sigh and lean my shoulder against the window. Christmas lights strung up between streetlights twinkle and the sidewalks are full of puffy-coated tourists. We pass a steak house, and my eyes linger on a family seated at a table by the window. They’re laughing and smiling.
Katie is right, of course; I have no reason to think my parents would be anything but accepting and loving. But still I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t tell them about me and Jasper.
They gave me the opening, handed me the chance to come clean on a platter, and what did I do?
“What did you tell them then?” Katie presses.
I didn’t exactly lie. But it wasn’t the truth either.
“I told them I’d been acting weird because of the attack, that I didn’t want them to worry so I didn’t tell them the whole story.”
“And they bought that.”
“Ahuh.”
“How much of the whole story did you tell them?”
“I told them I was kidnapped and taken to the yacht with a couple of other hostages. I neglected to tell them a mate-crazed friend of mine picked me specifically so she could replace me as Jasper’s mate.”
“How did they take it?”
“They ate it up. Seriously, I’m waiting for my Oscar nomination any day now.”
“Really?”
The truth is Mom started biting her nails halfway through and was finished giving herself a manicure by the time my sob story ended. She sprang up and wrapped me in this massive hug, which would have been comforting under normal circumstances. But on this occasion it just made the strange humming sensation in my chest worse.
“Yeah, they bought it.”
“And what about the party?”
