21 Hours

Carrie

The drive to town didn’t feel very long, because Jason let Max drive, and I sat next to him in the backseat. He kept trying to run his hand up my skirt, and I laughed and swatted him away every time.

“I think I’m going to vomit, and I’ve barely drank anything,” Porter complained, shooting Jason a look over his shoulder.

“Need me to pull over?” Max offered.

“No, I’m making a point, Max.”

Max shrugged. “Don’t worry about them. Hopefully that’ll be us someday soon.” He had a wistful note in his voice I couldn’t miss. I suddenly felt guilty for our antics. I so easily remembered being that mateless wolf, and the way all the happy mated couples had made me feel hollow inside, even when I hadn’t been willing to admit it. How much worse might it be for Max since he knew his mate but couldn’t locate her?

I smacked Jason’s hand again and shot him a serious look. “This is probably depressing for them.”

“I waited so long for you, babe. But maybe you have a point.”

“Be good, and I’ll find a way to reward you when we get home.”

“I’ll be good. Scout’s honor, or something something.”

I pecked his cheek.

We pulled up to Angie’s a few minutes later and made our way inside. We had arrived before Amanda and her friends, so we claimed a table and ordered drinks.

Jason sent a dark look towards one human who looked my way too long, but he seemed otherwise unconcerned.

We threw back a couple of shots, and then I sipped my drink while watching for Amanda. I didn’t have to wait long. The moment she walked in the door I spotted her instantly, her hair like a cloud of fire around her face. She beamed at me when she saw me, and headed straight over.

“I’m so glad you made it.”

I smiled as she introduced her trio of friends. I really tried to like them, but I gritted my teeth when their eyes ran over Jason. He was mine, but they were looking at him as if he was available. My wolf grumbled in the back of my mind.

If I stopped to think about it I couldn’t really blame them, since he just oozed sex appeal, that bad boy bravado held in check by good boy restraint. He was delicious. Why had I wanted to come out again? I should have kept him at home.

“So, this is my boyfriend, Jason, and these two are Max and Porter.”

To Amanda’s credit, she barely glanced at my mate with curious eyes before tucking her head closer to me and whispering a shout over the music, “What happened to Greg?”

“Ah, we broke up,” I lied, cursing myself for forgetting my old cover stories. I should have named my imaginary boyfriend Jason apparently. “He was away too much. And not faithful?”

She seemed to accept my explanation. “Well, as long as you’re happy. This new one is super hot.”

My wolf’s irritation shot up, along with more irrational jealousy. “I really am happy.” I smiled past my wolf’s possessiveness.

Her eyes wandered across the guys again, stopping on our huge blond beta. Porter had been staring at her, but as soon as she looked at him he looked away. His knuckles were white gripping the side of his chair, but before I could speculate, Jason interrupted my conversation with Amanda.

He smiled at her charmingly. “Could I steal my girlfriend away for a dance?”

“Definitely,” she agreed happily.

“Aren’t you going to ask me if I want to?”

“What’s the point when you’re just going to say yes anyway?” he asked, and then spoke into my mind. ”Unless, of course, Greg is around somewhere and you’d rather dance with him.”

I nearly choked on my laugh as he pulled me away from the table and towards the area where only a few humans had begun dancing. His hands rested on my hips possessively as we began to sway to the thumping beat of the music.

“So, who is this Greg?” he asked with a slight smirk on those talented lips.

“You don’t need to be threatened by Greg, Jason. You’re way more man than he is.”

“Glad you can see that clearly.”

“It’s easy to. I dropped him the moment I met you.”

His smile faded. “You were—”

I kissed him and stopped messing around. “He’s completely fake. I made him up to get some guy to leave me alone, and he just became a useful excuse to get out of coming to places like this. Amanda doesn’t know that.”

“Wait, you would use Greg but not me to get out of coming to places like this? What, am I not good enough to be your excuse to stay home?” He faked hurt.

I tried not to laugh at him since it would look weird to the humans if I randomly started uproariously laughing while we silently danced. “I didn’t use you as an excuse, because I wanted to come this time. It was hard to be social back when my wolf felt so isolated...”

He held me even firmer, like he was reminding me that my isolation was over. “Well, I’m glad he’s just an excuse, because hunting down your exes and killing them would be time consuming, and I’ve already got more than I can handle with pack work.”

I hoped he didn’t notice my slight flinch at his ex joke. I was increasingly certain I needed to come clean about the drama in my past, but it seemed harder to do each time I missed the opportunity. A part of me wanted to hide it forever, but I was sure that it would come out one day, and he would be upset with me for not telling him.

But right now was not the time or the place. I’d talk to him about Asshole Dane when we got home, tonight, I promised myself. The idea of admitting it gave me a sick feeling in my stomach.

After the song ended, we went and sat down at the table again. Jason kept me tucked beside him. Amanda was sitting across from Porter, and they were talking together animatedly. Max was talking with Amanda’s three friends, although they were carrying the vast majority of the conversation.

We had a couple more rounds of shots, and all three of Amanda’s friends were drunk, since the poor humans had no resistance to alcohol at all. Amanda was only slightly intoxicated, since she seemed barely to notice her drink, absorbed as she was in Porter. For his part, he seemed to barely be able to drag his eyes off of her. I glanced at Jason and raised my eyebrows, and he shrugged, but I could see he was suspecting the same thing as I was.

“Want to dance?” Amanda asked Porter, and he practically rocketed to his feet in agreement. I exchanged another knowing smile with Jason. Max had also clearly already caught on by this point. While he seemed amused, that wistful edge remained. I felt sorry for him. I wished I could help him find his mate.

One of the friends, a girl with short blond hair, stood up as well. “Let’s go, too,” she said, and Amanda’s friends dragged Max along with them. He didn’t seem to mind, so I put him out of my mind.

I was left alone with Jason at the table, a graveyard of empty drinks, and he kissed the crook of my neck. “Do you want to dance, too?” he asked.

“Do you?”

“Well, it’s probably the only socially acceptable way I can grind against you in public, so yes.”

I swatted him lightly. “Is that the only thing you think about?”

His voice was low against my ear. “With you around? Yes. I mean, come on, look at you in that skirt. All I can think about is shoving you up against a wall somewhere. I haven’t had sex with you in hours, Carrie. Hours.”

His words slipped straight from my brain and came to rest between my legs as a hot ache. “Come on,” I said as I stood up, pulling him along with me by my hand.

As soon as we reached the dance floor, Jason’s hands were flush against me and there was no space between us at all, just heat.