“Hello?” Putting this off wasn’t helping matters at all. They had to go inside and talk to Alyssa.
Charles halted his quick stomping movements. “I don’t know,” he nearly shouted. He threw his hands in the air. “I barely even care. That’s what sucks.” He pointed at the house. “I don’t even want to go in there. All I can think about is getting back in the vicinity of Jessica as fast as possible. Even if the woman won’t touch us, I can’t stand her being somewhere else. What if she runs?”
Reese sucked in a breath. It was true. There was no guarantee she wouldn’t leave town. He, of all people, certainly knew that. And obviously he was going to have to be the voice of reason at this particular moment.
“Okay, let’s go inside, sweep Alyssa into the bedroom, and make nice for a bit. Somehow we will find a way to escape as quickly as possible and get over to Jessica’s apartment. Plan?”
Charles scrunched his face and narrowed his eyes. “Plan? What the hell kind of plan is that? You don’t even have one. I think you left out the entire center. You know? That part where we explain ourselves to Alyssa and she reacts? What part of your plan fills the Oreo cream center here?”
“You have a better idea?” Reese turned to head toward the house. The crunch of boots behind him indicated Charles was following.
A cold wind blew across the short field between the buildings, lifting the soft, loose flakes of snow comprising the top layer that had fallen in the night. The effect was to make it appear to be snowing from the ground up. He squeezed his jacket tighter around him. How appropriate. Every detail of his life right now was upside down; why not the snow too?
* * * *
“Hello?” Jessica breathlessly grabbed her cell phone when she finally found the damn thing upside down on the bed. How long had it been ringing all muffled there from the quilt while she’d been stuffing clothes and toiletries into her suitcase?
She’d seen the caller ID before hitting Accept.
“Jessica? It’s Kara.” Jessica smiled for the first time since she’d blown into the apartment. No shit. They’d been friends for more than four years. Obviously Kara was at the top of her caller ID list, right up with her other former roommate Lindsey.
“Hey, hon. What’s going on? How are you feeling?”
“Huge.” Kara chuckled. “And overprotected. You’d think no one in the world had ever given birth before. And I still have several weeks.”
“Hey, what did you expect with two fierce, dominant men for partners.” Jessica knew they were mates. In fact, she knew more about Kara’s situation, and Lindsey’s too for that matter, than either of them did. Kara and Lindsey were both human. Jessica hadn’t ever wanted anyone to know she was a shifter. And now…
“True.” Her giggle lightened the load Jessica had been carrying since this morning. Kara was the sweetest person she knew. How the woman had managed to fall into a wolf ménage was beyond her. What were the chances? And then Lindsey too? It was ludicrous. As though fate were grabbing Jessica by the neck and shaking some sense into her.
Or cut off her oxygen supply.
“I was just calling to make sure you were still coming over tomorrow. Two o’clock.”
Fuck. “Umm…”
“Jessica Murphy, you promised. Don’t even think of flaking out on me now. It’s Christmas break, remember? There is no way I’m letting you stay home alone in that apartment and stare at the television. We are having a holiday gathering tomorrow, and you are coming.” She didn’t even pause. Kara was a talker. She wouldn’t stop to breathe until she’d made her point. “Everyone will be here. Lindsey and Ryan and Alejandro. Justin and Ryan’s parents, Richard and Nancy. You’ve met them, right? Their younger brother, Michael. Their sister, Tessa, and her family. Hell, even Charles is in town. You’ve not met him. He’s been away for half the year.”
Jessica sucked in a breath and held it. No fucking way could she go over there tomorrow. “Jess, I—”
“If you aren’t here at two, I’ll send Trevor and Justin after you.” Her voice had risen. Her mates were formidable if nothing else. “Don’t weasel out of this, Jess. You’re family. You’re like a sister to me. Don’t give me some crap about being a fourth wheel. Heck, with all those people, there is no way you could even feel left out. Christmas is in a few days, and I’m not leaving you holed up in that apartment alone during this break.”
If she flat-out refused, there would be a scene to rival all scenes right now. If she left town this evening for the holidays, she could at least straighten her head out at a hotel for a few weeks and wallow in self-pity before facing the wrath of her friends.