The weather and its idiosyncrasies were the least of his problems.
“That’s what I was going to say. How did we not know about this?”
Charles turned to face him. “How? Because why would anyone bother to tell us some woman we’ve presumably only met in passing for the first time yesterday and assuredly have no connection to whatsoever was coming over to visit her girlfriends in this crowded house.” He was practically reprimanding Reese, and he hadn’t meant to. They were both on edge. Lowering his voice, he continued. “What I want to know is why Jessica didn’t tell us herself last night. And … what the hell do we do now?”
It was a rhetorical question, and Reese treated it as such.
Both men heaved deep breaths and looked around in vain as if the answers to their problems were between the snowflakes.
“It’s fucking cold out here.”
Charles didn’t respond. Sure, it was cold, but it beat the alternative. “What should we do?”
“I think we need to talk to her.”
“How are we going to do that? Here? In my brother’s living room?”
“No, we’ll have to wait until tonight. She agreed to meet with us later at her apartment. I hope she still sticks to that promise.”
“Her pheromones are going to make me come in my pants. She’s fucking ovulating of all days.”
“Ya think I didn’t notice?” Reese glared.
“Sorry.”
“I know.”
Charles jerked his gaze to his friend. “And what the fuck should we do about Alyssa? She’s pissed.”
“Ain’t that the truth?”
“Can we leave that one off for another day also?”
“I don’t think so. What if we tell her the truth? I mean, it isn’t like we planned this. It just happened.” Reese held his hands in the air in defeat.
“Have you met Alyssa?” Charles laughed. It wasn’t funny at all, but he was losing it.
The woman was hell on wheels when she wanted to be. And there was little doubt that wouldn’t hold up in this instance.
Chapter 7
“I’m sorry I’m such poor company,” Jessica mumbled under her breath.
Kara smiled. “Honey, I totally understand. Granted, it’s been a few months since I’ve experienced the cruel fate of PMS, but it’s still fresh in my mind.”
Lindsey entwined her fingers with Jessica’s. “Why don’t you go lie down for a while? Take some ibuprofen. I bet you’ll feel 100 percent better in a few hours with a good nap.” She turned to Kara. “Is the guest room okay?”
“Of course.” Kara scrambled back from the kitchen island and tugged on Jess’ arm. “Not sure why I didn’t think of that. The weather sucks out there anyway. You might as well plan on spending the night.”
Jessica sucked in a breath. If I have to stay here one more hour than absolutely necessary, I will surely die.
The escape afforded by the fake PMS was welcomed, however. Niggling in the back of her mind, she wondered if the only two beings fooled by this farce were Kara and Lindsey. Since she wasn’t technically mated to the men who’d weaseled out the back door, she didn’t know if everyone in the room could smell her lie or not. It wasn’t the sort of thing her mother would have explained to her before she was ten.
As soon as her friends had graciously seen she had everything she could possibly need, they left her alone to rest on the guest bed, a bottle of water, two yellow pills, and a heating pad for the fake cramps.
Jessica immediately swallowed the ibuprofen, figuring it couldn’t hurt and might even provide some sort of relief for the actual pain in her belly. What the hell was that about anyway? She was nowhere near that time of the month. Worse, it had something to do with the men angling to claim her and their proximity, but it was nothing like her reaction yesterday. Today, she was experiencing actual pain on occasion, as though her insides were revolting against her clear denial of that which mother nature had deemed necessary—that she mate soon, fast, and often with two men, against her wishes.
She nestled on top of the bed, not bothering to pull back the soft comforter. Curled in a ball, she closed her eyes and tried to calm her nerves.
Think.
For the first time in her life, Jessica was rather pissed at her naïveté where it pertained to wolves. She’d been so young when her parents died she’d missed a lot of details. Details she’d cared nothing about until yesterday. Details that would come in handy as she dealt with this situation.
Breathing in short, shallow breaths, she considered what she did know.
First, she was completely unable to control or deny Reese and Charles were her mates. Even after they’d left last night, she’d been unable to sleep. Every time she drifted restlessly into dreamland, she’d suffered from assaulting images of the three of them engaged in sexual acts, the likes of which she’d never even conjured in her mind to get herself off with her vibrator.