Page 39 of Chasing The Alpha's Son
“You can’t be here.”
“It’s a free country.”
Jasper pokes his head farther outside his room and checks both ends of the hallway.
“You’re being ridiculous.”
“I’m being ridiculous?!” My head is spinning and I need to use the doorframe to stop myself from toppling over. “You’re the one hanging out with a douchebag and being a jerkface.”
“Are you drunk? How did you? Never mind. Look, it’s not okay for you to be here. I told you it isn’t safe.”
“And I told you I don’t—”
“Shh.” He holds a finger to his lips and I shut my mouth. Why am I obeying him?
Voices echo down the corridor; maybe the party has moved from the den.
“That’s Clayton.” Jasper wipes his face with a hand and looks back into his room like he’s making a really difficult decision. “Get in here.”
He pulls me inside and shuts the door. It’s dark in the short entryway, the only light a dim glow from a lamp beside his unmade bed in the main room. We wait in the darkness as the voices grow closer, arrive at the door, and then fade down the hall. Even when they’re gone, we linger in the shadows, barely a foot apart, that familiar electric buzz holding us in place.
“What are you doing here, Max?”
Jasper is waiting for an answer, but with the tension broken I turn and wander farther inside.
“This your room?” I take it all in: the lounge area, the golden bar trolley in the corner, the massive flat-screen mounted in an open cabinet on the wall, the fireplace that my dad could drive his car through. “This is bigger than most people’s houses.”
Jasper traipses after me. On his bed the comforter is thrown back, a book lies open face down on the pillow, the sheets… They smell like him.
“Max,” Jasper says, but I can’t say anything back; I’m intoxicated, first by spiked coffee and now by the warmth emanating from his mattress.
“Max.” Jasper’s voice is suddenly a lot closer, and I spin to find myself face-to-face with him.
We linger in close proximity. Jasper’s throat bulges like he’s swallowing; I lick my lips and rise onto my toes slightly. I drift forward and so does Jasper, then he catches me by the shoulders.
“Max, you need to go now.” His eyes travel from mine to the carpet and stay there. “If anyone catches you here they’ll think—”
“What? That you like me? That you’d deign to speak to someone like me? The poor commoner, the pity invite? Is that so horrendous?”
“Keep your voice down.”
“No one is going to catch us.” I reach out and take hold of his robe, pulling him toward me.
Jasper’s eyes find mine again and my jaw trembles. His breathing is shaky. His resistance is decreasing, the mate bond is taking over, fighting for supremacy and winning. He bites his lip, then pushes me away. I stumble a little, tripping over my own feet, but catch myself on the edge of the bed.
Jasper reaches out to help me up. “I’m sorry, are you okay?”
I slap his arm away, fully aware of how much of a brat I’m being, and stand. “You say you’re ignoring me for my protection, but I think you’re just ashamed.”
“Max—”
“Do you know how it felt hearing you say to everyone you don’t have a mate?”
He huffs and rubs his eyes. “I didn’t have a choice.”
“Whatever.”
“You’re acting like a child.”
