Page 3 of Nighted

“Mollie, don’t blame Jasper. It was all me.”

She glared. “You were supposed to meet me at my house half an hour ago so we could go shopping in Easton!”

Shit. Shit. Shit. How had I forgotten? Probably the whole training in the woods with my werewolf boyfriend, and then coming home to find out someone broke into my house. An excuse, but a reasonable one. Also one I couldn’t tell Mollie without getting into details she didn’t need to know yet. I tried to play it cool. “Oh, duh! I was teasing you.” I laughed, slowly starting to slink away from the doorway to get changed. Jasper was already nowhere to be seen. Coward.

If looks could kill, then I would already be in my coffin, and halfway in the ground. “Ava Green, you’re supposed to be my best friend! You shouldn’t be forgetting this kind of stuff when I barely see you.”

Mollie was right. There was no getting out of this one, and she was on a roll. I interrupted her before she could really pick up steam. “I’m sorry, there’s no excuse. Give me five minutes to shower and get ready.” I ran out of the room before she could disagree.

“Five minutes!” Mollie’s angry voice echoed down my hallway. I had to make this up to her, and fast. I ran past Jasper and dove into the shower, setting a world record for the amount of time it took to scrub the dirt from our tracking session off of my body.

Mollie had been wanting to check out a new boutique in Easton for weeks, and I kept putting the shopping trip off. We were too busy. We weren’t in town. I knew there had been a specific reason for us to come back to Merrillan this week, but I had assumed the appointment was my meeting with Alpha Dean scheduled for tomorrow. I really needed to start keeping a calendar to juggle between pack life and my old life.

I darted back into my bedroom, fully intending on throwing on the closest possible clothes and getting the hell back out there before Mollie came and dragged me out herself. Jasper was sprawled out on the bed, eyes closed, making the bed look much smaller than its queen size.

“Nice of you to ditch me out there. What am I supposed to do? Also, what are you doing?” I poked Jasper in the ribs before pulling a pair of jeans off the floor. We used to be fairly tidy people. Constantly living in between two places changed us. Piles of clean and dirty clothes covered the floor. Gear bags filled with Jasper’s various weapons were spilling out at the foot of the bed. It was probably for the best if I got dressed quickly so Mollie didn’t have to come in here, because the collection of knives would be rather difficult to explain. I’m not sure we would even be able to figure out if anything was missing in this mess.

Jasper rolled on his side and looked at me. “I’m thinking. As for what you should do, you should go out with your best friend. I’ll check out the place to make sure it’s secure. Starting with the bedroom until after you two leave. Mollie is scary.”

I laughed, grabbing what looked to be a clean sweater from the top of the dresser. “Mollie is also 100 pounds soaking wet. Are you sure you can handle the apartment on your own? Shit.” The sweater I had thrown on had a dark red smear across the front of the material and I couldn’t tell if the stain was blood or pasta sauce. I tore off the sweater, digging for something else suitable. “We’re going to have to do something about this.”

“About what?” Jasper was sitting up, pulling his laptop closer. His screen reflected a news web page for Chicago unsolved cases. He was probably already on the hunt for any new supernaturals in the area.

I paused for a moment, to admire him. He was perfect, and sometimes I was still astounded he was in my house, let alone in my bed. His delicate tattoos covered much of his flawless skin, but they only added to his beauty. I would know. I had traced them enough times. He caught my eye, smiling like he knew what I was thinking. He didn’t, but he could probably sense my feelings well enough. Another one of those wolf things I still wasn’t used to. I shook myself back to my senses. “About this room! We’re living out of suitcases like we’re in a hotel. I never feel like we’re in either of our places long enough to actually feel like we’re living there. And now this break-in. Shit.” I hadn’t said that out loud before, but as I spoke I realized the truth of my words. I felt like we were always on the move. And now my temporary home didn’t even feel safe.

Jasper levelled me with a serious look. “Unfortunately, that’s the way of our lives right now. But there might be a solution for the time being.”

I snagged a long sleeved shirt out of a pile and threw it on after deeming its cleanliness satisfactory. “What’s your solution?”

“We could… get a place midway between the pack and Chicago. Something that’s ours.”

“Ours,” I repeated. Nerves were rushing through my body, but I was sure the feeling was still residual adrenaline from knowing someone had been in my house uninvited.

Jasper pushed his computer off his lap, coming to take my face in his hands. “Too many people know where you live, baby. It’s dangerous for you. Besides, we’re already living together. We might as well put some roots down together.”

The moment was broken by Mollie yelling down the hallway. “Thirty seconds, Ava Green, and then I’m pulling you out by your hair!”

He pressed a light kiss to my lips, leaving me wanting more, as always. “Go. I promise to make sure everything is secure here. I won’t bother telling you to stay safe, because you can handle yourself. But think about it, okay?”

I nodded. “Okay.”

“I love you, Ava.” A note in his voice made me pause, but when I turned to look at him, I only saw unadulterated love reflected in his eyes.

“I love you.” I gave him another quick kiss and dashed out the door to where Mollie stood, tapping her feet.

“Can we go now?” Her voice was impatient, before she stopped and looked at me intently. “Ava, are you okay? What’s wrong?” Her mood instantly swung from anger into one of concern. I really couldn’t have asked for a better friend, and I needed to do better to be the same kind of friend for her.

Giving my oldest friend a hug, I tried to push all of the negative images from today out of my mind. “I’m good, Mollie. The travelling back and forth is exhausting. Let’s go and see this new shop.”

Mollie grinned. “Okay. You can make your forgetfulness up to me by trying some stuff on too.”

I groaned. “Is it too late to accept your anger and stay home instead?”

She linked her arm into mine, leading me out the door. “We’re gonna have a blast.” Mollie chattered the whole way out to her car, and I thankfully welcomed the noise. I wanted to embrace her excitement, but all I could focus on was the clock in the car ticking down the minutes until I could get back home and find whatever had been in my house before they found me again.

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