Page 44 of Two For the Show
“Then why don’t we make a spectacle of Alex? Show the world that she’s happy. She’s not sick. That she wants to be here.”
My stomach drops a little. I don’t want to be a spectacle. I want to be a doctor, doing what I love, and falling in love while I’m at it. I don’t want to run. I don’t want to hide.
“Stop.” Matteo’s words are firm. “This is stressing her out. One thing at a time.” I sigh, appreciating his interruption, but knowing I need to push through my discomfort here.
This is important.
Perhaps the most important conversation we may ever have.
“I think I know why they won’t let me go,” I say softly. “I had this dream, but I’m starting to think it was actually a memory.”
We don’t get very far into our conversation once the guys realize that Rich essentially sold me to the others for a job.
Jude stomps out, claiming he needs some air. The twins try to talk over one another, exchanging ideas and insults about the three Alphas, and Matteo has to intervene until they calm down.
Quinton’s gummy kicks in, and though it helps alleviate his pain, he stops contributing anything helpful to the conversation. So I fall asleep on his chest, and when the morning light hits my face, I jolt awake with a start.
“Stop,” Quinton murmurs, stroking a hand down my back. “You’re safe.”
“I fell asleep during the pack meeting!”
“The meeting was over. No one could focus, and it was late. Today’s a travel day. Maybe we can all be in the same trailer and travel together?” The idea of being in a confined space, unable to escape, with all of them, has my stomach doing backflips.
It isn’t that I don’t want to spend time with them. It’s that all of them at once are kind of intense. It’s hard to focus when their attention is on me.
Matteo’s head pops up from the other side of Quinton, and it must be the bond between them because he knows exactly what I need.
“She needs to travel with Jude. He’s the Prime, and she’s getting better, but she’s not fully there yet. Let’s get her in fighting shape before we try to start the war, yeah?”
Quinton clicks his tongue thoughtfully before looking down at me. The softness in his eyes makes me want to please him, to do whatever it takes to make him happy. “Okay,” he says gently. “But when we get there, we’re going to finish the meeting, yeah?”
“Yeah,” I squeak. “I am starting to feel better. I don’t think it’ll be long before I can start to help you, too.”
“You’re already helping me. Seriously, I’m feeling pretty good. I wouldn’t say no to another pair of your panties, though.”
I’m sittingat the small table off to the side of my living area, doing a puzzle, when a soft knock sounds on my door.
Quinton and Matteo left only about thirty minutes ago, long enough for me to take a shower and throw on some leggings and a t-shirt, so I wonder if maybe they left something behind.
“Come in!” I shout, not wanting to get up.
The door opens slowly, and Jude slides into my trailer through the smallest gap in my door possible. I’ve never seen the chubby Alpha being so delicate, and I struggle to smother my smile.
“You busy?” he asks, before looking down at the table. I’ve barely gotten started on the puzzle, having found it under my bed this morning when I dropped my phone.
“Nope, come sit.”
He pulls out a chair across from me and runs a hand through his hair. “We’re about to head to the next stop. Matteo said you wanted me to travel with you?”
I don’t want to tell him it was Matteo’s idea. I can see the vulnerability in Jude’s eyes, like he doesn’t think I couldpossibly want this, and I don’t want to inadvertently confirm that fear by saying something stupid.
Because I do want to spend more time with him. I need to know him better. He’s closed off, and we didn’t exactly get off on the right foot.
Instead of running my mouth, I nod and put down the piece I was holding. “I did. I’m feeling a lot better, and since we’ve got a trek today, I thought it would be good to spend it together. Maybe…” My face heats. This isn’t how it was supposed to go, is it? They were all going to woo me, taking me on dates. This doesn’t follow that plan.
But I have a feeling Jude needs almost as much of a push as Dexter. “Maybe we can have our date?” I whisper. “It’s okay if you have somewhere else you need to be.”
“No,” he barks. I freeze. “I mean, I don’t have anywhere else to be. I’d like to be here.”
