Page 37 of Chasing Blue

I narrow my eyes at his use of the name I told him earlier not to call me and realise I can focus better that way.

“You’reJack?” Zoe asks. “TheJMC Jack?” She swings her head between the two of us in wide-eyed confusion.

“The JMC Jack?” He frowns and directs his question at me. I nudge Zoe for having such a big mouth, but she saves the day by saying, “and you’re Julia Kemp. You were a year above me at school. Port Philip Private, right?”

Jules appears to have recovered from my singing enough to nod. “Yeah, Port Philip.”

“Where you off to? Is there something wrong with your eyes?” Jack asks me, and I realise I’m still squinting.

Fuck my life.

“Spangles, for a teapot,” Zoe and I reply in unison, and I open my eyes really wide and stare at him.

“Then we’re gonna find Scar a well-groomed but reasonably hairy real alpha man, so she doesn’t have to move to Colorado,” Zoe continues.

“And where do you look for one of those?” Jack asks while I stand there, my eyes widening further, probably looking as horrified at Zoe’s announcement as Jules did at my singing.

“Awww, ya know, we’ll start at Spangles, then move on to The Baysider. If we get no joy there, we’ll be going home and booking Scar onto the next available flight.” She points her finger towards the window and the general direction of the bar we’ll likely end up in later . . . if I don’t throttle her first.

“Doubt you’ll find a real man in The Baysider. They’re all a bit young in there,” Jules chimes in.

“Works for me,” Zoe shrugs. “I like them young, the young ones don’t want commitment, just a root and run, and I’m good with that. Ms Long Time-Life Partner here though, she’ll be moving to Colorado by Monday if she doesn’t find her alpha tonight.”

I fold my arms across my chest and stare at the floor. “Zo,” I mumble warn.

“Why Colorado?” Jack asks.

“Baby, we need to go, our table’s ready,” Jules says.

“Go ahead; I’ll be there in a minute. I have some business stuff I need to discuss with the girls,” Jack responds.

I shake my head at him. That was so not a cool thing to say to her.

Zoe’s hand reaches for mine, I take it, and she gives it a squeeze. Not wanting to get caught up in the middle of whatever’s going on between the two Js, I allow her to pull me towards the door.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I hear Jules question.

“Enjoy your dinner,” I say as I pass Jack, but he grabs the top of my arm, not roughly, but it slows me enough that I have to yank Zoe to a stop.

“We need to talk,” he says into my ear.

“Unless it’s about work, we really don’t,” I reply without looking at him. “Now let go of my arm and go eat with your girlfriend. She sounded pretty pissed off just then.”

I yank my arm away and gesture with my head for Zoe to keep moving, leaving Jack Motherfucking Cole exactly where he should be, behind me.

CHAPTER10

Jack.

Telling Jules togo ahead without me was an absolute dick move, but I panicked at the thought of Scarlett leaving to go in search of an alpha or any other kind of man. What the fuck’s an alpha anyway?

“You better start talking, Jack. What the fuck’s going on with you?” Jules snaps as soon as I reach the table, confirming what a shit show I’ve created.

I sit down, and before I can respond, the waitress appears and takes our drink order and recites the specials.

As soon as she leaves, I can feel Julia’s eyes scorching a path in my direction.

This isn’t how I planned things going tonight. I’m not actually surehowI was going to play it. I thought we could have dinner as I eased into telling Jules we were over and let her down gently. Apparently, that’s not the way these things are done. I’d called my older brother, Shannon, earlier for some advice. That conversation didn’t go as I expected either; after ripping me a new arsehole, he’d put me straight on a few things.