Page 11

Beth

I t was several hours later when my phone started to blow up with calls from Jensen.

“Hello?” His voice was concerned. “Bethany, I have twelve missed calls from you. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. It’s Joey,” I said.

“What about Joey? Did she get hurt at practice?” His voice was immediately filled with panic.

“She’s fine and she’s with me. I’ve been trying to get a hold of all three of you for hours now.

During our lesson, I noticed that she wasn’t feeling well and she had a temperature.

I tried to call you guys. When you didn’t answer, I called Mrs. Green, who said she wouldn’t take Joey if she had a fever. ”

“Fuck, oh god. My phone’s been in the locker room. Are you guys still at the rink?”

“No, she has a fever of 101. I couldn’t leave her there. So I brought her home with me. She’s had some chicken soup and water with electrolytes, and as we speak, she is fast asleep in my nest.”

“Does she need the doctor?”

“It’s only a mild fever, and I’ve been watching her. It’s probably just something she caught from one of her classmates and it’ll be over before you know it.”

Jensen sighed. “Oh god. Thank you so much—I’ll be there as soon as possible. Have you heard from the others?”

A beeping noise made me look at my phone screen. “Actually, that’s Cullen calling me right now.”

“Go. Tell him what’s going on. He’s the closest to you and can get there the fastest.”

I nodded, even though he couldn’t see the gesture. Quickly saying goodbye, I accepted Cullen’s call.

“Where the hell is Joey?” he snarled through the phone.

“My place.”

“I’ll be there in five minutes,” he growled, his voice laced with fury.

“Cullen, I?—”

The line died as he hung up. Bewildered, I gaped at my phone screen for a moment.

I didn’t have long to wait until there was an angry pounding on my door. Wincing, I glanced toward my nest, praying that he wasn’t disturbing Joey.

Taking a deep breath, I opened the door, only to stagger back as Cullen entered my apartment. His face was contorted in rage, and I immediately felt like shrinking back in fear.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, removing my child from the rink without our permission?” He growled. “What sort of stalkery bullshit is this? Where is my daughter?”

Stalkery bullshit?

Had he really just said that?

“I—”

“Where?!”

“Asleep! So stop shouting like a fucking Neanderthal!” I hissed.

Cullen’s eyes widened as he started to shake with rage.

Uh-oh.

That wasn’t good.

“You’re getting pissy with me?” he asked incredulously. “I’ve seen some pretty desperate behavior from women, but kidnapping my child takes the?—”

The insinuation ignited something in me, a rage I didn’t even know I was capable of. Cullen’s biting words cut off as my hand connected with his face.

“You fucking listen to me right now, Cullen Noble,” I growled as he stared at me, his face torn between shock and anger.

“That sweet child of yours is sick . I noticed it at the rink. None of you three assholes answered the phone so, yes, I brought her home, fed her chicken soup, and let her sleep in a comfortable nest instead of on a hard bench at a freezing ice rink! Now, I fucking despise what you are insinuating, so I suggest you take a breath and think things through before you open your dumbass mouth again.” The words fell from my mouth in a tidal wave, propelled by my own outrage.

Cullen deflated slightly. “Sick? Like, really sick?”

I was still shaking, though I had no idea if it was with anger or shock at the fact I had just slapped an alpha who towered over me.

“It’s a low-grade fever. If it were worse, I would have taken her to the doctor.”

Cullen swallowed. “Why didn’t you take her to our house?” he asked, but his voice was smaller.

I cocked my head to the side, giving him an incredulous look. “Because none of you three bothered to answer your phones. For all I knew, none of you were home. I wasn’t going to drag Joey back and forth when she was sick!”

“That…makes sense,” he admitted. “No one answered?”

“Nope.” I rested my hands on my hips, leveling him with a glare.

“Fuck,” he hissed, running a hand through his hair.

“I’m not apologizing.” I shrugged. I had no idea where this bravery was coming from, but I was going to roll with it.

“Nor should you,” Cullen said. “Fuck. I’m sorry. I just got to the rink and learned that you’d taken her and freaked out.”

“You didn’t see all the missed calls from me?”

He grimaced. “No, I just picked up a call from Mrs. Green at the restaurant where she told me…oh, fuck.”

“Come on. Joey is asleep, and you look like you could use a drink,” I said, jerking my head in the direction of the kitchen.

Cullen nodded. “Yeah…”

“I’m afraid I only have the cheap stuff,” I said as I pulled out an old bottle of Jack. “I got it as a gift and never opened it.” I cracked it open and handed him a glass.

He downed it immediately.

I poured him another.

He downed that one too.

“I realize not knowing where your child is has got to be terror-inducing, but have I given you any reason to think I would do Joey harm? Fuck, the worst I would do is introduce her to trashy reality TV shows and get her hyped up on chocolate!”

Cullen deflated, leaning against the kitchen counter. “I know…Fuck, I’m sorry, Bethany.”

“As you should be.” Hesitating, I asked, “I didn’t slap you too hard, did I?” The right side of his face was looking a little red.

He let out a quiet chuckle. “Actually, you pack a punch for one so small.” His head turned to the front door as a knock echoed through the small apartment. “Expecting someone?”

I shook my head. “No, but I’ll go see who it is. I don’t want the knocks disturbing Joey. It’s probably just a neighbor worried about the shouting.”

“Or my pack mate.”

Sure enough, Jensen was standing at my door.

“Beth!” he beamed. “Thank you so much for this. Is Cullen here?”

“Hey, he is.” I nodded. “Come in.” I took a step back.

My tiny dorm room looked even smaller with two giant alphas inside it.

“Cullen, are you okay?” Jensen asked.

“I’m good. I just got put in my place.” He laughed, taking another swig of his drink.

“How many drinks have you had?” Jensen asked.

“Three,” I said, wincing. “Sorry, it’s my fault for yelling at him.”

Jensen’s eyes widened in confusion as Cullen barked out a laugh.

“I was an ass. Bethany corrected me.”

“Please explain,” Jensen said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Cullen came barging in here and accused me of being a psycho stalker, stealing his daughter to get your attention,” I said dryly.

“The fuck?” Jensen choked on his words.

“I fucked up, and I’m currently apologizing profusely to Bethany. She smacked me for being an ass, though.” Cullen grinned.

“You hit him?” Jensen asked, turning to me.

“Yeah…” I winced.

I expected anger, confusion, maybe even a little surprise.

When Jensen boomed with laughter, pulling me into a hug and kissing the top of my head, I thought I was having a stroke. “You. Are. Amazing.”

Pulling back, I looked up at him, baffled. “You’re praising me for hitting your pack mate?”

Jensen nodded. “Yep. Cullen tends to rush into things without thinking when emotions are involved. He needs to be knocked down a peg or two every now and again.”

“Even I’ll agree with that,” Cullen mumbled.

“You canceled your evening to care for our child when she was sick and because of you, she’s been trying new foods! You’re magical, Bethany.”

My face heated at his praise.

“Wait, did you leave work to look after Joey?” Cullen asked.

Jensen still had an arm around me. I knew I should pull away, but his light grip was so comforting. Up close, his scent was mesmerizing. I wanted to bury my nose in his chest and inhale deeply.

That wouldn’t help Cullen’s accusations that I was a stalker if I was huffing his pack mates at every opportunity.

“Bethany has a full day of teaching on Wednesdays.” He directed his words at Cullen before turning to me. “How many lessons did you cancel, sweet girl?”

“Just a few, told them I had the flu. Trust me, I didn’t mind. Well, I didn’t until Grumpy Bear came barreling in.”

Jensen nodded. “We’ll pay you for the lessons you missed.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do?—”

“Bethany.” Cullen’s voice was low and grumbly. “Please.”

The pleading tone in his voice took the wind out of my sails, and I deflated in Jensen’s arms. “Okay,” I agreed.

“Good!” Jensen beamed, kissing the top of my head again. “Now, I should go check on the patient before I drive us all home, because there’s no way in hell Grumpy Bear over there is driving.” He laughed.

“That nickname had better not stick,” Cullen grumbled.

“Oh, I think it will.” Jensen smiled, practically skipping out of the room.

Twenty minutes later, Jensen had loaded a sleepy Joey into the car, as well as a grumpy bear, who was getting rapidly inebriated.

“Dude, it’s just Jack. I didn’t think you were such a lightweight!” Jensen laughed as we loaded them into his Jeep.

Cullen’s car was going to have to stay at my place until they could collect it.

Joey was wrapped up in my favorite baby blue blanket. She had been clinging on to it in her sleep, and I didn’t want to make her part with it, so a blanket and two of my pillows were in the Jeep with her.

“Bethany…” Jensen turned to me with a grin. “Are you able to do me a favor?”

“Sure.”

“Can you drive Cullen’s car back to our house? We’ll feed you, then drop you back off.”

“You want me to drive that?” I asked, pointing at the stupidly expensive, shiny sports car. “I’m not a wonderful driver…”

Jensen shrugged, a mischievous grin on his face. “Well, if it gets a dent or two, I guess that’s karma for my pack mate behaving like such an ass, isn’t it?”

I looked between the fancy car and Jensen, whose smile never slipped. Could I really do it? I would feel terrible if I damaged the car, but at the same time, I would probably get a little thrill from sticking it to Cullen after he’d behaved like an ass.

“Come on, sweet girl…”

“Give me the keys,” I said, holding out my hands.

I followed Jensen the entire way back to their house. Yes, I drove like a geriatric, but when you’re controlling a vehicle that probably cost as much as a house, it’s rather stressful. Jensen took pity on me and also drove slowly so I could follow him.

Thankfully, most of the roads were wide and open once we got away from the university. I managed to pull up outside the guys’ house with the car entirely intact.

Gideon was waiting on the front porch with his arms crossed.

“Hello, Bethany,” he greeted warmly before glowering at Cullen, who was stumbling out of the Jeep. By Gideon’s expression, Jensen must have let him know everything that had happened.

As Jensen and Cullen took the sleepy Joey inside, Gideon turned to me, his posture relaxed as he took a step forward.

“Thank you so much for helping,” he said. “Jensen filled me in. I see you managed to get the car here in one piece!”

I frowned. “Can we hide it in the garage and tell Cullen I totaled it? Give him a few minutes of panic for being an ass?”

Gideon smirked. “I would pay to see the look on his face. The fucker deserves it. I’m going to give you a lift back. Jensen also instructed me to give you this.” He held up an envelope, and I already could tell it held cash. “And take you through a drive-through on the way home.”

I inhaled the fruity parchment scent of Gideon. It reminded me of an old library, and that always put me at ease. At the same time, it was exciting, and I wanted more of it.

“Jensen was very chatty on the drive home, wasn’t he?” I grumbled. “I don’t need that.”

Gideon shrugged, placing the envelope in my hand. “You’re taking it.”

Growly alphas shouldn’t be so damn sexy.