“Damn straight you do.”
I rested my cheek on his shoulder. “Now that we’ve got this settled, can we kick Liam’s ass?”
Jase laughed. “Doubt it. Have you sparred with him yet?”
I shook my head. “He’s too busy making me run around in circles and do push-ups to actually let me do something fun.”
“Dude, I have, and I promise ‘fun’ is not a word I would use.”
I tried not to be annoyed at Jase and Liam’s obviously close relationship, but failed miserably.
“You’ve never sparred?” Talley asked.
“Nope.”
“No physical altercations of any sort?”
“Since you stopped me earlier today, no.”
Jase was working on something in his head. I could tell by his scrunched-up face and the way his finger hovered in the air, periodically following an imaginary trail.
“No punching?” he asked.
“No.”
“No kicking?”
“No.”
“How about arm wrestling?”
“No. And before you ask, we’ve avoided Slug Bug, Slap Bets, and any and all Dance-Offs.”
Jase rubbed his chin. “And in wolf form?”
I shrugged. “We rolled around a bit.” My cheeks heated slightly as I said it. For some reason, talking about it felt akin to divulging intimate details I would rather not share with my brother. “So, what’s the deal here? You seemed surprised that one of us hasn’t tried to kill the other yet.”
Actually, once I thought about it, it was kind of miraculous.
“It’s just not normal for two Shifters to not try to determine a hierarchy,” Talley said. “Usually, when two Dominant Shifters like you and Liam are around each other, it takes less than an hour for a brawl to break out.”
“Maybe it’s because I’m a girl,” I pontificated. “There really isn’t much use in getting into a pissing contest since I have to sit down to pee anyway.”
Jase made a choking noise. “Wow, Scout, that was unbelievably crass.”
“And a lie,” Liam said as he walked up the porch steps. “If she would have sat down to pee at half the places we’ve been to lately, she would have gotten a disease or worse by now.”
“And that,” Jase said, “was unbelievably crass and gross.”
Liam collapsed into an old rocking chair, which considered giving way under his weight. “Sorry, man. I didn’t mean to offend your mate.”
I was about to correct him over the whole “mate” thing when something caught my attention. I don’t know how I missed it up until that moment.
Jase and Talley were holding hands.
“Wait. What?” I couldn’t seem to pull my eyes off their clasped hands. “Okay, someone needs to start talking now, and I choose…” I looked from one to the other. Jase was smiling at Talley who was looking at her bellybutton and flushing bright red. “Jase. Spill it.”
“The ceremony hasn’t been completed yet, but we plan to do it in the spring.”
“You’re getting married. In the spring. To Talley.” The world officially no longer made sense.
“Not married,” Talley said. “We’re just completing the mating ceremony then. We’re going to wait until we finish school to get married.”
Very sensible and Talley-like. Only one problem… “You guys don’t want to be mates and get married.”
Jase finally looked away from Talley and at me. “Says who?”
“You. There was yelling involved. Yelling and pouting and lots of anger. All of it directed at me."
“Did I ever actually say I didn’t want Talley to be my mate?”
“You know, quite a bit has happened between then and now--”
“No. I never said I didn’t want her.”
“But there was yelling.”
Jase brought Talley’s hand, which was still entwined with his, up to his mouth and gently kissed her knuckles. The look on Talley’s face said she was imagining little frolicking birds and butterflies dancing around their heads.
My brain was beginning to hurt from trying to wrap itself around this new development.
“I was angry at you for forcing Talley into being with me when she deserves so much better.” His smile was all Jase. “Now she’s made that decision for herself, I’m more comfortable with the situation.”
“So you like Talley? Like, like like Talley?”
“I love Talley.”
I looked at my best friend, who was still seeing those animated critters. “And you?”
“Head over heels,” she replied.
Liam watched the entire exchange with amusement. “How long have you known this?” I asked him.
“Me? May.”
“May?” I narrowed my eyes at the traitorous couple. “You confided in Liam and not me? What the Hades is up with that!”
Jase’s hands flew up in a defensive pose. “Calm down, Anger Monkey. I don’t know what he’s talking about. Tal and I didn’t figure it out until September.”
I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and reminded myself that everything wasn’t about me. What I really needed to focus on here was Talley. I love my best friend, but she’s one of those people who only see the sunshine and rainbows. The problem was, Jase can be a lot like sunshine and rainbows. When he’s shining, there is truly nothing better. When all of his smiles and attention are just for you, the world is a brighter, happier place. But like sunshine and rainbows, he has a tendency to disappear without warning and stay gone for a very long time. Being his sister shielded me from a lot of his darker days, but I’ve seen him drop girlfriends and friends on a whim and never so much as think about looking back. It’s not that he’s cruel; he just doesn’t realize what he’s doing. When it comes to relationships, he’s got a bit of an AD/HD problem.
Sure, he seemed genuinely into Talley at the moment, but what about next week or next month? What would happen when the cute girl in his English 101 asks him to a party? Or when things started getting complicated with Talley? How would Talley, who never put anything less than her whole heart into anything, survive the aftermath?
The cold, simple truth of it was she wouldn’t.
“Have you guys really thought about this?”