“It’s a Christmas fucking miracle,” Greaser announced as he raised his hands above his head and theatrically spread them apart, pulling me from my confused state. “Now, let’s all get blazed.”
“Huh? It’s not even close to Christmas.” Jackson turned his head to the side as he furrowed his brow in confusion. “Greaser, you’re a strange guy. You know that?” Jackson’s mouth twitched, and his eyes widened. Both were things he did when he was trying not to smile.
“Gato de mierda,” my leopard finally decided to say something. “It was a fluke, trust me. Even Jackson’s panther can hear the rest of us just fine, and he only listens about half the time.”
That sneaky shit was up to something, and I didn’t care how long it took me, I would figure it out.
“Fuck if I care.” I gave some lame-ass excuse to keep from thinking about Jackson anymore right now.
290
Trista
I had not heard anything else about my sister in the two months to follow. However, a couple of the prospects and Snoop were sent down to where the rival MC was located. Hopefully, when they returned, they would bring good news. The way I kept looking at it was no news was good news. At least, I prayed that was the case.
The one thing that had changed was how I felt about August. I wanted to dislike him, I wanted my liger to be wrong, but I couldn’t deny how fucking hot the man was. The other thing I couldn’t forgo was I had feelings for him. He let me stay here without asking me to give anything back to him. Most men would have collected on my debt in one form or another by now. He hadn’t, and it scared me as much as it made me happy. I was the stupid shit who caught feelings for a man who didn’t share them.
291
Loco
“If you don’t tell her that you have feelings for her, I’m going to tell her we want to fuck her brains out. Your choice. I’m tired of pussyfooting around on your two delicate feet. Take her in the woods and let me fuck her brains out. It’s what we both want. Besides, once she sees your tiny—”
“That’s enough out of you, shit. I get it. You’re right. I agree. Are you happy?”
“So, we’re going in the woods to fuck her?” My leopard was excited at the idea.
“No, I’m going to admit I have feelings for her. Satisfied?”
“Fuck no. It’s a start, though,” he protested but was proud I was actually doing something.
Frankly, we had both been pushed just about as far as we could be without taking some sort of step with Trista. Everything about her made our mouth water, right down to her fucking scent. It made me sound like a pussy, but dammit, I’d never felt like this around any other female, and I’d been around a lot of them. Unlike Tyson or Ivan, I didn’t typically divulge in the girls at the club and definitely hadn’t since meeting Trista.
She was still asleep, so I decided to make us some coffee as I did most mornings. While I was a morning person, she was a ‘whenever I wake up, stay the fuck out of my face’ type. I didn’t, because that was my favorite time to fuck with her. It was when she had less of a filter. The longer she was awake, the more carefully she spoke. A quality I both loved and hated about her. In my opinion, it was important to consider what you say to others before you actually speak the words. Yet, I didn’t think someone should hold in their true feelings and beliefs just to spare someone else from getting hurt. Fuck all of that.
“Isn’t that basically what you have been doing with Trista for months? Are you the kettle or the pot today?”
“Shut the fuck up.”
“Just saying,” the leopard argued his case a little more, but really, it was only to get the last word.
292
Trista
The air in the house was different, but I couldn’t put my finger on what had changed. It wasn’t me; I didn’t doubt that for one minute. I woke up the same person I was when I went to bed.
Stretching in the almost new bed August bought and put in the spare bedroom for me, I smiled. He really was an incredible man. I didn’t know how I would ever repay him, but somehow, someway, I would.
The smell of coffee wafted down the hallway and hit my freshly washed face as soon as I stepped out of the bathroom. We’d gotten into a routine of sorts. August ninety-nine percent of the time was the first to wake up, so he made two black cups of coffee for us. Once I was up and moving around, we usually decided on food for breakfast.
“What’s new?” he asked, and I shrugged my shoulders.
Could he feel it too? We were both shifters and more sensitive to things because of it. We shared a connection, but it wasn’t enough of one to read each other’s minds, which would be really helpful at times. He wasn’t a man of many words, and often I was left guessing about things. I also liked the mysterious allurement that gave him, so I guessed it wasn’t too bad not knowing what he was thinking after all.
“You tell me,” I nonchalantly answered, nodding my head in appreciation for the coffee.
“Okay. Look, I’m going to lay it all out on the line.”
“Okay,” I repeated and swallowed hard. This was it; he was trying to let me down easy. Of course, he was. He hadn’t had the chance before because I was broken, and he felt sorry for me. Fuck. Who wouldn’t? I was embarrassed about the
