Trashed & Treasured

5

I'm sure my eyes were as big as saucers by the time that question registered. Pulling out of the hug I turned my back to him and nervously fiddled with the collar of my robe.

Damn! I knew I should have faked like I was sleepy when I had the chance. Peeking over my shoulder, foolishly hoping he wouldn't be there, I saw him fold his arms over his chest and root himself to that very spot. Double damn!

"Scent? You know my senses aren't heightened, Jax. If there is a scent on me, I wouldn't know."

"But you'd know if you were with someone and whether or not they touched you. Judging by how strong it is, I'd say they did." The sound of him sniffing the air was followed by the sound of him moving closer, "And it's wolf. Who were you with?"

"I wasn't with anyone!"

"Didn't we just talk about this? No more secrets, remember that?"

"I—well—" A loud buzzing from within my brother's pocket interrupted my poor attempt at a lie and I couldn't help but smile. "Are you going to get that?" His eyes narrowed on me as if to say this isn't over before he pulled the sleek black device free from his pocket, glanced at the screen and grinned mischievously.

"Kenya!"

My smile instantly fell.

"Wait! Jax don't answer!" I tried to grab the phone from him, but by him being so much taller than me, he used his height to his advantage and kept me at arm's length as he quickly placed the phone to his ear.

"Hey, Kenya. Yeah, I found her. She caught that asswipe Cameron cheating on her and tried to get eaten by the sharks at Jagged Point—yeah, ok. See you in a bit."

I punched him as hard as I could the second he hung up, ignoring the hurt look in his eyes as he rubbed the spot absently.

"You said you wouldn't tell! You lied to me!"

"No. I said I wouldn't tell Braden, you didn't say anything about Kenya." The self-satisfied smirk on his face made my blood boil underneath my skin. I could tackle him for that and if it weren't for the fact that my parents were still asleep down the hall, I would have.

"Now, who was the wolf, Jade?"

"What wolf?" I snapped, shouting a little louder than I meant to.

"You can claim your nose is broken all you want, but mine isn't. So out with it, now. You might as well tell me because you have about five minutes before Kenya comes storming in here. There's still time you could be saved. However, the only way that's going to happen is if you tell me the truth."

Damn him for doing this. Why couldn't he just leave, let me shower, and forget last night even happened? Having Kenya know about what I tried to do is worse than having my father know that I almost had sex with a stranger. Being his baby, all I'd have to do is flash him the famous puppy eyes and lay my head upon his chest and I'd be in the clear. Kenya on the other hand is unrelenting and downright scary when mad.

I was bullied when I first found out I'd never be able to shift and when Kenya found out... let's just say those girls won't even look in my direction, now. Looking back at my brother and that damned smile, I sighed my frustration and dropped down on my bed.

"Fine, I don't know who he was. I was in the water just about to go under and he wanted to play knight-in-shining-armor and pulled me out. I got pissed, then embarrassed that he stopped me and I ran off. Happy now?" I glared at him trying to show just how annoyed I was but he still wore that stupid smirk. He was quiet for a moment. A little too quiet and it bothered me considering this was Jaxon and his mouth never shuts.

"Ok," he shrugged, and just like that turned to leave.

"Ok?" Jumping off the bed I rushed to his side gripping his hand in mine to keep him from leaving the room. "What about Kenya? You have to call her back and tell her not to come. Lie and say I ran away again or something. Please, Jaxon! You said you could save me! Save me!"

He looked at me with that same smirk, taunting me with light laughter.

"That wasn't really Kenya. It was my alarm. Gotcha!"

"What?"

"I faked it. Who knew all I had to do was threaten you with five-foot-three Kenya to get you to spill your guts?"

"You what?!"

Fury washed over me as a growl of my own ripped from my chest. Jaxon's eyes bulged from his head then he took off through the hall trying to close the door on me. My anger was no match for him since he was too busy laughing to focus on holding the door shut. I chased him through the house, waking my parents in the process. We ran through the kitchen then out the back door where he shifted and his pure ash gray wolf shot into the woods. There was no way I was going to catch him, so I gave up and drag myself back to my room, kicking myself for giving in so easily. The whole way, I swear I could still hear him laughing.