Higher

Chapter 2

He always kept his distance, silently making sure I was alright. When he turned 18 and became Alpha he still found time to at least awkwardly look out for me.
He has been Alpha for two years and though I didn't understand why he didn't tell me we were mates when he knew, I wasn't mad at him for it. If anything I was grateful. I was sixteen and still trying to figure a lot of my life out and adding so much responsibility would have been horrible. But now that I was eighteen I had things a little more together and a lot less complicated. Well, at least I thought I did.

"So, where am I sleeping?" I asked once we arrived at Theo's house. I had been there many times over the years for various occasions but I still felt nervous when I stepped through the door. I wouldn't have been so blunt but I was extremely tried and just really wanted to go to sleep.

Theo didn't say anything in reply, as usual, but gestured for me to follow him up the stairs and to a door at the end of the hall.

The house wasn't very big and was pretty cold. There were only two bedrooms and I assumed that the one at the end of the hall was a spare and the other was his. However, he didn't walk towards the other room, instead he walked back downstairs.

"Are you going to sleep too?" I asked, awkwardly at the stop of the staircase, and watched him turn around to meet my gaze.

"Yea."

"Are you sleeping on the couch?"

He nodded.

Now normally I had at least some indication of what his actions meant but at this point I was lost. I was almost a hundred percent sure that there was two bedrooms in this house.
I knew I wasn't going to ask why he didn't want to sleep in the other room, instead I thought about how uncomfortable the couch would be and the probability of me waking  up in the middle of the night just so I could lay beside him.

Deciding to be courageous,  I carefully made my way down the steps and lightly grabbed his hand. I pulled him back upstairs and when I heard no resistance, I climbed into bed with him by my side.

Once I was settled, I rolled over so I could face him. Noticing his tense body and the way he didn't relax, I spoke.

"I could make a pillow wall if it makes you more comfortable."

And that, was one of the only times I ever heard him laugh, thus far.

****************************************************************************

Staring intently at the cards in my hand I made sure my face was like stone. It was an okay hand but definitely not something I would go all in for.

I narrowed my eyes at Theo and his stupid face. The man had the best poker face I had ever seen. Which wasn't surprising since he was the most expressionless person I knew.

Moving my gaze to the person beside him I smirked when I knew exactly what Mason, the Beta, was thinking. His eighteen year old son, Jason, was a little harder to read but after careful observation I came to the conclusion he had nothing good and would fold.

Mason probably had an okay hand, much like mine, but Theo I had no idea.

Deciding to take a risk, I upped the betting and threw in half my chips. When I said chips I actually meant potato chips. Turns out we were all cheap and didn't want to bet real money.

Theo smirked at me, obviously amused, Mason however looked panicked. Jason did end up folding.

Once the entire cards were shown I took a deep breath and laid my cards down. A Flush looked up at me and I smiled as I say Mason's face fall.