Chapter 8 Feeling your breath
He leaned so close he could’ve nibbled on her ear. How he resisted, he’d never know. “What do you say? Go inside or not?”
“Brennan and Mark Cagle. Is it really you? I haven’t seen you in like forever.”
He saw the annoyance on Jenny’s face, then shut his eyes, hating the sound of the girl’s voice.
What was her name again?
Seeing Brennan react the same way he did confirmed it. She was someone they’d met at the club. But was it someone they’d taken into one of the sex rooms? They hadn’t visited The Underground since the day before they’d left town years earlier.
He pivoted around slowly, dreading what he’d find. His stomach dropped to the floor as the blonde swayed her way toward them.
“I thought I remembered your voices.” The blonde skimmed a hand along Brennan’s arm. “Hi, handsome. Why didn’t you two give me a call and tell me you were coming back into town? Dang, you sure have grown up since the night we partied together.”
“Hey. How are you doing?”
Judging by his greeting, Brennan didn’t have a clue who she was, either. “Uh, we just got back into town. How have you been?”
Whoever she was, she was smart enough to realize they didn’t remember her. She raked her jealous gaze over Jenny, then back to him. “You two don’t remember me, do you?”
He could’ve lied. Maybe he should’ve lied. But he couldn’t. “Sorry. No. It was a long time
ago.”
Irritation as well as hurt flashed across her face. “Maybe so. Still, I thought I’d made a bigger impression than that.” She pressed her palms against her chest. “It’s Carol. Carol Dakins.”
“Oh, yeah. Good to see you again, Carol.”
“That’s it, Mark? ‘Good to see you again’? After the hell of a good time we had together? I’m the one who got our underage butts into the club through the back door.” She flashed him a seductive smile. “And into one of the private rooms.”
“Oh, yeah. Sure.” But he still couldn’t remember her. She jutted out her chin. “And who’s this?”
Brennan answered first. Which was a good thing since he wouldn’t have come up with as good an answer.
His brother swept his arm around Jenny’s waist. “This is our girlfriend.”
“Your girlfriend? And here you told me you’d never have a girlfriend.” Carol’s brow knitted. “Wait. So she’s both of y’all’s girlfriend?” Again went the raking gaze. “Wow, Jenny. I’m impressed. You must be a freak in bed to wrangle the both of them.”
“I need to run.” Jenny pulled out of Brennan’s hold. “It was nice meeting you, Carol.”
Mark’s gut tightened at Jenny’s hurt expression as she took off, going around the dividing wall in a hurry. Brennan was right behind her. “Got to go, Carol.”
He heard her complaints, but didn’t pay any attention. Instead, he caught up with Brennan and Jenny near the exit door. “Jenny, what’s wrong?”
She stepped out of the way as a couple entered the building. “You’re kidding, right? You want me to have sex with you after that? After you took Carol into one of the rooms?”
“Shit. She’s ancient history. We’d just met you.”
Her jaw dropped. “So you were with her after the night of the bonfire? After you met me?” He’d stepped in major shit. “Yeah, but we didn’t realize you were our mate.”
“Bullshit. I remember how I felt and I saw how you reacted. You felt it back then, too.” “Yeah, but we didn’t realize what it was until later. At least, not like we do now.”
“He’s right, baby. We were horny young guys. We’d just met you and knew you were a”— Brennan checked around for anyone listening—“werebear. We didn’t think we’d ever be able to get together. Not even as friends, much less anything else. No matter how we felt back then.”
“Yeah. And after seeing your father, we figured there was no way in hell of getting close to you.”
“Damn. Talk about making me feel special. So you two didn’t even think of me at all after we
shared a connection? Or did you really feel it? Are you lying about feeling it now?”
Her life would change depending on how Mark answered. Jenny couldn’t blame them for sleeping with other women, even humans like Carol. But to find out that they hadn’t even thought of her during all the years she’d spent dreaming and fantasizing about them would be more than painful. It’d be devastating.
And revealing.
Maybe they didn’t share the connection after all. Maybe she was still fantasizing, imagining a nonexistent bond between them. And yet, hadn’t they called her their mate?
“We thought about you so much we had to leave town. We couldn’t stay, couldn’t stand being so close and not being able to do anything about it.”
She studied Brennan, searching him. If she was wrong, she’d never trust anyone again. But looking into his eyes, seeing the truth shining there left her with no doubt he was telling her the truth. “I’m the reason you left town?”
“Yeah. After that night, we tried every way we could think of to get you out of our minds. Even doing stupid shit like fucking, er, sleeping with someone like Carol. But nothing worked.”
“Brennan’s telling you the truth. If we didn’t leave, we were bound to do something stupid. Like run away with you. Hell, we would’ve had both werewolves and werebears chomping to bring us down.”
She couldn’t believe it. All these years she’d wondered why they’d gone and if they’d return.
And it had been because of her.
“We couldn’t risk it. Not until you got older.” Mark hadn’t turned her loose since he’d caught up with her. “There hasn’t been a day we haven’t thought about you.”
“But, Mark, I’m twenty-two. Why didn’t you come back when I was eighteen? Or even twenty- one?”
“The uncle we were living with was dying and we wanted to care for him. And run his ranch for
him.”
Brennan ducked his head, but not before she’d seen unshed tears suddenly welling in his eyes.
They’d done the honorable thing staying with their uncle. Even if it had meant delaying the moment when they could be together.
“But you’ve had women since then? Since Carol?”