The Alpha House

Chapter Eleven

Jamie's POV

Addison was wide awake when I got home, to my surprise. It was well past midnight, and I'd stayed as late as I could bear at the club to avoid having to interact with her.

She sat up in bed as soon as I opened the bedroom door, shutting it softly behind me. Beau had already filled all of us in on Addison's interaction with Officer Reaumont, and I was trying not to let her see how much that had scared me. Angered me.

"Did you hear?" Her voice was hard, sharp.

I flicked on the lamp by the bed so that I could see her better, even though my vision was still pretty good in the dark. Addison was dressed in her usual pajamas, a thin black tank top pulled tight across her soft, pillowy breasts, and bare legs poking out from underneath a pair of skimpy sleep shorts. I knew she didn't dress like this for my benefit, but rather to try and counteract the effects of my body heat.

Still, my dick hardened at the sight of her, and I turned my back on her as I headed to the bathroom to shower.

"Yeah. Beau told me."

I undid my tie, stripping off the suit jacket and tossing it into the dry clean pile.

"And?"

"And what, Addison?" My words were short, clipped, reflecting the same coldness with which she had addressed me. I could tell it took her by surprise, and I wondered yet again what I would have to do to get her to see that I wasn't a good person to be around. That I was putting her at risk constantly. Even today, when I'd consciously tried to stay away.

And she'd almost been taken away by that asshole cop, you idiot.

"You don't have anything to say to me? Beau practically ripped my arm off and almost got us both shot defending your honor-"

"Defending my honor?" I was unbuttoning my blue shirt when I finally turned to face her, anger flaring up.

She crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at me.

"Well he wasn't defending me. He was protecting his friend's property."

"You're not my property," I said quietly.

She laughed, an ugly laugh that conveyed how upset she'd been by the interaction with Beau and Officer Reaumont.

"He could've fooled me. He told Zach he'd regret touching something that belonged to you, and that something was me. How am I supposed to feel about that?"

I froze, my shirt unbuttoned and hanging open.

"You call him Zach now?"

I tried to school my voice into perfect casualty, but of course, it was the wrong thing to say.

"Oh my god, are you seriously fucking jealous of him? I'm trying to have a conversation with you, Jamie!"

"About what?" I yelled back, my temper getting the best of me. I'd been frustrated and annoyed all day, forcing myself not to call or text her, and it was all exploding out of me in the worst way now.

I needed to put some distance between myself and Addison before it was too late and her whole life was consumed by my terrible life. I didn't want to ruin her, and I'd come so close to doing it already. Dean's comment at the coffee shop about her loving me had been my final wake up call. My life may have been ruined by this werewolf shit, but hers didn't have to be.

"About us! About what we're doing here. About why you got all weird at coffee with Dean. About what he said. About what I said. About...everything. Why won't you talk to me?" Her brown cheeks were reddened from yelling, and some of her curls were starting to slip out of her pineapple hairdo. She looked so beautiful that for a second I almost chickened out.