The rest of the night was spent calmly, peacefully, pretty uneventful. I had kept shamelessly flirting with Tim, feeling all the while Jonathan’s gaze on me.
I had thankfully managed to get my act together before stepping out of the bathroom. I had showed up at the table as collected as ever, as if nothing had happened. I could only assume it had unnerved him since he didn’t stay at the restaurant long enough to have desert. He had left some ten minutes before us, the skank he had brought trying to keep up with his angry strides but not quite managing to do so. I had inwardly grinned at that while keeping my face impassible, not showing any emotion whatsoever that might indicate the feeling of satisfaction I was experiencing.
Truth be told, the game seemed silly at times; nevertheless, it was serving its purpose just fine and that was what mattered most to me.
The drive back home was enjoyable; Tim and I joked around and teased each other a little bit. It then soon came to goodbyes as we reached our destination. Being the gentleman he was, he insisted on walking me to the front door and not just dropping me off.
When there were merely two feet separating me from the said door, I turned around, a smile adorning my face, and was surprised with the gentle brush of his lips on mine. I barely had the time to register what was going on that he was already pulling away. It wasn’t a kiss per se, miles away from Jonathan’s ravaging one, nothing but a soft peck really.
“Goodnight, Jas,” he whispered before worrying his lower lip, his eyes slightly expecting.
Not giving in to the temptation that was his plump kissable lips for a reason I could not fathom, I smiled his way and told him goodnight as well before raising my hand to ring the bell.
“See you soon,” it came out on a sigh, as if it pained him to know the date was already coming to its end, yet with a little hopeful edge to it, meaning he had every intention of asking me out again.
“Yeah,” was the softly spoken reply he got. Somehow, it didn’t sound as enthusiastic as I would have wanted it to be. Just as I was about to add something, the door opened to reveal my mom.
I stepped in the house then faced him and waved. He waved back, his features breaking into a bright smile, a smile that didn’t falter even as mom closed the door. He remained in his place, smiling to the unknown for few unnecessary seconds before snapping out of it and heading to his car.
Why am I no longer as subjugated with him as I was before? The thought troubled me to say the least.
The tires screeched at the same time my mom did, efficiently bringing me out of my reveries, “What the hell did you do with that boy?”
“That boy has a name,” I softly reminded her as I started walking; heading towards the staircase that would lead me to my room, where I would finally be able to escape the spinning world I was in and have some much needed rest.
“Yes, I know,” she conceded on a sigh, remembering he was a family friend’s son, “Andrew called your brother to tell him that Jonathan had returned to the pack house completely furious.” Another sigh accompanied that statement of her, “he has destroyed the room he had been given before darting out of the mansion saying he was going for a run.” Somehow her tone conciliated both sympathy for him and blame for me.
I kept silent, relishing the thought of having that much effect on his nerves with so little things.
“Just what did you do?” she repeated her question from earlier, though with calmer tone and different wording.
“Nothing much really,” was the flatly spoken shrug-accompanied answer she got as I started ascending the stairs again, too happy with the news to feel like bickering.
“Jasmine!” she called out in warning. I could have sworn she must have been scowling at me at that, and when I turned around to face her, I was proven right.
“Let’s just say he doesn’t like being ignored very much,” I gave her a sheepish smile of sorts that was definitely fake while shrugging again.
She glared at me in silence, her mouth set in a thin line, choosing not to waste her breath since she had probably guessed that words would be lost on me.
“Just tell me something mother,” I began in a wondering tone, my choosing the term ‘mother’ instead of ‘mom’ making her look at me warily. It meant I was about to fire an accusation at her, a solid one. “How did he know where to find me?”
Her eyes narrowed, her jaw clenched ever so slightly at being reminded that but she didn’t respond no matter how much I knew she would have loved to. Her face showing no remorse whatsoever, she kept giving me a hard stare, sole indicator of her not liking the fact I had mentioned that.
What made her think I wouldn’t bring that up? Jeremy might be friends with Andrew the alpha’s little brother but that didn’t justify what he did. He had no right to tell him where I would be when he knew the information was going to reach the mate I was refusing to acknowledge. At the end of the day, I was still his little sister, and even if he wasn’t exactly approving my actions, he shouldn’t have taken sides never mind his.
Speaking of sides, where the hell was my dad? How could he have missed the little scolding-session? I was more than sure he would have enjoyed and added some of his remarks as well.
“Where’s dad?” I voiced out the question, my eyes narrowed in suspicion, not daring to hope for anything.
“He doesn’t want to pressure you into accepting Jonathan even if the idea of you rejecting your mate doesn’t appeal to him.” mom admitted in an emotionless voice, and that meant she was angry with his decision but didn’t want to show it.
Not possible! I inwardly squealed then grinned at the news. Now that’s what you can call a surprise. I had never thought he’d be willing to let me do as I pleased, to let me decide for myself whether I should refuse or accept being Jonathan’s mate; with all that had to entail. That was really unexpected.
“Cool,” I commented joyfully before resuming my ascension of the stairs. Thankfully, mom chose to go to the living-room, probably to give dad a full report and a piece of her mind for probably the third time or so. She was definitely not fond of the idea of his not getting involved. I was sure she had made that crystal clear to him already, but another venting-session wouldn’t hurt her. Dad was one of those unshakable persons who once they’ve taken a decision, there was no changing it. I often described that as him being unnervingly stubborn but for once I viewed it as a quality.