003 - Will you marry me?

The headache that I woke up to was maddening, and I groaned, shutting my eyes tighter as the pain settled in fully, making me feel like I was being hit over the head.

Hungover?

Check ✓✓.

I gradually opened my eyes and bit down a groan as my eyes slowly adjusted to the brightness of the room..

When I turned and gasped again when I saw Jax sitting on a chair beside my bed and staring at me with a blank expression.

“What are you doing here?” I asked to pull up my blankets and groaned at the headache.

Jax just responded by tilting his head, that blank expression still on his face.

There was something oddly different about him today. I can't quite pin my hand on it, but he looked different.

He felt different.

It wasn't just the look but his whole aura now feels more intense and brooding.

“Good morning to you too, sunshine,” he said with a deep voice that made me shiver and I gave myself a mental pinch, “do you even remember anything that happened last night?”

Do I even remember — what was there to …

But I froze, as memories started seeping into my mind slowly as if they just decided to stir awake at that moment.

“Oh my…”

I groaned.

I remember coming home after Roy had broken up with and rejected me.

I remember getting drunk and then -

“OH - MY - GOD!!” I screeched and a smile tugged on Jax's lips.

He was smiling? How on earth could he be smiling?

“Please tell me we didn't…”

“Fine. I won't tell you.”

I picked a pillow and flung at him, “how could you have allowed this? You are gay! You are supposed to be gay?”

“Allowed you to? Baby you are the one who couldn't shut up about wanting to jump my bones for weeks now. About having feelings for me.”

I groaned and shut my eyes wishing the bed could magically open up and swallow me there and then.

“So what? You decided to throw in a charity fuck for me? Jeesh thanks! This is so embarrassing.”

I heard him getting up from the chair minutes before I felt the side of the bed dip and his hand cupped my cheek.

“Look at me Selene.”

I slowly opened my eyes, swallowing the intense look on his face, “there's nothing like charity in what happened between us last night. I wanted it, I loved it. Hell I've been wanting for months now - wanting you.”

I tilted my head genuinely confused, “I don't understand. You are —”

“I'm supposed to, yeah you got that part right. But Selene, there's so much about me that you do not know. I'm sorry and I promise to disclose it to you one by one.”

What was he going on about? Uneasy knots formed in the pit of my stomach as I looked at him, how serious he looked.

“I do not understand what you mean. You are confusing and scaring me at the same time.”

My words came out as a murmur but I wonder if he heard the quiver in them.

What's he gonna tell me? That he's some wanted criminal hiding out here under a new identity?

I definitely am not in the mood to handle any sort of confusion right now.

“You will understand soon enough. But first, I'm going to start by telling you that no - I am not gay. B: My real name isn't Jax and I'm not from this pack. I come from a distant pack entirely and I was sent here to work as a spy.”

The way the words just casually rolled off his tongue honestly shocked me more than the words itself, and for a second - just for a tiny second I thought he was joking.

Perhaps pulling my legs or trying to prank me. Whichever one.

But as Jovial as Jax was, he was never one for pranks, nor lying about serious matters.

Plus we had sex last night. Not that it has to do with anything but it helps the “I'm not gay” narration.

“I know it might sound shocking to you.”

might sound shocking?’

Was he serious?

I got off the bed, letting the sheets drop from my body and I didn't miss the way Jax's she's slightly darkened as he took in my body and I blushed fiercely.

Yup! Definitely not gay. And that just made me more furious.

He has just been lying to me, all these years? Deceiving me?

So even the man I thought was my best friend - was just an illusion and a lie?

What more am I going to discover? First my mate now Jax.

“Start talking” I demanded with a snap of my fingers and he winced.

“It's a little complicated, Selene.”

“What is so complicated about it? That you lied to me? That you deceived me for years? What's the difference between Roy and you?”

“Hey!” I winced at his loud growl, “do not dare compare me to that low life, that bastard! I won't stand for it.”

He looked really enraged and I wondered - what exactly does he have against Roy?

“No, but you will stand for deceit. Get out of my room. I never want to see your face again, you liar. You are all bloody liars and deceivers!!”

My voice rose with each word but Jax didn't move an inch from where he was standing.

“Get out!”

“I'm not leaving this room until you sit your ass down and fucking hear me out, Selene. Yell all you want, I'm here waiting. But you will park yourself and I'll explain.”

My nostrils flared and I clenched my fists as I stated at him, calculating all the ways I could possibly hurt him.

But I saw how serious he was, and with a deep breath to calm my nerves I sat back down on the bed, drawing the sheets around me once again.

“You better make it fast, and give me a good reason why I shouldn't just smash your head into the wall for lying to me.”

Jax flashed me a cute smile, “My parents were murdered twelve years ago. Brutally murdered by your Alpha.”

My blood ran cold but he continued, “at least we were not a hundred percent sure it's him. That was why I had to come here in disguise. To investigate and find out what happened.”

Well, that's a good definition of a long story cut short.

Simple and plainly straight to the point.

Even though I was angry, my heart still went out for Jax, broke for him because I could not begin to imagine what that must have felt like.

“I'm so sorry.”

“Thank you. When I came here, the plan was simple - just get every information I needed and go back home with no complications. But that was until I met you and started falling in love with you, Selene.”

My eyes widened at his words.

In love with me?

In love with me how?

“I'm sorry you are just getting to know this way. But, I love you more than you can imagine.”

I looked away, avoiding his gaze, my head suddenly a mess from many thoughts juggling together at the same time.

“I feel bad that you lied to me all these while Jax, whatever your reason might be. And you can't claim to love me - I don't even know you, I don't know what your name is. The Jax who was my best friend was a lie all along.”

Jax sighed, a pained look crossing his face but he nodded.

“Besides, I was hurt just a few hours ago. You loving me, as sweet as it is, means nothing.”

“I'm sorry about Roy.”

“It's fine.”

“No, listen to me. Last night you said if you magically find yourself in a higher status than him, that you would want to make him pay. What if I give you an opportunity to?”

I laughed despite myself, “and how will you do that, pray tell?”

Jax leaned closer, his eyes hooded, “Selene, will you marry me?”