Menagerie

Chapter 22 - Jasper

Lyle wasn't one for subtlety.

When we walked into the lobby of the hotel my sister and everyone else was staying in, I took his hand and tried to quickly pull him to the nearest stairwell. If I knew Penny's schedule – and I did – she would be at breakfast right now, which was in a room just off the lobby. If we didn't move quickly, she would find us.

Lyle ignored my tugging and shot me a smirk over his shoulder as he moved toward the elevators on the back wall with unhurried steps.

"They're going to see us!" I hissed, though I stopped trying to pull him off-course. My tugging had started to attract attention, which was counter-productive to my efforts to go unnoticed.

Lyle, infuriatingly, stopped walking and turned to face me. His eyes bore into mine relentlessly and I couldn't look away. "So? Jasper, we aren't going to start our relationship off by acting ashamed of it. I won't hide you and you aren't going to get away with trying to hide me. I understand you'd like to take a shower and change before we see everyone, but if they see us on the way to your room, they see us. Okay?"

I didn't bother responding since Lyle wasn't really asking if this was okay with me. He had decided how things would be and that, as far as he was concerned, was that. It wasn't a habit I wanted to encourage, but I could see his point this time, so I didn't argue. Lyle started walking again and I joined him at his side. He smiled down at me with twinkling eyes and held his hand out between us. I rolled my eyes, but threaded my fingers through his anyway.

We made it to the elevators without issue. As the doors opened and Lyle stepped through, I glanced over my shoulder only to meet Serena's comically wide eyes through the doorway to the dining room. Panic shot through me, but she quickly smoothed her expression and looked away. I worried for a minute that she would tell everyone she'd seen me and I knew she had to suspect I was mated – what other explanation was there for my sudden disappearance and my moving out of the hotel room? – but I reminded myself that Serena knew when to mind her business. She wouldn't blab.

"You're distracted," Lyle observed.

"Just thinking," I answered. It wasn't really a lie. The elevator dinged and the doors opened. At least now I knew not to worry about Serena being in the hotel room. That could have been awkward.

I was relieved too soon. When I opened the hotel room and caught the strong scent of female werewolf, then saw her things spread across one of the beds, I cringed and shot a worried glance at Lyle. Lyle looked around, nostrils flaring, but his expression remained calm and he merely walked over to the bed that had my bag on it and sat down.

"My friend Serena and I were rooming together," I explained.

Lyle's lips quirked upward. "I see."

He seemed completely unbothered and uncurious and I resolved not to give him any more details that he didn't ask for. In fact, it occurred to me that he wasn't one for asking questions at all. He liked to state a fact, then see if I would elaborate. I, nervous wreck that I was, played right into his hands.

I was overthinking things again.

I grabbed a change of clothes from the bag along with my toiletry kit and said, "I'll just be a few minutes." I didn't wait for a response before I shut myself in the bathroom.

While I showered, I thought. I always had an idea in my head for who I was. I never thought I was a push-over, but Lyle seemed to be able to get his way with me with very little effort on his part. Why was that? And was it wrong for me to give into him so much? Was it setting a bad precedent?

I didn't really have any answers, but I felt better just having posed the questions. I wasn't losing myself, wasn't totally ceding control, as long as I stayed aware of the situation.