Page 115 of False Catch

"Yeah. Just Quinton wanting to study."

Cameron's jaw tightens slightly, but he doesn't comment.

One week to decide our future. One week before everything either comes together or falls completely apart.

CHAPTER THIRTY

Beckett

Monday afternoon practice shouldn't have gone this well.

After yesterday's pack bond discussion, I expected chaos. Missed catches, fucked timing, maybe Gray and Jackson going at each other's throats. Instead, we just pulled our best 2K time of the season. In April. When we're all supposedly falling apart.

I lean against the boathouse wall, watching the others break down the boat. Tyler's recording split times on his tablet, that little crease between his eyebrows that means he's trying to solve a problem. Gray's silent as he racks oars, but it's a different silence than his usual controlling quiet. This is a man wrestling with losing everything he's been raised to value.

And he might actually do it. For her.

Reese is coiling cables by the cox box, moving carefully. She's trying to hide it, but I saw her wince getting out of the boat. Cameron did a number on her Saturday night. The possessive part of me that I didn't know existed until she showed up wants to be jealous. But mostly I'm just... aware. Of her. Of the fading marks on her neck that her tank top doesn't quite hide. Of the way she favors her right hip.

Of the way my body responds every time she's within fifty feet.

"Good practice," Eli says, appearing beside me.

"Yeah." I watch him watching Jackson and Reese. She's showing him something on her phone, and Jackson's actually smiling. "You're going to say yes."

I can see it in how Eli's shoulders have loosened since yesterday, like he's stopped fighting something inevitable.

"Probably." Eli's voice is quiet. "The logic is sound."

"Fuck logic." I push off the wall. "You're doing it because you want to."

"Since when do you care what I want?"

"Since we're about to legally bind ourselves together for life." I study him. "Tyler's the real holdout, you know. Not Gray."

Eli frowns. "Gray's father—"

"Will disown him either way once he finds out about Reese. Might as well make it official." I shrug. "But Tyler? He's got that whole traditional family thing. Korean parents expecting a nice Beta girl from their church. That's a hell of a leap."

"He's practical though," Eli says carefully. "He sees the logic."

I snort. "Logic and family pressure don't always align."

We watch Tyler show Zane something on his tablet, both of them bent over the screen. They're discussing split times, Zane pointing out something on the tablet that has Tyler nodding.

"What about you?" Eli asks. "Beckett Monroe, committed to one woman for life?"

Three months ago, that question would have terrified me. I've carefully cultivated my reputation as the team's charming playboy. Rarely the same girl twice. Never anything serious. Never anything that could actually matter.

But that was before Reese.

"I don't know," I admit.

Eli looks surprised at my honesty.

"I mean, look at her." I nod toward where she's organizing equipment. "She commanded eight Alphas through our best practice in weeks, right after we dropped a pack bond bomb on her. She's got Jackson's bite, Cameron's marks, probably Bo's and Gray’s too, and she's still standing."

"That's not an answer."