“Only in a platonic way,” said Aspen.
Havana twisted her mouth. “Maybe.”
Aspen did a double-take. “What do you mean, maybe?”
Havana went to reply but then flicked her hand. “Nothing. Forget I said anything.”
Forget it? Not likely. “What did you mean?”
The devil shifter folded her arms. “You’re not ready to hear what we think.”
“We? Who’s ‘we?’ You two?”
“Us.” Havana paused before adding, “And Tate.”
Bailey looked at their Alpha. “You talked about it with Tate?”
“Briefly,” the devil replied. “He agreed it was best not to say anything.”
“So did Chase,” said Bailey, referring to one of Camden’s exes.
Havana’s brow furrowed. “You talked about it with Chase?”
“Briefly. He brought it up.”
Aspen perched her hands on her hips. “What are you guys talking about?”
“You won’t like it,” Havana warned her. “But if you really want to know, I’ll tell you. Maybe it’s even best if I do. After all, you can’t be sure whether or not Grant is your mate unless you face issues that can block a true-mate bond.” She took a deep breath. “We think you care about Camden as more than a friend, and we think that goes both ways.”
Aspen’s heart jumped, and then her pulse began to gallop. “You’re wrong.” The denial was automatic. Fast. Toneless.
“And this is why we said nothing. We knew you’d clam up and tell us we’re mistaken. Maybe we are. But the signs are there. You’re one of my besties; I adore you. But I don’t get moody if we go out with a group instead of spending time as a twosome. I don’t have something negative to say about every guy you date. I don’t touch you every five seconds or get mad when people stare at your butt. And I wouldn’t be sulking if you weren’t my roommate anymore. Don’t even try to tell me he’s handling the new situation well. I know he’s not.”
“He hates it,” Bailey agreed. “And I tell ya, Aspen, he’s going to lose his mind if he doesn’t find out soon who’s fucking with you. Of course, if this was happening to anyone other than you, he wouldn’t give much of a shit.”
Frowning, Aspen felt her hands slide from her hips. “Yes, he would.”
The mamba snorted. “When I told him that some bitch smashed a glass over my head at a club, he said—and I quote—‘Dumb of her.’ That was it. There was no fury, no outrage, not even a little irritation. The news simply did not affect him on an emotional level. At all. Little does. Unless it’s somehow related to you.”
Her heart still beating fast in her chest, Aspen said, “He has a sort of … dislocated sense of empathy, that’s all. He doesn’t often try to access it. When he does, it’s more of a conscious choice to do so than an emotional reflex to a situation. Look, he and I are best friends, we have been for a very long time—”
“He’s protective of you, I know,” said Havana. “That’s natural. The possessiveness, though? That’s not so natural. You know it’s not. His territorialism isn’t some caveman thing. It’s different. More intense. Almost dark and obsessive. Definitely not friend-like.”
God, it would be so easy for Aspen to let them convince her they were right; that he could ever be more than her friend. But she knew better. “He’s possessive of our friendship, not so much of me. When we were kids, he made a point of running off anyone who tried to enter our circle—you know that. He’s never quite grown out of it.”
Bailey shook her head. “Nu-uh, it’s more than that. I’ve felt the chemistry between you and him. It’s like a mild hum in the air. You’ve felt it, too. But you probably tell yourself it’s a figment of your imagination. Am I right?”
Yes, she was. And damn the heifer for making Aspen acknowledge that.
“Look at how he acts toward anyone you date,” Bailey went on. “He’s snippy and dismissive and puts them through a gauntlet they’ll have no chance of passing. More, he turns all tactile and possessive of you right in front of them. He always says the same things—they’re not good enough for you, you can do way better than them, they’ll never manage to hold you. Again, right in front of them.”
Ruthlessly stomping on the seeds of hope that tried to blossom in her chest, Aspen said, “He doesn’t even seem all that interested in women.”
“Or there’s only one woman he’s interested in, and others simply don’t compare,” said Bailey. “I bumped into Chase the other day. He asked how you were doing—on a side note, I wish all Camden’s exes were as sweet as Chase. Anyway, he also asked if you and Camden had gotten together yet. He was surprised when I told him no.
“He said he knew the first time he met Camden that the man is completely closed off. But then Chase saw how he is with you and thought that maybe if he gave the tiger time and earned his trust, Camden would let him in. But soon enough, Chase came to realize that Camden doesn’t want to let anyone other than you close. And so it made Chase wonder if the reason Camden doesn’t make emotional room for others in his world is that he already has the person he wants and is just struggling to make the jump from friends to lovers.”