Chapter 13
*****
*Jayden’s POV*
“No! No! No! You can’t be serious? Are you freaking kidding me?!” Sean groaned as the car came to a halt. “What a piece of shit,” he hissed, dropping his head onto the steering wheel in despair.
“What’s going on?” Hayley sat up from where she had been sort of lying down, her head on Corey’s lap.
I was seated in the back with Izabella between Kaden and me while Sean was driving, and Trent had the passenger seat. I wasn’t sure whether I was glad to be further away from Corey or not, what was clear though, was that he was far more comfortable with Hayley next to him.
“Car broke down. Again,” Trent said.
Great. How much longer was the trip going to be?
“Why? I thought we had it fixed?” Kaden asked.
“We did. Temporarily. It was supposed to hold out until we got home where it would be Benjamin’s problem again,” Sean replied with an exasperated sigh. “I hate this car…”
“So… what now?” Izabella asked.
“We rob someone of their minibus,” Sean said, everyone stared back at him. “Just kidding,” he smiled before adding a lower, “… not really…”
I chuckled.
“Hopefully, we can find someone who will tow us to the nearest city,” Corey said, getting out of the car.
“Hopefully, or I could just compel them to?” Trent suggested.
“I keep forgetting you guys can do that. Fine, if they say no, go for it,” Corey said.
He walked right past my window without even a glance my way.
Part of me hoped Corey would just give up on his quest for new mates, especially after last night, but the more rational part of me told me not to be stupid. He wanted nothing to do with me. When was I going to get that through my head?
He had completely blacked out the previous night and seemed utterly confused when any of his friends hinted at what had been said.
I sighed leaning my head back against the seat.
—–
“Three days.”
“What?” Izabella asked, shocked.
We had found a guy who towed us to this small town – without having to be compelled, he was just a nice person – and now we were stuck, I assumed.
“Three days before they can work on it; they have other cars to work on. So, it’ll probably be fixed in about a week?” Corey said.
“No, no, no!” Kaden sounded horrified.
“You mean we’re staying here for five days or more? Are we ever going to get to the Peaks? Or home?” Hayley asked.
“I doubt it. What a waste of time.” Corey frowned. Sean gritted his teeth.
“It’s your fault we’re stuck here,” Sean’s words made Corey look at him and they went silent, linking to each other as their expressions went cold and serious before they both sighed.
I was curious about what had been said because they both just turned away from each other, their faces hard.
“Yes, we’ll get home eventually,” Sean said. “But hey, think of this as an unexpected road trip stop, courtesy of everyone’s favourite Beta.”
Corey glared at him, and he chuckled.
I shifted closer to Kaden as Corey’s blue eyes met mine for a second, they were icy and angry. I felt a slight shiver. It was like a silent accusation that made it seem like he thought our predicament was my fault. Or maybe that was just how I read it, because our eyes had barely met for a second before his had shifted over to look towards the small city we were right outside of.
“So… Where are we gonna sleep?” Kaden asked.
“There are townhouses not too far from here. They have a place we can use for a week,” Trent said.
“There’s a forest not that far off as well so we can shift,” Sean said.
“Forest? Let’s go!” Kaden said, sounding desperate.
I understood his desperation. We hadn’t shifted in what felt like forever. His wolf must just have been dying to get out.
“Hold on. There might be traps and other dangers there, we’ll have to go together and check it out before we shift so I suggest we go to the house, have a look around and eat before we –” Sean was saying.
“No! You don’t understand, I need to shift NOW,” Kaden said. His fist was practically shaking, like he was fighting to control his wolf.
“Yeah, me too, she’s not feeling very patient. Especially now that you mentioned the forest,” Izabella glared at the ground.
One good thing about being the weakest in my pack: my wolf was very calm. Unlike other Amarelos’ wolves, mine wasn’t overly aggressive and didn’t force us to shift when he felt like it. In fact, it was the opposite problem sometimes. My wolf did not like shifting around anyone except Joe or our friends. I understood him, of course.
“I need to too, my wolf isn’t going to stay down for much longer either,” Trent admitted.
“What about you?” Sean looked at me.
“I’m cool.” I shrugged only to have my wolf growl in disagreement. “Or… not?” I added, furrowing my brows in confusion at his sudden change in behaviour.
I guess he was also upset about being kept down for so long. Sean chuckled.
“Fine, but –” Sean said.
“You guys go, Hay and I have got the bags and the house,” Corey said. “We’ll join you later.”
“Then I’ll stay too. I can shift this evening,” Izabella said.
“Are you su –?” Sean was saying.
“Can we just fucking go?!” Kaden cut him off with a harsh growl. He immediately covered his mouth with his hands once the words had escaped, his eyes wide. “I’m so sorry. That wasn’t entirely me, I swear,” the words were muffled by his hands.
We laughed. Kaden’s wolf was one of the most impatient I had ever met.
“Alright, see you later. Be careful,” Sean kissed Izabella’s cheek before we left.
“You be careful,” Corey said. “And watch the Omega.”
He pointed at me without averting his eyes from Sean. I shrunk back looking down. Was it really that big a deal that I wasn’t strong?
“Don’t worry, we’ll watch him,” Sean smirked.
“What?” Corey looked at him confused.
“Nothing.”
“Sean, I swear if you don’t tell me what the hell you’re trying to say –”
Sean had run off before Corey could finish. I began to follow, hoping to avoid Corey’s glare turning to me and heard Kendrick and Trent run after me.
—–
*Corey’s POV*
I didn’t want to get drunk again.
I was sick of it. I was sick of barely remembering everything, of all the girls and clubs, of all the making out and the touching. And yet, there I was, at the bar with a gorgeous Spanish girl and her equally beautiful blonde, British friend hanging on either side of me, the music blaring loudly around us.
“Let’s dance!” It was the blonde. What was her name? I had asked her for it earlier… Oh well, it wasn’t important anyway.
“I uh –” I began, not really in the mood.
“I love this song! Come on, Corey!” the Spanish one, whose name had also slipped my mind, called out.
“Fine.” I downed the rest of my beer and let them drag me to dance.
I didn’t want to be there, but I had to. I had to try to get myself back to not giving a shit about what happened to him.
‘Watch the Omega’? Why the fuck did I care what happened to the pathetic Omega I was forced to be mated to?! I really couldn’t care less if he something happened to him… Or I wasn’t supposed to. Those words came from nowhere. What was worse, was that I kept wondering how he was after they left, I felt so bad that he left feeling hurt.
Somewhere in the crowd, the British girl had disappeared and now I was grinding against her friend. I grabbed the girl and pulled her tightly against me before smashing my lips to hers, trying to clear him from my mind. I had not gone a minute without thinking about him the entire day. I was just about ready to smash my head against a wall so that I could forget about him.
“Slow down, babe.” She giggled when I kissed her neck, my hands trailing under her shirt. “Let’s get some more drinks?”
I nodded. My mind was too dazed to actually make out what was going on around me, and yet somehow, he was still clearly visible. It didn’t really matter what she suggested as long as it would give me more of a haze.
I didn’t want to feel his pain, or my guilt or our pull. I didn’t want to feel anything for him, not hatred and definitely not affection or concern. I didn’t want to worry about what my pack would think of me if they found out who my mate was. I just wanted to go completely numb and be carefree again.
If only everything could just go back to how it was before I met him.
I would rather have never met my mate than it be him.
As we got to the bar, we downed more drinks and I could feel everything fading, getting lighter. I was happy despite the dread of sickness I knew I would face the next day.
Even if it would only last while I was completely drunk, even if it was only for a few hours, I didn’t want to be scared.
*****
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