Learning To Love Him – 10Th-Anniversary Rewritten Edition Chapter 14

Chapter 14

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*Jayden’s POV*

It was just past three in the morning. We had found Corey a couple of hours prior by following my pull to some club quite far from the house. 

He had been asleep at a bar, and I instinctively felt jealous seeing the bartender watching him fondly when we showed up. I didn’t show that, of course.

She had even checked to make sure we were his friends before she let us take him. When we woke him, he was still too drunk to walk, and Trent carried him home.

Once back at the hotel, everyone had gone to sleep, but I was kept awake because of a heavy anxiety that I figured was somehow related to Corey. It seemed like he had not gone to sleep either since we arrived.

He had stumbled out of bed a few minutes ago and I – against my better judgement – followed him. To be honest, I kind of hoped he was still drunk… I hoped the kinder version of him had returned. It was ridiculous.

Now, I found myself sitting next to him on the bathroom floor. At first, I had just watched him heave over the toilet before he sat down and noticed me standing beside the door. It seemed that drunken, nicer Corey had returned because he smiled and asked me to sit with him. After hesitant consideration, I had occupied the empty floor beside him in a pathetic attempt to be close to my mate. Just for a few minutes…

We had been quietly sitting there for a while before he eventually spoke.

“Jayyy,” Corey slurred.

I had a feeling he was far from passing out, and yet he was too drunk to stand properly. How…?

“Yeah?” I mumbled.

“I… I… kissed someone…” he slurred.

I held my breath as a sharp sting passed through my chest. Despite the slur, his voice was soft. It was so much harsher when he was sober.

Why was he telling me this?

Why was I even there?

Did I just really like hurting myself?

Well… truth be told…

“Oh?” I questioned, uncertain of what else to say.

“I’m sorrryyy.”

He leaned his head on my shoulder, swinging his arms around my neck. I tried not to fall over under the weight, he was quite heavy, or it was my small frame and lack of physical strength.

“It’s uh… It’s okay?” I patted his back gently after steading myself with my other hand.

His warm breath brushed my neck as he sighed, arms tightening around me, and I stared at the bathtub just over his shoulder while my eyes blurred. I was elated that he was hugging me, and so upset that I felt that way. How much more pitiful could I be?

“I… I like you… Yoouu… Yoouu’re cute and sooo nice…” he mumbled, speaking slowly.

“Uh… Thanks?” What was I supposed to say to him?

Wait… He likes me? No. He was just crazy drunk at the moment. Joining him had been a stupid idea. What felt great at the moment was going to hurt terribly later on. I should have stayed in bed, should have stayed away from him.

“You don’t like me,” I mumbled.

“Right.”

The confirmation felt like a punch to my chest, but then he spoke again.

“I can’t… like you… Wanna know – wanna know whyyy I… I don’t like you?” he whispered.

I tensed at the question. Would he tell me?

“Sure,” I said, swallowing.

I tried to steady us as he lifted his head, leaning close to my ear. “It’s not… It’s nooot whaaat you thiiink…” he whispered.

“It isn’t?” I mumbled.

I thought it was because I was gay, and he wasn’t so he blamed me for our pairing. He also seemed to hate that I was an Omega. He wasn’t the first person to despise me for that. I hated going anywhere near the pack gyms without Joe nearby because the trainers and Deltas just seemed annoyed to have me there. My dad had hated it too.

“Nope.”

I actually smiled when he gave a light boop on my nose because of how ridiculous that was before he sighed. I watched his eyes as they studied mine for a few seconds before they began to trace down my face.

“I…” he drifted as his eyes fell on my neck and narrowed slightly. “Is-is that a scar? Why do you have a scar?”

I wanted to shout in frustration. He was just about to answer the question! Did drinking affect his attention span?! Well, obviously.

“No, no scar. You were saying why you don’t like me,” I said.

“I wa – Was I?” he mumbled before gulping. Ah, crap.

I shoved him around just in time for him to empty his guts into the toilet in front of us. I guessed it was a good idea for him to stay in the bathroom.

I rubbed his back lightly as he threw up before my fingertips touched his hair. After hesitating for a moment, I ran my hand into his hair. It was messier than usual; it was soft and curled around my fingers. I pushed it back so his forehead was clear, and I could see his face completely. He was a mess…

And yet, in the vulnerable state, he seemed so much more open and kind. He seemed perfect, even as sick as he looked. He glanced at me, a smile broke on his face, and I felt my heart skip.

When he was done, I made him rinse his mouth before I tried to help him up but instead, he laid down on the floor pulling me with him.

“Corey,” I chuckled. “This is not the room –” I tried to explain.

“Shh!” he cut me off as his hand slid onto my cheek, pulling my head down onto his outstretched arm so my ear rested against his warm skin. I tensed at how gentle he was being, how close his face was to mine as he closed his eyes. “I’m tired… Teddy bears shouldn’t talk when someone is trying to sleep,” he mumbled.

“Teddy… Teddy bears?” I asked, confused.

“Shh, bad Teddy!” he hissed.

I held my breath. He even sounded threatening when he was sleepy.

“It’s uncomfortable on the floor,” I whispered, trying to give him a reason to let me take him to bed.

I froze as his other arm snaked around my waist and pulled me against him.

“Sleep, Jay…” he mumbled.

My eyes widened. He knew who he was holding onto… Well, somewhere in his daze, he knew.

I wasn’t that uncomfortable now and inhaled deeply, taking in his scent and trying to ignore the smell of alcohol as I let my head relax on his warm arm. I bit my lip, studying his face. His eyes were closed, face just centimetres from mine.

I knew I should just have moved; I knew I should have left him there and just gone to bed. But… I had never been that close to him. I couldn’t convince myself to move when, for the moment, I was just glad to finally be near my mate. To have him want to be close to me.

Hopefully, he would wake up in a daze or I would wake up first before he reached his senses, but just for the next few hours, I was going to take advantage of Corey’s state and the version of him that did not have a problem with me.

It seemed worth the risk…

I leaned my head into him and shut my eyes, smiling as his arms tightened around me, squeezing me against his chest. It felt perfect. I never wanted to move.

—–

After Sean carried Corey to a bed, I left the house.

We had spent six hours asleep in the bathroom. When I woke up and walked out, I was bombarded by questions about what we had done from everyone, even Sean wouldn’t shut up about it.

Kaden though, unlike the others, had not seemed happy about the occurrence and just watched me with a disapproving stare I couldn’t take despite him not voicing his opinion. I decided to take a walk to get away from everyone.

Closer to the city centre, I arrived at a small shopping centre. It was quite crowded despite the day not having passed noon yet. 

Having skipped breakfast, I headed inside to find a restaurant before taking a seat in one of the back corners, away from the windows.

As I began to study the menu, my phone rang drawing my attention to it. Joe. I wanted to answer it, I really did because I missed him, but knew that he was going to ask questions and was probably still freaked out about where we were headed.

He would then ask to speak to Kaden, and I would lie saying he was busy and couldn’t talk but Joe would know I was lying and then he would lose it because I wasn’t supposed to ‘wander off on my own’.

Joe, being an Alpha, was generally protective of everyone in our pack but with me, he was a hundred times worse. He was the one person other than my mother and friends I was sure cared about me, and I loved him, but I didn’t think I would die if he relaxed a little.

Then again, I got where he was coming from.

My mom threw my father, her mate, out of our house when I was five because he was abusive. Not usually towards her, mostly me. Of course, she took him back a week later because he was her mate, but it only got worse after that. Joe found out about it when I was ten; my father had broken my arm, it was an injury my parents couldn’t hide and one they couldn’t lie about well enough to get by him. He lost it, banished my father from the pack and watched me like a hawk ever since.

I appreciated that he cared, but sometimes it was too much. Even the other pack members seemed to think he was overbearing when it came to me.

“Hello, there. I’m Stacy. What can I get you?”

I looked up and smiled at the waitress as I put my phone on silent.

“Uh…” I glanced at the menu and ordered the first thing I saw, having had no time to look at it and being too anxious to ask her to come back later.

“And to drink?” she asked.

“A Coke, thank you,” I said.

“Coming up.” She smiled and walked away.

I smiled looking down at my phone and wasn’t surprised to see two calls from my mom and three from Joe in just a few minutes. I was with friends. Couldn’t they just trust that I could look out for myself? I wasn’t a little child anymore.

“So…” a voice drew my attention to a boy beside my table.

He looked around my age and was tall and skinny. Dark hair hung over eyes that were so light, they almost looked grey. It was emphasised by the bit of black that lined his eyes. He had spider bites on his plump lower lip. He was incredibly cute.

“You’re alone too?” he asked.

Too? He was alone? I smiled, nodding. I got a good feeling about him despite the uneasiness from my wolf who didn’t seem to like my thoughts about the boy’s attractiveness.

I wasn’t with Corey. He hated me when he wasn’t intoxicated. What was the harm in talking to a handsome guy that wasn’t my mate?

“Yeah,” I said. Deciding to be courageous I added, “Join me?”

My wolf felt increasingly restless within me, not liking what I was doing but I ignored him. I was just making a friend, having a bit of fun.

The guy chuckled. “That was the plan.” He slid into the seat across from me and held out his hand. “I’m Finn,” he said.

I smiled and as I took hold of his hand my smile grew wider. He didn’t smell or feel like a wolf. He was just human, which meant there was no possibility of him wanting to use me to get to Izabella.

“Uh… Jayden,” I said.

“Nice to meet you, w –”

“Here’s your Coke.” The waitress smiled putting a glass in front of me. “Aw! You’re with him? You two make such a cute couple!” she squealed.

“Oh. We-we’re, uh –” I felt my face heat up. “We –” I was saying.

“We do, don’t we? Thank you. May I have a Coke too, please? And…”

I let his order drift as I stared at him in shock. He just told her we were together. We had barely just met!

“Coming up,” the waitress winked at me before she walked off.

“We’re not together…” I said, slowly.

“Yeah, but it would be pretty cool if we were. I mean, we make such a ‘cute couple’,” he faked a feminine voice, and we laughed. “Not to be forward, but I kind of agree.”

I had to look away as he smiled, my face heating. I had an instant liking to him.

We spent much more time in the restaurant than we should have, talking. He was a few months older than me, genuinely funny and interesting. We shared a lot of common interests, like music and art, but I found out he liked skateboarding too. It wasn’t very surprising. I honestly almost forgot about my troubles with Corey.

Almost, because there was still the nagging, uncomfortable feeling from my wolf and the pull that made me feel like it was wrong to be there. I wondered if Corey felt the same when he was with other people, it didn’t seem that way.

We spent the rest of the day in and around the centre as he showed me some places, we visited an arcade for a few hours and hung out at a nearby park where he skated a little and tried to teach me how to stay on the board.

While waiting for Finn to return from the bathroom after having dinner, I checked my phone figuring I had to update Kaden on my whereabouts. As predicted, he had texted asking where I was, so had Izabella. What caught me by surprise was a number I had saved months ago but never contacted, one I never expected to see reaching out to me. Corey.

I tapped the message still in shock at even seeing his name on the screen. Unlike Izabella and Kaden’s, the message had no greeting or introduction. Just three words: Where are you?

Reading it in the tone I would normally hear from him, I assumed the others had been pestering him because our pull would lead to me and he eventually just asked. What happened that morning wouldn’t make him change enough to check up on me just because he wanted to, right? I closed the message and instead replied to the other two telling them where I was and that I was okay.

“Jay!”

Hearing Finn, I put the phone away and returned my focus to him.

At the end of the day, Finn walked me home. I told him I was travelling, and he suggested that he could come visit me. I wished he could, but he was human and not my mate. Joe would absolutely not let him visit the pack.

“Two more days?” Finn asked as we walked.

“Yeah,” I said.

“And then you forget we ever met?” he asked.

I frowned. I didn’t want that. I already liked him a lot. It wasn’t easy for me to hit it off with people, I didn’t usually make friends. 

“I guess,” I mumbled.

“Then we’ll just pretend we’ve known each other forever and hang out tomorrow?” He grinned.

I smiled. “That’d be cool,” I said as we reached the house’s door.

It was practically dark, the distant sky a mixture of purple and orange from the setting sun.

“See you tomorrow, Jay.” He hugged me.

I nodded and went into the house, smiling as the door shut behind me. It had been an unexpectedly great day. 

My steps halted once I spotted Corey, who stood in the hallway arch opening, his face sour and eyes narrowed as he frowned at me.

“Who the fuck was that?”

*****