Chapter 17
*****
*Corey’s POV*
I groaned as my phone went off.
What the hell?! Who the heck calls at six in the morning?!
“Answer your fucking phone!”
I glared at Trent through my barely opened eyes, but it was no use because he had shoved his pillow over his head.
I turned to grab my phone and answered it. I had learned that Trent wasn’t much of a morning person.
“Why haven’t you called?!”
Oh no… I shut my eyes giving a tired moan.
“Seriously, Ma? It’s 6 AM! I almost died when the phone went off,” I said.
“Shut up!” Trent’s voice was somewhere between a whine and a groan, he sounded like a child.
“Serves you right! Why haven’t you called?! Do you know how worried your father and I have been? Where are you?!” my mother asked. “The Alpha says you didn’t even ask him for permission, and you took Izabella and the others with you!” she literally yelled into my ear.
I opened my mouth to ask why it was pinned on me when they had free will and had chosen to come on their own accord, but it shut again when she continued.
“I heard you found your mate. Three months ago! Why didn’t you tell me?! Corey, when you get home, you’re grounded and your father and I are taking your car,” she said.
I gasped as I shot up, suddenly completely awake.
“Ma! You can’t take my car! Please, I’ll explain everything when I get home and I’ll take the stupid grounding but please don’t take my car, Mommy.” I heard her scowl when I said ‘Mommy’.
It was the one word that I knew would get me out of anything with her because it made her think I was her ‘baby boy’ again. As for Dad, the words ‘Let’s go out, I’ll pay for everything,’ made him happy.
“I’ll let you explain yourself later, but I might still take your car,” she said.
I smirked. Yeah, right.
“Alright, I love you, tell Dad I love him too,” I said.
“I love you too, baby. Take care of yourself and my girls. And I better meet this mate of yours when you get back,” she said.
I chuckled. “I will, Ma… Maybe…” I hung up before sighing.
There was no point trying to go back to sleep, it wasn’t gonna happen. So, I got up and pulled on some tracksuit pants before heading downstairs, not bothering to get a shirt or shoes. I’d put that on later when I got cleaned up.
It was the crack of dawn with the sky just beginning to lighten, so I didn’t bother turning lights on as the light that filtered through the living room and kitchen curtains lit up the hallway downstairs.
I slowed as I entered the dim kitchen and saw Jayden sitting at the table, his head leaned down hidden in his arms on the counter, though he wasn’t sleeping. I could tell by the tapping his fingers were making against the counter beside his head.
“Hey!” I laughed when he jumped up, almost falling out of his seat before giving me a fierce glare.
He was pissed, I would be too if I were in the state he was in. He looked like he hadn’t slept at all.
“Is there a reason you’re here or is it to torment me some more?”
Well, it seemed he was bolder when pissed.
“Yes, because my life is completely centred around you,” I said sarcastically, before I continued on as I made my way across the room. “Seeing as this is the kitchen and not your room, do I need a reason to be here?”
I swung the fridge open and grabbed the orange juice. I then gulped most of it down in a few seconds. Jayden sat staring at me in pure disgust, so I held the carton out to him.
“Want some, Mate?” I asked.
The suggestion made the kiss flash into my mind for just a second as I imagined his lips replacing mine on the rim of the carton. The image was distorted in my mind promptly as I tried to force it to clear. It didn’t work, and I found myself thinking about the possibility of being able to brush his hand if I handed him the carton. The feeling of his skin still lingered on my fingertips. I wanted to be close to him again.
Jayden gave a soft sigh, as if the fight in him had already died, before he began to get up.
“What happened?” I leaned against the fridge after I put the box of juice back.
He looked at me, confused.
“Your neck.” I rolled my eyes. “What happened to your neck?”
He appeared surprised, his hand seemed to reach for the scar unconsciously, but it paused in the air before dropping back to his side. The mark was barely visible under whatever he was using to cover it up, if I had not already known it was there, I wouldn’t have noticed it.
I was curious about it.
“N-nothing,” he said, avoiding my eyes by staring at the tabletop.
“Did someone try to kidnap you? Is that why Joe’s so obsessed with protecting you?” I pushed, more curious now because he refused to talk about it.
I noticed that Kaden had only spoken to Joe once during the trip while the Inferno Alpha constantly called Jayden. It could just have been because he knew their pack’s Omega had no business being so far from him. People with Jayden’s strength were a liability.
“No,” he said.
“Someone beat you up?” I pressed.
“What’s it to you?” he asked, lowering his brows.
“Just trying to develop a conversation,” I shrugged.
His replies made it clear it had not been an accident. The fact that he hid it made me wonder if anyone else knew about it. I had not seen the mark, even back at the Inferno packhouse. But then again, I had not looked at him very closely back then.
“Was it because you’re gay? Did you try to hit on someone?” I asked.
He kept looking down, and didn’t answer me as he swallowed. I should have stopped asking, I knew that. He didn’t want to talk about it, it was clearly upsetting him. But… I wanted to know how he got it… and the fact that he wasn’t answering was making me concerned.
Why? I didn’t know.
It wasn’t any of my business what happened. Much less did he have to tell me. I gave him no reason to tell me anything, no reason to even want to speak to me. I wasn’t concerned… Just curious… about who hurt him and why.
Everyone liked him.
It was hard not to.
So why had they hurt him?
Jayden began to move but I spoke again, trying to get him to answer me.
“Or do they hate you?” I asked.
He paused at that question.
I knew the tone and the questions would make the others dislike me more, I knew it wouldn’t make anyone open to me, but I wasn’t sure how else to speak to him without making it look like I cared about him. I didn’t. I just wanted the answer.
Plus, I was also annoyed that they were upset at me. Izabella and Hayley had not said a word to me since they walked off after Jayden’s friend arrived, and I was still pinning it on him.
“No? Of course not. No one hates you. Kind, weak, defenceless Jayden.”
Jayden seemed to have trouble swallowing as his fists clenched.
“Well, except me and the person that slit your neck, of course,” I said.
“Shut up,” I heard him mutter, his voice a pained, exhausted tremble.
“Ah. He curses. Must have struck a nerve.”
I didn’t know why I kept egging him on. Maybe I just wanted him to hate me as much as I did him, as much as I wanted to keep hating him. If we both hated each other, it would be easier. Everyone would understand why we needed to end the mate connection.
“There’s no way you have an enemy, right? Being oh-so-perfect and sweet. So, was it a friend? Or a family member? Did someone in your family decide they had enough of you? I me –” I was saying.
“Fuck you!” he cut me off loudly.
I was on the other side of the room in a split second, and he stumbled back, bumping into the counter as his hands lifted between us like he had to shield himself from me. I didn’t close the foot of distance between us.
“What did you just say to me?” I asked.
I could see that my eyes had gone black from their reflection in his, I guess those two words really ticked me off. I didn’t really know why. Was it because he had never actually spoken to me that way and I wasn’t expecting it this time?
Jayden dropped his hands; they were shaking as he breathed unevenly. He still didn’t look at me, but there was something about the way his shoulders fell as he gave a deep sigh to even out his breathing that made me pause.
It seemed so… final.
It made my breath catch. I blinked, my anger fading as a moment of intense fear passed over me. It wasn’t from him. It was the way his shoulders had dropped. In the back of my mind, I got a hint as to why I’d reacted that way, but I refused to even acknowledge that thought for a second. The thought that I didn’t want him to hate or give up on me.
“I said ‘fuck you’,” he whispered. “You don’t scare me.” His body said differently.
My eyes shifted from his trembling hands to his neck again.
“You don’t scare me,” he repeated softly.
Trying to convince himself? Why did it seem like he wasn’t even addressing me anymore?
“Can’t do any worse than they’ve already done.”
I barely heard it, and I was sure I wasn’t supposed to hear it because it sounded like he was talking to himself, but I did. They?
“What?” I asked.
I watched him tense up and knew for sure I wasn’t meant to hear what he had said.
“Nothing,” he said.
“No, no. They? I can’t do worse? Exactly what have they done? And who are ‘they’? Did someone really hurt you?” I asked.
Why did it matter? I didn’t know. I didn’t care. Or at least I wasn’t supposed to.
“No,” he said.
“Don’t lie to me. Who are ‘they’?” I demanded.
“Why would you care?! Just get away from me! It’s none of your business! Leave me alo –” he gasped when I reached out, jumping even though I had just placed my hands on his shoulders gently.
He stared up at me, his face a mixture of shock and surprise, before looking down as I ran my hands from his shoulders onto his arms.
“W-why are you…?”
“To shut you up.”
He seemed even more shocked by the explanation as he looked back up at me. I frowned down at him.
“Listen, Jayden. Answer my questi –”
“Corey! Enough! Get away from him!”
The shout startled me because I had not even heard anyone else wake up or come downstairs. Out of the habit of wanting to make it look like nothing was going on, I shoved Jayden from me, only he was already against the cupboard, so his arm slammed back against the drying rack.
A loud scratch sounded as a couple of bowls slid off the rack, Jayden yelling out as they smashed right beside his bare feet.
I automatically moved to check on his feet, but was pushed away when Sean stepped between us, shoving me back.
“That’s it! You two aren’t allowed in the same room alone. You’ll get what you want, but until then you stay the fuck away from him, Corey. I’m sick of all this shit between you. Act like the damn Beta you’re supposed to be and not a child!” Sean said.
I clenched my teeth, glaring at him as Jayden just stared at the mess on the floor.
“Whatever,” my mutter made Jayden look up. I stared back at him, ignoring Sean’s presence. “We’re not done.”
——
*Jayden’s POV*
“Don’t move. What was that about?” Sean asked me as he began to pick up the larger pieces of glass around my feet.
“Nothing big.” I shrugged, bending to help him despite his instruction.
“He was pinning you. Corey may not be the nicest person to you, but it would take a lot from anyone to make him attack them,” Sean said.
“Attack… is… He wasn’t…” I mumbled.
“What happened?”
I considered telling him everything, but then figured that I would have to explain the scar if I went into it. I didn’t want to, so I settled on why he had found us in that position.
“I cursed at him,” I said.
“Maybe it will take a little less from you.” Sean corrected his previous words.
I chuckled. ‘Maybe’?
“Why would you curse at Corey? Everyone knows he has a short temper,” Sean said, “Kinda like me.” he mumbled. I smiled.
“He made me,” I said. It was true. He had. I sighed. I really need to get some sleep…
“Of course he did.” Sean shook his head, annoyed. I felt slightly bad. “Have you slept? No offence, but you look like shit,” he said.
I laughed. I had been up all night, unable to drift off which was why I had moved to the kitchen to avoid waking Kaden up with my tossing and turning.
“Yeah? I’ll go get some sleep,” I mumbled before stumbling my way out of the kitchen.
“Don’t hurt yourself.” Sean chuckled from behind me.
“I’ll try not to.” I smiled as I went to my room.
Once inside, I let out a sigh falling onto my bed. I probably wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway, but it was worth a try. Especially since I would be seeing Finn later.
*****
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