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*****
*Jayden*
“Want some help?” Corey’s questioning voice came from behind me so I looked up from the stove I was cleaning and laughed seeing him dressed in a flowery feminine apron and pink gloves.
“Stop. It’s the only one my mom has right now and we somehow lost all of ours.” He frowned looking at his own attire.
“I didn’t say anything. You look… pretty.” He gave me a gentle kick on my leg and I began laughing again.
“You know, I don’t have to help.” He said while turning to the sink to begin filling it anyway, “I should be resting before my trip but I don’t want to let you clean alone and what do I get for being considerate?” He narrowed his eyes at me.
I chuckled moving to kiss him. “There. Thank you, Babe.” I turned to head back over to the stove but let out a surprised shout when wet gloved grabbed hold of my waist to pull me back to him.
“You can’t just leave it there, Jay… Oh look, your shirt’s wet, we should get rid of it.” We laughed as I smacked his chest. We had kids and couldn’t just do whatever we wanted in the kitchen, “What? We’re alone.” Oh right. The kids were currently at school. I smirked reaching to untie the apron’s string behind his back as we leaned into a kiss but paused when someone spoke.
“What’s going on?” Corey let out a very audible growl as Carrie walked into the kitchen. She had left earlier. I couldn’t help but feel disappointed at her presence as well as I leaned my head onto his shoulder before smiling and turning to greet her, though Corey spoke before I could.
“Shouldn’t you be at work or just somewhere out… dying?” He asked. I nudged an elbow into his side harder than I intended to to make him be nicer which then made me turn to him concerned but he just looked at me amused. “Still can’t hurt anything, even when you try.” He said smirking at me as he kissed my head.
“Shut up.” My mutter caused him to chuckle as he hugged me.
Earlier that morning, Carrie had left stating that she needed to take care of some work. We weren’t sure what work, but Corey did not care and I did not mind; if she had found some work or a job, she able to find her own place soon. I was okay with her staying longer, but did not like how annoyed Corey seemed about her being with us.
She was back much earlier than expected, it was almost midday which was why it was time to try to clean up before the kids’ school day ended.
“Stop being rude.” I said.
“What are you going to do if I don’t stop?” He replied and then began laughing again when I glared at him.
“I don’t know why I accepted you.” I mumbled under my breath.
“Because I’m awesome, and I’m hot and you love me.” He grinned. I looked at him and shook my head as I bit my lip trying to look serious and not laugh.
“No, I think it’s because you make great pizza… maybe the hot part too.” We laughed as he kissed my temple but stopped as we heard a throat clear.
“God, I keep forgetting you’re still here.” Corey muttered looking towards Carrie but she just smiled back as she stood up.
“Perhaps you two should move to a room while I head to town.” I felt my face heat a little as Corey just continued staring at Carrie through narrowed eyes, “Would you like me to bring anything back? It’s on me.”
“Yeah, actually…” Turning to the fridge made me pause as I realised the stove was still covered in cleaning supplies, “Oh – speaking of rooms –” I almost forgot about cleaning.
“No, Jay, don’t do that, not now.” Corey said grabbing my hand.
“Hey, we have a house to clean. You stay in the kitchen; I’ll start with our room because you can’t take a shower properly.” I shot him a glare and he scratched his head looking around guiltily. Somehow he always left the bathroom floor wet when he was done, his clothes were discarded everywhere and there were always smudges all over the mirror even though he claimed that he never touched it. “Here are some groceries we need,” I said to Carrie as I pulled the list off the fridge.
“Got it.” She said.
“I’ll just run upstairs and get some money –” I was saying.
“No, it’s on me, I insist.” She said.
“Yes, Jay, it’s the least she could do for living here.” Corey said before he gave me an apologetic glance, ‘Sorry, can’t hold my tongue. I’ll just… clean.’ He linked to me.
“He’s right. You guys let me live here and eat your food; I have to pay you back somehow. See you later – I’ve got the kids too, so don’t worry about picking them up!” She said leaving.
“No –” Corey began but huffed hearing the front door shut.
“Corey, she won’t kidnap them.” I chuckled, he frowned nodding.
“I know, I just don’t like her near them.” He muttered.
“It’s a five-minute walk back home.” I replied, “On our pack grounds.” I added.
“Right.” He nodded. “Let’s do this.” He waved his pink-gloved hands before moving to clean what was left of the stove. I agreed and we got back to cleaning, him staying in the kitchen while I headed upstairs.
It took a few minutes to get to our room as I almost tripped on a car that Eli had left on the stairs and then found a few other toys just laying around the hall. Entering Tamia and Eli’s messy rooms almost made me want to just give up on cleaning as I realised that after cleaning the house, we would still have to spend the afternoon making sure the kids packed their toys away and they were probably not going to be too happy about it after just having come back from school. I stepped back just shutting their doors and willed myself to head over to the master bedroom so I could clean our bathroom. When I was done I moved to our room and began vacuuming the carpet but I stopped after spotting something red under the bed when I began cleaning that space.
I reached out figuring that Corey had somehow managed to get an item of his clothing under there and pulled it out from under our bed, my arm slowing as I realised what it was before I held up with my forefinger and thumb while trying to make sense of the situation.
It was a pair of lace underwear that clearly wasn’t Corey’s or mine. I bit my lip. Carrie? How…?
I swallowed as the possibilities ran through my mind. Our room had had her scent in it yesterday; I could still faintly smell it. And her hair was on our bed… Now her underwear… I did not want to jump to any conclusions, but my body didn’t care about trying to stay calm and I felt my heart beat harder in my chest as a knot formed in my throat, quickly closing it up.
‘Corey’s really something… Someone might take him away from you soon.‘ She had said that last night. Did she mean this? Had they… Had she already taken him? Was that why he acted weird around her?
“Jay, Sean called a meeting so I’m going to head out, but I promise I’ll finish cleaning the – what’s wrong?” Corey stopped as he walked into our room.
I dropped the underwear as I stood up to look at him while trying told back the sudden surge of tears filling my eyes. I wasn’t sure what to do, whether to get angry or cry or just leave. Mostly, I was too shocked to do anything and instead just stood there waiting for him to say something. His eyes fell on the underwear on our carpet.
“Babe, are you okay? What’s that?” He asked. I didn’t reply as he stepped further into our room to have a closer look, “Is that… Carrie’s? Where did you find it?”
“Un –” I cleared my throat trying to talk past the suffocating knot, “Under our bed.” I said slowly. His eyes ran onto our bed and then back me, his face dropping as he began to shake his head.
“Babe, you don’t think –” he gave a nervous chuckle, “You can’t think that…”
“I don’t really know what to think. You act weird around her and yesterday… and-and now this…” I swallowed as I looked at him deciding to just ask, “Did you… Did you sleep with her?”
“No. Jayden, no. No. Of course not! No.” He said rapidly shaking his head as he tried to reach out for me but I shoved his hands away whiles stepping back.
“But all of this – and your constant apologising for no reason with no explanation – you- you –” I said.
“No, no. I never touched her! Wait, I’ve never had sex with her.” Corey sighed, “I… Okay, I-I kissed her – We kissed – I kissed a couple of times, but it meant nothing, we were drunk and I –” he was saying.
“You’re lying.” I cut him off feeling tears run down my face. I wasn’t angry at him, more myself because I always figured that I wasn’t good enough for him and eventually, he’d find someone worth being with. I hated that instead of being furious about them, all I heard in my mind was ‘I told you so’s from myself.
“No! I’m not – I promise. Jayden, you have to believe me, I would never do that to you; I love you. It was just kissing and it was a mistake, I don’t know why I did it – I’m so sorry.” I felt Corey’s hands on my arms but wasn’t really present anymore as my mind reeled causing me to feel dazed. I didn’t know what to believe, and I couldn’t really focus on anything he was saying because I was trying to breathe through my tears and the knot in my throat. “Jayden, please say some –” he began.
“I’m back!” I froze hearing Carrie’s voice downstairs. “Hello?” I looked across the room as she appeared in our doorway.
She seemed confused for a second before face turned shocked and fearful as her eyes dropped to the underwear on the floor. “H-he found out?” she stuttered looking at Corey.
“What? No, get out of here –” Corey began.
“Oh my God –” she covered her mouth, “Jay – I’m so sorry, Jayden. It- it only happened once. It- it happened so fast, it was a spur of the moment thing. I don’t – I didn’t mean for you to get hurt! I’m so so sorr –” she was saying.
“Shut up! She’s lying! Babe, believe me – Jayden, we never –” I shoved Corey’s hands from my arms, shaking my head because I couldn’t speak before heading towards the door and pushing past Carrie into the hallway, “Jay, no, wait –” Corey caught my hand pulling me to a stop but I just tugged out of his grip.
“I-I need – I need to think.” It was hard to even get that out so it was all I said before rushing out of our house.
*Corey*
I ran my trembling hands through my hair and over my face as I stood in the hallway shocked. My heart pounding aggressively in my chest as my chest tightened making it harder to breathe even though I was already heaving in panic. What just happened? Where was he going? I needed to go after him, to explain things and apologise until he forgave me.
“Jay –” I tried to follow him but a hand gripped my arm from behind.
“Let him go. It’s over, Corey.” I turned to see Carrie staring up at me. I was too caught up in worrying to get annoyed by the smile on her face.
“No, it isn’t. What the –? You lied! You lied about –” I was saying.
“What’s a little lie in the eyes of love, Corey? I got rid of him so we could be together. It’s what you really wanted, I know it is.” She said reaching for my face.
“Don’t touch me! You’re fucking crazy!” I shoved her away from me roughly causing her to slam back against the wall. “Get the hell out of my house!” I shouted making my way to the stairs so that I could follow Jayden’s scent outside, hopefully he ran off and had not taken his car, I was freaking out too much to focus on our pull and use that to find him.
“No!” I stumbled slightly as she jumped in front of me. “Let him go! You love me!”
“Love you? I fucking hate you, Carrie.” I said lowly suddenly feeling deadly calm, though I knew it was only because I really was not and my wolf was slightly edging to take control of us because of how terrified I was, “I’m not going to love you. Ever. You are not him. Get out of my house, before I kill you.” I warned darkly. She stood her ground, despite looking slightly fearful as she clenched her fists.
“No. This is our house, you’re going to fo –” I tried to shove her out of my way having had enough of wasting time on her when Jayden was getting further away, but she slipped and went tumbling down the stairs.
My anger changed into concern for a second before it was replaced with annoyance when I realised she wasn’t going to die from the fall, she was a werewolf and would be healed in five minutes at the most, an hour if something broke. I ran downstairs, stepping over the groaning woman at the foot of the stairs.
“You better be out of my house when I get back.” I muttered as I left.
Jayden’s car was gone, so I headed to the city to check his old place of work before going back to the pack because I still could not calm down enough to focus on feeling him out and instead went around checking every place in the pack I possibly could after calling Joe and being told Jayden had not gone over to Inferno. I had been searching for him for two hours when I heard the school bell ring. I let out an aggravated sigh as I ran my hands through my hair for the umpteenth time and then froze. He hadn’t taken his car, but what if he had run into some trouble? What if he tried to go to Inferno and got caught by some rogues? What if he was going somewhere else and did not plan on coming back?
I cringed at the thought of any of those. How could I let this happen? I should have told him when I got home, should have told him when it happened. He still would have been angry… hurt.
The kids.
I tried to shake the situation from my mind as I made my way to the school. I needed to pretend everything was alright, for them. I needed to be myself. Maybe that would help me calm down and I could finally focus on our pull and follow it to Jayden. I’d take the kids over to my parents’ for the night.
“Eli? Tamia?” I called once reaching the building.
I caught Ben as he jumped out to tackle me and faked a smile as I hugged him tightly. It was funny, his hug actually helped calm me down a little.
“Hey, buddy. Where’s Eli?” They were usually together. Ben, Eli and Ashton were often inseparable.
“That lady… uhm… I don’t know her name… she’s been at your house… she came by for him, and Tamia.” I froze.
“Carrie?” I asked softly.
He nodded and I stopped breathing. No. No. No.
“Corey, what’s going on?” I heard Hayley.
“Carrie – Where’s Carrie?” I put Ben down.
I felt suffocating panic rise into my chest. What if she took them? I made her angry, pushed her down a staircase, she’s pretty crazy, what if she took our children?
“Corey, calm down.” I blinked and saw Izabella standing in front of me, her hands on my face. I looked at my hands to see them glowing, all of the children around us seemed shaken. I shook my hands and the involuntary glowing stopped. I tried to breath but couldn’t. Now I had three people to look for.
“I need – she has them –” I couldn’t think straight.
“Corey?” I heard Sean.
“Have you checked your house?” Somehow, even when I couldn’t think straight or form a proper sentence, Hayley and Izabella could read my mind.
I shook my head and then went sprinting towards my house. Once there, I stumbled through the front door and relief washed over me as I heard Eli mutter something, he did not sound happy. I ran into the living room and pulled the twins into a hug, shutting my eyes while trying to calm down as I held them tightly.
“Papa?” Tamia mumbled confused. I looked at Carrie, too worn out to be angry at her anymore as she smiled at me. I was just glad the kids were at home and kissed Tamia’s forehead before pulling her into another tight hug. Eli began to squirm after a few more seconds into the hug.
“Beta, come on. You’re embarrassing us!” He hissed. I would have laughed at his words if I hadn’t been so worried. I let the twins go slightly and noticed Izabella, Hayley, Sean, Bonnie and Ashton at the door staring at us confused. “Can Ash stay?” Eli looked at me.
“Uh… Yeah, yeah. Of course, and Bonnie.” I said looking at their parents.
“Corey, a word?” Sean motioned for me to follow him. I looked at Hayley and Izabella and they nodded. They were my closest friends, they knew more about me than I did and I didn’t even have to link to them for them to know what was in my head. They would stay there with our kids and Carrie.
I stood up patting the twins’ heads gently before walking out with Sean.
“You ready to go?” He asked.
“I… I…” I had completely forgotten about us leaving. These people threatening us were doing it because of me, and probably because of Sean too, I had to try to talk to them but I couldn’t just leave for two days with the way things were at the moment. We had three hours before our six o’ clock fight and Jayden wasn’t back yet. There was no way in hell I was leaving my children with Carrie. “I need to do something first,” I mumbled closing my eyes.
Having been distracted for a few minutes, it seemed that I calmed down enough to focus on Jayden’s pull and he felt very close. I turned around opening my eyes and saw him stroll across our lawn from the street, my heart instantly felt like it shattered seeing the drained look on his face.
He didn’t look at me as he walked past us and into the house while mumbling a greeting at Sean. Sean looked at me raising his brows as soon as Jayden was gone and I shook my head.
‘I’ll explain later.’ I linked to him.
There was no way I would be able to fix everything in the hours before the flight. I was going to be leaving feeling like shit. I was going to be leaving knowing Jayden felt horrible and I had made him feel that way… again. I was going to be leaving not knowing if he’d be here when I got back…
*****
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