Doubt

RORY

“Have a wonderful day, Aurora,” Ace declares, attempting to mock Everett with his deep tone and the way he calls me ~Aurora~.

“That’s not what he says.”

“What does he say then?”

“Try not to hurt yourself,” I say in a mocking voice of Everett, too, rolling my eyes after.

“Aw, what an adorable farewell,” Ace jokes before getting out and popping my car door open before I can.

“I can open my door, Ace. Now everyone is watching.”

“You’re my Luna, that’s like being the fucking queen. Queens get their doors opened for them. Plus, Everett told me it’s better to be close to you when you leave a car just in case you fall.

“It’s apparently the prime chance for you to tumble, and I don’t want my head to be literally bitten off.”

He grabs my bag out of the back and places it in my hands with a bright smile. “Try not to hurt yourself, Aurora.” Then he just scurries off.

“Where’s Everett this morning?” Bethany asks, eyeing up Ace as he drives off—after sending me a bright smile and a bow of his head like I’m a queen.

He’s taken to calling me the Luna already, even though Everett hasn’t marked me.

“He’s running errands,” I reply, ignoring the stare of Jax, who’s standing beside Oliver and Freya.

He actually hangs around with Oliver now, attempting to get closer to me, I think. Or maybe he’s moved on to his next target by now.

After Everett threatened him, he backed off a little, taken by surprise. But he was soon back at it, flirting with me in class, despite my numerous warnings.

Maybe he does want to lose a hand. Everett did not look like he was joking when he said it.

“If he told you that, it’s not a good sign,” Oliver taunts as we enter the school. “Errands are vague. Vague is what you use when you’re lying but you don’t want to lie to that person. He’s probably married or something.”

“She would know if he was married,” Skye states, rolling her eyes.

“My mom dated this married guy for six months before she found out he had a whole other family who just thought he went on business trips,” Jax explains.

“That sucks for your mom,” I mumble.

They don’t know anything about Everett, and why is it any of their business? Well, why is it Oliver’s business?

I understand Jax: he wants to discredit the guy and get with me. I understand my friends, who want to be supportive, and who get to know about my life. But Oliver is in a relationship and isn’t my friend.

Why is he trying to mess with my relationship? Out of loyalty to Jax? And for all their trying, it will never work because I live with Everett, I sleep in his bed, everyone in the pack knows I’m his soulmate.

If he is keeping secrets, anything that doesn’t involve me is probably none of my business at this time—especially since I’m hiding something massive about myself.

But I just don’t understand it myself. I wouldn’t know what to tell him, and I don’t want to freak him out. I love him.

“Have you actually been to his house? Or does he always go to yours and take you out?

“If he doesn’t involve you with his life and job and family, and tells you he’s doing errands, he’s definitely hiding things,” Jax states with a smug smile.

“I got dropped off by his friend this morning,” I reply with an expression that says, ~What the hell are you talking about?~

“Friends don’t count. They’re normally in on it.”

“In on what? Anyway, I know his aunt; I’m friends with her. And I’ve been to his place. And he doesn’t have any other family.”

I trip over a book on the floor and almost fall face-first, but am saved by my shoes keeping some of my waning balance. The faint chuckles of Jax and Oliver can be heard behind me.

“She’s cute but she’s clumsy as shit. You don’t really want that, do you?” Oliver whispers, I’m guessing to Jax behind me. I turn around and give him a glare.

“You know I can hear you, right?”

“Why would an older guy want to date you? You’re like a little child, falling over everything, including yourself. He must really like playing daddy,” Oliver comments, leaning against the lockers and getting a light jab in the ribs by Bethany.

“Well, he calls it Aurora-proofing. Like my shoes and the stairs and the bed and shower. He makes it so I don’t hurt myself. But our relationship is none of your business,” I sass, which makes Oliver raise his eyebrows in amusement.

“See, she’s hot,” Jax comments, and I furrow my brows.

He turns to me and reaches out to touch me, but I flinch backward. What’s he doing touching me anyway? Everett made it a rule, aside from Ace and Lucius. And honestly, I can live without other guys touching me.

“He’s really brainwashed you. Just because he tells you no one can touch you, you obey it?”

“Stay away from me, okay? He trains twice a day, fighting and running and lifting weights. He can follow through with his threats,” I warn him before backing away from all of them and heading off to class.

I would have thought that would get Jax to leave me alone for a few hours, but here he is again.

“What does that mean?”

“What does what mean?” I question.

“Does he hurt you?” he whisper-asks, looking at me intensely. “It’s hard to tell whether he’s hurting you or you’re just clumsy.”

“He’s not hurting me,” I exclaim, although I can see how he could have thought that. I was just warning him to stay away. “I just want you to leave me alone. I have enough to deal with without adding you to it.”

“I’m a problem to you?” he asks with a sly smirk. “I’d only be a problem if I was affecting you.”

“You are. You’re distracting me from school with your constant flirting and whining and staring. Will you knock it off?

“Everett’s my soulmate. There’s no way I’m ever leaving him. So you can try and get some other poor unsuspecting girl.”

“Soulmate?”

“Is that all you got from that? It’s like when I speak, the only things you hear are the words you want to hear,” I complain.

“Soulmate. He really has you brainwashed, huh?”

“No one has brainwashed me.”

“Errands,” he says with a small chuckle. “Oliver’s right. Guys never say they have errands. Shit, who uses the word ~errand~? He’s lying to you. It’s probably something like he’s cheating on you.”

He’s not cheating on me. But he’s right, errands are pretty vague.

“Why don’t you text him?”

“I don’t own a phone.”

“You don’t own a phone?” he asks, actually shocked. “No wonder you wouldn’t give me your number. Your parents didn’t give you one?”

“I don’t have a dad, and my mom’s strapped. So, no, she hasn’t given me one. And I live in a tight-knit community. I don’t need a phone.”

“You are the only teenager I’ve ever heard say that, ever,” Jax remarks. “Everyone needs a phone.”

“What would I do with it? My free time is spent reading or at an orphanage I help out at or with Everett, and anyone I want to talk to is either at school or lives around me, within walking distance.”

“So it’s easy for him to control your life? He or his friends take you to school, so if he doesn’t, you’re not going. He lives near you, so he can go to your house whenever he wants.

“He’s bigger and stronger than you, so he can do whatever he wants. That’s insane,” he states, leaning back in his chair and looking at me.

It’s not insane. He saved me when I had nowhere else to go. He takes care of me, looks out for me, cooks for me, Rory-proofs for me. I love him.

By the end of the day, I’m stressing like crazy about this ~errand~ thing. They got into my head. If it’s work, Everett just says that, and it usually happens in his office or around the pack.

I get outside, with Jax hanging around me again, along with Bethany, Oliver, and Skye.

In my opinion, Bethany seems to be hanging around me more since I’ve come back—maybe because I’m dating an older guy and she thinks I’m cooler and boy crazy like she is.

Plus, she loves to gossip, and me dating a mysterious older guy is good gossip.

When I see Everett’s car pull up, I stroll over as he gets out, deciding whether to ask him or what I’m going to ask him.

“Hey, little one, get hurt today?” Everett asks, raising my arms and checking me for any visible bruises or scratches.

“Where did you go today?”

He glances up at me, furrowing his brows at my tone. “I had errands, Aurora. I told you this morning.”

“What errands?” I question.

“I’m confused. What is this?” he questions, grabbing my waist and pulling me toward him so we can speak more privately. “Aurora, why am I on trial?”