Chapter 31

*****

*Corey*

I was supposed to be focused on the road, but I was putting everyone in danger because my eyes couldn't stay ahead. I kept glancing into the rear-view mirror at Jayden. He was seated behind Sean and Izabella in the back and hadn't spoken since returning from the shop. His face looked sullen, his eyes unfocused and dull.

Kaden, Trent and Rita were in the trailer while the rest of us were in the car. Jayden sat all the way in the back.

I let my eyes flicker to the road to make sure we were still on it before looking back at Jayden. Something was off with him today... No, since he got back from the store yesterday. He had been so quiet. Then again, he had been quiet since the cabin and had not even said much to Kaden.

"Anyone hungry?" Izabella spoke.

"Yeah," everyone replied except Jayden and me.

I was too busy watching him, he seemed to be in a daze as he had been staring out of the window for the past two hours of the drive.

Izabella handed out what looked like Twinkies, not even offering me one because she knew I didn't eat those, before she looked at Jayden.

"Jay, do you want one?" she asked.

When he didn't reply, Hayley nudged his arm.

"Jayden," she called to him softly.

"Huh?" He looked at her and then Izabella. "Oh – no... Uh... No, thank you," his voice was hoarse, and I took note that he hadn't eaten all day; had barely eaten dinner last night as well, his excuse for not eating had been that he had eaten a lot at Bianca's house, which I knew was a lie, but I let it slide.

I didn't know if he was still upset about the wish, I figured he was. I did not know how to approach fixing that.

"Are you okay?" Izabella asked him.

"Yeah, yeah. Of course. Why... why wouldn't I be?" He faked a smile.

"You –" Izabella began.

"Corey!"

My neck almost snapped as my head swung to face the front when a loud horn blared, my eyes widened at massive truck coming right at us. I felt Adan shove the steering wheel to make us swerve back into the correct lane before I stepped on the brakes, pulling over onto the side of the road.

The car was silent as I let out a cough of air while my hands gripped the steering wheel tightly in shock. I had not even reacted to driving straight towards that truck...

"You know, Corey... Maybe I should drive," Adan suggested.

"Y-yeah. Great idea." I was very relieved. "I'm going to check on the others."

I hopped out of the car and proceeded to make my way to the back while waving my hands, trying to shake off the shock but I stopped when my eyes fell on Jayden.

"Come." I tapped on his window.

He looked at me confused and I repeated what I said before he made his way out, stumbling slightly as he stepped onto the ground.

"What's going on?" he asked once outside.

"You're switching places with Kade, you look like you need sleep," I said.

"I don't," Jayden said.

"Give him a mirror," Sean's mutter immediately earned a smack on his arm from Izabella.

Jayden was visibly exhausted, even the way he walked supported that. I knocked on the trailer door. It unlocked and opened to reveal a pissed Trent.

"At least give a warning the next time you decide to drive like you're fucking drunk, Corey! I hit my head!" he snapped, and I laughed, although embarrassed.

"Sorry, Man," I said. "Jay's going to sleep for some time, as you can see, he's in desperate need of it,"

Jayden began to climb into the trailer, but tripped as he took the elevated step, and I automatically grabbed his arm to prevent a fall. He caught himself though, and then shrugged my hand from his arm as he stepped past Trent.

"Corey, stay with him, we want to move to the front," Rita took Trent's hand and pulled him by me.

"You know what? I'm sick of being with lovers so I'm moving too," Kaden jumped out.

Jayden frowned but didn't say anything. I followed him into the trailer before locking the door once inside.

"Why-why are you locking it?" I turned to see Jayden staring at the door, a look on his face that I couldn't decipher.

"So that it doesn't swing open while we're driving." It was obvious, wasn't it? That was why it had been locked by the others too.

"Oh... Right. Y-yeah, okay..." he mumbled, before heading over to the double bunker beds and taking a seat on the corner of the lower bed.

I didn't understand what was up with him. He was behaving so oddly. I looked back at the door wondering if it had something to do with how his father treated him. It would make sense. Maybe he had been trapped before. I grit my teeth at the thought.

As we began moving, I watched for a few seconds while he just sat there, staring down at the cover of his notebook. He did not want to talk, and seemed caught in his thoughts. Eventually, I made my way over and climbed onto the top bunk.

I lay staring at the roof, hoping to drift off to sleep, but my senses seemed more interested in listening to Jayden shuffle around beneath me. There was the sound of pages and a pen clicking, followed by the satisfying sound of pen on paper. After a few minutes, the writing stopped, and I heard ruffling. The writing didn't start again.

For the next while, I did not move and just listened to the sounds outside of our trailer but when we seemed to get past the traffic, there was nothing left to hear but wind and my ears homed in on the steady breathing coming from below. Was Jayden sleeping?

"Jay?" I spoke but got no answer.

I rolled over onto my stomach and leaned to hang over the side of the bed so that I could have a look at him. He was asleep, the notepad open beside him. He looked at ease, one of his legs stretched out towards the side of the car leaving me confused. How was he sleeping so freely with those skinny jeans on? Weren't they cutting off all the blood flow to his legs? Probably not. I bet to Jayden those jeans felt wide. He was quite skinny.

My eyes shifted to the book. He said no one ever read his lyrics. Should I? It was incredibly tempting.

He probably would never know I took it. I mean, forget a rock; he sleeps like a mountain. It was concerning sometimes. I stared at the book, contemplating. It was not like I would be reading his diary... I leaned down and began to reach out to grab the book but pulled my hand back as he gave a soft, distraught whine in his sleep. He went quiet and I attempted to reach again but froze as another whimper sounded. A nightmare?

He rolled over and ended up covering half of the book. I cursed under my breath. Should have grabbed it before. I decided to try my luck anyway by pulling it out from beneath him. I reached to take hold of the book and slowly began to pull it, but stopped when he let out a low groan. The angry growl was not what freaked me out though, it was what happened next.

He began fighting. In his sleep. He was shoving the bed and kicking slightly all while letting out distressed moans that quickly advanced to light screaming. It was terrifying. Was he dreaming about his father?

I jumped off my bed, his troubled cries making my stomach twist in concern, and reached to shake his arm. I paused before gently touching him because I did not want to scare him more.

"Jay, wake up," I said. "Jayden," I repeated when he didn't wake.

Instead, he just continued to cry out, his movements were stiff as he jerked.

"Jayden!" I was freaking out, so I grabbed his wrist. That proved to be a mistake when he let out a shout and basically swung at me. I caught his hand before it could touch my face, "Ja –"

"No –" He growled.

"Jayden!"

How was he still sleeping? The thought of being unable to wake him only made more fear and worry course through me. I reached my other hand out and shook his shoulders to wake him. He still fought desperately to get away from me.

"Jayden! Wake up." The shaking was not working, "Fucking wake up, you're scaring me!" I pleaded.

"No, I –" His brown eyes shot open, and he immediately cut himself off as his eyes met mine. They quickly glanced away from me, looking disoriented.

"What was that?" I asked as he pushed my hands from his shoulders and proceeded to try to compose himself while sitting up and shifting further onto the bed.

"What?" he asked casually, as if he had not just freaked out in his sleep.

I knew he knew what happened because of how much he was trying to hide how unusual it was and just brushed by it by acting calm despite his still-uneven breathing.

"What do you mean, 'what'? You were freaking out. What were you dreaming about? Was it your father?" I was still shaken; he definitely was as well.

"I-I don't know what you're t-talking about," he stuttered.

I opened my mouth but shut it. There was no point in trying, everything about his demeanour told me he would not explain it and pushing him would just upset him. I did not want to fight, especially after that.

So, trying to change the mood, I snatched the book from behind him before stepping back as I smirked while opening to a random page. It had a date! It was a diary!

"It's funny, I –" I began reading it aloud, but he launched at me.

I let out a laugh at his attempt at a spear, which seemed to irritate him more because he shoved me back before snatching the book.

"Stop taking my stuff!" He glared at me.

I rolled my eyes grabbing his free hand to pull him close to me.

"Sorry?" I smiled.

He scoffed.

"You're not sorry," he said.

"You're right," I chuckled, grabbing the book back from him.

It seemed like he wasn't expecting that answer because he hesitated before launching at me again, trying to grab his book. I threw it over him and it landed on the bottom bunk. He tried to get to it, but I dove by him and caught the book again.

"This isn't funny, Corey! Grow up and give it back. Now," he said as he jumped on top of me, trying to wrestle the book from my hands while I successfully dodged every time.

"You're slow," I joked.

"Corey!"

He grabbed my wrists and tried to pin me to reach for the book. It was amusing and I easily rolled us over so that I was above him, the movement making him let go of me. I laughed, looking down at him and placing the book aside for a second as I took hold of his wrists so he couldn't reach for the book. I smirked as he struggled to get his arms out of my grip, I was obviously much better at pinning than he was.

"Move –" he said, "Corey, please –"

My smirk dropped into surprise as terror suddenly covered his face, his eyes shutting tightly while he struggled to get his arms free. I was too stunned and confused to move though. Especially when he began violently struggling to get away from under me.

"Please – Please, move –" his voice struggled out breathlessly through the terror, his chest heaving. What the hell was going on?

"Jay," I spoke softly.

He let out a cry as I finally loosened my grip on his wrists, but I caught his hands when he tried to shove me away.

"Jayden, calm down. What's going on? Jay," I let his hands go but take hold of his face because he refused to open his eyes. "Jayden!" My voice rose slightly because being calm was not working.

"No! Get away from me –" His hands slammed against my chest.

"Open your eyes!" I snapped becoming, genuinely scared.

His eyes opened to reveal the same look of terror his features had already been showing me. He blinked a few times, trying to compose himself again despite his eyes glassing before he looked at me again. I felt my shoulders relax as my hands moved from his face to rest on his chest gently.

"Jayden."

"Corey..." his voice was barely a whisper.

"What was that?" I asked.

"Please move," he mumbled softly.

I tilted us so he was once again on top, hoping he would at least stay close, but he immediately shifted away from me, moving as far as he could on the bed.

"Why did you freak out? What did I do?" I asked, sitting up. "Jay –"

He gave a breath of disbelief.

"What haven't you done?!" he snapped. "Just – leave me alone."

I gnawed at my lower lip, pushing the book towards him. He ignored it. "Jayden –"

"Please, just stop talking right now. Don't pretend we're friends or you care just because you didn't make the stupid wish. You don't have to be with me. We can find another witch."

"I want to be with you."

"I don't want to be with you. It's a mistake, right?"

I tensed. He grabbed his book, hugging it to his chest as he shifted further from me and leaned his head against the cabinet at the foot of the bed. The exhaustion seemed to be getting the better of him.

"I was wrong –"

"I don't think so."

"Jayden, I was wrong. I shouldn't have hurt you. This – We aren't a mistake."

Jayden was quiet for a moment before he nodded.

"You're right."

He seemed as dazed as he had in the car earlier, like he was barely there.

"Of course... It's not a mistake now that you think so... We should be together now that you want it. Of course, let's remain mates now that you accept it."

I opened my mouth, but my brain couldn't seem to form words, and not a sound left my throat.

Jayden let out a soft breath, his eyes downcast as they seemed to lose focus on me, his shoulders sunken. He appeared to shiver slightly as he pulled his sleeves over his hands.

"That's right... It doesn't matter..." Jayden's voice was so soft; I barely heard the whispers. "You should just... It's worse if... don't listen..."

It seemed as though he wasn't even speaking to me before he looked up and gave a smile that made my blood run cold because it didn't reach his eyes.

"Sorry... I spoke out of turn. I should do what you want. I'm just the pathetic Omega. It's my fault we're mated. Right, Beta? I'll try to stay the fuck away from you – Wait, that's not what you want anymore." He gave a humourless, dry chuckle that sounded drained. "Sorry, I'm confused... I'm sorry."

His form was blurred by a screen of tears that filled my eyes. It felt like I had taken the hardest punch to my gut in my life, and it had knocked every ounce of strength out of me. He was just relaying what I had said to him at the beginning of the trip.

I'd hurt him so much.

He was right. Every time we'd kissed, every time I held him, it was because I wanted to. Even the last morning in the forest, he had wanted a hug, but I'd convinced him to kiss me despite how much I knew it would lead him on as I still had not planned to change my wish at that point. It was always about what I wanted and when.

Even now as I tried to convince him to be with me. It was because I was ready and willing to be with him.

"J-Jayden –" I began, attempting to apologise in the only whisper my voice could muster, but I stopped when tears slid from his eyes as he shut them.

"Please... Please leave me alone..." his pleading, desperate whisper crushed me.

I wanted to fight that, but it occurred to me that if I did, it would be pushing what I wanted again. It would be ignoring him again, so I listened and shifted further away from him as the ache in my chest burned all the way up my throat and into my eyes and I couldn't hold back the tears that began.

It dawned on me that there may have been no way back from where I'd brought us.

*****