Chapter 31
BAILEY
Abruptly, he jumps to his feet and storms out. I hear the front door close, so I rush to look out the window, watching as Jason’s wolf sprints from our driveway.
My chin trembles with the threat of more emotion.
If only I, too, could shift into another shape and escape the confines of the loop my brain is in right now. Run, jump, be wild, feel free. But of course I can’t. Because there’s always going to be this wolf-sized hole inside me.
Maybe going for a drive will have a placebo effect.
I shed my pajamas and get dressed before I slip into flip flops, whip my hair up into a bun, and grab my bag and keys.
I tiptoe past Dad who is asleep on the couch in front of the much smaller TV from our rec room.
As I drive through the intersection at the four corners of our village, I accidentally catch up with Jase who sees me and is immediately shifting to his human form, looking at my car as I pass him.
I catch his expression and first it’s confusion, then in the rearview mirror, I see his mouth moving.
I’m not a professional lip reader, but it doesn’t take an expert to know he’s cussing. Maybe he thought I was looking for him.
I speed up and instead of stopping in Drowsy Hollow, I keep driving and wind up almost ninety minutes away in a twenty-four-hour department store, where I wander every aisle and leave with two-hundred-and-eighty dollars’ worth of random stuff.
I guess we’ll call it retail therapy, though maybe I need some actual therapy because I don’t feel remotely better.
When I return to my room, it’s three in the morning. And Jase is awake, waiting for me.
He looks like he’s wound as tight as a bow, watching me from the trundle bed with irritation, but saying nothing.
I drop my bags on my dresser and move into the bathroom, turning on the shower to get one more minute to myself more than anything.
After a quick wash, I slip into my walk-in closet to get into pajamas.
He’s got his back to me when I tiptoe over him to get into bed.
And we both lie here for a while before my eyes finally drift shut.
***
After maybe two and a half hours of sleep, I’m coming out of the bathroom as Jase is coming into my room.
I suspect he’s returning from a run, though it looks like he ran on two feet judging by the muddy running shoes on his feet.
His upper body is naked; he’s in just a pair of black basketball shorts.
I’m about to comment about the muddy shoes and how my Mom will feel about them, but the look of irritation on his face has my eyes pivoting away as I pass him, making sure not to appreciate his muscled body, those defined hip bones, or how the black tribal ink winds up his arms and to his neck on one side.
Nope, not affected by any of that.
I’m such a liar.
He moves directly to the bathroom and I hear the shower turn on while I’m telling my brain to ignore how incredibly delicious he smelled.
After digging through the kitchen cupboard for a to-go coffee mug, my Dad sits down and gives me an assessing look.
Great. Not.
“What’s happenin’, Bailey?” Dad asks. And it’s not a rhetorical greeting.
“I’ve got to get to the library,” I tell him, jerking my thumb toward the door.
He clenches his jaw before replying. “See you after that then. Here for that council and coven meeting?”
“Uh huh. Later,” I say, stirring in the sugar and cream before capping my cup.
“Hey?” Dad calls.
Drats! I was almost out of here.
I wait, looking at him expectantly.
“Worried about you,” Dad says softly.
“I’m worried about you, too,” I fire back, a little too aggressively. “Mom, too. She’s sleeping still? This isn’t like her. She’s always been an early bird. Until lately. Because she’s probably not sleeping well without you beside her.”
As soon as that’s out of my mouth, I wish I could snatch it back.
Dad doesn’t throw anything across the room this time. Instead, he tiredly sighs. “Mimi Young will be here in a couple days and she’ll sort me out. She’ll sort me out and then your mother will be okay, too.”
“Surprised you’re allowing it,” I say. “I know you don’t trust the coven.”
“I’ve had a chance to rewind all that old shit in my head and…
it was my relationship with Soleil that strained things with the coven.
It was her addiction to dark magic that hurt me and your brother.
It didn’t help my relationship with Soleil’s family.
I’m gonna try and be more open, since they’re in Greyson’s life.
And clearly… yours, too. Don’t fully agree with what’s happenin’ with you and Jase here, but I do like that those girls are protective over you. ”
“Well… I’m glad. For Grey’s sake and for you. They’re good people,” I say.
“You’re showing signs of being more like me than your mother with that stubborn streak you’ve got. That’s not one of the qualities I wanted to pass onto you, sweetheart. Try not to be as stubborn as your old man. At least give Jase a chance.”
“I can’t do this right now, Dad.”
“What’s the plan going into this meeting later?”
I blow out a frustrated huff. “No idea. I had a conversation with Lucinda Walsh from the SCC and submitted some forms to her. I’m hoping it’ll be enough.”
“Enough for what?”
“To buy me more time. She’s going to call me before the meeting and let me know where my request is at.”
“More time? Time to work on getting the bond severed before you even feel it or time for you to figure out how to forgive Jase and forgive yourself?”
“Forgive myself?” I ask, screwing my face up.
Dad gives me a knowing look. “Think you’re pissed off at him, yeah, but you’re even more pissed off at yourself right now, so you’re grippin’ that anger for dear life cause you don’t know how to fix this and you’re used to being able to fix stuff.”
I manage to keep myself upright, despite the desire to crumble into a pile of nothing.
“He’s miserable. You are, too,” Dad keeps at me. “Maybe you two oughta head for the woods with a tent or go stay at Tyson’s cabin and sort things out. Hear one another out.”
Shit. Jason’s walking into the kitchen now. He’s changed into jeans and a tight t-shirt, and the scent of him is even more potent, in a different way somehow.
Without touching me, he snatches my car keys from my hand and announces, “I’ll drive.”
And he does it without looking at me.
I stand speechless for a minute before I lift my travel mug and my feet take me to my car.
***
“How much of that did you hear?” I ask, getting into the car. He’s holding the door open for me.
He laughs bitterly and just before he slams it shut, he says, “All of it.”
He’s fiddling with the seat controls and the climate controls for a minute before we pull away, so I open my phone and see if there are any messages or missed calls. None.
I’m in no mood for awkward, loaded silences or for him to try to fill that awkwardness with words, so I scroll social media apps on my phone.
A minute or two later, I look up and realize we’re surrounded by trees.
We’ve left town.
“What the hell? I need to get to work, Jason,” I snap.
“You’re not working today,” he informs.
I stare.
He grips the steering wheel tighter, so tight it’s like a dial on my own tension, which is trying to strangle me.
“What the hell are you doing?” I demand.
The car speeds up.
“Jason!” I practically spit. “Turn this car around and take me to the library. I need to open it in an hour.”
“Fuck the library,” he mutters.
I hard-blink. “Fuck the library?”
He flexes his jaw muscles.
“Where are you taking me?”
He flexes them some more.
“Jason!” I yell.
He says nothing. Not a fucking thing.
***
It’s been over an hour and I see nothing but trees. He’s not saying anything and neither am I. I need to get back. This is nuts!
I scroll through contacts on my phone and am about to call Dani when my phone is snatched out of my hand with him saying, “Oh no you don’t,” before the jackass yeets my damn phone out the open window!
I gasp indignantly before I shout, “You just threw my fucking phone out the window!”
“Damn straight I did,” he shouts back. “You’re not calling that bitch and getting her to cast another spell on me.”
“Do not call her that!” I demand. “Pull over and let me find my phone.”
His lip is curled.
“Pull. Over.”
“No.”
He speeds up.
“Pull over, Jason!”
He laughs. Bitterly.
“So… you’re kidnapping me?” I ask, incredulous.
“That’s right,” he answers, gripping the steering wheel a little tighter.
He looks more than a little unhinged right now.
And my head just might explode.
Opportunity presents itself as we drive through a hamlet with a restaurant, gas station, and supermarket.
We’ve dealt with two stop signs and there’s another coming up at what looks like a busy intersection.
I ready myself and as soon as we stop, I whip my seatbelt off and hit the unlock button before I pull on the door handle.
But it won’t move, so I snap it again, like there will suddenly be a different outcome and there’s not only not a different outcome, but also… we’re moving again and Jase has a cocky smile on his jerk face.
“Child locks,” he informs, “Because my mate has been acting like a child.”
I gasp in shock at the audacity.
“Where are you taking me?” I demand.
“I don’t know,” he admits. “Maybe somewhere they can’t cast a new spell so this one’ll just… expire.”
Oh gosh, no.
“This isn’t cool, Jason. I have shit to do today.”
“Oh yeah, I bet you do,” he says. “You’ve got your whole day mapped out, don’t you?”
“As a matter of fact, yes.”
“Guess you’re hoping to see how many signed your petition. Tell me, how many signatures the last time you looked?”
“Fifty-three,” I state.
He stares ahead a minute, processing this. He looks hurt. No, pissed. No, hurt, I think. Actually, I don’t know.