Stranded with my mates: Rejected & Claimed

Chapter 71: Chapter 71

"I heard what you said," Jax told me by the fire as Grayson stepped away to grab seconds.

He sat slightly across from me, close enough to chat comfortably but far enough to give Grayson and I our space together. Night had settled around us, his features standing out among the light of the fire.

My eyebrows raised in his direction. I had known Jax stayed behind to keep an eye on us during our conversation in the forest, but didn’t know he had been eavesdropping.

"What did I say?" I asked, staying composed to feel out how much he had actually heard.

It gave me a strange feeling to talk about adult things with Jax, who never took anything serious. My cheeks reddened a little, wondering if he had seen our intimacy before the conversation.

"You made a deal, one you don’t know how to deliver on. I can help you."

My head tilted down at him.

"How?" I asked with skepticism.

"I helped with your training the last time. I’m practically an expert at this point."

I laughed with surprise and accusations. "Your training didn’t work!"

I gripped at the edge of my short to show him, "if it had, I wouldn’t be stuck in my own clothes. I still have zero control."

"It’s like a muscle," he told me, leaning in to solidify his point. "You have to exercise your powers."

He put his hands behind his head and slid down the log until the was lounging against it.

"And I’m the perfect trainer."

A knowing smile dimpled his cheeks and curiosity pursed my lips. The nature of the training was different this time, the goal wasn’t control but access. Surely there wasn’t much Jax could actually do. Still, I was intrigued.

"Ok," I agreed and his smile grew.

"Tomorrow, we start then," he looked proud of himself.

"I’ll be the one to get you out of your pants."

Marek chuckled to himself beside us and I threw a twig his direction. Grayson sat down beside me then and the conversation fell away before I could put Jax in his place.

Crickets and frogs sang around us as the fire crackled, sending sparks towards the star speckled sky. We relaxed into the gentle embrace of the evening air, feeling the exhaustion settle in from a day at the lake.

I had began drifting off when Grayson’s hand slid under my knees. I leaned into his chest as he picked me up.

Jax and Marek were holding a hushed conversation, mumbling together so as not to wake me.

Grayson took me to the bunkhouse, laying me down in the cushioned bed before turning to leave. I reached for his wrist, stopping him with a soft tug.

"Stay with us," I requested quietly.

He looked unsure, almost bothered. I took it that he was thinking he commanded his pack and didn’t bunk with them.

Rolling my eyes, I turned over. Dominic was the same way, seeing himself as a leader that made him above the rest of us. I thought of what it was like with him, the constant want to escape. I wondered if it would turn that way with Grayson.

His weight on the bed disrupted my thoughts. He slid in beside me without a word, resting against my back and wrapping a hand around my waist.

I smiled at myself. Grayson was a selfish jerk and he never hid that, but he wasn’t like Dominic in every way. Dominic was cold, callous, and seemed to enjoy my turmoil.

Grayson, as indifferent as he tried to be, seemed to actually care about me. He fought every emotion like a man holding back a collapsing wall, but it felt like he was changing. The closer he got to me, the more his rough shell fell way.

But the biggest difference, the part that made me want him over Dominic, was the shared belonging. I didn’t feel like a figurine on his nightstand. As infuriating as he could be, he wanted me in the same way I wanted him. He was mine and I liked it that way.

He sighed into my hair, pressing his body into mine. He fit perfectly there, curled around me like a puzzle piece.

"You love your Jax?" He asked quietly, making my brows crease against the dark.

"Of course," I said simply. "He’s my friend."

It felt like he was hesitating and I feared jealousy might me forming.

"But is there something...more?"

His question floated through the air. I was caught off guard by it and wasn’t quite sure how to respond.

"I...no... I mean, it’s Jax."

It felt like that should be explanation enough, but I knew it wasn’t. Jax was who I cuddled with in Grayson’s absence, who I turned to for comfort, who kissed me the last time we had been in training.

There was a spark in that intimate moment between us but nothing compared to what I felt when with Grayson. Jax was my partner in crime, my sidekick. Not my lover. Right?

Grayson examined my feelings through our bond and guilt ripped through me. He wasn’t tense but more curious. Jax was the least threatening of all of us and not even Grayson could have an ill will towards him.

Not wanting to feel the confusion that Grayson had planted in me, I turned towards him. Pushing my hands through his hair and pressing myself in closer to him, I stared into his eyes that held a glint of purple reflection from my own eyes.

"I want you," I told him honestly.

He took a deep breath in and slowly let it out. My answer made him content, for now. The water was murky and I struggled to decipher my own feelings. Deciding to let it go for the night, he rolled onto his back and pulled me with him. I wrapped my leg around his and nestled into his chest.

When I woke the next morning, the sounds of sleeping men filled the space. Grayson’s absence was immediately clear with Jax and Marek circled around me. Where Grayson was apprehensive to the company of anyone he wasn’t having sex with, these men had no care about who they wrapped themselves around at night.

Carefully leaving the den, I joined Grayson outside by the fire. The morning was crisp and dewy. Plants were growing slower and wind blew through the trees more frequently. Where I used to live, cold rain and nighttime temperature drops would make it impossible to live the way that we do here.

As chilly as it was becoming, the days still warmed to a cozy heat. The tropical storms were the part that made our lives more difficult but were bearable.

Pink clouds peaked above the trees making me wonder if another storm should be expected soon.

I cuddled in Grayson’s lap, keeping quiet as I knew it was how he enjoyed his mornings. How he enjoyed most of his time really.

We sat together, enjoying each other’s warmth mixed with the awakening sunrise and I thought of the time I had watched the sunrise on the beach with Julien. He had snuck us away and it was a perfect morning.

Now he sat somewhere close enough to feel his presence but far enough to know his absence. When thinking of him, my conscience tugged at me. I felt responsible for who he had become. He was so kind, so good-hearted until I had bonded with Dominic.

Dominic’s blame replayed in my mind until Jax and Marek joined us. Grayson’s arms tightened around me before he stood to start preparing breakfast. Part of me wondered if he had been in my mind again.

I had been too distracted in my own thoughts to see who was watching me. Dominic’s presence was quiet and I wondered if he was still sleeping. I imagined him in his cot, surrounded by the charred remains of our basecamp as the lone-wolf he deserved to be.

I wrapped my arms around myself, the chill of the morning adding to my dark thoughts. I wanted the feelings of yesterday to return, to have fun by the water while my pack enjoyed each other’s company.

Today, we would go to the beach, I decided. It would be the perfect place to begin whatever training Jax had in mind. The waves seemed to resonate more within my soul there. My powers becoming stronger the nearer I was.

Declaring my thoughts out loud, no one attempted to argue. Jax, still rubbing the sleepiness from his eyes, agreed with a wide yawn. Marek sounding his approval while Grayson only gave me a look.

I could feel a worry in him and tried to read its origin. He immediately shut me out, making me ponder every option on my own.

Once breakfast was finished and the energy turned up, we gathered what we would need and readied ourselves for a day at the beach.

With everyone prepared for the short trip, we set off with excitement, but his worry followed us, stubborn as a loose thread.

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