Chapter 70

Darian came back to find them on the couch, Jaxon nestled on Leon, the both of them dozing off peacefully.

He was tempted to leave them to sleep till it was well past dinner time then he could make dinner for them while they distracted him in the kitchen.

He was starting to see a pattern to his thoughts that he couldn't decide if he liked or not.

But they had to show up for dinner, unfortunately so he had to wake them up.

They made their way to the dining room soon enough, Jaxon sticking close to Leon, it was a bit odd because Leon was usually the one being clingy.

Darian could hardly blame Jaxon though, he hid it well but it was evident that something was off about Leon, he had felt it since the moment he went looking for them and stumbled on them in the private dressing room.

It was perfect that Jaxon was sticking to Leon because he could do this...

He walked slightly ahead of them and plopped his ass right beside Ethan, giving him a cold onceover which was returned with a matching look from him.

Looked like Ethan was done playing pretend as the nice guy, which was fine by Darian, he hadn't planned on playing nice.

Across from them, Leon watched the interaction between the both of them nervously, he didn't think that Ethan would do anything rash, after all that would ruin a lot of things for him as well.

Dinner went by without anyone bleeding which was a feat considering that the stage was literally set for something of that sort to happen.

Ethan ignored Darian's presence after he sat beside him, there was no need pretending to be civil to each other, considering that Darian had never been civil to him before.

What he couldn't stand was Leon avoiding him, that would have been just fine, expected even if Jaxon didn't have a hand in it.

Each swallow felt like a pine cone and for the umpteenth time, he stared at the mating marks on his neck, his eyes fixing on Leon's bite.

That should have been his.

He bent his head forward, rubbing a hand over his face to hide the glow in his eyes as he thought about it.

Everything about what was happening right then made his blood boil, he barely had a tight leash on his control and was out of his seat as soon as dinner was wrapped up.

Leon looked at him this time, frowning slightly, that couldn't be good...

"Is something wrong?" Jaxon asked immediately.

Leon had to force himself to not frown harder, shaking his head to dispel his worries.

For someone who was awfully dense about how people felt about him very little got past him, Leon had to be extra careful all through dinner and even then, that look of concern and worry never left Jaxon's gaze.

Wasn't this just great?

At this rate, he would crack before they even got separated… unless...

Fuck. this would kill him...

The solution was glaring and clear, he had to get them to leave him.

He guessed he had come full circle, from pushing people away so that they would leave like they all always ended up doing to actually letting people in and now back to pushing them away.

"It'll be weird sleeping all on the same bed." He muttered in a low voice when they got back to the apartment, heading straight for his bedroom and locking himself in.

Darian and Jaxon remained frozen in place after he left, Darian had a dark look on his face as he stared at the direction that Leon had gone in while Jaxon's face fell.

He couldn't understand what was going on, he could tell that something was off with Leon but he had gotten so used to being informed of everything except perhaps when the matter involved him.

He had been happiest when he returned after college because Leon had been literally all over him, actually opening up and asking for help if he needed.

This reminded him of the time before, when he knew Leon as well as he didn't know him, well either that or the issue involved him.

"You want to crash alone tonight?" Darian asked thoughtfully.

"No, please..." The plea was added as an afterthought, almost like he was saying it to someone else.

"Well, we might as well turn in early." He decided, taking Jaxon's hand and heading for what had quickly become a shared bedroom.

They had been here for less than a week and things were already falling apart but at least they weren't starting a Pack war… yet.

Jaxon knew he would be unable to fall asleep but sitting around moping was less comfortable than moping while being cuddled about someone you cared about.

Leon slid down the door after he had locked it, he was really starting to dislike this room.

He flopped on the bed after dragging himself from the ground, halfheartedly getting up again to take out his piercings.

He didn't imagine how much tiring life could get without his favourite people around him.

Well, add a psychopathic blackmailer from his past and that was about enough to drive anyone insane.

He rolled over from one edge of the bed to the other, he had only spent a couple nights in Jaxie's bedroom but having so much space to roll around in seemed highly unnatural.

The longest time passed by and still he couldn't fall asleep, he couldn't even get a break from his problems, that was quite fitting.

Dawn crawled slowly around, Leon didn't think he actually got any proper sleep because as much as he wanted to escape from reality, the harsh realisation that the sooner he slept, the faster the next day, came.

Thankfully, he didn't look the way he felt when he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror.

Training should take some of the edge off, nothing like running around and beating people up to brighten his mood.

He unlocked the door, his fingers slightly unsteady as he turned the key in the lock, he pushed open the door to find Darian standing on the other side with a hand lifted, no doubt to knock.

"Well you don't look so hot." He quipped, turning around and starting for the front door.

Leon followed after him, noticing that Darian didn't look like he got any beauty sleep in either.