Captive Mate BL-Chapter 629: - - -
Jael was back in no time, and by the time he was, Gage had already risen from his stack of cartons.
He carried his paper bag of booze along, and it was clear that he had tried to straighten out his disheveled clothes, but it didn’t help much.
Jael slowed to a stop and waited for Gage to get in, driving off to his hotel.
Gage was less inclined to be chatty on the drive, so Jael equally stayed quiet.
Questions brimmed on his tongue, questions he wasn’t quite sure he wanted the answers to.
The hotel was decent for a small town, the spotless glass windows reflecting the encroaching sunset.
"I’m going to take a nap." Gage said after Jael found somewhere to park. "I’ll get something to eat after I wake up, then return to Evercliff. You should leave."
The third time, Jael didn’t protest, his words caught in his throat. He wanted to tell Gage that he would figure something out, that he would find a way to fix them both...
But Gage was already out of the car, and Jael really didn’t have a way to make the older Alpha do what he didn’t want to. He could only trust that Gage meant his words.
"Take care of yourself, kid." Gage stopped to say, hunching over so he was eye level with the window.
Jael nodded, watching Gage saunter off closely like it was the last time he would get to see him. Long after Gage left, he remained in the running car sitting idly in the mostly deserted parking lot, the security turning a blind eye to him.
He drove off as reds splashed the sky, chasing the vibrant sunset as he drove off. Jael drove like a bat out of hell, driving without any particular destination in mind - he didn’t want to return to Haines just yet.
He somehow ended up in Evercliff, the streets quieter now that it had gotten darker. He drove to the only place he knew in the sleepy town, parking in Gage’s driveway, having nothing else to do.
He unfortunately couldn’t just spend the night in the car, so he inched out of the driveway after a while. Layla’s house held ghosts of people that had never been, he didn’t want to spend the night there, especially not alone.
If they were an average family, Layla would still be alive and Gage would still be with them, if... if they weren’t cursed.
Jael didn’t look back as he drove off, heading back to Haines even though it was starting to get pretty late. He made his way to Central Area, choosing to spend the night in a generic hotel.
It wasn’t until he was settled in his room that he realized that he hadn’t eaten a bite since that morning when Caspian made him have breakfast. All it did was remind him of Caspian’s worry, instead of rousing his appetite, making no attempt to call room service.
Jael kicked off his shoes and got on the bed with all his clothes on, the lights in his room dim. His head hurt from the thoughts trapped in it, the soft hum of appliances filling the room.
Today, he had learned something that even Asher didn’t know of, and he wasn’t sure he could bring himself to tell the other. It was why he couldn’t be mad at Gage for keeping it a secret all these years, because he knew deep down that he would have done the same.
Things were already pretty tense, what good was it revealing Asher’s inevitable future? It would only worsen things.
But keeping the secret was like holding onto a hot potato, it stung, the prickly feeling getting worse the longer he held onto the potato.
Jael stayed up for more of the night, only managing to get a few hours of sleep in the early hours of the morning.
He woke up ragged, clothes disheveled. Sleeping had done little for him, dark circles forming underneath an empty gaze.
After splashing some water on his face, he looked less fucked up, cleaning up and lingering at the hotel even though he didn’t have to.
Jael couldn’t bring himself to face Asher just then, if he didn’t crack under the pressure of the Alpha’s earnest expression, then Caspian was sure to do him in. He didn’t want to though, he wanted to hold onto the hot potato a little while longer.
He spent most of the day on the hotel balcony, mostly staring into space. He hadn’t tried calling Gage since he left, and he had a feeling that if he did, he wouldn’t get a response.
Jael considered taking a couple more days off to just do this, staring into space while he tried to come to terms with how things were going. But there was still a war going on, this was the worst possible time for complications.
So, while chasing another sunset, he returned home, slipping into his room without giving his arrival away. He only stepped out at dinner time, bracing himself for the inevitable confrontation.
It was just Asher and Caspian in the dining room, both of them turning to him with surprised expressions.
Caspian got up from his mate’s legs, walking forward. "Jael? You’re back so soon?" He asked nervously with a hint of disappointment.
He had hoped that Jael would stay away for a little while to spend time with Gage, he had even schemed with Asher that neither would call until Jael did, in hopes that he would stay away longer.
"Yes," Jael answered a little hoarsely, too strung up to notice their disappointment. "Found Gage, he’s... fine."
Relief washed over Caspian’s face, "Did he have any answers?"
Jael swallowed, clearing his throat before digging out a well-rehearsed response. "Not really, said he had..."
Before he could force all of his lies out, Asher interrupted. He had been about to tag on that Gage had said that ’he had never heard of that’.
"No surprise," Asher scoffed, "Did you just get back?" He changed the topic, "You came just in time for dinner."
Jael let the conversation change happen, eyes dark as they settled around the dinner table, familiar conversation spilling between glass flutes and silverware.
