CHAPTER 10

JAYDEN’s POV

“You sure you don’t want to add anything else?” I glanced at the finished tattoo before looking at my new artist.

“I’m good.”

He wiped the excess ink away before stepping back to admire his work. “Looks clean.”

I hummed in response, barely paying attention to him or anything else. The sting of the needle had long been replaced by the dull ache spreading across my arm. The words on my skin made me feel a different type of way. It was reclaiming a part of my self my father has cut away from me.

“Just keep the bandage on for a few hours,” he said. “Wash it gently when you get home and NO scratching.”

I nodded my head already up and planning to leave his studio.

He chuckled.

I pulled my shirt back on carefully, trying not to let the fabric brush against the fresh ink. He probably thought I was some masochist, considering how I barely reacted during the whole process and how I’m moving now. It still burned, but it was nothing compared to the hours I’d spent training with my father earlier.

This was absolutely nothing.

I pulled out my wallet, paid him, and stepped outside.

The evening air hit my face, cool enough to take the edge off the heat clinging to my skin. I rolled my shoulders, wincing at the pain I felt all over my body from the training.

As if yesterday at school hadn’t already been exhausting enough. My father just had to add to it.

Shaking my head, I walked on the sidewalk, heading to where I parked my car.

A movement across the street caught my attention. Someone a bit too familiar stood completely still in front of the convenience store.

Blond hair. Petite stature. Pale skin. I frowned.

“Zander?” I said under my breath.

“Seriously… Him again?” I felt the irritation I managed to get rid of, surface again.

My eyes followed his line of sight and he was staring at a man who stood on the opposite side of the road with his back turned?

Nothing unusual and I looked back at Zander. He hadn’t moved but his grip on the shopping bag tightened. Even from where I stood, I could see his shoulders trembling.

“What the…?”

Zander took a shaky step backward and the bag slipped from his hand just as he landed on his knees.

His breathing looked uneven, almost frantic and choked.

I frowned.

Something was wrong.

Without thinking, I stepped off the curb.

“Zander—”

“Zander!” Someone beat me to it.

A girl rushed past me so fast I barely had time to register her. She reached him as his knees were already on the ground. She caught his face between her hands, saying something I couldn’t hear over the passing traffic.

Whatever it was, it seemed to reach him.

Slowly.

Carefully.

She pulled him into a hug, holding him as his shoulders shook.

I stopped where I was.

The words I’d been about to say died in my throat.

Something was very different. This wasn’t the guy who glared at me every chance he got. This wasn’t the guy who always had something smart to say.

This….was someone who looked completely terrified.

I looked back at Zander. The girl helped him pick up the groceries before wrapping an arm around him. Together, they slowly walked away.

I stood there for another moment, watching until they disappeared around the corner.

Then I turned and headed home but for some reason…I know as I walked away, I should’ve completely forgotten about it. Instead, the image of his face followed me all the way home.

For some reason, I couldn’t shake the anger sitting in my chest and I knew it wasn’t at Zander…. It was at whoever, or whatever made him act like that today.

  Monday arrived within the blink of an eye and the image of Zander was still stuck in my head. I let out a slow breath and leaned my head against the window.

“What the hell happened to him?”

 By the time I pushed open the dorm room door, Zander was already there. He sat at the desk, his attention fixed on the laptop and book in front of him. The scratching of his pen on his notebook was the only sound in the room.

“You’re back.” He said without looking back.

“Mhm.”

I dropped my bag beside my bed and started unpacking. The silence between us was… different, in a good way.

I pulled my hoodie over my head, careful not to brush against the fresh tattoo beneath my sleeve. Zander’s eyes lingered on the fresh ink like he wanted to come up to me and feel it. I shifted and he quickly flicked his eyes away.

“New tattoo?”

I looked at him.

“Yeah.”

“…It suits you.”

That caught me off guard because I expected him to say something judgmental or ask questions about the words I wrote on my forearm.

“Didn’t think you’d be the type to compliment me.” I decided to tease him.

“I wasn’t.” He deadpanned.

“Sure.”

He ignored me, but I caught the faintest hint of color creeping into his ears so I decided not to tease him anymore.

Instead, I reached into my bag and pulled out our project file. “We should probably finish some of this.” He stared at me like I was speaking some foreign language.

“What?” I asked, “You don’t think I’m capable of working on this project?”

“Just forget about it.” He actually chuckled.

For the next hour, we worked through the project but I’m sure we spent most of it arguing over which articles and formats to use. 

By the time we packed everything away, exhaustion had settled into every muscle in my body and I needed a nap and this long ass weekend I had. 

“I’m going to bed,” Zander muttered, already moving to lay on his bed.

“Night.”

“Night….” He yawned and the room fell silent.

I waited another minute before grabbing my towel because I needed to shower and I couldn’t risk him seeing the bruises all over my body and then start asking questions about where and how I got them from. 

Without another thought, I pulled my shirt over my head. The fabric dragged across the bruises covering my back, making me wince. Behind me, Zander’s eyes slowly opened. He hadn’t been completely asleep but just as I was about to say something, he quietly closed his eyes again as if he was day dreaming. 

“I wondered if that was just me seeing things again.” I muttered to myself.

I grabbed my clean shirt and headed into the bathroom, completely unaware that Zander had just stumbled across another piece of me I’d spent years hiding.