Chapter 115
Clementine:
The minute we were on the road, I noticed the alphas stepping ahead of me, looking around. Troy had his hands on his waist, and I could see how broad he was. Haiden still had sleep in his eyes, I could tell, because he kept rubbing them. Then there was Yorick, stretching and yawning. I figured they only came because of me; otherwise, they wouldn’t have bothered looking for Ian.
“Wow, there’s a phone booth, and it’s locked. You said it was open p>
Troy rushed toward the booth, but stepped back, losing enthusiasm. I pushed past him to check, and sure enough, it was locked again.
“I unlocked it,” I said, and my head started to spin. “The lurkers must have come back and locked it. That means they knew somebody opened it p>
“Isn’t it weird?” I asked Yorick, who had stepped forward to check the lock this time.
“We need to go,” Yorick said, gently touching my elbow.
“What about Ian?” I pressed.
“He can go fuck himself,” Yorick said, grabbing my arm to pull me away.
“No!” I protested, trying to break free, but then Haiden stepped forward.
“You know, there’s just one way,” Haiden muttered, grabbing my arm, pulling me closer, and tossing me over his fucking shoulder.
“What the fuck, Haiden?” I growled, keeping my voice low so the lurkers wouldn’t hear.
“Put me down,” I hissed, but he just ran toward the dorm. I felt strange being on his shoulder, the others right behind us, rushing back.
Once we made it to the dorm, Haiden hunched so I wouldn’t hit the ceiling, then set me down inside. The minute he did, I grabbed his shirt and shook him.
“What the fuck, Haiden?” I snapped, but he smirked and wrapped his arms around me.
“What? Getting wet for me already?” he teased.
I shoved him away. “Ian’s still out there. We need to go. I’m pretty sure whatever happened on that phone call upset him, and that’s why he left p>
“Hush, the lurkers will hear,” Yorick warned, hunching forward and motioning for me to be quiet.
“No,” I shot back.
“Listen, if he was upset and left, that’s his decision,” Troy argued, stepping closer. The look on his face told me he wasn’t happy I was fighting so hard for Ian.
“And why do you even fucking care about Ian?” Haiden asked, as if reading Troy’s mind, or mine.
“Because he’s our squad mate. He told me he’d act as part of the team once I helped him with the phone booth, which I did. So now we’re basically a team. And no, I’m not leaving him out there p>
I knew I was irritating them, maybe more than I should. They didn’t say it, but I could see from their body language they were struggling to persuade me, and it was making them angry.
“That dude doesn’t even like you,” Haiden hissed.
“Oh, and you do?” The words slipped out before I could stop them. I hadn’t meant to confront them now, especially when my focus was on Ian. If I told them what he’d said, they’d give up on finding him.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Haiden demanded, eyes narrowing, eyebrows furrowing.
“I mean, she’s not wrong,” Troy muttered.
The second Haiden looked at him, Troy glanced away, as if fascinated by the ceiling. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Yorick smirking, apparently amused that I was questioning Haiden’s feelings for me. As if they’d be spared, but of course, they didn’t know it yet.
“Let it be. I don’t want to talk about it right now,” I told Haiden, looking away and rubbing my palms anxiously. I shouldn’t have commented, because now I could tell his full attention was on me.
“No, I want to know why you would say that,” Haiden insisted, his voice urgent.
“I guess it’s just weird that you suddenly started being nice to her.” Troy intervening definitely got a reaction out of Haiden. He turned to him, then pointed at me. “Did he say something to you p>
As soon as Haiden asked that, Troy started to look aggressive. “Hey, I’m not the one who goes around starting rumors p>
When Troy said that, Yorick began to scoff. “Well, you did start a rumor. I mean, you were always kind of starting weird rumors about Clementine, about how she was stealing kisses from you when being in a relationship with me, or that she loves starting rumors about someone else.” This time it was Yorick who had inserted himself.
“You don’t get to say anything. You started a relationship with her over a bet,” Troy argued.
“Excuse me, and you know what happened after that. I did fall for her, unlike you. You were a snake, never her friend,” Yorick hissed, his voice aggressive.
I folded my arms over my chest, watching them argue like idiots.
“That does not explain why she made a comment about me. Did any one of you do something?” Haiden was speaking when he paused just to turn and look at me. “Trust me, I don’t know what they told you, but it is not true p>
Haiden didn’t even know what I was upset about, and he was already insisting he had nothing to do with it.
“If you’re all done arguing and reminding me how messed up you’ve been to me, can we please focus on someone who might actually need our help tonight?” I hissed, grunting through clenched teeth.
They fell silent, staring at me. Before Haiden could say anything else, because I could tell from his body language he was about to ask again why I made that comment, I held up my palm.
“I don’t want to hear anything except where we should start looking for Ian,” I hissed.
Then I heard the bathroom door open. All their heads snapped up, eyes wide, staring behind me. Slowly, I turned to look.
It was Ian.
And then, in a very soft and gentle tone, Troy said, “Perhaps what we’re searching for has been right under our noses this whole time p>