Mask | ✓

39

I woke up the following day to the sound of my phone going off. For a brief moment, I questioned who would call me at six in the morning, seeing as anyone who would have a reason to contact me at such an early time was currently in the pack, but then I remembered.

I rubbed my eyes and sat up before grabbing my phone and glancing at the caller ID. It was, unsurprisingly, Nixon. Had it been anyone else, I might've been slightly annoyed by the call, but Nixon wasn't just anyone.

"Tate!" That was the first thing I heard when I answered the call.

"Hi, Nix," I greeted back, a smile breaking out on my face. "Did you need something?"

"Do I need a reason? We didn't talk yesterday, and I wanted to today."

"At six in the morning?" I asked, but my tone was light to indicate I was joking.

"I could call you at one in the morning, and you'd still answer."

I shook my head even though he couldn't see me because he was right; as annoyed as I would be, at the end of the day, I'd still answer.

Nixon and I talked about Nolan, about Roan, about my pack—everything. We spoke until I heard the sound of someone moving around and checked to see the time. Two hours had passed in a flash, and now it was time to get up.

"Hey, Nix, I have to go. I'll call you later," I promised.

I didn't want to end the call just yet, but I knew the movement had to have come from Reo. After we met up yesterday, he returned home with me, and he was more than likely awake by now. I wanted to talk to him about yesterday and see where his head was. If I knew Reo like I thought I did, he was the type to bottle things up or ignore them until they went away—neither of which would work nor be beneficial in this situation.

After hanging up with Nixon, I made my way downstairs and found Reo moving around the kitchen. I was sure he had to have heard me enter, but he didn't say anything as he searched about.

I waited a few seconds to see if he'd talk, but he didn't. It wasn't surprising—Reo wasn't an emotional person, and he likely wanted to act as if yesterday had never happened.

"How are you feeling?" I finally asked.

With his back still turned to me, Reo shrugged. "Fine."

"How long are you staying for?"

"A day or two."

To say the conversation was awkward would've been an understatement. Reo spoke only in one-worded answers, letting me know that he wanted this to end as fast as possible.

I sighed and moved to the table, and took a seat. "Reo, come on."

"What?"

"You know what."

A tense silence fell over us, and I frowned before moving toward him. I reached out to touch his shoulder, but before I could, Reo jerked away from me. He turned around, but his eyes didn't meet mine.

"Can you not?" Reo said, his words laced with annoyance.

"I just want to make sure you're going to be okay," I frowned.

"I said I'm fine. You don't need to keep asking."

"I think I've known you long enough to know you're not—"

"I don't want to talk about this."

"So you just plan to keep bottling it up, hoping that it goes away?" I raised an eyebrow. His jaw clenched, and I sighed before softening my gaze. "Come on, Reo. You know—"

"I said I don't want to talk about it," he growled. "Who are you to tell me about bottling things up? Come on, Tatum."

Despite his mocking comments and the anger in his eyes, I knew it wasn't entirely directed at me. He was scared, frustrated, and angry with the news he'd just learned, and this was his way of trying to cope with it.

"Okay," I said after a few moments. "We don't have to talk about it."

I wanted to, though. I wanted him to know that this wasn't something he'd have to go through alone, but I knew that trying to talk to him right now was useless. It'd only end with us fighting, which was the last thing I wanted.

Reo turned away, and silence enveloped us once again. My mind went back to his comment about bottling things up. I wanted to talk to him before I left—I needed to. Neither one of us had addressed it yet, but there was this barrier between us. One that had slowly been getting bigger since he told me about his plans to transfer—no, it had been growing long before that.

At one point, we were thick as thieves, and now it felt like we were falling apart. However, I knew that this wasn't the time to talk to him. Not when he was already in such a messed up state, so instead, I decided to take the time to address another problem—one that I had been putting off.

"I'm going to step out for a while. I'll be back in a few hours," I told Reo, who instantly frowned.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

A certain pair of mismatched eyes entered my mind.

I couldn't put it off anymore. After taking a break, I was more than determined to get my life back together, and the next thing on my post-break checklist was to sit down and talk to my friends. I was tired of the lack of communication, and the first step to fixing that started with the person who had been present during it all, the person who I had initially been suspicious of, the person who had been there when I broke down after pulling the plug on my mate.

A bittersweet smile took over my face, and I glanced over at Reo. "I'm going to see Cloud."