-Nate's POV-
I can't believe I'm sat in Kaygen's car on the way to his house. Is this the same Kaygen from 10 minutes ago?
Did I steal his heart by saving his life? Somehow, I couldn't see that, maybe he thought he owed me one, but it's not like I did it for something in return.
My instincts kicked in, and of course I would save my mate, and I'd do it over, and over again if need be.
Or maybe he really is grateful, or could he actually want to spend time with me? Honestly, my mate is so confusing sometimes, well all the time really.
He drove in silence, never even looking in my direction as he kept his eyes firmly on the road, a part of me was a little scared. He literally walked into oncoming traffic because of how distracted he was, and now he's driving.
This seems like a really bad idea, but I can't help how excited I am, I am going to Kaygen's house for the first time ever.
Oh shit, this probably means I'm going to meet his parents, the people who kicked Laken out for being gay.
Okay, have to keep my anger under control and in no way could I let my wolf take over, not even for a second. I have to remain calm, no matter what they say.
Could it really hurt to jump to Laken's defence if need be, though? Probably, I feel like that could be bad for Kaygen if I did that, and I definitely don't want to do anything to hurt him.
But Laken is my future Alpha, the mate of my best friend, it would be hard not to defend him. It was like instinct, you mess with my alpha, you mess with me.
I guess I will just have to bite my tongue as hard as I can, but for the sake of everything I stand for, I hope it doesn't come to that.
We drove in silence for a few more minutes before Kaygen was pulling up to a nice, family looking home. I guess looks really can be deceiving.
Kaygen parked the car in the driveway but made no move to get out as he just stared at the house in front of him.
I was going to ask if he is okay, but he spoke first.
"Sorry," Kaygen said, but still refused to look at me. "In advance." He finished, before he finally climbed out of the car.
What am I about to walk into?
I got out of the car and followed behind Kaygen into the house, which was quiet inside. I wonder if anyone's home, maybe we got lucky and it would just be the two of us.
"I'm home!" Kaygen called out into the silence, but no response came.
Kaygen didn't seem affected by that as he gestured for me to follow him. He led me through more of the plain looking house.
The walls held some pictures, but many spaces were blank, the smears on the walls reminiscent of where photos used to hang, having clearly been removed after a long time.
I didn't have to ask to know, the photos that once hung there held pictures of Laken. They really disowned their son for something he can't control, and now they're pretending like he simply didn't exist? What kind of people are they?
Kaygen ignored it, leading me into what was definitely the kitchen, where a woman stood cutting vegetables on a chopping board.
"Mum?" Kaygen asked, catching the attention of the woman who jumped.
"Jesus, Kaygen! Don't scare me like that," her tone was harsh, and I instantly didn't like her.
"Sorry, I did call out," Kaygen murmured, looking awkwardly between me and his mum, before the woman finally turned around and saw me.
"Who's this?" She asked, looking at me in surprise.
"Nathan Brose, Ma'am, but you can call me Nate," I greeted politely, not wanting to piss off Kaygen's mum just yet.
She smiled, brightly. Yay, brownie points for me.
"Lovely to meet you, Nate. Kaygen never brings friends over so it's nice to finally meet a friend of his, he's always brooding around so I was beginning to think he didn't have any. Oh, how rude of me, I'm Karen, Kaygen's mother," she wittered, and it took everything in me to keep the smile on my face.
"Kaygen's really popular at school, it's just his friends have practice so never have the time. We're quickly becoming best friends though, so I hope we get to spend more time together," I grinned, watching Kaygen as I spoke.
He seemed surprised that I defended him, yet didn't seem to notice that I was subtly flirting with him. Oh, my oblivious little mate, how I adore you.
"That's great, I look forward to seeing more of you then. Kaygen, honey, can you set the table? Dinner's almost ready."
Kaygen quickly set the table and to avoid standing there awkwardly, I helped him, which he quietly thanked me for.
Something felt off, like when people put on fake personas to hide their true colours, but you could feel it in the air, her smile was just a bit too forced.
And where is his dad?
Just as I thought that, a man walked through the door, he wasn't much taller than me, he had bags under his eyes and his salt and pepper hair stood up at all angles, there was quite a bit of stubble on his chin and he was quite muscular, probably in his 50's.
Nothing I can't handle though.
His eyes seemed to slowly take in his surroundings, before they fell on me questionably.
"Who are you?" He asked, trying to sound intimidating but I just smiled.
"Nathan Brose, Sir, but you can call me Nate." I reached out my hand to shake his, which he glanced at curiously before finally taking my hand.
I felt his hand squeeze mine and nearly laughed, if he thinks he can hurt me he is solely mistaken, I squeezed back but not as hard as I wanted to.
Don't want ol' daddy-o here to get suspicious now, do we?
"Mr Wakely," he simply said, not giving me his first name. Of course, I know Kaygen's name so I could have figured that out by myself but none-the-less I smiled before he finally let go of my hand.
I noticed Kaygen looking at me nervously, so I shot him a reassuring smile as we all gathered around the dining table.
Is this what hell is like? I was half expecting to get lectured, or questioned, or something, but I think the silence was much worse.
I kept throwing glances at Kaygen all throughout dinner, but he just stared down at his plate, he's probably embarrassed, but it didn't bother me.
Welp, they would all have to learn, I wasn't much for silence.
"The food is really good, Mrs Wakely." It was missing something, though.
"Thank you, dear, but you can just call me Karen," she smiled, not keeping eye contact for too long.
"Of course. This is a really small neighbourhood; I've always liked the ones where everyone knows each other." I didn't really know what to say, but I am hoping anything will spark some sort of conversation.
"We prefer to eat in silence," Mr Wakely grunted, what a killjoy.
"My apologies, I'm not used to dinner being so quiet," I smiled, only to be met with Mr Wakely's snarl.
"You spoilt?" He asked, what spoilt with conversation?
"Big family," I simply said.
That's when I noticed Kaygen glaring at me and decided to shut my mouth. Fine, only for you baby.
Mr Wakely grunted, stabbing his fork into his mashed potato, probably wishing it were my head and like a good boy, I didn't say another word for the rest of dinner.
Afterwards, I thanked Karen for the food, before Kaygen quickly excused us, grabbing my wrist, and pulling me upstairs.
The temptation to twist my wrist around so I could hold his hand instead was a hard one to fight, and it kept me distracted until we were safely tucked away in Kaygen's room.
And then the shouting started.
It wasn't Kaygen, it was his parents, they were arguing and didn't even bother to try and keep their voices down.
Kaygen didn't have a go at me like I thought he would, instead he smiled apologetically and moved over to where a single bed sat.
He threw himself down on the covers, staring emptily at the tv across the room from him.
"WHAT HAPPENED TO HAVING NO GUESTS OVER?"
"CAN'T YOU JUST BE HAPPY THAT OUR SON HAS A FRIEND, AFTER WHAT HAPPENED WITH-"
"WE AGREED WE DON'T TALK ABOUT HIM."
"MAYBE YOU CAN PRETEND HE DOESN'T EXIST, BUT I CAN'T, WE COULD HAVE TRIED TO SAVE HIM, PETER!"
"THERE IS NO SAVING A SINNER, KAREN. YOU KNOW THIS."
"IT'S LIKE YOU DON'T EVEN CARE."
"I DID WHAT I HAD TO TO SAVE THIS FAMILY, WHAT IF HE CORRUPTED KAYGEN?"
"KAYGEN'S NOT LIKE THAT."
"BECAUSE WE GOT RID OF THE PLAGUE BEFORE IT COULD SPREAD!"
"HOW CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HIM LIKE THAT?"
"I'M DONE HEARING ABOUT THIS, KAREN. WE DID WHAT WE HAD TO."
Their voices were loud and clear as they argued, it was obvious they were talking about Laken, even if they refused to say his name.
My blood boiled, hearing them talk badly about my future alpha, about their son. Laken deserved better, and he certainly earned a lot of respect from me on that behalf.
Poor kid, I'm glad he got out when he did. But before my anger could overwhelm me my eyes fell onto Kaygen, who continued to stare at the black screen, holding back all of his emotions.
Is this what he has to deal with everyday? No wonder he always looked so tired, so worn out, living in this kind of household must be draining.
"Are you okay?" I asked, not really sure what else to say.
"Just ignore them, they'll shut up eventually," he sighed, reaching for a remote and turning the tv on, his thumb slamming into the volume button as he blasted it as loud as it would go, before grabbing his PlayStation controller.
"Wanna play?" He asked, gesturing for me to come over.
I'm not sure how safe it is to be sitting next to him on a bed, but this might be the only time I get to experience this with him, so there was no way in hell I was going to decline.
I walked over to the bed and sat down next to him, closer than I needed to, but if he noticed, he didn't say anything.
We played video games for a while, he was actually pretty good and manged to kick my ass a few times, before we switched to a game where we were on the same side.
This is a lot more fun, now we get to work together instead of against each other. I will have to get the name of this game afterwards, I think Damon would enjoy it too, maybe I could get in a few matches with him.
"What the hell was that?" I asked, as Kaygen pulled off some super attack.
"I'm just that good," he smirked.
"I wanna do that," I said, pressing all the buttons on the controller, hoping something would happen.
"You can't."
"Why not?" I pouted.
"Cause you're not as awesome as me," he smirked again, clearly enjoying the power.
"Hey! I'm awesome," I defended, reaching for his controller that he pulled away from me while laughing, and damn was that a beautiful sound.
Is this the first time I've ever heard him laugh? I want to hear it more.
"You are, just not as awesome as me." Our attention was no longer on the tv as Kaygen laughed at me, and I fell more and more in love with the boy in front of me.
"So, you're saying I'm awesome?" I grinned, leaning closer.
"You're missing the point." He didn't pull away as he tried to defend himself.
"You just said I'm awesome," I smirked, I was so close to him, if I could just close the distance.
"I'D RATHER BE AT WORK THAN HERE."
"THEN GO TO WORK, I'M SURE YOUR SECUTARY IS WAITING FOR YOU."
"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?"
We were cut off by shouting once again, did they get louder? It broke us out of our daze and Kaygen turned back to the tv screen once again. Dammit, so close.
*
I'm struggling to write, also been spending a lot of time with family lately, still going though!
Also, this story is super fun to write so I hope it's just as fun to read.
I was up till 6am watching a stream cause I have no self control, so I'm running off of coffee.
Okay, time to start the next chapter!
Leave a like for love and light <3