Bullied Mate Of The Lycan Kings - Chapter 71: Chapter 71

Judy’s POV
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
That voice.
I had only heard it a handful of times but I knew who it was.
Turning to the side to look up at Steven’s face as he pulled me in for a side hug, I wondered where he had come from and why he was even here. I thought I had seen the last of him for some reason.
That curiosity quickly subsided when I looked at Nick who was watching the two of us with a frown on his face while Steven smirked at him.
With Nick’s white blond hair and light brown eyes like broken glass, and Steven’s coal black hair and chasm black eyes that opened into an abyss, they looked like exact opposites. Two different sides of the same moon.
Lori looked between the two of us with suspicion but it was nothing as tense as the stare off that was currently happening between Steven and Nick.
“No, you haven’t,” I frowned, trying to shrug his hand off of me, but he only held on tighter.
“Don’t be like that,” he teased. “I’ll be giving you a ride back home today.”
Nick made a sound like he was dying, causing me to look at him again.
“You are?” Nick asked, his voice brittle as he looked at me with a pained expression on his face that was so difficult to see, it made me look away.
It was Steven that answered again.
“Yes. I’m taking her home. You got a problem with that, Nick?”
“Are you letting this happen, Judy?”
I looked at him. “It’s just a ride. It’s either him or I take the bus.”
“I just offered-“
“Think of it, genius, the girl you like and the girl fated for you in the same car. Did you even think about how that would affect Judy, or are you just thinking of yourself?”
“Steven.” Nick warned dangerously, but even I could see the annoyance and defeat etched so deeply on his face. He knew Steven was telling the truth.
Nick looked at me again and when I didn’t say anything, I saw the annoyance on his face turn to jealousy and then to hurt. “It’s Steven. You hate Steven.”
He looked genuinely confused and hurt and I couldn’t bear to look at his face again.
“We’ve settled our differences. Haven’t we, duchess?” Steven was gleaming. Enjoying this way more than he should.
“Don’t speak for her.” Nick snapped, his voice growing so cold, the hairs on the back of my neck rose.
“He’s not lying,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm and leveled to dissuade the situation, “he apologized and I forgave him.”
“He what?!” He choked, incredulous disbelief in his eyes.
“I know I know, the concept of Steven apologizing to anyone is too difficult to grasp but that’s what happened. I promise.”
“Judy…”
“It’s just a car ride. I’ll be fine. I’ll still… I’ll still hang out with you at school, right?”
That won’t change, right?
I could practically feel the helplessness that was radiating from him as he watched me and I could not help but feel miserable at the entire situation.
I could have sworn that when I rejected Nick, I was doing the right thing, what was best for everyone but now everything just felt like one big mistake. It felt like I had never been so wrong in my life. It felt like I was tasting ashes on my tongue.
He let out a dry chuckle that twisted my insides. Still looking at me, he ordered, “wait in the car, Lori.”
“What?” Lori screeched, about to start a tirade but a glare from Nick immediately silenced her.
She did as she was asked.
Grabbing my hand, he walked a distance away from Steven, who to his credit, maintained the distance.
“I’m trying my hardest to make this work but you won’t even take my hand.”
“I-“
“I know you like me, I know you care. The connection we have, it’s not something that can be faked. But you’re too scared to take what you want. Is it that hard? Am I so unlovable that you don’t even want to risk it? Am I not worth the risk?”
“Nick, no! That’s not what I meant.”
“I’m done. It’s fine. Lori and I will never work out, I just wanted to let you know, so stop bending over backwards for her. I wasn’t just breaking up with her because you asked me to, I was breaking up with her because being with her f*****g hurts and you gave me the courage I needed to do what I should have done a long time ago.”
Tears were sliding down my cheeks now. My heart was breaking into a million tiny pieces.
“That’s enough,” Steven said, suddenly appearing and taking my hand.
Nick’s eyes zeroed in on our interlocked hands, hurt flashing in those caramel brown eyes as he gritted his teeth.
So much more was left unsaid between us.
“Come on, let’s go, sweetheart.” Steven said, steering me in the opposite direction.
I followed him like a brain dead zombie.
As Steven led me away, he linked his fingers through mine, tugging me firmly to his side. He had ditched his gloves and his skin was even colder than the rings decorating his long fingers. I ignored the way his body felt cool to the touch unlike the way it was for hot blooded werewolves, a reminder that he was a vampire.
I still had the bite marks on my neck to prove it even though they were fading and everytime that my eyes saw the fang marks in the mirror, I remembered that night. I remembered how much I had liked the feeling of the bite even though it was supposed to be the most repulsive thing to me. If he bites me now, would it stop the ache in my chest that was threatening to tear me to pieces? He could make himself useful, right?
Why was he even here right now? I thought he was going to track down the person that had done this… unless he was really a blood hound and had found the defacer in a few short hours. It still didn’t explain why he was even offering to give me a ride home. My home was hours away from school on the outskirts of Bloodless Moon. Surely he had better things to do with his time.
I did not understand why he was here, walking beside me, leading me away from Nick but I was grateful because it would have been embarrassing to do alone. I wondered what Nick would be thinking right now as he watched us walking away. Was he even still there watching us?
Was he thinking there was something between Steven and I now?
I froze.
Was he?
No. No, he couldn’t be farther from the truth.
I tried to look back at Nick one last time but Steven tightened his hold on my hand, stopping me. When I looked up at him in confusion, he shook his head and kept walking.
“Don’t look back sweetheart. Just keep walking.”
“But …”
“Keep your eyes in front of you. He’s with his mate. Fighting with his best friend over another girl while his girlfriend is standing right there is really not a good look on either of you. And you care about his image, don’t you?”
Yes, I wanted to scream. But I also wanted to take it back. Take it all back. I wanted him to be the one holding my hand right now even though I realized that I did not hate being held by Steven which was odd, considering that I saw him as public enemy number two.
Of course Caesar was number one.
But Steven was right, wasn’t he? I had done all of this for a reason, regardless of what Nick thinks, I’m not just doing this for Lori, I’m trying to do what’s best for all of us.
Would it not be selfish to throw all of my efforts away right now? Plus the last thing I wanted was a physical altercation between Steven and Nick and I knew that if I even for a second gave Nick the idea that I was not willingly going with Steven, he would spring into action and try to defend me, thinking I was in danger.
Swallowing hard, I nodded in response to Steven’s question and continued walking. We made a turn and when I looked up at Steven, he was chuckling to himself, with a very amused grin on his face, fanged canines peeking out, and I just wanted to slap it away.
Removing my hand from his, I frowned at him.
“You seem to be having a whole lot of fun right now with all of this, don’t you?”
“The most fun I’ve had in ages. And I have you to thank for that, sweetheart.”
“Stop calling me that.”
“What? Sweetheart?”
“Yes! I am not your sweetheart.”
“But you are Nick’s sweetheart, aren’t you? You should have seen the look on his face when I took you away. This is the first time that I have ever seen Nick like that in his entire life. He is usually the epitome of calm and unbothered. He wouldn’t even care if you ran him over with a truck. But he’s crazy about you. It’s written all over his face. I bet he doesn’t even know that we can all see how down bad he is for you. I never thought I’d see the day. Congratulations on being a little heartbreaker.”
My heart constricted at Steven’s words, crushing guilt squeezing my lungs.
It was as if Steven’s words were designed to hit me like whiplash.
“I’m not a heartbreaker,” I murmured. At least, I don’t try to be.
His smile widened and I snapped angrily. “What? I’m not.”
“If you say so.” He was enjoying this way too much.
“Nick is your best friend. How could you take pleasure in his pain? Do you think I want to do this to him? Do you think I want to hurt him? Do you think I derive any pleasure from doing this?”
“Then why are you doing this?” Steven asked quietly, folding his arms and I stopped and turned to look at him.
“I’m trying to do what is best for his relationship. I’m trying to save his reputation. His future would be a lot better and more respectable with his mate by his side. And what will people think of me if they hear that he broke his mating bond because of me? What will they think of him? I don’t want to put that mental strain on him because I’ve been on the receiving end of harsh rumors and public castigations.”
I was panting by the time I was done speaking and I saw that the expression on Steven’s face turned serious as he closed the distance between us and leaned in to look down at me, his dark hair flopping over his forehead and falling over his eyes.
“Do you even care about what Nick wants? Did it ever occur to you that all of that doesn’t matter as long as he has what he wants the most by his side. It’s always what people will think and how people will react when it’s really not about them. Are you doing this for him or for them?”
Whatever reply I had died and I faltered, at a loss for words.
Steven watched me for a few moments waiting for a response and when he realized that I was not going to give him one, that I didn’t have an answer to that question, his chuckle was light and he shook his head.
“Well, think about that for a while, you can’t please everybody. Just f**k it and do what makes you happy and let the rest of the world kiss your a*s if they’re mad about it. But I should let you know this since it seems that you can’t even see it. You say you’re doing this for Nick but the only person benefiting from this tragedy… from this self sacrificing martyrdom of yours, is Lori.