Ground Zero (BoyxBoy)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Ground Zero

Chapter Twenty-Six

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The walk back home had been a silent one.

Neither of us seemed to know what to say to each other, but at least we had made it back before the streetlights had turned on. God only knows how much worse our night would have become if we hadn't.

But now, I couldn't sleep. My mind was racing a mile a minute, plagued with thoughts--no, questions regarding Jude. All he said, the familiarity between the two, and his promise to stay until Zero came with him... willingly?

What if Jude didn't wait for willingly? I mean, he seemed the type to act rash and take what he wanted when he wanted, and he wanted Zero.

Fuck, none of that interaction was sitting right with me.

He'd mentioned a pack too; he had said your pack. Zero's pack. A pack Jude must have been apart of. So, there was more of them, there had to be, and with that knowledge only brought on more questions. Questions I needed, wanted answers for... But not just questions, it brought worry as well, knowing there were others out there like Zero. What if they too, wanted Zero? What if they took Zero?

I turned over, laying flat on my back and stared up at the ceiling, as if it held all the answers, but it didn't. No, the person with answers, albeit maybe not all, laid a couple feet away from me, tucked under the covers with his back to me.

We needed to talk, wolf to wolf. Tonight.

I turned onto my side, reached out and tapped the screen of my cell phone. It illuminated a small portion of my bedroom, and it read 2am on the dot. Everyone in the house was long asleep by now, well, everyone but Zero and myself.

"Zero." I whispered, sitting up in bed. I watched him turn over, stare at me for a brief moment before he too, sat up in bed, lacing his fingers and settled them between his knees. "Get dressed. We're going to talk without interruptions this time."

"Hazzy talk about Four."

I sighed and ran my fingers through my disheveled hair. "Yeah, Four and other things."

"Other things?" Zero echoed, cocking his head to the side.

"Just get dressed," I muttered, standing from my bed and flicked on the light. "It'll be easier to talk when we're shifted."

Zero sighed, long and drawn out, but he obeyed nonetheless. Dressing in his clothes from earlier while I did the same, only I added a black vest over top of my sweater and grabbed a dark green one for Zero. It was going to be chillier out this late, or rather this early I guess.

It was easy enough to sneak out, closing the front door with a soft click behind us before we made our way back into the woods. It took us a good twenty minutes to reach the clearing, and well I knew only one of us needed to be shifted to have a proper conversation, Caleb said weekly shifts would do us both some good. Cause little by little, I felt that itchiness and restlessness deep inside myself, and hopefully this shift would put that feeling to rest, at least for a little while.

Now came the awkward part, I realized, feeling that familiar heat blossom in my cheeks. I lowered my gaze and swallowed the lump in my throat. We had to undress or risk tearing apart the clothes we wore when we shift. Talk about a true walk of shame home if that were to happen. I didn't even know why I was making it out to be a bigger deal than it was. I had seen Zero naked multiple times.

Hell, I even helped the guy bathe, but this time around, I don't know, it felt different.

I cleared my throat and began undressing, making sure to keep my eyes downcast and cursing the tremble in my hands as I did. Zero followed suit, seemingly indifferent to the cool nip in the air as he went. Though, once I was completely in the nude, I fully registered just how cold it was, leaving me a naked and quivering mess. I placed my clothing in a sloppy pile off to the side, and Zero added his own to the pile. I could feel his eyes, scanning me head to toe and how I wanted to turn around and hide, but it would be pointless, I was just as naked in the back as I was in the front.