Claimed And Marked By Her Stepbrother Mates - Chapter 244

Chapter 244: 244-A Fake Jacket Holder

Helanie:

“Penn, come over here,” Jenny waved her hand at her brother to get his attention. As he acknowledged her and gave her a blank look, her pleasant smile started to deteriorate.

She lowered in her seat and looked down while her brother approached our table.

“Where were you the whole night, Jenny? Dad, Mom, and I had been so worried about you. You never left the pack without informing anyone. What if something bad had happened to you?” Penn hissed at his sister, who kept lowering her head as if she was afraid if she met his eyes, he would find out the truth about her.

“She was with me at the trainer’s mansion,” as soon as I lied for her, she raised her face and gave me a smile. Along with that, Penn looked less angry all of a sudden.

“The trainers are giving me therapy, so—I needed a friend on my side too,” I kept lying and noticed how effortlessly I was doing it now.

“Oh,” Penn cleared his throat, “then you should have at least informed us. Jenny, we were so scared for you,” his tone had shifted now that he knew his sister didn’t spend the night lurking around.

Aside from that, his eyes kept moving to Lamar, and a frown would appear on his forehead. He made no effort in hiding his disdain for Lamar.

“Anyway, let’s go make a call to Mom and Dad first, and then we can join them,” Penn held his phone for her even when she had her phone with her. Jenny excused herself and left after him, but now I was going to confront Lamar about his relationship with Jenny.

I thought she was at odds with him after what he did to her last time.

“So?” I asked, folding my arms over my chest and leaning back in my seat.

“She is cute and just a friend. But—,” he leaned over from across the table to whisper the rest of what he had to say, “there is something about her that compels me to bow down before her. Like, I knew she was off-limits now but—her scent, her cute little pout, and—,” he shut up after finding me raising my eyebrows at him.

“So you like her?” I inquired, giving him a look that made him visibly lower his eyes.

“Umm, as a friend, yes,” he added with shame in his eyes.

I wondered what was going on between the two of them. I mean, I would much rather want to see Jenny with Lamar, who would love and care for her. But only if he doesn’t cheat on her.

Rayden was a mess and did not deserve her or anyone else. He deserved punishment. He was a rapist and a murderer.

I scoffed under my breath at the recollection before my eyes moved to Lamar, who had turned his neck back to stare at Jenny.

She had come back in after making a call and now stood in front of the counter to place an order for all of us.

“I’ll go help her out,” Lamar whispered, stealing a glance from me as he rushed to meet her.

While he walked away, Penn walked over. I straightened my back in the seat and looked outside the window.

I wasn’t mad at him for being upset with me. I had stood him up and was in constant issues with his sister and best friend, Rayden.

However, something made me look back at him when remembering him being friends with Rayden.

He was Rayden’s childhood friend and also his supporter whenever Jenny tried to tell her brother her mate was messy.

Could it be that—

No! Lamar said the other guy was also a blue jacket holder. I gulped and cleared my throat to say something to Penn, who sat across from me with his eyes on my face but didn’t say anything until we spoke up in unison.

“How are you?”

A little laugh from us, and then Penn took the lead, “I am sorry for what happened with Lucy. I was meaning to talk with you the same night, but then you just left for your room. After that, Jenny had an anxiety attack. She believed she caused Lucy all that stress. I had to take leave and take her home,” he started explaining quite right away.

I kept nodding my head in agreement.

“It is okay. I don’t blame you for not checking on me sooner. But I am good now. The therapy is working,” I lied but did it specifically because, in the back of my mind, I was worried if Rayden and Penn shared information.

Rayden should not know I am miserable.

“That is great. Where are you staying? I mean—I heard something happened on the academy’s last day. I am so ashamed that Rayden was a part of the name-calling. I confronted him, and he told me that he only said those words under the pressure of the seniors. You see, he is a senior and had just shifted, so he thinks he needs to follow their lead to make a place for himself,” the way Penn was retelling Rayden’s side compelled me to wonder if Penn would even believe me had I ever said his friend was a scumbag.

Probably not.

Penn doesn’t even know me like that. Why would he believe me over his best friend?

“That was dealt with. The trainers took it seriously and even offered me free therapy and a place to crash at,” before Rayden or anyone else could have different ideas about me staying with the trainers, I answered Penn so that the news would reach Rayden.

“Aha! What about Rayden? Are they going to expel him? I mean, he did wrong and received a warning—his parents did,” Penn curiously asked when he should have known that if they had to expel him, they would have done it in the office.

Besides, like Rayden said, he was so cunning that he initiated the bullying by getting in Riri’s ears.

She took the lead, and the academy cannot expel everyone for using harsh words. Sadly, I couldn’t even tell if Rayden threw anything at me that day. I had my head down and covered in my hands.

“You two seem pretty close. Did you ever visit him at the Fellmoon Academy? How was he there?” I asked in a gentle tone, like I just wanted to know more about his personality.

“Oh, we are very close. Like best best friends. And yeah! Sort of. He was popular in Fellmoon. I used to visit him all the time, in fact—funny that you asked—” Penn took a pause as he laughed at the distant memory, “he used to have an extra jacket for me. So I would wear it and enter his academy, and nobody would question it.”

As he let out a laugh, it became hard for me to fake my own.