Claimed And Marked By Her Stepbrother Mates - Chapter 402

Chapter 402: 402-The Ex Who Wants To Play Games
Helanie:

“Don’t focus on what they said. I wouldn’t have been here without you guys,” I told Jenny, who had been feeling so guilty that she had been bawling her eyes out the entire time.

“Jenny—” Hans appeared out of nowhere, rushing toward us with something in his hand. “Don’t cry, look what I did!” he smiled. “I busted all their tires.”

“Good job,” Penn patted his shoulder while Lamar gave him a nod, but I guess those small gestures of appreciation didn’t matter much to Hans. He was waiting for a response from Jenny, who gave him a small smile. The moment she did, Hans looked relieved.

“I can’t wait to—” Gavin kept having these bursts of happiness every few minutes, where he would remember the trip and clap his hands excitedly. But this time, Lamar planned to ruin it.

“To wear a bikini?” Lamar teased, and Gavin pouted, slapping his chest.

We were still sitting on the ground even as the night arrived. Sydney’s team had reacted aggressively to their loss. They cursed at Sydney, had an argument, and then left her on the ground, heading back to the academy without her.

Lucy had jumped in to comfort her best friend, while Salem kept staring at Gavin in silence.

“She’s texting you, isn’t she?” I asked Gavin, noticing Salem typing something, then looking at him. His phone would beep, but he kept ignoring her messages.

“We’re headed to dinner, are you guys coming?” Penn wrapped his arm around his sister’s shoulders and called out to me and Gavin.

“We’ll be there in a minute, you guys go ahead,” I gestured for them to go. I wanted to have a word with Gavin.

“She’s worried that since Lucy and I will be on the boat—” he sighed, shaking his head.

“Do you not like Salem at all? I mean, if you don’t, then you have every right to avoid her texts, but if you do—I think you’re being too harsh on her,” I wanted to know where he really stood in all this. If he wasn’t interested, then it was her fault for chasing after him.

But I felt like there was something from his side too.

“It’s not that I don’t like her. I just feel like our relationship would cause more arguments and problems,” he admitted, sighing constantly and stealing glances at Lucy.

“Gavin, do you want to go back to Lucy?” I didn’t know what made me ask that question, but I had a feeling she was the reason he wasn’t moving forward.

In response to my question, he only took a deep breath.

“No! Answer me, because I’ll take your silence however I want to. Do you want me to do that?” I warned him as we sat on the ground.

He uttered, “She wants to.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. “Lucy wants to get back with you?” I asked in shock.

He gave me a gentle nod.

“And what about you? What do you want?” I noticed him looking away.

“I don’t want that chapter to open again. So much happened, and the way we both cheated on each other, the way I ruined the purity of our relationship—I realized it had become so toxic that we shouldn’t be together,” he replied.

“And you have no feelings for her?” I just wanted to be certain he had no feelings left and that he wasn’t stuck between having feelings for both of them.

“I care about her as a friend, but I don’t love her—” He then bit his tongue and added, “Salem is my second chance mate.”

My jaw dropped while he covered his face in his hands.

“I know friends shouldn’t keep secrets, but I’m such an asshole—I can’t share my truth with anyone. It’s been like that since I was a child. I saw my mother confide in her friend about my uncle’s abuse after my father passed away. And that friend—she told my uncle. And then—” He was pouring his heart out until he suddenly stopped, recalling something. “It made my uncle abuse her—in other ways too.”

I could only imagine how he was feeling at that moment.

“I’m so sorry. I really am. I met your mother, and she’s such a nice person,” I said, unable to believe she had been through so much.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. Her abuser got away. He ran off with that friend of hers, and they got married. The last time she tried to go after them, she realized he had become a warrior in some pack, so an omega like her didn’t stand a chance. His pack’s alpha also protected him.”

Now I understood why Gavin couldn’t tell us anything, why he was always afraid of telling the truth. He was scared of the consequences.

“I shouldn’t have hurt others because of my own trauma. Lucy was innocent,” he added.

“And that’s why you decided to join this academy,” I murmured. It made sense now. I was shocked to realize how many of these students had their own painful stories.

“One day, one day, Helanie, I will become the royal Gamma of my pack and then go after that man,” he smiled weakly, and I couldn’t help but give him a hug.

“Go for Salem,” I said, breaking the hug.

“What?” he asked.

“You feel guilty for hurting Lucy, but that doesn’t mean you can’t move on with your life. Try to understand Lucy’s point of view as well, but ask yourself—what can be done?” I wasn’t sure if I would piss Lucy off even more if she found out I was the one in Gavin’s ear, pushing him to accept his second-chance mate.

“I’ll see,” he said. “Now, let’s go enjoy our victory.”

He smiled and got up, holding out his hand for me to take. I accepted, letting him pull me up, and we rushed away together, laughing and giggling as we tossed stones at each other.

We might have won today and passed a test, but there were still many things I needed to do before this trip.

And one of them was to go see Kaidon.