A Wolf's Purpose

•Chapter 30• Settle Down

"Isn't this great? I thought I lost this." Jack says as he holds up a flannel shirt. His brothers roll their eyes at him. "You lose everything." Jerry points out. Megan makes her way over to the middle triplet. "I remember that. I wore that." She added. He frowns and holds the shirt up to his nose. "I had kinda hoped that the rats would've caused the scent." He jokes. Megan shoved his shoulder playfully. "I didn't have any perfume or body spray!" She reminds him. Jack looks at her. He had a shy smile on his face. She grabbed the shirt from his hands. "I'm gonna take this home, and put it in the wash." She informs him. "But then your scent will be gone." He replied. Megan lifts her chin slightly. She gave him a suspicious look. It's been on the floor, in the dust, for months. I am taking this." She says. She starts to walk away. Jack shakes his head as he starts to unpack his backpack. Jayden came up behind him and pats his shoulder gently.  "We need to talk about this situation between you and Megan." He tells his younger brother. "I don't know what you're talking about," Jack replies. He continues to unpack. He wanted to make himself as comfortable as possible this time. After all, this place wasn't exactly a five-star hotel. It's not even a hotel. Jayden glares at his brother. "Dude," he started. "You always see this as a competition. It's not. She's my friend, all right?" Jack snaps at his brother. Jayden didn't expect his sudden outburst. He turned away, not wanting to cause any more friction, and walked away.

Megan looks up at the two. She makes her way back over to Jack. "What was that all about?" She questions. "Nothing. Your boyfriend is worried I'm going to steal you." He replied. Megan was a bit surprised by his choice of words. Boyfriend? "He's, uh, not my boyfriend. You know that." She responds. Jack looks at her. "I think you should tell him that." He chuckles. She just stands there. She observed his body language. He seemed very tense. They stood in silence for a minute or two. Megan didn't know what to tell him. They were known to make things overly dramatic. But she didn't want to upset him again. He has been on edge. She didn't want to trigger anything. "What are we?" He blurted out suddenly. "W-what? Uh, we're friends, I guess? Right?" Megan stuttered, feeling a bit lost for words at the sudden question. "So is Jayden." She added. She knew why he asked the question, but was this the right time to solve this? They weren't really going to be busy. Maybe this was the best time of all.

"It doesn't always feel like that, though," Jack tells her. Megan swallowed hard. She didn't know what she felt. One time she felt more toward Jack. The next day, it could be Jayden. She was very confused. She didn't even know if it was necessarily romantic. They had their moments. "Jack, I don't know." She tells him quietly. He looks straight into her eyes. "I'm- I just..." She started before letting out a sigh, "I want to say that I just like one of you. But I can't. I like you both. And I am not even sure if it's romantic or not." She admitted. Jack stayed silent. Her whole posture changed. She started talking with her hands. She does that when she becomes overwhelmed. "Hey, hey, calm down." He replies calmly. He opened his arms a little for her to step into. "Sorry." She apologized. She steps into his embrace. "Hey, I'm not the dramatic one. Okay, maybe sometimes." He jokes making her laugh a little. "As long as you don't tell on us, I'm good. Sorry if I upset you," he tells her. She shakes her head. "You didn't upset me. I just... I don't want to hurt you guys. But I don't know. Don't have a lot of experience in this area, you know?" She replied. He chuckles and squeezes her tight. "That's why Jayden wants you so badly, I think." He said. Megan lifts her chin and glares at him. "Too soon?" He questions, making her laugh. 

"You realize you do not have the authority to do that, right, sir?" Hayden asks the doctor. The man rolls his eyes. He turns to the nurse who helped Jade up from her bed. "I can go?" Jade questions. The doctor nodded. "I don't like to say it, but there isn't anything else we can do for you now. Besides, I think you'll have much more time to process it all when you're at home. A safe environment often helps with the recovery." He explains to her. Casper and Andrew, who were still in the room, were also quite in shock. "You can't let her go," Hayden spoke up. The medic turns back to him. "I can. And so should you. You don't have anything against her. You do not have the right to keep her under arrest." The doctor replied. Hayden wanted to protest but the doctor held up his hand. He gave him a judgemental look. "I know the law. I've had a lot of patients throughout the years with officers like yourself breathing down their necks. There is nothing legal about her arrest. She can take this to court and you can lose your jobs. And she does not seem like someone who backs down. So I suggest you step back before she gets you fired." The doctor tells him sternly. 

The man turns to Jade. He thanked the nurse and waited for her to step out. As she did, she shot a glance at Casper. He didn't really notice her. "Are you relatives?" The doctor asks the two boys. "Very good friends," Andrew answered. Jade gave them both a smile. Andrew stood closely behind her, placing his hands on her arms. "I trust you two will keep an eye on her. She can't get overwhelmed or anything like that. She needs to rest. It will slow the disease. Hopefully, by that time we will have found a proper treatment. You need to give us some more time to contact other hospitals." The man tells them. "We understand." Casper cut in. They shook hands and made their way to the door. "Jade," The doctor calls out. She stopped her pace and looks at him. "We're going to do everything we can. But you have to promise me you will slow things down." He says sternly. She nodded. "Good. And I hope these gentlemen will no longer bother you either. Doctor's orders." He assured her. "Thank you, sir." She smiles politely.

The two boys took her outside and to Louis' car. "How did you even get away from my dad?" She asks Casper. He shrugged. "I'll tell you some other time. Okay?" he says. He opened the door to the backseat for her. Andrew helped her get inside carefully. The duo got into the car as well and drove off before Hayden or Lucas could start questioning them again. Casper looks at her briefly through the review mirror. "You all right?" He asks her. "A bit dizzy." She admitted. Andrew turns around in his seat and hands her a bottle of water. "Thank you, Annie." She says quietly. She takes a few sips and sits up straight. "You didn't tell anyone else, yet, right?" She questions. "Not yet." He answered. She nodded and sighed. "Good." She started, "I want to tell them myself." She added. Casper nodded and focused back on the road. "Heard anything from my dad?" She asks. Andrew looks at Casper. The young man cleared his throat. "Uh, no, we're still on the lookout, though. I put everyone on it. Even Rico." He gave her a small smile when he said that name. She returned the smile. "Oh yeah, then we're totally safe." She chuckled. Andrew furrows his eyebrows together and frowned at them. Jade noticed and laughed quietly. She explained that Rico was one of the tougher guys in the pack. He wasn't afraid of anything. Except for cats. And they found out when they were getting ready for a heist. He freaked out because of a stray cat and just locked himself in the bathroom. Andrew couldn't help but laugh at it too. "He's a sweetheart though. He has adorable kids." Jade added.