A Wolf's Purpose

•Chapter 82• When The Sun Comes Up

They were in the driveway, but the car was still shut off. Louis suggested going to a place to get something to eat, but Bill did not feel like starting the car yet. So, they sat in silence beside each other. Both thinking about whatever had just happened. Bill felt betrayed. He wanted to be angry but simply could not bring himself to. Louis, on the other hand, felt guilty all throughout his body. And he was angry, but mostly with himself. There was too much to think about and the sun was already coming up. They'd been here for hours. "Thanks for not shooting me," Louis said very quietly, almost in a whisper. Bill turned his head to look at him. "Maybe I should have." How did they end up here? What happened to them after all these years? "Bill," Louis started, "Look at us. How did this happen?" Bill wondered if it was an actual or rhetorical question. "Driven apart. Further than we've ever been." Louis continued. He rested back against his seat. "I always thought it would be a girl."
"That would have been a better reason if you ask me," Bill admitted. It would have been a normal thing. "Bill, we can't go on like this. I don't want to lie or hide things from you. This has been going on for too long." Louis told his best friend. "If you're going to say that we're not getting any younger -"
"Then I would be right." Louis spat back at him. He eyed his best friend up and down. "But no, that was not what I was about to say. I was going to tell you we needed to trust each other again." Bill sighed loudly. Trust. It was hard to tell when that trust was broken. Was it even really broken? "I came with you, didn't I?" Bill questioned. A small silence followed that. Both men just sat there, looking at the abandoned house. "I don't think we ever stopped trusting each other, Fox. We want the same, we're just doing it differently."
"Differently being murder." Bill nodded his head. They looked at one another. "How do you think we fix this then, old man? Without murder." Bill sighed and slumped back in his chair. "Makes it so much easier, though." Louis rolled his eyes. His stomach growled loudly in the silence of the car. Bill gave him a look. "Breakfast?" Louis nodded and mumbled a quiet 'Yeah'.

Jayden followed Megan into the room where she sat down on the bed almost immediately. She hasn't been on her feet much and whenever she was – like just now – she sits down as soon as she gets the chance. He did not say anything of it. He set down the bags and crouched in front of her. "Hey, are you alright?" Stupid question, of course, she wasn't, but she would never tell him that. "I'm okay." She said in a little voice. That did not assure him. Jayden stood back up, nonetheless, and walked back to the doorway to grab another bag. His brothers were downstairs with Leah to arrange some breakfast for them. He said he'd take Megan upstairs to check out the hotel room. He didn't expect Megan to shut down like this, though. When he carried in the other bag he also shut the door behind him. "Hey, Meg, do you want to come downstairs to get something to eat?" Megan stayed silent and shook her head. Jayden sighed softly and reached out to hold her hand. "You want to stay here and sleep again?" She only looked at him. He heard a very quiet 'I don't know' leave her lips. "That's not helping me much, sweetheart, you do know that, right?" He wasn't sure if he crossed a line with the use of the pet name. But she didn't seem to mind. "I could bring you something. Then you can stay here." Jayden did not like the thought of Megan being all alone in the hotel room. But he wasn't going to drag her down by the arm if she did not want to come. "I'm not hungry." She told him. Jayden let out another sigh. "You gotta eat something, though, sweetheart."
"I feel nauseous." He hadn't seen her like this – so stubborn – since the whole incident with the cabin. He squeezed her hand softly. "It might go away when you eat something. Doesn't have to be much." Megan shook her head. He couldn't force it down her throat. His first thought was to get angry and snap at her. But he quickly realized that wouldn't solve anything. "A smoothie, maybe? Get some vitamins into you?" He suggested with a sweet and warm smile. He wasn't sure what caused her to shut down this time. Was it still her parents? The fact that her grandmother was dead? That they were still on the run and constantly moving around? Maybe it was everything together.

"Meg, please talk to me." Jayden pleaded quietly, "You're not you. We need you. I need you." He told her. When she finally looked at him, there seemed to be a bit more in her eyes, as if she'd been pulled out of a trance. Not completely, but it was a start. "I'm sorry." she apologized. Jayden frowned a bit. "What are you apologizing for? Hey, look at me, hey..." Megan's eyes were already starting to water. "Don't apologize when you've done nothing wrong. Okay?" She nodded slightly. "Just worried about you. All of us."
"I'm sorry -" Jayden gave her a playful glare. Nothing too serious. "I just don't know what to do with myself. My mind feels so full but also like I'm not thinking of anything. I'm scared and anxious and then I don't feel anything. Does that make sense?" Jayden moved to sit beside her on the edge of the bed. "Sounds like you're overwhelmed, and your mind is just shutting off by itself, trying to give you some peace." He lifted his hand to gently massage the top of her head for a few seconds. Megan turned to him. "And it's okay. Just can't have you shutting down on us completely. We're a team, aren't we? We need you to keep us from tearing each other to shreds." This made her laugh. Jayden smiled at her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Can you try? If you really don't feel like talking or doing anything else, you can kick my ass or slap me or whatever to shut me up. I can handle it. Wouldn't be the first time either." Megan laughed yet again and nodded with a small but genuine smile on her lips. "Wanna come down for something? I don't mind bringing it either." Megan shook her head. "No, I'll come down." When they stood up, Megan grabbed Jayden's hand and held it tightly. Jayden couldn't help but smile and blush a little at the feeling.

"What do we know?" Hayden glared at the man in anger. Pure disrespect toward his late partner. "We don't know shit! That's the issue!" He slammed his fists on the table so hard it left his skin red. But he barely felt any pain. "He was shot and found dead! That's what we know. Want to check his body again?! I don't!" He couldn't help his shouting. He was angry, mourning, and scared. Lucas Brown was found dead after he went out by himself. And the last time they spoke, they had a fight. Gods, how much Hayden blamed himself. And now everyone was coming to him for answers. Answers he did not have. Lucas kept rambling on and on about Bill Salvini. About him being alive. That's what got him killed in the end. He was sure of it. "If some lunatic is walking around with a gun, Smith, we need to find them!" The man snapped at him. He could have expected his raised voice after snapping at him like that. "What if it's not just some lunatic, huh!? What if, Lucas was right and Salvini's really back? Have you thought about that?!" This time, it was the man who slammed his fists on the table. "Salvini's dead. His children are nowhere to be found. We would have known if it was one of them."
"No, you wouldn't! Listen to me, say it was him -" Hayden tried his best. He wanted to defend his late partner's – and friend's - honor. "Don't even try that." The man ordered. "Hypothetically, say he was! Yes? What then?" Hayden almost screamed it all. The man in front of him seemed to calm down a bit. Maybe it was only to reason with him or calm him down as well. "Say that he is. What then? Huh? What do you want us to do, Smith?"
"Look for him. If Bill Salvini is alive, we need him."