Steel: The Transformation

Chapter 24

Chapter 24 

Jackson POV

The clean white skin over my rib didn't let on what had happened a couple of days ago. Normally I would have healed a lot quicker than this, but then again I had never been injured this seriously before. Cleo had said that the arrow was poisoned but it had taken me a few hours to truly believe her. My father had not been happy about it, when Tim pulled me in through the door of our house his eyes had been dark. Strangely he hadn't asked any questions about what had happened to me. He had let my stay in bed until I was healed, silently brining my meals to my bed side on a tray. Maybe he already knows what had happened? Could he have guessed from the kind of injury I had? I pulled down my t-shirt, covering my ribs and walked down to the kitchen.

"Hi Honey, are you going to school today?" My father's girlfriend handed me a sandwich and gave me dim-witted smile.

"Yes, I am," I tried to control myself around her but something about her constant happiness always seemed to rub me the wrong way. What was there to be so happy about?

I mindlessly chowed down on the sandwich as I kept my other hand of the steering wheel. The wind played in my hair as I speed down the street, a sensation that used to make me feel happy and proud about my convertible. Now it only made me feel annoyed. I needed to check in with the pack to see what had been going on during my time recovering.

I turned into the parking lot and found an open space, without too much manoeuvring my car slid into the spot and I twisted the key turning the engine off. I surveyed my surroundings, finding Tim and Wyhatt hanging out close to the marble steps leading up to the main entrance. I quickly walked over to them.

"Hi," I looked over at them. They both smiled back at me, so I jerked my head towards the small cluster of trees at the other end of the parking lot. They followed me over there without needing to ask anything.

"So what has been going on?" my question sounded far more demanding than what I had wanted it too.

"No much," Wyhatt said calmly, looking over at a group of girls that was walking into the university entrance.

"Not much," Tim confirmed and then took a breath before adding, "Maybe one thing of note."

"Really? What?" I tried but failed again to control my voice.

"I went to see Cleo the morning after it happened," he started softly. I could feel the anger boil up in me. Why did he think that would be a good idea?

"Really?" my eyes commanded him to continue.

"I just wanted to make sure that she was okay," he added. Why would he need to do that? That's my job. A jolt of pain passed through me when I realised that that might not be the case anymore.

"So there was this weird messenger guy there, picking up a brown envelope with no address. I asked her about it but she avoided the question," Tim concluded.

"Is that everything that happened?" I looked at him sternly.

"Everything that was interesting anyway. After that we talked for a bit and Alec turned up. Not much more," he shrugged his shoulders.

"I think you really should have told me that you were planning on seeing Cleo," my voice could barely contain the anger. I didn't know what made me more angry, that Tim had decided to check in on Cleo, that I no longer had the right to or that Alec always seemed to be around her.

"I didn't realise that it was a problem," Tim's voice was apologetic and his eyes were asking me to calm down.

"You know now," I looked away from him, taking a deep breathe and trying to calm myself down. I looked at the students milling around the parking lot and waiting for the first classes of the day to start. A few cars were pulling in when a motorcycle drove past them. It swiftly parked close to the entrance of the university. A girl hopped off the back of it, she pulled of her helmet and let her dark brown curls fall down her back. Cleo! My heart nearly jumped a beat and my first instinct was to go to her when I noticed who she had arrived with. Alec... My fists closed as I watched him pull of his helmet, he was too far away for me to hear what he said but whatever it was it made her laugh. It had been so long since I had seen her laughing. She handed him her helmet and their fingers touched for a second, I could feel the growl raising in the back of my throat. He locked his bike and jokingly pushed her as they started walking towards the entrance. I could feel the ripple of the shift go through my body and in that second Tim knocked me square in the jaw.