Chapter 8

After breakfast, the six loaded up the car to spend the weekend in a hotel, and then left after Travis arrived at their house. Mitch tried to sit next to Alex, but Jake got there first. Mitch pouted, and sat beside Scott, who was already next to Travis. The two Betas were in the front two seats, Kevin at the wheel. Kevin turned in his seat to be sure they hadn't left anyone behind. "Did everyone go to the bathroom? Are you sure you grabbed everything? This is about... A three hour drive, I think." Scott looked down at Mitch. "Did you ask about bringing Wyatt?" No. No he had not. Mitch had been so preoccupied all morning, worrying about Alex, that he'd completely spaced anything and everything else. "No, Sir. I didn't." Kevin answered quickly. "I wasn't able to find out if the hotel takes pets or not, and I didn't want you to bring him all the way down there if the answer was no. I would have reminded you, had the answer been different." Scott frowned at him. "Do you think Avi will remember to feed him?" "I'm sure he will, Alpha. I can call and remind him in the morning, if you'd like?" Mitch zoned out that conversation, to try to turn and see Alex, in the seat behind and diagonal from him. Alex met his eyes briefly, but turned to look out the window before Mitch could say anything. Mitch pouted again, and turned to sit correctly in his seat. Travis spoke randomly, just as Kevin began to drive away. "You guys have such a nice house." Kevin smiled. "Thank you, Alpha." Scott noticed the pout on Mitch's face within minutes, if not seconds, and he leaned down a little to kiss the top of Mitch's ear. "Is everything okay, honey?" "Yes, Sir." He replied immediately. Scott frowned. No. He knew that pout anywhere. "Mitchie... You don't have to lie to me. It's... Okay if you don't want to talk about it. But just... Please don't lie." "Okay then, I don't want to talk about it." That's almost worse. Why did Scott give him that chance? "Are you hurt, or something?" "I just said I don't want to talk about it." "There's nothing I can do to help? It wouldn't make you feel better to tell me?" "Nope." Scott slumped in his seat a little. "Okay." Travis tried to help, getting them off of the subject. "Hey Scott? Do you snore?" "Um... Not that I'm aware of." "Good. Good... Just wanted to check." Scott snorted a little, turning to him with a smile. "Do you snore?" "No. Lucky you." Todrick leaned toward Kevin. "Which exit are you going to take?" "Isn't it like... 11B?" "If you take 11B you're going downtown. I think you're supposed to take 11A." "Okay, I'm the driver and you're the navigator. You're supposed to know." Todrick laughed, and then started digging through the bag in front of him to find his phone. "Yes, Sir." Mitch knew everyone else was conversing around him, but couldn't be bothered to listen to a single conversation. If he'd known Alex was trying to protect him all those years, he wouldn't have been so mean. He shouldn't have been mean in the first place though...