Chapter 38: Forced Apology
Logan jolted awake, gasping.
The fire was still burning low. Jean was sleeping, her back to him. The forest was quiet... safe for now.
His chest heaved with each breath as he sat up, running a hand over his face slick with sweat. He looked down at his arms, now toned and lean. He wasn’t that boy anymore.
But the pain hadn’t left.
He turned his gaze to Jean. She looked peaceful. Nothing like the girl in his dream. Yet, that silent version of her from the past... still haunted him.
He clenched his fists, jaw tight. Why does she still matter so much to me?
He laid back down beside her carefully, eyes open to the dark sky above the leaves. No matter how far he’d come, that broken boy still whispered in the corners of his mind.
The sky slowly began to warm with shades of orange and rose, but Logan had been up long before the first hint of light. He hadn’t been able to sleep much after the dream. His mind wouldn’t stop replaying the past, over and over again... the sting of that day, her expression, her words.
"You? No. Never."
His heart twisted as he remembered the way Jean had looked at him then... like his very presence was offensive. As if she had to suppress a grimace.
She didn’t say it outright, but the revulsion in her eyes had spoken louder than any words. And the aftermath... the laughter in the halls, the whispers behind his back, the betrayal of hope... was a scar he had buried deep beneath ambition and transformation.