Housebound with the Blackridge Heirs novel Chapter 30

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**TITLE: Change Begins With You — Jayden Collins**
**Chapter 30**

**Caden**

The gym was enveloped in a heavy silence, punctuated only by the rhythmic thud of my fists against the wooden training post.

Again and again.

The same relentless cadence. The same familiar ache coursing through my body.

Each strike sent fiery tendrils of pain shooting up my arms, yet it was a mere whisper of the torment I craved. It was never sufficient. I longed to experience something genuine—something beyond the lingering scent of her that clung to my clothes, or the haunting echo of her voice that danced in my mind every time I attempted to close my eyes and drift into sleep. I missed her, and the distance between us felt like an insurmountable chasm.

What made it even more unbearable was the fact that I couldn’t yet claim her. The restlessness brewed within me, igniting a reckless fire that I struggled to contain. This was the only outlet I had left to maintain some semblance of control.

Sweat trickled down my back, saturating the fabric of my shirt, which I had already torn at the collar in a fit of frustration. The training post in the corner of the room bore the scars of my earlier rage, splintered from the impact of my knuckles days ago, yet here I was, unable to stop.

The door creaked open behind me, but I didn’t bother to turn around. I didn’t need to; Leo’s footsteps were distinct—too measured, too calm to belong to anyone else.

“You’re going to break that hand if you keep this up,” he remarked, his tone casual, but I could sense the underlying concern woven through his words.

“Wouldn’t be the worst thing,” I grumbled, landing another powerful hit against the wood.

Leaning against the wall, arms crossed, he shot me a look. “Sometimes you’re a real idiot, you know that?”

“I’ve heard that before,” I retorted, unable to suppress a hint of sarcasm.

A long, taut silence stretched between us, thick with the kind of stillness that only Leo could manipulate to his advantage.

Finally, he broke the quiet. “You can’t claim her if you won’t tell her what she’s stepping into.”

I halted mid-strike, my hand suspended in the air, skin raw and split from the relentless pounding.

“Don’t start with me, Leo.”

“I’m not starting anything,” he replied softly. “I’m simply stating a fact.”

I turned to glare at him, but he remained unfazed. That was the thing about Leo—he could maintain his calm demeanor while the world around him erupted in chaos.

“You think I don’t know that?” I snapped. “You think I haven’t replayed every possible way to tell her, every single night since she came into my life?”

“Then why haven’t you?”

I dropped my gaze to my battered hand, the blood and bruises a distraction from meeting his unwavering stare.

“Because she’s not ready.”

Leo let out a low, resigned sigh. “You sound just like Tylon. You keep believing she’s going to break.”

“She will,” I replied, my voice dropping to a whisper. “If she knew what we are… what I suspect she is—she’d run. From me.” My eyes flicked up to meet his. “From us.”

A shadow crossed his face, a flicker of understanding that tightened my chest. He rubbed the back of his neck, exhaling through his nose as if trying to dispel the tension in the air.

“Maybe,” he conceded. “But don’t you think hiding it from her is worse? What happens when she finds out on her own? When the truth doesn’t come from you?”

I hesitated, the weight of his words pressing down on me.

He continued, “I heard what happened at the club. Jamille almost revealed us.”

“She didn’t,” I shot back, my tone sharper than I intended.

“But she could have,” Leo countered. “And if she had, do you really think Maya would still look at you the way she does now?”

That struck a nerve deeper than I expected.

I turned away, bracing my hands against the wall. Outside, the rain began to fall again, soft at first, as if the world were mocking my turmoil.

“I have a plan,” I finally said, my voice barely above a whisper. “A timeline. I’ll tell her soon. A few weeks at most.”

Leo let out a sound that was a mix of a scoff and a laugh.

“A few weeks,” he echoed incredulously. “Caden, she’s your mate. You shouldn’t be keeping secrets from her at all.”

The word ‘mate’ hung heavily between us, a weighty reality I had been grappling with.

I had known it for some time now, even before I was ready to voice it. The bond we shared was anything but ordinary. It simmered beneath my skin whenever she was near, an insistent pull that refused to be ignored.