Once Upon A Bet

/37/ Jealous

Dedicated to Elissar93 for the amazing support <333

I gulped the sudden feeling lumping in my chest. What the hell, Nova? And instead of making evident the reaction Jake's barely concealed anger had on me, I willed my legs to move; casually approaching him as if I didn't notice there was something off.

"Hey." I greeted, too hoarsly to my dismay; but I cleared my throat and for the way his eyes lasted a couple seconds to tear form the direction where Damien's had taken off, I doubted Jake even noticed.

"Hi." his voice was thick with that same whatever tainting his gaze as it bored into me. One long second sink on us as he rose one arm and took a long drag of his cigarette. I eyed the movement in a weird trance, watching his lips around it and the way smokes escaped slowly as he freed it. Why was it so mesmerizing? I cast my gaze down to my purse as I reached him, seeking for the keys and glad to have an excuse to busy myself.

I bit my tongue from asking what was he doing here. It was obvious he was here to see Fawn, and that he came out to smoke since she had this rule about anything that might leave a stench on the flat, such as cigarettes, incense or that stuff. Also, Shawn's been gushing about the p-night or whatever they call it, so it didn't take a genius to realize they'd decided to do it here.

"How's the P-night going?"

I could swear the corner of his lip twitched for a second before he diverted his gaze taking another drag from the cigarette, letting it feel his chest and then letting it out in a calming exhale. "It's actually just poker night."

"Oh."

He hummed. "The whole p thing, it's more like an unspoken rule. It's like a hang out, but only with things names with P." he shrugged, carelessly listing them: "Pizza, poker, pot-"

"Pot?" I gasped, not knowing if I was more shocked or altered by such a comment and glanced up to the building, spotting our window a little above and my brows pursed together. "They're using now?"

"No." he smirked, amused by my reaction; but honestly, how was I supposed to react when someone tells you they gathered people to watch that? And in my flat. Jake rolled his eyes. "Not when Fawn's there too. You know her, she's a crazy freak. I can't even smoke there." he flickered the cigarette meaningfully, at last throwing it to his feet and stepping on it; but made no move to go back inside. Instead, I watched as he casually slid his hand on his pockets and leaned further against the side of the building.

I didn't know how to feel about that. "But you use, don't you?"

"Sometimes. But not often and nothing hard." he shrugged and I nodded. I didn't know why I was surprised, kinda fits the whole cliche he portrayed back in the Academy. "Why? Do you wanna try?"

Drugs were never on my to do list. But to be fair, neither was alcohol until recently; yet just seeing how badly it affected me, I could only imagine how would I react if I did try pot. They say it was relaxing, but...

"No, thanks." I whispered and to my surprise, he grinned, almost boyishly, making my heartbeat race.

"Good." his eyes buried in mine, almost making me shift as he seemed to see right through me. That weird, smoldering intensity was tugging at my remaining rational thoughts. "So, what about your night? Fawn said you had a meeting."

"Yeah, we're looking for buyers." I nodded smiling a little at the good vibe from that whole event. "For the Well House."

"And?"