Forbidden Law (An Alien Love #1)

Chapter Seventeen

We found Layla's group crowded in Jace's game room with Rowan. An old Zelda game was on the flatscreen, Layla's friend Theresa jamming the GameCube controller every which way. The nest of cords connecting the Wii, X-box, and multiple other consoles was close to tripping her up. I got the idea that she didn't normally play games. Rowan's cerulean eyes shot immediately to my hand in Jace's. Then his eyes met mine in an accusatory way, while I kept my face nonchalant.

"Hey guys! What's up?" Layla said, jumping up. "Wanna play?"

I shook my head and looked at Jace. He did the same. "Nah, I think we'll just watch. I suck at video games."

She sat back down, nodding. "Same. Jaden and Rayne went to get food. I'm so hungry."

Jace led me to the extra couch that was pushed under a window. The still night sky shone with a few vibrant stars, light pollution from the city causing an ombre effect underneath them. Rowan had turned back to watching the game, although I was sure he was only doing it to ignore us. Jace's thumb rubbed repetitive circles on my hand, soothing my tensed muscles.

"What time is it, anyway?" I asked curiously.

"Four fifty-seven," replied Rowan briskly.

I looked at Jace with raised eyebrows. We'd spent nearly an hour in the bathroom. God only knew what they thought had been going on in there, especially Rowan. My cheeks warmed, but i reminded myself that it was still none of his business. "Some slumber party," I muttered drolly.

"Yup," Rowan said, getting up and turning to us. "I'm going to get some water. Want anything?" He pinned me with his stare, pointedly ignoring Jace. I couldn't help rolling my eyes again as I shook my head.

"I hope he does not become a problem," Jace said in my ear as he left. I shivered and leaned back into his side as his arm went around my shoulders. It was a little strange to be showing affection like this, but in another way, I'd been waiting for it since I'd met him. Distantly, we heard the front door open and close, followed by Rayne's cheery "Honey, I'm home!"

We all jumped up and decidedly forgot about the game. Parking ourselves at the oak dining table, we ripped open the yellow food wrappers and dug into sandwiches and breakfast burritos. I noticed that Jaden was the only one with a semi-healthy plate of scrambled eggs and sausage, shoving his three pancakes off to the side. I caught his eye with raised brows.

"What?" he said through a mouthful of egg. "I can't get fat like the rest of the... everyone I see around. It's horrible."

I shook my head and laughed at his almost slip up in front of "the humans." "Does that mean I can have a pancake?"

He shrugged. "Go for it."

I grabbed one, along with Rayne and Theresa getting the other two. I pinned it between my fingers and jiggled it in the air, making it dance. "Pancake, pancake Jaden, eat me, Jaden, you know you want toooooooo..."

Most of the table stared at me for a couple of seconds and then laughed. My horrible Italian-Cookie Monster accent didn't mesh well with a pancake, but who am I to judge what accent a pancake had? Damn, I really did need some sleep. Soon.

"What do you plan to do for the rest of the day?" Jacob asked, one of the first things he'd said all night. All heads turned to him.

Jace shrugged. "Sleep. Probably clean."

The back of my neck prickled, but I couldn't pinpoint the creeping feeling at the pit of my stomach. Jacob set off some...internal alarm. His face looked almost like a broken mirror's reflection, with sallow skin and sunken eyes, an almost indiscernible scar running the length of one cheek. My mind couldn't wrap around why I hadn't noticed it before, but as I stared at him more closely, his mud-brown eyes flashed to me.