Falling Again

Chapter 21

Jacob is sitting on the island, eating some cereal. His hair is a mess on his head, and his eyes show that he's just woken up. He looks up and sees me, a grin on his face. Then, his eyes flicker to Duke and his smile falters.

Oh. I didn't realise that Jacob wasn't find of Duke. They seemed alright at the party and the games night we had. I sighed, shook my head and told Duke to wait for me in the living room as I went to make him a drink.

"Why is he here?" Jacob asks, stuffing a spoonful of cornflakes into his mouth. I walk over to him, planting a kiss on his cheek.

"I bumped into him in town. I thought I'd be a nice neighbour and invite him over for a while." I say, and Jacob scowls. I tut, ruffling his hair. "Come on, play nice." I say, and he rolls his eyes. I chuckle before grabbing a glass from the cupboard and pouring orange juice into it.

"Would you be fine with me inviting Amelia over?" He asks, as a way of getting to me. He succeeded.

"Totally." I grit, even though I'm scowling and my insides are burning. "Absolutely. She... Seems like a great person." I lie. I hate her. Rolling my eyes, I flip off Jacob before carrying the glass back to Duke. I hear his laugh in the background and butterflies erupt in my belly.

"Here you go." I say to Duke, handing him the glass. He thanks me before sitting down and taking a drink. It doesn't take long for Jacob to join us as he throws himself onto the couch, right next to me. Duke raises his eyebrow at him, and I clamp my mouth shut to stop myself from laughing. Jaob pretends to be noncholant about it as he circles his arm around my shoulder and pulls me closer to him. "What are you doing?" I whipser to him.

"What?" He questions, looking down at me as his lips fight to twitch up into a smile. "Am I not allowed to show my girl some love?" He asked, and I sigh, accepting my fate and cuddling into his side. Duke draws out a whistle, and I poke my tongue into the side of my cheek.

"I should call Amelia." Duke quickly stands up, pulling his phone out of his pocket just as Laura and Roe walk down the stairs, deep in conversation. "I feel bad for leaving her at the cabin for so long." My eyes widen in shock.

"Oh no, you don't have to-"

"It's okay." Duke says, typing away on his phone. I screw my eyes shut. "It's not coz I'm bored of your presence, I just don't want her to be alone." Duke states, and my giddy mood is suddenly gone. I can hear Jacob laughing from behind me, and I elbow him in the ribs as he curls his arm around my waist to keep me at bay. Then, he's pulling me into his lap and wiggling his eyebrows at me. I huff, rolling my eyes and crossing my arms across my chest. I tried my hardest to ignore Jacob, but he planted a kiss to the back of my neck, and I ended up leaning into his touch.

I hope Amelia comes over and sees me in Jacob's arms. Maybe it'll tell her to stay away from my man.

***

Amelia and Duke sat opposite me and Jacob. Her eyes never left me. I wrap my arm around Jacob's neck as I sit in his lap and I see her roll her eyes through the corner of my vision. I smirk internally.

"I've got drinks!" Laura squeals, shuffling into the living room where we all sat, and she handed out beer bottles to us all. "There's board games, movies, snacks, basically anything we need for a day of fun." She sighs, dropping herslef onto the floor next to Rose's outstretched legs.

Jacob quickly loosens the lid of his beer and takes a swift chug. I swallow the lump in my throat out of worry. Worry for Jacob's health. Not only is he smoking and drinking, but he's doing drugs on top of that. I notice the blemishes to his skin and even though he makes an effort to stay fit and in shape, I know the heavy drinking is having a toll on his body. For someone who knows him so well, I can see the differences.

I want to help him, I really do. When we were teenagers, Jacob did everything he could to help me, and he even went through heartbreak. I don't want us to go through that again. I don't think either of us could deal with it. It's too much.

Jacob looks over at me with the bottle attached to his lips, and his eyebrows scrunch in confusion. I shake my head, assuring him that I'm fine.

"Let's play a card game." Charlie suggests, shrugging his shoulders. "Me and Dani have loads that we can share." He suggests, glancing back at his fiance.

"Yeah, we do." She agrees, and Laura pulls the deck of cards off of the table. "Do we all know how to play Mafia?" She asked, and it's visible how the whole room changes. "Great." She beams. "Let me hand the cards out, and whoever has the Ace is the mafia." She explains, and the nthe game is underway.

"I think It's Amelia." I suggest, and her eyebrows scrunch in confusion.

"You literally have no proof." She huffs, and I shrug my shoulders.

"You have that kinda face, I guess." I tell her, and her mouth drops open. In reality, I know it's Jacob because I accidentally got a glimpse of his card, but I'm keeping it to myself because I want him to kiss me later tonight. I cuddle into his stomach, leaning back and pressing my back onto him. His hand is on my shoulder and his thumb is slowly rubbing circles on my skin.

"You can't just say I'm the mafia because of my face." Amelia rolls her eyes, and I can't help but grimace at her as she looks from me to Jacob to our conjoined bodies. She gulps and looks away.

"I'm saying you're mafia because you're being very quiet. It's only me, you, and Jacob left, and I know it's not me. Jacob told me it's not him, so that only leaves you." I tell her, and I can see Jacob smirk from the corner of my eye.

"How can you trust him?" Amelia scoffs.

"It's time to vote." Laura says, a smile on her face as she watches back and forth between us.

"I'm voting for Amelia." Me and Jacob say at the same time, and there's a smile on my face. Amelia huffs and turns around her card, showing us that she's not a mafia. I grin. Everyone's eyes fall on us, their mouth's open.

"Oh my God." Duke whispers. "You've played us." He says, and Jacob holds up his card. Then, we're giggling to each other and everyone is staring at us in disbelieve.