Mr. Badass ✔

33 That Gentleman Says You Like Fish

Gemma's POV.

Jacob removes his friend's hand from his shoulder, causing his friend to lose balance and nearly fall.

I watch as he clutches a pack of cigarettes and strides over to me with his long legs, stopping right in front of me.

He looks me over briefly, then lowers his head, pulls a cigarette from the pack, and puts it between his lips.

He sticks his hands into his pockets, seemingly searching for a lighter but forgetting to take them out.

"What are you doing here?" His voice is raspy and unclear.

"I heard from your friend that you were at the pool hall, so I came to see you," I reply calmly.

"How long have you been here? Why didn't you tell me?"

"An hour. I saw you were busy, so I didn't want to disturb you."

"Hmm."

He takes the cigarette out of his mouth, holding it in his hand, rolling it between his fingers with varying pressure.

"Wanna talk outside?" I ask.

He follows me out.

We walk to a deserted alley behind the pool hall. The next second, I turn around and throw my bag at him.

"What gives you the right to beat me?!" Jacob steps back, and the cigarette drops from his hand.

"You didn't apologize, then disappeared, and now you're hanging out in a place like this with a bunch of vagrants. Tell me, don't you deserve to be beaten?"

"You're not my mom! Why do you care so much?!"

"If I were your mom, I would've beaten you long ago. Apologize to me."

"I won't."

"Apologize."

"No way."

"Apologize."

"I... will... never... apolo—ah!"

Just as Jacob is restraining my hands, I stretch out my leg and kick him in his most sensitive spot.

He slowly crouches down, cold sweat forming on his forehead.

"I only used half my strength. Otherwise, you'd be crippled by now," I say, patting the tip of my sharp shoe. "Now, back to the topic. Apologize."

Jacob raises his head, his eyes red from the pain, but he grits his teeth and says, "I told you, I'd rather die than apologize."

I can't help but raise my bag again, ready to hit his stubborn head.

But my bag stops in midair.

"Why?" I decide to give him a chance to explain.

"I just don't want to apologize. Is that reason enough?" Jacob suddenly laughs, a bit bitterly. "In your eyes, I'll always be a kid, always inferior to Luke."

"That was just a competition," I say, frowning slightly.

"Yeah, I could see that too. I lost, and you weren't the least bit disappointed. Because from the beginning, you believed I could never win him."

I open my mouth but eventually fall silent.

Jacob continues, "So that night, I just wanted to prove one thing—I'm a man, just like him. We're both men. But Gemma, you never gave me a chance."

Jacob runs a frustrated hand through his hair.

"I've always treated you as a friend. I thought you felt the same."