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Chapter 48 - the one who failed

As Jess and Corey approached the bar, Jack's friends noticed them before he did. They were all previously engrossed in conversation about Aaron's fight before they suddenly fell silent causing Jess to feel extremely uncomfortable.

"Are you going to get in that cage and get some more bruises then?" Jamie teased and this was something that had been ongoing since the party.

Although on the day it had all felt like a bit of a big deal, they had overcome the seriousness eventually and turned to taking the mick instead.

"Fuck off." Corey laughed while turning to a grinning Jack.

"Maybe we should have a round two?" He suggested, an idea, which was taken extremely lightly.

"Come on then."

As Corey acted as though he was going to head over to the cage, Jack playfully began trying to shove past him and get there first. Although there was a more relaxed and fun vibe surrounding them both there was still some tension looming in the air.

"We're going to need a ref." Corey replied, stopping to look back at the guys.

"Yeah, that's Jess." Jack added and his words caused her whole body to freeze as she felt her face turn bright red.

While the guys appeared to find his joke funny, Jess wasn't as amused and instead just looked blankly at him. Corey noticed her uneasiness towards what had just been said and held back from laughing or even showing any signs that he found it funny.

"I'm joking." Jack stressed the moment he realised she wasn't satisfied. "Come on, put a smile on that pretty face."

The tension that filled the small space between them all was suddenly suffocating. Jack's words, tone of voice and the look on his face was enough evidence that he wasn't as freshly clean and cured after 2 weeks away. He may have appeared happier than he was before he left however, the time away had not changed him as a man and he still held that risky side to his personality.

He was purposely trying to get to Corey and he was also trying to get Jess to respond back. He may have been acting as if he was calm about the new situation between them both but the cracks were definitely beginning to show.

"Should we get a drink?" Corey asked Jess as he was trying to save her from this situation so they could get some space. The quicker they got away from this group, the less likely things would blow up, as this definitely was not the time for that.

"Ah, so you're going to fuck off and drag her away just because I made a joke? Lighten the fuck up." Jack bit as his attention fell on Corey.

"Don't start Lawrence, not here." He bit back, knowing that Aaron would be far from pleased if they caused a scene at one of his biggest fights.

"I'm not starting anything."

As Jack held his hands up as a sign of innocence, Jess grabbed hold of Corey's arm as she tried to urge him over to a spare place at the bar. She hated how things had been going perfectly fine but now that Jack was back around, trouble was beginning to kick off again.

This was not what she wanted. She didn't want a potential relationship to be built on so much childish drama and hurt first. When coming to uni, she had hoped to have the perfect ride without the show however, it was clear that in a place like this, it just ended up finding you.

"Please can we just get a drink?" She stressed to Corey who instantly nodded his head and took his place up the bar.

While standing beside him, Jess couldn't help but turn around to catch a glimpse of Jack, who was still watching her. He looked beyond frustrated at this point and she could tell that he was desperate to start an argument.