Jack of Clubs (BxB)

5: Too Much Time On Their Hands

"What the hell is he doing here?" Caden huffed as I approached him and Sam. He was a confusing person for me to grasp. On one hand, he seemed to be the happiest person on the planet. By that, I meant that Caden was almost always smiling, and if he wasn't, it was usually for the sake of dramatic effect. His personality was childish, and he was usually quite loud and overbearing. Dennis was overbearing too, but in a different way.

"Great question." Sam put on a fake smile, and I rolled my eyes at both of them. "Why the hell is he here?"

"Does he know about everything?" I immediately asked Sam, looking between the two as I awaited an answer. Despite Caden being there on Friday, I had no idea what Sam told him or if he even knew about my involvement.

Sam just frowned and threw his head back, pissed off that I even dared to come up to him in the courtyard and bring up the demons shading his face. But what else was I meant to do? It was written in every stroke of purple painted onto his skin. Sam was over his head in something that he couldn't control, and the sheer gravity of it managed to drag me down with him. "For fuck's sake, can it please just be ignored when I'm in school?"

"You're fucking with me, right? There's no way in hell I'm going to just pretend like it doesn't exist when my own life is on the line." I snapped at him.

Caden's eyes danced between us as he tried to keep up with the conversation. It was clear that he wasn't succeeding when his lips parted and he spoke up. "What are you guys talking about?"

"The situation." Sam told him.

That only resulted in his expression becoming more confused. "Between you and Sawyer?"

Furrowing his brow, Sam asked, "What are you talking about, Cade?"

"You and Sawyer..." He trailed off, watching Sam closely until his lips suddenly went still.

And just like that, I was incredibly confused as well. We both just stared at Caden for a long moment, who eventually cleared his throat and allowed for his face to light up in the normal wash of warm sunshine. "Never mind. What are you guys talking about?" He asked again.

Sam shook his head to himself and then quietly answered. "The drug related stuff."

"Oh!" Caden's eyes went wide with realization and he quickly nodded. "I understand now."

"Okay then..." Sam shrugged his friend off, regaining his train of thought as he returned his gaze back to me. His hazel eyes bore annoyedly into me. "So why are you even bothering me about it anyway?"

"Because shit just got even worse." A sea of nausea raged in my stomach as I took out my phone and turned the screen towards them.

Caden was the one to read it out loud. "You sleep like a kitten in those black boxers. Don't forget that we're always watching."

It sounded even more humiliating and dehumanizing to hear those words come from Caden's mouth. It was a text message I received from an unknown number earlier that morning. I didn't have to question who it came from, as it was pretty clear. My hands began to shake as I tried to school my nervousness. "What the fuck am I supposed to do?"

Sam was trying to minimize the situation, but I could tell that it wasn't that easy. "You could take it as a compliment. They did say you looked like a kitten."

I bit down the urge to slap him across the face. "I'm being serious, Sam."

"Were your boxers actually black?"

"Why do you think I'm so stressed?"

Sam held up his hands and shrugged. "Just figured I'd ask."

"What am I supposed to do?" As much as the idea of going to Sam for help again was utterly humiliating, I had to put aside my hatred for him to see what his suggestion might be. Somehow those creeps discovered my phone number, and it was entirely confirmed that they were keeping an incredibly close eye on me. It was beyond disturbing.