Empty Bargains ~Jason McCann~

~10.25~

Sorry, I didn't get around to editing this chapter just yet.  I'll work on proofing the past few on Sunday.  I was just extra excited about getting this update in for the weekend!  Hope you all enjoy.Xx

    “You go ahead,” I told Jason, patting his stomach.  He was standing beside me at the bathroom counter, watching me brush mascara onto my eyes.  The bass coming from downstairs was already causing the floor to vibrate.  “It’s your party, you should be down there.”

    “Don’t make me wait too long,” he said, squeezing my waist before exiting the small tiled room.  The bedroom door opened and shut, letting in a few seconds of music before an abrupt cut off.  I wrinkled my nose, already able to smell the marijuana burning in joints on the level below.

    Parties had always seemed obnoxious to me, but Jason always seemed so adamant on hosting them.  I supposed they were good for making deals and ties with other people, but Markus never really bothered with them while I was under his roof.  Personally, I didn’t like the drug use going on.  Pot seemed bad by it’s secondhand smell alone; how people could inhale it, I didn’t know.  God knew what else was going on in other rooms of the house.

    After deciding I’d put enough of my almost-empty mascara on, I walked out into Jason’s — ours, really — room and began to dig in my closet.  Having two was extremely nice, since I no longer had to worry about my clothes being wrinkled in a heap on the floor.  My hands ran over the multiple fabrics, landing on a royal blue dress.  I tugged it off the hanger and slipped it over my head after stripping from my other clothes, then pushed my feet into black wedges.  The dress fell to mid-thigh, loose near my legs but tight on my torso.  Sleeves covered my shoulders and ended just underneath my elbow, and I rolled my shoulders to make the slick fabric sit more comfortably against my skin.  As I stepped back into the room I spotted one of Jason’s beanies lying on the floor.  I picked it up and slipped the black hat over my straight hair instead of tossing it into his closet.

    I could tell by the volume of the party that there were a lot more people here than the last time.  It made sense, since this house was quite a bit bigger than the last, even with only two floors.  Seeing people again made me feel a little nervous; I hadn’t been out of the house since Jason and I had gone shopping for our bed — which now stood low against the far wall of the room — just over a week ago.  Even then, there hadn’t been that many bodies where we’d gone.  I was beginning to think being holed up in a house for that long was having an effect on my social skills.

    Before I could convince myself not to descend into the haze of smoke downstairs, I closed the bedroom door behind me and made my way through the crowd.  I spotted Jason almost right away.  He was sat at a long table in the middle of the main room, something Xander had brought in a  few days ago.  The house had quickly filled with furniture as we’d settled in; a small table in the study and another long one in the dining room; the bean bags tossed every which way in the main room, along with two leather arm chairs; stools for the kitchen and patio chairs for the back deck; and beds for each of the guys.

    I pushed through the small crowd that had gathered around the gambling table and put my hand on Jason’s shoulder.  He looked up and smiled as I played with the collar of his shirt.  Acting as if it were habit, he craned his neck to place a kiss to my fingers, and my stomach flushed with warmth.  He hadn’t been one to show affection while in front of multiple people, and I was surprised at his action.  It was a small gesture, but everyone sitting around the table had seen it, if not more.