Chapter 14 #2
There are tons of flashing lights, obviously. This is a club. But no, that’s not what I asked.
“No, I mean shaking.”
“Not here, Julie.”
“Then no, I’m not okay,” I say with tragic acceptance. “Madame Ximena’s tea is killing me.”
“Is killing everyone, apparently!” He points at Cordelia just as we both notice she’s no longer beside us. Instead, she’s running to another table, swinging the inflatable penis we got Mila in everyone’s face.
“Shit.”
Tony bolts to stop her, but I grab his hand before he escapes and leaves me alone again.
And I cannot be alone. Not if Jasper decides to return to the table.
“No-no-no!” I cry desperately. “Jasper can show up any second!”
He squints, confused, but still tries to comfort me. He’s a good guy. Unlike the rest of Robbie’s friends.
“I’m just taking that penis out of her hand, Julie, I promise.”
He starts pulling away, so I tighten my grip.
“Please, Tony!” I whine. “Don’t do this to me!”
Then whine again.
“He looks so good tonight. And he smells amazing…”
“What are you talking about?” Tony asks, more confused than ever.
I should’ve paid attention. I should’ve noticed the look of confusion on his face. And then I should’ve shut up.
But have I been shutting up? Absolutely not.
“…and I’m way too high to control myself,” I confess. “I don’t want to end up kissing him.”
“Why would you kiss him?”
“I don’t know, apparently it’s something I do now.”
“Something you do now?” he repeats, staring at me like he’s having a stroke.
I nod.
He blinks.
“Kissing Jasper?” he asks.
I nod again.
“That Jasper?” Tony points at the tall body, dark hair, and expensive button-down shirt only a few feet away.
Shit. He’s coming back.
“Please don’t tell anyone!” I drop his arm so I can press my hands together like I’m praying.
“Ha! No way. I’m already deep in my own shit, I’m not saying anything that’ll get the bride or groom even more pissed at me.”
Except Tony is sleeping with Robbie’s sister.
This here is a whole different thing.
“They wouldn’t be pissed. They’d be thrilled we’re finally getting along or something.”
Except getting along and making out occasionally are two very different things.
“Maybe,” he says. “But this thing is going down faster than the Titanic. And shit’s gonna hit the fan eventually. Probably sooner than you think, because Cordelia told me Suzi wants to kiss him tonight.”
“Noooo!” I whine again. “Why?”
Tony shrugs.
“She’s so beautiful… She deserves better!”
He opens his mouth to continue, just as Cordelia climbs onto a table, immediately loses her balance, and crashes down along with all the glasses and the vodka bottle.
Warrior number seven: down.
Tony runs toward her and I don’t even have time to shout another “No, Tony!” because Jasper has just stopped right next to me.
Our eyes barely meet, and before he can say anything, I’m already on my feet, running again.
The only place I find peace is this strange tropical garden, neon lights intertwined with vines on the walls, probably not great for someone as high as I am, and the colors make me feel like I’m inside the forest in Avatar.
And I’m about to get even more wasted because apparently this is the smoking area and no one here smokes plain cigarettes.
There’s a circle of about twenty people smoking weed, and honestly, if being alone until this wears off requires secondhand marijuana, so be it.
But this weed must be very strong because I’m pretty sure I’m starting to hallucinate.
Because there he is again.
Tall. Gorgeous. Serious. Holding a sealed bottle of water.
Oh, God! Was he looking for me?
I shoot up instantly, ready to run.
Before I can even move, his voice comes, firm, rough, and slightly irritated, “Stop running from me, Julie.”
I freeze. And with the same speed I stood up, I collapse back onto the bench, exhausted by this night.
Maybe if I say enough outrageous things, Jasper will take pity on me and drive me straight to the ER.
Morphine. God, what I’d give for a little morphine so I could sleep for two days.
He lifts the bottle to my eye level, but I slap his hand away.
“I don’t need you taking care of me.”
“I’m not taking care of you. I’m just here in case you end up dead after drinking suspicious hallucinogenic tea that you got from some witch you found in a Facebook ad.”
My eyes widen.
He knows?
“I also don’t need you here in case I die.”
“I can call Connor to stay in my place, if you want.”
“You wouldn’t.”
Jasper narrows his eyes, silently daring me to keep pushing.
He would. If I annoyed him enough, he definitely would.
So I go quiet. Quiet, depressed, defeated. Which he apparently takes as a cue to sit beside me.
He cannot.
And definitely shouldn’t.
Why is he even doing this?
“So, you told Tony,” Jasper says. Not a question. A statement.
No. My mind screams. Deny everything.
“It was an accident!” my mouth whimpers. “I didn’t want to tell him, I swear. But the tea made me do it.”
He turns fully toward me, one eyebrow pinched, the other raised.
“The tea?”
“I can’t control what comes out of my mouth right now,” I explain, proving my point flawlessly, since I absolutely would’ve hidden that part otherwise.
Both eyebrows pinch together now, until his eyes suddenly widen.
“That’s why you’ve been running from me?”
No.
“Yes.”
“You’re serious?”
Do I look like I’m joking?
Suddenly, his face lights up. And Jasper has always been a controlled man. Stoic, unreadable, only letting you know what he feels when he wants to.
But right now? He can’t hide all the excitement blooming inside.
The bastard is going to use this to get information out of me. Isn’t he?
He hasn’t even opened his mouth and I’m already terrified of what will come out of it. Because coming from the Assman, it’s definitely not good.
Jasper leans back against the wall, clears his throat dramatically, and, with the cockiest expression I’ve ever seen on his face, finally asks, “How many orgasms did you have on the beach, Julie?”
Fuck.
“Three,” I start. He opens his mouth to protest, so I add, “and then a really long one at the end.”
“And have you ever imagined doing something like that with me before?”
My eyes widen.
I bite my lower lip, trying with all my strength not to answer.
But of course neither Jasper nor the tea will allow that, so before I know it, I’m saying, “When you were chopping wood with an axe on that Vermont trip.”
I groan, trying to shove the information back inside my brain with sheer willpower. If not that one, then at least the next… But no! The next one slips out, too.
“When I saw you reading James Joyce with glasses on.”
I cover my face with my whole hand, trying to stop my mouth, but the words spill into the air anyway.
“Once when I ended up in the passenger seat while you were driving and you turned the steering wheel with just the palm of your hand, like this…” I mimic the motion in the air. “Also, I had a dream about a threesome with you and Michael B. Jordan.”
Jasper lets out a deeply satisfied laugh.
“This is amazing,” he says. And I swear I’ve never seen him this excited, not even when he was inside me two nights ago. “Do you even hate me, Jules?”
“My mind does. My body? Not so much.”
“Well, did your body like that dream?”
No. My mind informs me, but my head nods.
“Did you wake up all wet after that dream?”
“Soaked.”
Damn it. My whole body is starting to get all wet again just by remembering it.
And just by hearing his low, determined voice asking me these questions.
“And did you touch yourself after that, Julie?” Never. “Did you touch yourself thinking about me?”
I don’t even try speaking. I just nod again.
Jasper leans closer, and I feel his breath on my hair, see the heat burning in his eyes…
Charcoal. Glowing charcoal.
God, he’s sexy.
“And how was that dream of yours?” he murmurs, voice brushing my ear. It sends a pulse down between my legs, radiating through my whole body.
“Way better than real life,” I blurt.
Jasper looks as shocked as I do.
My eyes fly open, my heart leaps with relief.
“It’s gone?” he asks, shoulders dropping in disappointment.
“What if I was saying the truth, Jasper?”
But this man is so damn full of himself he doesn’t even consider the possibility. So he decides to test me, interrogating me like I’m some lying witness in court.
“How many times did you come again? Four?”
“In your dreams that your tiny little dick would make me come in any way!” I shoot back.
I’m thrilled my ability to lie, and to insult him, is back. But I’m absolutely furious at the triumphant little smile he flashes at my answer.
“Damn it. I had so many more questions…” he grumbles.
“Well, if you’d asked about something important instead of only wanting to know what gets me off, maybe you’d have enjoyed more,” I snap, heat rising in my chest.
Why the hell was he asking me that?
And why does he make my… my lower regions feel so many disturbing things?
But Jasper doesn’t care about the murderous look on my face. He just bites his lower lip – and I want to punch him for it – and asks, his voice low against my ear again, “And what’s more important than knowing what gets you off, Julie?”
I swallow hard.
I’m going to jail.
I’m going to punch him, then strip naked and fuck him right here in the middle of this club.
Then I’m going to jail for sure.
But before I do something obscenely stupid, Jasper pushes the water bottle into my hand again and says, as if he’s forgotten everything we just discussed, “Drink your water. We’re leaving. Mila is passed out on the sidewalk.”
Third Stage of Madame Ximena’s Tea: WRATH
Mila isn’t just passed out on the sidewalk. She’s being held by Robbie on one side and Tony on the other because she’s trying to leap at a brunette in a sequin dress at the taco stand in front of the club.
“Let go of me! I’m gonna punch her in the face!” she roars, like a demon mid-exorcism.
The brunette is restrained by a group of friends who seem just as drunk, and shouts, “Do it, bitch! You’re gonna get hot sauce in your face!”
“Let them fight!” Of course, that’s Connor who yells that.