Nefarious

C135 - He's a perceptive man

Jace led Xavier over to the sofa and sat down beside him, yet he said nothing. Xavier's gaze remained focused on Jace, but Jace broke the eye contact eventually. He was in shock, naturally, but still, seeing Jace this way felt way beyond strange.

A hard knock on the door caught us all by surprise, leaving especially Jace looking concerned. After looking through the small door viewer, I took a step back, calling for Jace. He approached the door and opened it determinately after having a look himself. "I can't remember a thing, Jace! It must've been pretty hot and wild," the girl from earlier giggled loudly. Jace straightened his back, his mouth closing. She placed a hand against his chest, and that's when she came close enough for us to smell her breath of alcohol. "Don't touch me," Jace hissed, his hand grabbing hers firmly. Usually, I suppose she would've screamed loudly, but I reckon the alcohol contributed in calming her.

As some strangers were approaching us, Jace was left with no other option than to bring the girl into our room. Xavier was still in the living part section of the suite, which the girl headed for without Jace or me noticing. "Ooh, how many are you guys?" she laughed. I rolled my eyes automatically, sighing at her obnoxious behaviour. 

Once walking into the room, we saw her gazing at Xavier with lust beaming from her. Xavier frowned upon her, surely confused by her presence. "Listen, whatever your name is, you need to get the hell out," I said. "Excuse me?" she stuttered. "You're excused, now leave," I answered quickly. Jace suddenly stepped towards her, but Xavier was quick enough to stop him by grabbing his arm roughly. "Hey!" Xavier shouted, snapping Jace out of his absent state. The girl staggered, falling backwards right into my arms, finally.

After literally dragging the girl all the way to her room, I went back to our room. This time around, I made sure to close the door entirely before leaving it.

I decided not to enter the area where the boys were to respect their moment. However, I couldn't help but listen to what was said. "I understand that you're angry, Jace, I truly do. I'm angry with him too, but I can't run around taking it out on others, and neither can you," Xavier said. "He made me think you were dead!" Jace answered, obviously frustrated. Xavier's voice lowered, he let out a sigh before saying he was aware of the lie. I caught a glimpse of them, seeing Xavier's hand placed gently beneath Jace's chin. «You're spending all your energy on being angry, and that will get you nowhere. It takes more than strength to get through this mess,» he told Jace. "I'm supposed to be teaching you everything you need, not the other way around," Jace muttered. "You're also supposed to be Jace, the guy who's known for breaking rules. Screw the traditional ways because by now Xylan's already tearing everything apart. He's not playing by the rules, yet he's succeeding. Don't you see that it's necessary?" Xavier asked. I peaked again, seeing Xavier removing his hand, and a small smile forming on his face, as I could see from my stalky view. "Oh, you're so very right, Xavier." 

A smile had appeared on my face too all of a sudden, and I didn't even notice myself. However, Xavier must've seen it because he suddenly sent a glance my way. By the look of it, he'd probably known of me looking all along. My face turned serious again as I stepped into the room entirely. Xavier's small smile didn't disappear once he met my rather serious facial expression, in fact, it almost grew wider.

Later that day, Xavier fell asleep as Xylan had tired him out completely. Jace, however, decided to sit down opposite me, his face facing me. "You must have questions," he said shortly. I cleared my throat, my gaze not meeting his just yet. There was unquestionably hesitation roaming in his voice, nevertheless, he didn't take what he said back. Most certainly I had questions, but dared I ask the ones I truly wanted an answer to?

After a short while of silence, Jace leaned forwards, his elbows supported by his knees. "You must wonder why Rain's pregnant when I'm with Xavier?" he raised an eyebrow. I closed my mouth, my shoulders shrugging automatically. The crook of his mouth moved upwards as though he knew something of high interest. "You're an alluring man, Jace. I'm not blind, and I won't lie about that. I'm sure as you're rather cunning, your looks can provide you with some advantages," I answered carefully. He looked down, and I could see he was shaking his head slightly. "No, no, that's not it, Valerie." A flicker of confusion crossed my face, which came to Jace's attention swiftly.

Of course, Jace was aware that he was only making my curiousness grow, though, in all honesty, he seemed to enjoy that curiosity of mine. "I'll tell you because I damn well know that one of your guilty pleasures in the castle was to read my journal," he said confidently.

Jace's statement caused me to freeze in shock immediately. My eyes widened at him as I gradually realized he'd known of it all along. I stuttered, my voice desperately trying to question his so apparent knowledge of me. Although those stutters of mine almost turned into a coherent sentence, Jace estimated my question before I managed to formulate myself properly.

"Did you seriously believe I didn't see it once I traced my fingers along Alex's commode? I looked directly at it literally, and then I decided I wanted to discover a reaction of yours. Therefore, I swore to kill off the person who'd taken it, and oh boy did your heart race then." I smiled the slightest, but mainly because he mentioned Alex. I remember that occurrence, it was back when meaningless arguments about his ex were conversations of importance to me.

Jace saw Alex and I making the same mistakes as Jace made apparently, almost as though we were following in his footsteps. According to Jace, it is not viewed as a good thing to fall for your weakening person. However, as Alex was the best fit for a leadership position, he was still granted the best of chances. Just as Jace fell for Xavier eventually, so did Alex for me, though Jace's story is a lot more unfortunate. He dated Rain once Xavier arrived at the castle, and just as described in Jace's journal, Xavier was only meant to be "studied" by Jace. To that, Jace snickered softly before saying: "After a while, it felt like he was the one studying me." "And Rain never did that, did she?" I questioned. "No, she had her mind set on reaching the top with me, but just because she never took her time to figure me out-" he started. "You still took your time to study her," I finished his sentence. He nodded, his gaze finally meeting mine again.

Admittedly, I had mixed feelings for Jace once I realized he'd been engaging in amatory activities with both Rain and Xavier at the same time. Later, on the other hand, Jace told me that Rain had been with other blokes as well. He was much more observant than I'd thought, honestly. Once I asked how he knew the baby was genuinely his, he seemed to have thought of that already. "She wouldn't risk encountering a downfall by letting someone else have her child. I know she played me, and now I have to deal with that somehow," he answered. "Does Xavier know of this?" I asked carefully. "Well, yes. It was no secret to Xavier that I was with Rain, so it didn't come as a surprise when I told him earlier this evening."