Spice

14 || Coriander

Jared had always been pretty clear about what was acceptable and what was not. He liked to think that he was an individual who had clear judgement, which was applicable to most things in his life.

For the most part, he was a care-free person. If there was nothing he could do about something, then he naturally wouldn't bother with it. This was the logic that made him so easy-going.

On the weekend, a few days after his return, he was invited to a hangout with his friends. He didn't have any reasons not to go, and his weekends were particularly free after he'd dumped the blonde he was spending time with, so he decided to attend.

It was a barbecue hangout. The weather was a little on the chilly side, but it wasn't anything that prevented people from sitting outside, so everyone could have a good time with drinks and grilled meat.

As a generous person, he obviously did not plan to show up empty-handed, so he took a few cases of beer with him. In any case, he could just crash with his friends, so he didn't have to worry about driving back.

Everything was going great, and everyone arrived one by one, except that, Jared had forgotten one important thing.

If he was invited, then Victor would naturally be invited as well, and not only Victor, his new broad had also shown up.

As soon as he saw him, Jared felt like he was being waterboarded by the guilt of having committed a mortal sin. He could barely look Victor in the eye.

"Hey, man." They shared a very dry bro-hug. It was awkward with the underlying heaviness of something secret that couldn't be shared.

"Hey, Jared." Sienna smiled at him in her usual bubbly way. She was wearing a pink jacket and her face was completely bare, displaying a smattering of freckles across her nose.

"Hey." He nodded at her perfunctorily. Jared knew Sienna, but he didn't know her well enough to be enthusiastic about seeing her.

Anyway, she wasn't anything to him, they just had someone between them. If he didn't have any closeness to Bailey, he had even less of it with Sienna.

It was a little strange to see her by Vic's side during a close friends gathering like this, but he wasn't going to say anything in front of her.

"She's not as pretty as Silver."

Jared looked at his friend, Raven, as if he were looking at an idiot. Was there even a need to compare them?

"You're crazy," he muttered, taking a swig of his beer.

"I'm not, though. At least Bailey had class." Raven scoffed. "She didn't climb into a taken man's bed."

Oh, but she climbed into someone's bed, alright, he thought with a moderate amount of bitterness and rage. How inappropriate was it for her to have sex with him when she'd barely been a week out of a long term committed relationship?

Oh, but that wasn't quite right, either. He had provoked her. He had initiated it. He'd pushed through and broken past her limits. He had completely taken advantage of an emotionally vulnerable woman, and he was a dickhead for it.

Jared lowered his head and rubbed his achey eyes. There was no cell in his body that had the right to comment on Victor's situation. He didn't even want to think about it.

Sienna had taken on the title of a home-wrecker, so amongst the women of their group, she was basically public enemy number one. She'd gone from being the fluffy, cutesy girl-next-door to having almost everyone flip on her.

He didn't really care about this, but he did feel like it was unfair, since they didn't really know what had happened yet.

Vic might not have cheated. They could have just gotten together the day after or something. Anyway, until the man himself clarified things, Jared wasn't going to make any assumptions.