Crimson {COMPLETED}

CHAPTER XXXIV

EMILYS POV

NOVEMBER 13
7:03 p.m

AS THE party winds down, Jackson walks up to me, visibly drunk.

He wraps his arm around my waist, another drink in hand. "I'm heading back to the manor after, you wanna come with?"

I shrug. "You planning on doing anything fun?"

"Me and Xander are going to play cards, gamble a bit."

"That should be interesting." I chuckle. "Sure."

So at the end of the party I hug Alice goodbye and get in a coach with Jackson, Xander and Natalia.

Jackson leans his head on my shoulder, propping his legs up on the seats across from us where Xander and Natalia sit.

"You know Emily, maybe you could spend the week at the manor with us." Xander suggests. "I'm sure Jackson would like that."

Jackson burrows his face in my neck and I feel his lips curl upwards against my skin.

"That'd be nice but I have a lot of stuff to do in the mortal realm this week."

I feel Jackson exhale deeply. "Like what?"

I roll my eyes, sensing his annoyed attitude. Pain in the ass. I reach up and play with his hair, knowing he'll be pissed when I tell him I'm going to a party with Connor.

"Lots of classes this week. And I've got a lot of studying to do, finals aren't for a while but I'm not cramming like I did last year."

"That it? You can study at the manor you know?"

"And I'm going to a party." I sigh.

I feel his eyes flutter open against my neck. "A party?"

"Yeah it's a campus party. Not a big deal."

"So the same girl who is already studying for her finals has time to go to college parties?"

"It's my last year of college and my first time going to one, I deserve it."

"You don't strike me as the type of person that goes to that type of thing Em. Any particular reason you're going?"

I exhale. "Connor asked me to come with him."

"Ah." Jackson wraps his arms tightly around me. "But he's not a frat boy?"

"Can we stop talking about this right now? You smell like liquor."

He grumbles under his breath and pulls me tighter.

"Who's Connor?" Xander raises an eyebrow.

"Emily's frat boy lover." Jackson mutters.

"He's my friend from college. Who isn't even attractive might I add." I glare at Jackson.

The coach stops outside the manor and we get out. We all walk upstairs into a small study.

Xander and Jackson sit down at the table in the middle of the room and start playing solitaire, meanwhile Natalia motions for me to join her on the couch.

"Watching these games can be pretty fun." She smiles.

"Wouldn't it be better to play?" I look over at them, placing their bets in the center of the table.

"Not really. It usually ends in an argument. But I'm used to it, my cousins played cards a lot." She reaches into a basket at the end of the couch and pulls out a nail file. "I mostly watch them as an excuse to get away from the kids."