Page 41 of Jacob Michaels is Not Here

“That all you wanted?” He snarled at me, his eyes now back to brown.

“That’s about the size of it.” Jason just glared at me. “Now you have your money for your puppy, and you can leave us alone, right?”

Jason didn’t respond, but his eyes continued to bore into me—eyes he wisely controlled and kept their usual brown color. For a few moments, I stared back, but then I realized it was like staring into a painting. There were a pair of eyes to stare into, but there was really nothing behind them. Jason didn’t have a thought in his head other than he hated me—even if he had no idea why. Of course, he didn’t have a real reason to hate me. Only orders. Instead of continuing our stalemate, I turned to leave.

“I remember you, ya’ know?” He spat when my back was turned.

I smiled wickedly to myself, feeling justified in the things I’d said to Oma about Jason and his pack.

“Prancing around school.” He snarled. “Always thinking you were so much better than everyone else with your stupid fucking plays. Choir. Your fucking guitar you carried around like you were the next coming of Springsteen. Everyone thought you were such hot shit, but you’re no better than any of the rest of us, ya’ know.”

Damnit.

Jason didn’t really remember me.

My hope had been that he remembered everything and would give me a reason to provoke him into a fight so that I could hurt him.

“Better than you.” I turned my head to answer him over my shoulder.

Before I knew what was happening, Jason had rounded me and came to stand face-to-face with me, his eyes glaring into mine. I could feel the heat coming off of his bare chest as his eyes bore into mine. Somehow, I wasn’t afraid. I didn’t feel like Jason wanted to harm me. He just wanted me to know that I wasn’t better than him.

“Lucas wasn’t like you, ya’ know.” Jason spat in frustration. “He was going to be one of us until you got in the fucking way.”

So…maybe he remembers a little bit.

“Is that what you think?” I had to look up to stare into his eyes with his body so close to mine. “Because he was on the football team with the rest of you Neanderthals you figured he’d be chomping at the bit to join the pack? He’d beg you to bite him, initiate him, and demote him to being a total loser?”

God, he was tall.

He smelled like pine and musk.

Wild dog smell.

“You think that I stole Jason from you and your litter of puppies?” I scoffed.

“No.”

“Good. ‘Cause, not to burst your bubble or anything, Jason,” I laughed lowly, “but I didn’t have to steal Jason away from you guys. He never would have wanted to be one of you. Even if I wasn’t around. But I didn’t steal him.”

“You’re a liar.” He stated through clenched teeth.

“You can feel however you want to feel.” I shrugged, my right hand starting to feel warm, ready to produce fire in the blink of an eye. “But that doesn’t make it so.”

Quicker than a human can blink, Jason moved towards me. Sensing the movement, I threw my hand up, the palm of my right hand coming to rest right over his heart. There was barely room between us for my hand to fit there, but Jason stopped when he felt my hand land against his bare chest. Once again, we were staring into each other’s eyes as I felt my hand getting warmer against my enemy’s hairless, bare chest. Jason wasn’t snarling. He didn’t even appear angry; he just looked curious. My face was a blank slate as I stared back at him. Moments ticked by as we froze in this position.

Jason’s head tilted back slightly as he sniffed the air.

“You smell like cinnamon and citrus.” He sighed. “Spicy.”

“So I’ve been told,” I stated evenly. “Back up.”

“You smell delicious.”

“Been told that, too.”

“I want to taste you.”

Immediately, I wanted to ask if Jason meant that in a threatening way…or some other way. With his face so close to mine, my hand on his chest, and the lack of space between us, the pushing against my lower stomach let me know the answer. I didn’t dare look down.