paincaving

JACK

"If only, love," Jack says, amusement warming his voice briefly as he shifts just enough in her grip to let her hands finish unbuttoning the shirt that had been left half open to the Longheat breeze. "S'what makes all of this so damned funny," he continues. "One minute she's threatenin' me with an arsenal of demigods, an' the next she's forgettin' she even has it. It's what always made her safe against my retaliation." Why he'd never be able to just snuff her out of Caido for telling, though that was before they'd become more than he'd ever realised he knew how to be.

"Sure, maybe I'd be able to get a few backstabs in, but one of her fathers is a walkin' revivify feather." He shakes his head, incredulous. "She had me by the balls walkin' into that deal, an' I came out with twice as much as when I started." It really is funny, the more he thinks about it, in a sad sort of way.

As she sips at the rum he feels the liquor start to coat his bones in turn, warmth rippling through his chest and blunting the sharp edges of his mood, though there's always a danger of him turning morose if he wades out too far in that direction. "Oh, she'd run here fast as her legs could carry her. If it ever happened, I was gonna pretend I didn't know who she was either," he admits, as casually cruel as the Doubletake's saccharine sweetness or flashy middle finger had been.

"Mm, I could tell," Jack says, lips slanting in a smile that's almost reluctant. "You unbalancin' her all across the chartroom was somethin' she made my fault too. Y'know, I reckon all of this really started because you threw that drink all over her."

fight so dirty but you love so sweet
talk so pretty but your heart got teeth

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!