Page 23 of Two Chambered Heart

He pulled out a pack of organic rolling tobacco and his papers, using his dextrous fingers to roll himself a cigarette. Jason could admit he drank too much, too often. Rarely during the day, though. Smoking, he reserved for when he needed to take the edge off. He smoked when the hit of nicotine became a craving he couldn’t keep denying himself.

Lighting his cigarette, Jason laid back to watch the sky change in a symphony of colours. The vast skyline lit up in oranges and pinks, reflecting off all the windows from the other high rises. He held the smoke from the cigarette deep in his chest before exhaling, watching it curl up through the air above him. He fiddled with his necklace, running his thumb along the engraved name on the tag, a habit he had when he was lost in his head. Something to ground him.

Jason was on the last dregs of his second smoke and halfway through the bottle of whiskey before he heard the rooftop door slam shut. He lookedover from where he was still laying to see his brother and the girl walking over to the pool. The sky was almost dark, and the automatic lights had come on around the patio.

“‘Take Me Back to Eden’, nice choice.” Corey said to him. She was in a red two-piece swimsuit that barely covered her taut body. Kayden must have bought it for her. Jason wasn’t sure why he’d bothered, considering they’d both watched her naked all week.

Jason just cocked a brow at her.

“The music,” she clarified. Her lower lip was swollen, the beginning of a bruise forming under her lip line.

“I’m well aware of what’s playing right now.”

She rolled her eyes at him, walking around the pool to the stairs leading in. Her legs were well-muscled, strong.

“No glass?” Kayden asked, eyeing the bottle sitting beside Jason.

Jason just gestured towards the cabana.

Kayden came back with two glasses, a block of ice in each. He picked up the bottle and poured two generous shots, taking the drinks to Corey in the pool. They exchanged suggestive smiles that had Jason’s lip curling.

“Everything go okay today?” Kayden asked him, sipping from his glass.

“Yup,” he said, popping the P at the end. He didn’t know why he was being so snippy.

Kayden just smirked at him, not at all affected by Jason’s pissy attitude, and turned his focus back to Corey. They chatted freely, his brother eventually caging the girl in against the side of the pool as they made their way through the heavy pour of alcohol.

Corey’s cheeks were flushing, either from the alcohol, the heat from the pool, or from Jason’s steady gaze, which she kept catching over his brother’s shoulder. Maybe it was a mixture of all three. Whatever it was from, the deepening colour of her cheeks matched nicely with her red bikini and auburn hair. The warm lighting from the pool lit up her body in the water.

Kayden’s focus had been steady. God knew what she was saying to him to keep him so enraptured, but he held onto every word she spoke, finding excuses to touch her shoulder, her arms, her hips. Aside from the fact that the girl’s gaze kept wandering over to Jason, he’d say they were in their own little world.

Jason checked his pockets were empty before sliding into the pool.

The water broke for his body in ripples, fanning out to where his brother was nestled against the girl. It finally seemed to catch Kayden’s attention, bringing him back to the fact that he and the girl weren’t alone up here.

Corey clinked the melting ice block around in her glass.

“Refill?” she asked Kayden.

Like a whipped lackey, Kayden waded over to Jason to grab the bottle of whiskey. From the corner of his eye, he could see his brother take in the cigarette butts Jason had put out in the whiskey bottle cap. Jason just lifted his eyebrows and grabbed the pack of rolling tobacco to roll himself another.

He leaned back as he worked, noticing that Corey was watching his fingers move. Holding her eye, he brought the paper up to his lips and licked along the edge, sealing the paper down. She tracked the movement.

Placing the filtered end in his mouth, he lit the tip, sucking in as the herbs caught fire, the embers darkening as he pulled harder. He let the smoke out through his nose, and she watched that too.

Jason smoked the rest of his cigarette down slowly, a sneer on his face as his brother continued to entertain the girl. When he was done, he pressed the butt into the bottle cap along with the others and took his leave.

Jason’s arm muscles strained as he hoisted himself out of the pool. Water dripped from his body, clinging to his skin as he stood. His head was spinning from the booze and the nicotine. He needed to eat.

“Something in the Way” by Nirvana was playing slow and sultry through the speakers. Jason left his phone so the music would keep playing and grabbed a towel from the cabana, drying himself off and heading backdownstairs without a backwards glance at the two people he’d left in the pool. But he could feel their eyes on him as he walked away.

Chapter fourteen

- Corey -

The warm water was starting to feel like it was boiling Corey alive. Her face was too flushed and her head was swimming. Maybe it was from the booze, but probably from the rapt attention of the two men. Kayden couldn’t stop touching her. And Jason couldn’t stop watching it. She’d seen his eyes follow his brother’s hands along her arms, her hip, her shoulders. She’d seen the look of distaste on his face. He obviously didn’t approve of Kayden’s interest in her. But whatever, fuck him.

Kayden was sweet. A little unhinged, but clearly, he was the kind of guy to spoil his lady. Corey liked how he doted on her in public. He had fluctuated between asking her questions and basking in their comfortable silence. She had enjoyed modeling the clothes she chose for him. She’d enjoyed it more when he paid for it and carried the bags.

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