“Maybe you should have taken Hunter along with you. The man can charm anyone,” I said.
Jacob scowled, glancing back at the others. Hunter was narrating some story, to which Charlie was cracking up.
“Yeah, that’s the problem. He doesn’t know when to turn it off. Dumbass.”
“Of course, emotions are way too inefficient,” I said sarcastically.
“Sometimes.” He looked at me intently.
I grinned like it didn’t do anything to me, even though my heart still tripped over itself every single time. You’d think I’d be used to the way he looked at people by now. It probably didn’t mean anything. I kept telling myself this, because neither of us were prepared for the complications if it did.
A slow, sly smirk brightened his features, and my heart thumped again. Damnit.
“You can look away, you know,” he said.
I rolled my eyes and forced myself to look down at my pizza. I counted five blistered spots, three bits of pineapple. I lost track of the ham. He casually reached across and picked a bit of pineapple off my pizza and popped it into his mouth. I watched his jaw move as he chewed. Wait, he wasn’t chewing. He’d just said something.
“Huh? I didn’t catch that,” I said.
“You’ve been spending a lot of time with Hunter, I take it, to have come to that conclusion.”
“That he’s sociable?” I said, bewildered. “The girl who gave us the stinkeye at the boba shop asked him out the other day. It’s not exactly a secret.”
“Ah. So he’s dating her?”
“How the hell should I know? He’s your friend.”
I took a larger bite of pizza than strictly necessary and coughed.
“What are you guys yapping about over there?” Kevin called.
“Trying to figure out how to get rid of our shit ADC,” Jacob replied.
Kevin threw a balled-up tissue at him, which bounced off and landed in my plate. I sighed and threw it back at him.
“You guys have been spending a lot of time training together,” Jacob turned back toward me.
Was I imagining things, or did it feel like an accusation?
“I seem to remember this being your idea,” I replied. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t hold eye contact any longer, and nonchalantly shifted my gaze to the rest of the room. Shane was trying to eat a whole slice of pizza in one bite.
“There are rules against dating in-house,” Jacob said casually. “Just thought I’d give you a heads up.”
“We’re not dating.”
“No hook ups, either.”
“And these are whose rules, exactly?”
“The org. Sponsors. Owners. Take your pick. It’s pretty much universally agreed upon to be a bad idea.”
“Sounds like universal bullshit to me. Besides, you didn’t seem to care so much about the rules that night at the party.”
Shit.
It slipped out before I could bite my tongue. I wanted to kick myself. He flushed, eyes narrowed, but he didn’t say anything. What was there to say? He was being a hypocrite. He had no reason to think I would be so unprofessional.
He opened his mouth to answer, but we were interrupted by a choking sound, and then Kenny screaming.
Shane was leaned back in the sofa, struggling to breathe, with Matteo desperately trying to wedge himself in behind him into position for the Heimlich manoeuvre. Jacob rushed to his feet and went over to help. Between the two of them and Kevin repeatedly going “Oh my god, oh my god” they finally managed to dislodge the chunk of habanero chicken stuck in his throat.
“You goddamn ape,” Matteo panted.
“M’ all good, boss,” Shane gave him a weak thumbs up, his voice still gravely.
“What the hell is wrong with you? It’s no wonder we’re going out of business. It’s fucking natural selection,” Matteo muttered.
