Foxed [1st/2nd Draft]

Chapter 14: Monsters

"Look at me when I'm talking to you. You lookin' at me, but I'm lookin' through you. I see the blood in your eyes. I see the love in disguise. I see your pain hidden in your pride. I see you're not satisfied... Mirror on the wall, here we are again. Through my rise and fall, you've been my only fan."

Rafe casually shrugged his shoulders at my acceptance to be Jax's, and turned toward the table. I bit my lip to keep from reaching out.

Failing stinks.

I needed to do something to get his attention again.

"Rafe, you are Angel, aren't you?" Why didn't he understand the question? "Qiú nǐ le , gào sù wǒ," I pleaded with him. The whimper in my throat was out before I could stop it. And for a brief moment, I thought I'd gotten to him as his shoulders stiffened and his head tilted so he could stare at me from the corner of his scarred eye.

Jax smirked and scratched over his stubble. "Yeah, he's a real saint this one." Jax pounded a hand against Rafe's back. "So, first things first--"

"Hey, Jax, do you mind if I take her for a few hours?" Rafe asked, keeping his back to us.

Despair transitioning into hope wasn't something I experienced often. It's a mad world, full of pain and suffering, so any form of hope was fleeting. Instead of ignoring it, I latched onto it. Needing something to pull me up and get me through this so I could go back home. A lump lodged in my throat.

Had he finally caught on?

Jax tilted his head and licked his lips. "And that favor I owe you?"

"Consider it paid."

"Good, but kitten here will need to give me something now," he said and flitted his fingers at me. "First, we're gonna give them," he gestured with two thumbs at the ten voyeurs with lustful, predatory gleams in their eyes, "a show."

My heart dropped. I licked my dry lips and tried to pull myself away from him but his arms held me in place. "But you said—"

"You'll dance with me."