Bad Habits | Herophine #1

IV

-Jaxed Up-

I felt the heat rising in my cheeks, my green eyes were locked onto his, he wouldn't budge into losing the impromptu staring contest we had going, so I forced myself to look elsewhere, but as inconspicuous as I wanted to be, I couldn't help but look at him again and take him in, good God he was beautiful, his hair was gelled back, but not flat to his head, the sides perfectly buzzed, his lips pink and tempting, he was in all black with two thin gold chains around his neck, one slightly longer than the other, a small easy to miss hoop on his right ear and radiating sex appeal for days, he looked at me and smiled a consuming smile and my chest was on fire.

"Fancy another drink, luv?" He spoke knocking the wind out of me again, I shook my head, and he quickly made a similar offer to Elijah who also declined, I was disappointed that he didn't remember me, but then again how many faces a day or a night did he see? I was just another prototype in a sea of plain Jane's "Thanks for saving my wallet man, my life is kind of in it." Elijah said, the manager shrugged. "Not a problem mate, just be careful, most lads aren't as generous as me." He turned to me and winked, biting his bottom lip playfully. No, no, no, let me do that for you.

Elijah snapped me out of it as he dragged me off the bar stool. "Actually wait a sec." He lifted both his index fingers and went over to the far end of the bar where Hailey —I assumed—stood stacking up shot glasses, I sat as I waited for Elijah to kick it to the bartender. "Am I still pretty cute?" His attention was completely on me now. "What?" I asked confused. "Well before you passed out you mentioned I was pretty cute... So, am I?" Holy shit, he remembered, of course he did, you embarrassed yourself, stupid girl. the voice within me screamed. My thoughts were working faster than my mouth and I could only attempt to understand why, my chest was tight and I was positive I'd lost feeling in all my extremities.

"Jax..." He replied softly and extended his hand toward me as I said absolutely nothing. Talk! I pushed myself into placing my hand in his and letting the simple warmth of his palms burn into my own. "You have a name luv?" He asked, one brow elevated. "Faith, is my name, yep..." Yep? Really? I chastised myself internally for being such a dweeb. He chuckled. "Well Faith, between you and I." He leaned in closer from the other side of the bar to me. "I think you're pretty cute too, yep." Using mockery to flirt, okay. "And I'm for sure team Slytherin, you got that one right on the nose." He winked and shot me a smile and I was intoxicated, He disappeared into the room he came out of before I could thank him for the compliment.

Elijah was still chatting up the girl and I was so distracted by Jax, that I didn't realize the bar was closed, meaning there wasn't a soul in the place, I cleared my throat loudly, as Elijah looked at me, slightly embarrassed and tossed me the keys to his Impala which meant he was going to chat her up until he got her number, I rolled my eyes and huffed getting up and walking to the front door, when I attempted to open the door with my right hand, I felt a hand wrap around my arm softly, when I turned around it was Jax, looking into his eyes was going to be my downfall if I ever saw him again, I was sure of it.

"Leaving so soon?" He asked me. "Yeah, my best friend is smitten with your bartender apparently. So..." I smiled letting go of the door. He shook his head, "So the lad isn't your boyfriend?" He asked and I quickly shook my head no. "Weird, Why don't you come with me then." He lifted a brow and motioned to the VIP side of the bar, "I'll bring us some drinks and we can talk while your friend... talks." He turned around, heading towards the bar, grabbing a two bottles, one of plain vodka the other pineapple vodka, along with shot glasses his sexy self.

"There we go." He placed the fixings on the table in front of us, having a seat and placing his feet, on the table. He served me a shot of the pineapple vodka and served himself a shot of plain vodka, "To meeting new people, specially cute ones that pass out in random bloke's arms." He smirked and dunked the shot back, I followed suit, closing my eyes tight as the sweet shot burned through my chest. "You're never going to let that go I see..." I looked at him, a little more boldly. He shook his head. "Now why would I want to let go of the most unique way a girl's called me attractive and she guessed what house I love? I think that's a streak of luck, don't you?" He asked and now it wasn't the shot burning me alive, it was him. "Well you can look past it and blame it on the liquor, I'm sure you've received more creative compliments." I snapped back, causing him to laugh.

"Ah yes, but creativity and honesty are two different things, drunken words are sober thoughts." He said and he was right, he asked if I was in college, I told him I majored in linguistics. "Smart, nice..." He cocked his head to the side and played with his tongue between his teeth, it was brief but I caught it, it made my stomach flip if I was being completely honest, "So then tell me, Faith, what's a smart minx like you doing drunk at my bar?" He smiled maliciously and I choked on the shot I was trying to down. "Y-your bar?" I asked, he nodded, "I own Rooted, now answer my question, luv." He pressed and I was still shook that someone his age owned one of the popular hotspots in Downtown LA, I finally got my brain to work and answered him. "Stress from school, I had a very hard quiz that I actually passed." I painfully admitted. "So you're a good girl eh?" He asked. "You do all your homework, never skip class, and all around good Angeleno?" I bit my lip. "A good Jerseyan..." I corrected.

"Oh you're from New Jersey? Interesting." The way his eyes bore into me I felt like the bar was completely empty, of course, Elijah had to remind me that, that wasn't the case. "I thought you were waiting for me in the Impala." His voice questioned, interrupting my affair with Jax's voice. "I was, but I was invited to a quick drink while you handled your business." I retorted raising my brow reminding him that he ditched me first, Jax watched the small exchange of sass and if I wasn't mistaken he was almost laughing. I stood up and left the VIP, leaving him to trail after me with his eyes.

I sighed and handed Elijah his keys. "Good looking out man." He thanked Jax again on the wallet. "My pleasure mate." He winked at me, "Bye Faith." He stayed where he sat watching me leave. My heart flipped, Elijah held the door for me as I walked out the door. "I don't like his vibe." Elijah blurted out as he drove to In n Out after telling him I was starving. "What do you mean? He saved your wallet!" I replied surprised. "Yeah, but he has this 'I own everything around me.' Kind of vibe I'm not sure I dig it." He continued, I shook my head. "Besides he looks at you like you're something to eat..." I shot a glance at him and his brow was raised. "What, like you were looking at that girl Hailey?" I quizzed back. He stood quiet until we arrived at the fast food joint. "Besides, he owns the bar." I smiled smugly before heading inside and leaving a shocked Elijah behind.

"Look he can own Rooted all he wants but eyeing you down like that, well, that's different Faith." He tried to argue. "Why? Because you're a man? So is he, maybe he looks at me because he likes what he sees." He stared at the menu, but I knew exactly what he was going to order. "I still don't like it." He pressed. "What don't you like Elijah? His vibe or the way he looks at me?" I was almost in his face. "Both." He turned to the cashier and ordered. "Let me get two animal style fries, two double doubles and a vanilla shake." He turned around as I ordered a smaller portion of the same thing. "Just be careful Fae, he doesn't seem like good news..." He warned before heading over to the soda station to get me my favorite, pineapple Fanta. While he worried about me, all I could think about was that his cobalt stare had a name, Jax.