by Skylark » 10/22/2017 7:06 PM
Kadin couldn't pin down the source of his bad mood until Nox's other friend put a possessive hand on Nox's shoulder and, all of a sudden, it was the only thing Kadin could focus on. Something dark and ugly rolled over in Kadin's gut, the temperature in his immediate surroundings rising by several degrees. Ice melted more quickly than it should in the water glasses nearby, cold beer turned warm, and Kadin eyed that hand that tried to lay a claim on Nox as if the owner had come into his coffee shop and took a dump on the counter.
"Yeah." Kadin said, a couple beats too late. All semblance of social graces seemed to have left him when he was overtaken by this surprising wave of jealousy, "Nox does good work." His eyes flicked from Trevor's hand, to Trevor and Nox, and back again before finally settling on Nox himself.
Nox was clearly uncomfortable with how Kadin was behaving, he could see that. He was either fine with or oblivious about the attention Trevor was giving him, too. Nox never saw his own value, even when his friends were trying to convince him of it and the evidence had just been lighting up the air with spouts of fire. Kadin tried to take deep, even breathes to get a rein on the unexpected twist of emotions that he was letting ruin absolutely everything because he was such a shitty friend. If Nox was even the slightest bit interested in this guy he'd never realize it if all his attention was on Kadin. A small, selfish part of him whispered good at that thought, but he squashed it down savagely because he was supposed to be Nox's friend and friends are supposed to be supportive.
Supportive his ass. The candles from a historically accurate chandelier flared up several more inches than they should as Trevor clearly tried to get Nox alone with him. Kadin held himself carefully still, although his face probably screamed out how pissed he was getting. This was none of his business. He should not impede Nox's friendship with this random dickwad who wanted to bone him. So he kept quiet while Nox carefully turned Trevor down and focused his attention back entirely on him.
All he could feel was relief once Trevor exited the restaurant. That twisting rage of jealously slowly left his system, the room returning to normal from the largely unnoticed anomalies that happened around them. Guilt peppered with embarrassment quickly replaced jealousy as Nox squeezed his hand and they were shown to the table.
"Yeah." Kadin said, too quickly, "Everything's fine. I'm just hungry."
It was a weak excuse at best and Kadin knew it. He was self aware enough to know that the emotion he'd been feeling had been unbridled jealousy, but he had no idea where that jealousy had come from. It shouldn't bother him if a friend of Nox's wanted to be more than friends. It shouldn't bother him if Nox was close with other guys, especially guys who wanted to be more than friends with him. It shouldn't even bother him to think of Nox dating, despite this line of thought bothering Kadin right now.
What was wrong with him. There was no reason for him to be acting so jealous of someone else wanting Nox's attention unless he wanted to stupidly keep that attention all for himself! And he shouldn't feel that way, he shouldn't be so selfish an insecure of his relationship with Nox since they were friends and he wanted Nox to be happy and having more friends or even a boyfriend would make Nox happy. There was absolutely no reason for him to be so jealous until he was jealous because of the type of attention Nox at been getting and that wouldn't make sense unless... unless.
........................... unless.
No. There was no way.
Kadin froze in shock, color draining from his face. There was no way.
Because when I arrive
I, I'll bring the fire
Make you come alive
I can take you higher
What this is, forgot?
I must now remind you
Let It Rock
Let It Rock
Let It Rock