Page 29 of You Were Warned: Part One

He walks away before I can respond. Once the show finishes, Jensen and I return to my house. I’m on shift tonight, and I have to plan a costume for Jensen. It’s the condition Nixie had for letting him stay—he has to work just like everyone else.

The second I step foot into my house, I know someone is here, and I put my arm out to stop Jensen.

“Stay behind me,” I whisper as I move through the house.

When I push the kitchen door open, I relax as I see the Jester sitting at my kitchen table with a cup between his hands—my favorite cup.

“Why the fuck are you in my house?”

The Jester glances up at me slowly with a smirk. “The door was unlocked, so I took that as an invitation, since apparently you let anyone inside now.”

Jensen shifts slightly to my left, a stupid move because the Jester tracks him with his eyes.

“Get out of my house,” I snap.

“In a moment,” he says, his eyes moving back to me. “You should know, wherever you go, I’ll be there, watching both of you.” He says it pleasantly in a way that would make a normal person shiver.

“You have been following us all day,” Jensen says, and the Jester laughs maniacally.

“That’s not going to stop, Lucky. You want to take what’s mine? Your days are numbered. But for now, I will entertain the idea that my love wants to keep you as a pet. Remember that my patience only stretches so far.”

“You’re fucking crazy, you know that right? Vesper is just being nice.”

The Jester stands, and I head to the kitchen drawer and take out a knife. As the Jester moves, Jensen steps back.

“No one ever said I was sane, and Vesper is not nice.”

He steps further toward Jensen, so I step between them and bring the tip of the knife to his sternum, but he leans into it.

“If you want to hurt me,” he whispers, “all you have to do is say the word. I would love to bleed for you.”

I pull the knife back; it’s pointless if it doesn’t have the intended reaction. I should have known better.

He steps back and runs his eyes over Jensen. “I’ll be watching,” he says as he backs toward the chair he was sitting in. “And waiting.” He picks up his jacket, then walks past us and out the door.

I put the knife back in the drawer, while Jensen sits at the table, running his hand through his hair.

“He won’t stop, will he?”

“No,” I reply. There is no use in lying to the man.

“So, what should I do?”

I turn and lean against the counter. “I plan to annoy him until he does something stupid. As for you, well, you can run and hope he doesn’t find you, or find a way to make him like you—which will be nearly impossible.”

“What if I made you fall in love with me? Would he kill me if it hurt you?”

I glare at him, and he laughs.

“I’m kidding. Calm down.”

Yet now that the question is out there, it makes me wonder. Not because I plan to fall for Jensen, but because I am genuinely curious about what the Jester would do in that scenario. Guess I’d better ask him if I want to find out. At the very least, I expect it will make him mad.

Rue

Vesper calls out to me as I’m walking toward the post-apocalyptic zone. I wanted to check that everything is set before tomorrow, as we have a group coming in who have specifically hired the space. A bunch of middle-aged men want to shoot each other with paintballs, and they’ll be totally oblivious to everything happening around them.

“Have you seen Jensen?” she asks.