Chapter 40 - Jealousy

Jealousy.
Often relating to insecurity, fear, anger, resentment and disgust.
Those were the things Wren Austin felt sitting on the bar stool.
The blonde never thought she would hate the pub as much as she hated it now. Never mind the fact that she was there almost every night. Her best friend was the only reason she even bothered to come as her company made everything better.
But right now, Gwendolyn’s company could do shit to better her situation.
To say she rolled her eyes a million times was an understatement. She wanted the earth to open up and swallow her.
No, that was a metaphor. She wanted to die, and disappear. Anything that could get her out of here.
She was currently on her sixth glass of shot and even that didn’t make her tipsy enough to ignore the two people seated next to her. Right when she gulped the sixth shot and was about to order the seventh, she heard his voice.
“That’s enough Wren. You’ll get tipsy” Giovanni said with a hand on Wren’s shoulder that make her hair stand on ends.
Wren grumbled mostly to herself at her body’s betrayal. In the most discrete way possible, she shrugged away his hand on her shoulder and instead of replying to him, turned to Gwen who laughed at something at client had said.
“Gwen! Fill up please” the blonde said gently tapping the empty glass on the table.
Gwen stuck out her index finger to the client she was talking with before making her way to Wren.
“That was the sixth glass, Wren. You’ll get tipsy” Gwen replied taking the glass away from Wren.
The blonde rolled her eyes in annoyance.
She wasn’t asking for much. Just for more shots and to keep them until she was blackout drunk. Drunk enough to not remember this instance tomorrow or the rest of her life.
“Thank you for the advice, mom. Now when you’re done with your lecture, get me another shot” Wren Austin said firmly, her voice never faltering.
Gwen sighed. “No, Wren. You’ve had enough” Gwen wasn’t backing down either.
‘You should listen to Gwen. She knows what she is saying” Giovanni said with his hand on Wren’s shoulder. This time, she wasn’t discrete in pushing his hand off her.
“Get your hands away from me” she spat. Still, Giovanni didn’t back down.
“Is everything okay?” Sierra butted in, her gaze shifting from Giovanni to Gwen and when none of them gave her a reply, she turned to Wren.
“Are you okay Wren?” Sierra questioned, making Wren roll her eyes.
She ignored both Giovanni and Sierra and spoke to Gwen. “Get me a shot, please,” she said, but Gwen shook her head.
“I’m but it’s a no. I’m doing this for you, Wren. You’ve had a lot to drink” Gwen said.
Fueled with rage, the blonde abruptly got off the bar stool and stormed out of the pub, but now without hearing, Sierra asked if everything was okay with her.
Wren Austin wanted to make a U-turn and scream at Sierra that nothing was okay because of her goddam presence. But the blonde knew better than to do that, so she just kept moving and made sure to ignore the whispers she heard.
Now that she was standing outside the pub and the cold air slapped her face, Wren felt like her legs were going to give up on her any moment, as the alcohol chose now to take effect.
Wren groaned in frustration as she paced back and forth. She realised that she may have overreacted back there. She didn’t have to react the way she did when they were merely concerned about her.
She hated that she had allowed her jealousy to get the best of her.
“Wren! Hold up” she heard his voice call out to her.
She felt ashamed. She didn’t want to speak to him, not after she had seen like behave so poorly. She was the one who requested that he stays away from her and yet she was acting out.
“Leave me alone, Gio,” she said as she began to walk away from him.
“No Wren” the young man took long strides and caught up with Wren. He took her hand in his, forcing her to stay put.
“Let go of me, Gio,” she said more firmly this time.
“Not until you speak to me” his voice was firm and his expression was stoic. He had both hands on either side of her shoulders.
“And I don’t want to. Maybe I didn’t make myself clear the last time you invaded my privacy” Wren was referring to yesterday when he showed up at her apartment and forced his way in.
“Stay the hell away from me. And while you are at it, have your little fiancée do the same too” Wren Austin spat, shrugged away his hands on her shoulder and began to walk away.
It clicked. Giovanni O’Connell finally understood why Wren acted the way she did. She was jealous. She was jealous of Sierra. The young man couldn’t help the smile that made its way to his face at the realisation of this.
With amusement filled in his voice, he spoke up. “Hold on Wren. Are you jealous?”
His question stopped Wren in her tracks. She could hardly believe his question. Her breathing became paced, she fisted her hand, and her body temperature was both hot and cold and the same time. One could see flames coming off her.
Yes. She was fuming.
How dare he ask her something so atrocious? Wren Austin was everything but jealous.
At least, that was what she wanted to believe.
“How dare you assume something so foolish?” she questioned.
Giovanni smirked although she couldn’t see it. “You didn’t answer my question,” he said firmly and started walking towards her.
“Go to hell” Wren spat. “What is there to be jealous of? You? Her? Pssf” Wren Austin scoffed.
“I am everything but jealous,” she said with her arms folded.
Yes! She was most definitely jealous.
Giovanni smirked even harder. “Wren, admit it. You are jealous” he added, fueling Wren’s rage.
Just as the blonde was about to reply with something sarcastic and hurtful, Giovanni cut her off by connecting his lips to hers. She was stunned at first and tried to push him away, but the young man was resilient and held her in place until she eventually gave in and kissed him back.
While they were both engrossed in each other’s warmth and basking in the feel of their lips against each other, Sierra stood on the porch of Teq’s pub, watching their display.
Needless to say, she was not pleased.

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