Page 99 of Jain

"Oh, come on. Since when do I use lines?"

I snorted as he frowned, tilting my chin, so I was facing him. His eyes seemed to glitter when he spoke, my nerves now through the roof.

"Since when do Ineedto, Jain?"

I moved away from him, the heat from being close to him making me forget what I was meant to be doing. He yawned, rubbing his neck before he stretched his arms out.

"I thought we'd play Monopoly," I said brightly, sliding the box out of the rain flecked carrier bag. His eyes lit up before he took a sip of wine.

"Excellent. Although I must warn you, I'm damn good at this game."

"It's just luck." I shrugged, picking off the cellophane from the custom-made box. Luckily everything looked the same, so his interest wasn't piqued.

"I'll be the boot," Evan declared, settling down in front of me.

"Fine, I'll be the dog. Bet I still win."

"Bet, hmm? I know, loser goes on top."

I burst out laughing as he winked at me.

"I really want to win now," he remarked, gazing at my chest pointedly.

We began the game, and he was fixated on winning. Whenever I landed on Community Chest or Chance, I decided to make up the words just until he landed on one. If he didn't land on one, it would have to be the best of three. He rolled the dice, and four black circles stared up at the ceiling as he whistled.

"Doubles. I get another go," he crooned before throwing the dice again. I held my breath when it landed on the cards named 'Chance."

He smirked at me before dropping his eyes to the card.

"Is this serious?" Evan whispered, his voice barely audible.

I swallowed before nodding.

"It is."

Evan

Something was off.

Jain was jittery—which wasn’t entirely suspiciously out of character, I’ll admit—but I noticed her fingers trembling when she lifted the wine glass to her lips. At first, I thought the worst—something was wrong. I wanted to demand to know what was wrong immediately, but something in her eyes told me not to.

We were playing Monopoly, of all things. She kept jumping whenever it was my turn, and I tried not to throw the board in the air when she seemed to sigh with relief every time my turn ended.

What was wrong with her?

My mind drifted back to the phone call I’d received earlier, the anonymous caller ID that made me worry until I heard the voice speak slowly into my ear.

“You helped me in jail, so I owe you. You know where I am if you need me, teach.”

My stomach still churned with nausea at the words, but I tried not to give it too much thought. Combined with Jain’s strange behaviour, I couldn’t quite work out what inthe world was going on. Hadley, as he was known in prison, had needed to pass his English GCSE so he could move onto college levels of study. He was due to be released about a month before me, but I’d had nothing to do but teach him. I smiled to myself when I realised he must’ve passed his exam, especially if he felt the need to thank me.

As my dice settled on the board, I moved my token to the appropriate place on the board. Jain sucked in a breath then, so obviously that I looked up at her in surprise.

“Are you alright?” I asked cautiously, her mouth opening and closing before opening again.

“Yes?”

“That sounds more like a question than an answer, Jain.” I chuckled before glancing back at the game. “We don’t have to play—”