A shiver went all the way down Jake’s spine at the words. He had no doubts as to what Vars meant. What he really wanted to say was that he’d be fucking Jake’s brains out by the end of the week. Precisely what Jake both so desperately wanted and couldn’t allow. It was hard to get over how sturdy the muscles of Vars’s arms looked, with prominent veins going down to the wrists and his thick hands.
But there were rules Jake followed. When he submitted to the club members’ wishes, it made sense, but to another prospect—even one so much bigger, older, and smelling of cologne that had Jake on edge?—it would have wrecked the delicate balance Jake had established in his mind. He only submitted to the men who had the right to rule over him.
So Jake ignored the comment and focused on Gray. “Sure I’ll be fine. He just needs to stick to his half of the room.”
Gray had already stepped outside but suddenly spun around and focused on Jake. “Have you shined my shoes already?”
The hot, sulphur-tasting bile that had made Jake choke up fire came up his throat, making his ears heat up. He was usually more than eager to serve all the guys in this matter, but with Vars watching, he couldn’t help but feel embarrassed. The judgement oozing off Vars when his gaze darted to the wooden box where Jake kept all the shoes the members wanted him to clean (including a pair of Elliot’s, which Knight had brought in) was like a needle pushing deep into Jake’s flesh.
He forced down the liquid fire with a burp and patted his chest with his eyes watering. “Sorry, no, I didn’t forget. It’s just that Mr. Magpie’s visit was so unexpected. I’ll get on it today.”
Gray smiled and tapped his fingers on the doorframe before disappearing from sight. “Thanks. Appreciated.”
Left behind with Vars’s leather-scented presence lurking somewhere behind his back, Jake felt too stiff to move. He didn’t want to confront his new roommate, and pretending he wasn’t there delayed that moment, even if for only a few more seconds.
“Will you shine mine as well while you’re at it? You must have lots of practice,” Vars said.
Jake took a deep breath before turning around. “Fuck you!” he burst out. “Shine your own damn shoes, and while you’re at it, here’s a pair that needs doing, fellow prospect.” He chose Elliot’s boots out of the box and flung them at Vars, as he didn’t have the heart to give Vars any of the others. But Vars didn’t need to know that.
Vars shifted to the side, which caused the two mudstained missiles to miss their mark. He didn’t seem to lose his good humor when he looked back at the two brown stains left where the shoes hit the white wall. “No.”
Jake bit his lips at the sight, too frustrated to think much about having to clean that at some point. He’d painted this room himself, renovated it with Knight’s help. It was his space, and Vars’s presence already felt like a violation.
“Fuck you then. Just keep to your side.” Jake grabbed a stick of black shoe polish and drew a line along the wooden floor between their beds, all the way from the window to the door.
Vars stared at it with his thick brows riding up, as if he’d never seen anything sillier. What did Vars know anyway? Coming here and acting as if he were a member already. He didn’t care about all the sacrifices Jake had made in order to become a part of the Kings of Hell and their chosen family.
“You were the one given that job. I might have considered doing it if Gray told me to, but I will not take orders from a guy who hasn’t earned his patch after three years prospecting,” Vars told him, taking a seat on his bed.
Jake froze to the floor with the shoe polish still in his fingers. This time, whatever was inside of him, rose high enough in his throat to make him gag.
He needed a few deep breaths to calm himself.
“Two! I’ve been a hangaround first! I’ve been through so much shit to be where I am today, and you take it all for granted.” Jake grabbed one of Gray’s boots and sat with it on his own bed, set on ignoring Vars’s presence and doing his job.
Vars gave a loud sigh and stood up. “Fine. You’re doing your best, I get that. Maybe we started off on the wrong foot,” he said, stepping across the border drawn in the middle of the floor as if it didn’t exist.
Jake blinked and jumped to his feet. “Are you fucking kidding me? I just told you to stay on your half!”
“My half? Really?” Vars asked, standing there as if he still hadn’t grasped the concept of there being two separate spaces.