Chapter 30 - The joker rumour

The cafeteria on the ground floor of the administration block was relatively full. The exam period would soon begin, and the students were already preparing for the terror of the term. In the midst of the anxiety of imminent death, an alpha calmly looked at the menu.

— Are you sure I can choose anything? You shouldn't trust me so much, I might end up choosing something expensive.

— Hahaha, then nothing over thirty reais.

— Right — Jake joked, looking at the menu again — it could be a dog and a coke.

— Are you sure? You can order a snack if you like.

— It's okay, I've got training afterwards so I'd better take it easy.

— Don't you need to eat well to have energy for training?

Jake made a tired face.

— I need energy to save my life from the coach, that's for sure.

Laughing, Bianca placed the orders and paid for the snacks. Receiving the receipt with the password, the two of them went to the outside area where there were fewer people crowded together.

— Can you see the password panel from there?

— No problem — Jake smiled as he sat down — But hey, you said you were often in heat? Is that true?

Smiling embarrassedly, Bianca tucked a lock of short, straight hair behind her ear.

— Well, when I'm in a very stuffy environment, I end up feeling the pheromones more easily and that affects me.

— How dangerous, we should keep the windows open then.

— Haha, that would be very kind. I'm just worried that the people sitting in the back will be bothered by the wind.

— It's better for them to be cold than for a colleague to be ill. You know what? Let me talk to the guys, they're my friends so I can ease the burden.

Excited, the girl grinned from ear to ear.

— Thank you, Jake! You really are very kind.

— No problem.

How should he approach the family question? He had no idea if she already knew something or not. Knowing her parents, it was likely that they hadn't even talked to the girl's family properly before including her name on the list. If she didn't know anything, things would get weird. 

Jake just wanted to have a peaceful academic life.

The password panel beeped and Jake went to collect his orders. Greeting people he met here and there, the alpha soon returned to his table and the two colleagues began to eat while chatting.

Nothing much in the way of chat. Bianca was an omega who laughed easily and got excited when it came to music and series. Jake noticed that she had an interest in fantasy novels, and it wasn't strange that the Twilight series was her favourite. It was easy to get information about her; Bianca was probably the kind of person who was considered an "open book".

Unlike a certain joker.

Did Nathaniel like books? He probably liked reading some kind of story, didn't he? You should ask him later.

— Hm... You know, Jake, don't you mind?

— With what?

Bianca gave a discreet glance to the side, following Jake's direction, and saw through the window the masked man watching from afar.

Nathaniel!

— Oho, it's Nath.

— Do you know the Joker?

— He's my friend — smiled Jake, waving to Nathaniel from afar, who just raised his hand in response — Waah, he's still embarrassed to greet me in public.

— How did you meet him?

— Oh, we have some friends in common.

— Usually the Joker isn't close to anyone — Bianca murmured thoughtfully — Although my friends say that lately he's been hanging out with a freshman nursing student.

Jake's body hesitated for a moment.

Ah, the rumours.

He'd forgotten about them.

— He's the rookie on my team. Nathaniel usually attends practice, so we end up being close.

Too close, Jake thought, remembering what had happened in the library that morning. Would Nathaniel be jealous to see the Alpha with a girl? He hoped not. A little jealousy would be nice, but he didn't want him to feel bad or become suspicious of Jake.

Well, after class Jake could tell him what happened.

— Will they gossip about him again?

— Hm?

— Oh, it's no big deal, it's just that... There are a lot of people watching him.

— Are you kidding? What I see most is people avoiding him.

Bianca finished biting into her sandwich and pulled out a napkin to wipe her hands. As soon as she had eaten, she looked round and approached Jake to whisper.

— You don't follow the news much, do you?

— Neither. I either spend my time working in the restaurant or training. When I'm at home, I end up doing my college work. Why is that?

— Have you ever heard of that athlete... Ares?

Ares?

He wasn't strange...

Oh yes! The famous boxer! Boxing wasn't much of an interest to the alpha, so it was hard to remember him. Wasn't it at the farm that he saw that picture of the fighter hanging up? Matheus even commented on it.

— What about it?

— They say the Joker was his lover.

His body petrified on the spot.

Had he heard wrong?

It had to be.

The fun of that conversation became uncomfortable. 

— H-How is it? Stop joking...

— I swear it's not. A few years ago it appeared in every magazine that the fighter was going out with an underage girl.

— There... Out?

— Ares was an American wrestler.

Jake remembered his conversation with Nathaniel on the bus when they were travelling to the farm.

"— I used to travel when I lived in the States, but after I came back here I didn't travel any more."

It couldn't be. It was too much of a coincidence.

A person as ordinary as Nathaniel wouldn't know someone famous. I mean, it wasn't impossible, but let's face it... what were the chances?

It could only be a rumour.

That's it.

— It's all very well people being scared of him and all, but this is too much.

Bianca shook her head in denial. Leaning her elbows on the table, she held the Coke can in disguise as she spoke.

— You weren't here last year, were you? The campus had to reinforce the security system because some reporters sneaked in to follow him.

Of course, he'd never heard of anything like that! After all, Jake hadn't set foot in college for two years. It wouldn't have mattered what happened in that place, which was completely different now.

Besides, Matheus had never commented on an important episode like that!

How could he believe it was true? Crossing his arms, the boy pondered without giving due credit. He'd seen people create lies just to get attention or destroy the reputation of someone they didn't like. Nathaniel could be a target in such cases, but he would have to have done something very bad to end up in such a situation.

— Hm...

— But if you're friends, then you can ask him directly.

Jake made a great effort to swallow the lump that formed in his throat.

Don't believe the rumours.

You know better than anyone how much they can hurt a person.

Nathaniel had already had to deal with the crazy rumours about him being a murderer, and now there was this? The college had certainly changed in those two years, and it was probably because of one person.

It was annoying.

The two classmates returned to the classroom. However, the alpha couldn't pay attention to the next few lessons.

The omega clearly said that his first times were with Jake. First kiss, first time being jerked off by another guy... There was no way he could lie when just talking about sex made Nathaniel turn red.

He'd have to be a real ninja to be able to fake it so naturally.

Even though Jake didn't know much about Nathaniel.

In his notebook, Jake scribbled key words from the whole storm of thoughts on the last page. It wasn't just a question of whether anyone really believed that Nathaniel was involved with a world-famous athlete, but also whether anyone disliked him enough to spread such serious rumours.

Regardless of which part of the conversation had upset him, it was a fact that Jake was in a bad mood.

After school, Jake skipped lunch and went straight to the changing room to change into his training uniform and enter the gym. With a ball in hand, he began to practise a few serves on his own, trying to clear his head.

He wasn't going to be suspicious of Nathaniel.

He'd rather trust him than stupid rumours. But it was far more annoying to hear that the omega was someone else's lover.

After all, who the hell was Ares?

When Jake got home, he was going to do some research on him. Maybe even Matheus would know something.

Argh! How annoying!

Taking a deep breath, he ran across the court and raised his arm to throw the ball into the air. Catching momentum, Jake jumped as high as he could and hit the ball as hard as he could. The loud pop echoed throughout the empty gym, leaving a feeling of relief in his chest.

To feel that relief again, Jake repeated the serve twenty more times.

Even when his team-mates arrived in the gym, all he did was put away the balls that were scattered around the court and sit down to rest. His head was in the clouds, and not in a good way. He greeted his colleagues automatically without even really realising they were there.

But when a masked, hooded man appeared in the stands with his arms folded, watching the training session, Jake didn't fail to notice him.

Just as before he got to know him better, Nathaniel had an energy that scared people away. His serious look and mysterious, all-black outfit probably made him dangerous for no real reason.

Rumour had it that he was a criminal serving time on parole. Who had he killed? The rumours never went into detail. Jake had never asked because he took the rumours as lies, but it seemed he had reached a new level of bullshit.

— Jake? Are you all right?

Nodding his head, Jake barely blinked.

A snap of his fingers in front of his eyes woke him from his stupor. Noticing Matheus staring at him seriously, the alpha gave him a shameless smile to calm him down.

— Hey, when did you get here?

— When did I arrive? It's been a while and I even said hello, are you over the moon? What's wrong? Are you going to act like a teenage girl thinking about her boyfriend?

Pulling Matheus' shoulder and taking him to a more secluded corner, Jake removed his biggest doubt.

— Matheus, a classmate came to tell me something that left me a little... I don't know.

— Did you receive a confession? — Realising Jake's grimace, the other alpha shrugged — What is it?

— Did something happen here at school last year? Like people breaking in... Something like that?

Crossing his arms, Matheus pondered and nodded.

— Hm... There was a little bloke sneaking around campus, if I'm not mistaken he was a reporter.

— And you didn't even tell me?

— Why would I? The college security team took care of it, there was no need for Rapoxia to interfere. — Matheus said, then made a surprised expression — Oh, did you find out about the Joker?

Ah, it was that feeling again.

The feeling that everyone seemed to know something important, except Jake. Although that in itself wasn't the problem. It was hateful not to know what they were talking about, but what was really annoying was the rumour itself.

Squeezing his friend's shoulder, Jake was emphatic in his request.

— Tell me everything, now.