Bye-Bye Jerk, Hello Mr. Right



I was startled. "Jace, you..."

But before I could finish, he swiped the blood away with the back of his hand, turned, and walked off. My legs twitched, like they wanted to follow him, but nope, I stayed put.

Maybe it was better this way. If he kept pushing himself like that, maybe he'd finally leave me alone.

Xander came, his eyes zeroing in on the bloodstain. "Who are you mad at me? I didn't mean anything-I just thought he was annoying you, so I stepped in."

I ignored him and shoved the clothes I was holding into his hands. "Just go, Xander."

He hesitated but eventually headed to change. When he came back, hits bag of dirty clothes was in one hand, and in the other? A wet wipe.

To my surprise, he crouched down by the door, wiping up the blood Jace left behind.

The second the door clicked shut behind Xander, I collapsed onto the couch.

I sat there for what felt like hours, my brain stuck in a loop of Jace coughing up blood on repeat. When I couldn't sit anymore, I flopped onto the couch and stayed there.

All night, it was the same dream-Jace, coughing, blood spilling like some kind of grim GIF that wouldn't stop. It felt like that blood didn't just hit the floor; it splattered straight onto my heart.

When I finally woke up, sunlight was slicing through the windows. I just stared out the window for a while before dragging myself to the bathroom. That's when I saw it. Dried blood-on my face, my clothes. His blood.

I grabbed a wet wipe and started cleaning it off, slow and careful, like scrubbing him out of my life for good.

Not long after I got to the office, my phone buzzed. It was Cole.Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

"I heard you got hit by a car in my territory?" His tone was as blunt as ever.

Before I could track him down, Cole beat me to it. Saved me the hassle, so I didn't bother sugarcoating anything. What's the deal? You gonna explain, or what?"

"Obviously," he said, all cool and matter-of-fact. "Anyone messing with you on my turf is messing with me." He had a point. Even jerks know better than to disrespect the territory's boss. Someone coming after me here? Total power move.

"Yeah, someone tried to kill me," I said bluntly. "You'd better figure out who."

Jace claimed he was investigating, but honestly, after last night, I wasn't holding my breath. Cole, though? His turf, his rules-this was in his wheelhouse.

"Give me the rundown," Cole said.

"Check the security footage," I snapped. I wasn't about to rehash the details for him.

"Got it. I'll handle the guy you took down, too," he added, like it was just another chore.

Of course, he knew. Cole always knew.

That guy was one of Wayne's men. If Cole went after him, it'd stir up drama. Not my problem, though. "Thanks

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for stepping in."

"I've said it before-trouble on my turf is trouble with me, he said, volce sharp with authority. But he didn't hang up right away, which meant he was gearing up for something else.

Sure enough: "You spent the night with Xander?"

Xander's face flashed in my head, then Jace's, pale and coughing up blood. "Yeah."

"Heh... heh..." Cole's laugh was a weird mix of amused and nocking. "Wow. Respect."

I wasn't sure what to make of that, so I just deadpanned, "What? Stuff like that is mutual consent, right?" "True. Xander's lucky to have you," Cole said, his voice dripping with amusement before he hung up.

I set my phone down, let out a dry laugh, and tried to shake off the mess of emotions swirling around me. With a deep breath, I cracked open my laptop and got to work.

Even though my body felt like trash and my mood wasn't winning any awards, focusing on work was easy enough. What did throw me off, though, was Ron's absence.

He always made it a point to show up in my office, usually with some excuse to hover. But today? Crickets.