Page 213 of Malice and Surrender
“All my clients have left. Jace wasn’t happy just firing me, which was humiliating enough, but he had to ruin my career because of his need to have his playtime with you.”
Did he think I was a pet? He acted as if Jace owned me with the way he spoke. It was disturbing, but then again, everything about this was disturbing.
“I didn’t have anything to do with that. I have no idea why they left,” Jace growled. “But, I’m kinda wishing I’d thought of that now.”
“Lies! There is no such thing as coincidences,” he yelled and began cursing as he tried to pull himself to his feet. I barely recognized him. He seemed so different from the put-together man I’d met initially. “I’ve lost everything, and it’s all your fault.”
Allen reached behind his back, and I sucked in a deep breath, not knowing if he was reaching for a gun or a phone. Jace, obviously thinking the same thing tossed his phone on the bed and jumped on Allen, sending the two men crashing to the floor.
I grabbed Jace’s phone and realized an operator was already on the line.
“Hello, is anyone still there?”
“Hi, yes. I think he’s going for a weapon. Jace and Allen are fighting.”
“Go to the door, the officers are there,” the woman on the line said, and I sprinted as fast as I could. Reaching the door, I whipped it open, and four officers walked in.
“This way,” I said and ran back to the bedroom with the sound of their heavy boots following me. I went inside and got out of the way as they ran over to where Jace now had Allen pinned face down. A small gun no bigger than my palm was on the floor.
I covered my mouth as I realized this man was willing to kill Jace and me. There was lots of noise and chaos as they got him in cuffs, and all the old memories surfaced one at a time. I saw the officers coming to my house when my parents died and giving my statement over and over about my attack. I didn’t notice I was crying until Jace wrapped his arms around me and held me tight.
“Shh, it’s going to be okay. He’s gone. It’s just us. Allen is going to go away for a long time. My lawyers will make sure of it.”
“Why does this stuff keep happening? It seems like there is something else every time I turn around. He almost killed you, Jace. If I’d been any longer in the kitchen, he would’ve. I…oh my god.” Wrapping my arms around him, I let out the pent-up emotion, my body trembling as the tears fell harder. Jace held me tight, and for the first time, I really felt the connection between us.
Even last night, with everything that had happened and the wild aftermath of the awards show, it was right now, in this quiet moment, that I felt his kind heart and his love for me.
“I can’t answer the why, but maybe it’s because we all have crazy shit and terrible pasts that we understand one another so well,” Jace said, and as I leaned back to look up at him, he wiped away the tears on my face with his thumbs. “Thank you for saving me,” he said, laying his lips against my forehead.
“There was no way I was letting him hit you with that thing.” I shuddered at the thought.
“Well, I hope you’re prepared to save me again,” Jace said, and my eyebrows drew together. “We still have to deal with Kai and Avro.”
Laying my head against his chest, I groaned. That was one conversation I was not looking forward to having. No matter how we explained it, he would want to shoot first and ask questions later.
Kaivan
I stomped from one end of Avro and Jace’s house to the other so many times that there should’ve been a groove in the tile floor. I needed to sleep, but hadn’t been able too all night. Every time I closed my eyes all I could see was Jace down on one knee and Raine agreeing to marry him. It was my worst nightmare coming true before my eyes. I knew I couldn’t trust him and I almost had.
The fact that Avro wasn’t bitching about my boots screamed what a foul mood I was in. The moment I stopped moving, all I could think about were the different ways I wanted to kill Jace, and there were many. The current fantasy was me cutting him up and turning him into a human shish kebab that I could lower into the water for the sharks.
“They’re here,” Avro called down the hall where I’d just turned around, and I marched back, my muscles twitching and hands flexing to wrap around his throat.
I rounded the corner as they stepped through the door, and the first thing my eyes landed on was the rock that looked like an ice cube on Raine’s finger. It took every ounce of self-control I had not to leap over Raine and onto the man closing the door behind them.
“I fucking warned you!” I yelled, and Raine stepped back. I stopped moving at the terrified look in her eyes. How times have changed. I wanted that look not so long ago, but now it hurt my heart. I opted to point at Jace instead of getting any closer. “I told you if you tried to take her away, I’d destroy you. I thought we came to an understanding. I never wanted to have to use the information, but I fucking will.”
“What is he talking about,” Raine asked and looked between us.
“What you think is going on is not what happened, Kai, and I’ll explain everything if you give me a minute before you try to kill me.” Jace looked down at Raine. “Kai and I agreed not to try and pull you in any one direction. We each have dirt on the other that we’d prefer not be shared with the world and have been using it as collateral.”
“That’s just a fancy way of saying you’re blackmailing one another,” she said and crossed her arms over her chest. “And here I thought you were actually learning to get along.”
“So did I, but it looks like I’m going to fucking need that information after all,” I growled.
“Slow your fucking roll, Kai, you don’t have the slightest clue what happened, and I’m not trying to pull her away from you or Avro. That’s the last thing I’m doing.”
“You’re fucking liar,” I growled, marching around Raine. I gripped Jace by the hoodie he was wearing. “It’s been what you were pushing for from the first moment I met you.”
