Chapter 10
chapter
ten
Jace
I am ridiculously gone enough for this woman that I’m grinning, thinking we just had our first couple fight. But we’re not a couple. We’ll never be a couple.
I walk by one of the security panels on the wall and there’s a light blinking. I tap the screen and a grey video of the outside comes into view. There’s that fucking cat, skulking around trying to get near the front door.
I’m done messing with this. We’re adults; we can resolve this without resorting to playground antics. I tap in the code that I saw Harriet use—she’s not nearly as stealthy as she thinks she is—and it disarms the alarm.
I open the front door and there he is. He jerks a little when he sees me, then he starts that kitty growl of his. I step out onto the porch.
“The lady has told you multiple times that she does not wish to spend time with you. You have no claim on her,” I say.
He spreads his arms out—Wolverine style—and though he does have claws, they’re not nearly as impressive as the X-man’s.
I walk towards him, stepping off the porch and into the yard.
“Jace! What are you doing?” Harriet yells from the doorway.
“I’ve got this, beautiful. Just go back inside,” I say, never taking my eyes off of the beast in front of me.
“I will do no such thing.”
“We’re just going to discuss this like men, aren’t we, Chris?” I ask.
He snarls at me. “I don’t have anything to say to you. I’m just here to mess you up.”
I raise my brows, knowing fully well that I’m poking the proverbial bear. “Oh, did you come here to kick my ass? Is that what’s going on?” I ask.
“Damn right I am. I told you in the woods that this wasn’t over. I saw her first.” He says the last sentence, one tense word at a time.
“Her is right here,” Harriet says, her words dripping with annoyance. “And she gets a say. You don’t just get to decide I’m yours. She marches past me and goes straight up to Chris.
“Harriet, get back behind me, please,” I say.
“I’ll have you know that if that’s the measure we’re using as to which one of you has a claim on me, then Jace wins because I’ve known him for a couple of years,” she says.
“I don’t give a fuck,” Chris says.
“We got that much,” I say taking several steps towards him. “You don’t care that she doesn’t want you, you just want her and that’s the way it’s going to be, right?”
“Exactly.”
I come even closer.
“What are you going to do?” Chris asks. “Hit me with your dick?” He reaches over and grabs Harriet’s arm.
She yelps in pain, and I know one of his claws probably pierced her skin.
My patience disappears. My gentlemanly manners disappear. I am rage.
I jump, kicking out with my right leg, and my hoof nails him in the face. He howls, grabbing at his face with both hands, thus releasing Harriet.
“Holy shit, Jace,” Harriet says. “Xander said you could kick, but damn.”
“You broke my fang,” Chris yells. Blood covers his hands, pouring out of his mouth.
“You need to learn some manners,” I tell him. “When a lady says no, she means it. Now get the fuck away from us before I knock out your other fang.”
He hisses at me, then turns and runs away.
I look at Harriet. “Did he just hiss at me?”
“He legit did. Oh my God, that was hysterical.”
Then I see the scratch on her arm. I pull her close to me. “Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m fine. Hope I don’t get cat-scratch fever.” She giggles.
“Let’s get back inside and get it cleaned up.”
I lead her inside where I reset the alarm. Once we’re in the kitchen, I lift her and set her on the counter, then use a wet cloth to wash her scratch. She’s right, it’s not a bad cut, barely more than a scrape.
“You were pretty bad ass out there,” she says.
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, like a goddamn ninja.”
“Ancient goat ninja, I’m a black belt.”
She laughs and the sound is like the best song I’ve ever heard. I am head over hooves in love with this woman.
Her phone rings. She glances down at the screen and Vivian is lit up.
“Probably calling about the noise from the cat. You should answer,” I tell her. Then I leave her in the kitchen.
I go out into the sitting room that overlooks the back yard. There’s a pool back there, all lit up neon blue.
A ninja. I smile. She thinks I’m a badass. Of course, she initially must have thought I was helpless since she kidnapped me and brought me here.
It’s pointless for me to hope she did it for other reasons—that she has feelings for me that go beyond a girlish crush.