Page 25 of Dramatic AF
“Nope.” Tugging on my wrist, he pulled me down beside him and rested his head against my shoulder with a quiet sigh. “I just want to sit here with you.”
“Jay, there you are!”
A pained groan fell from my mate’s lips, and his fingers flexed around mine. “This cannot be happening.”
But it was.
Despite the bouquet of roses clutched between his hands, Elijah’s cream suit and black bowtie made him look more like a cater waiter than a leading man. Even his smarmy grin set my fucking teeth on edge, and a low growl rumbled in my chest.
“Please don’t kill him,” Jayden said, tightening his grip on my arm when I started to stand. “At least wait until after the show.”
I thought he might be joking about that last part. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt him.”
Oh, I wanted to, but as satisfying as it would be, I had a much better idea. One with far longer lasting repercussions.
“Elijah,” I said, hitching my lips into a genial smile. “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced.” Rising from the bench, I strode toward him, my hand outstretched in greeting. “I’m Trick.”
Though I could smell the fear pouring off him, he didn’t hesitate, reaching toward me to accept the handshake. It worked every damn time.
The moment our fingers touched, I let the magic flow through me, guiding it, shaping it. Elijah wouldn’t feel a thing, but he’d know how fucked he was soon enough.
“I know who you are. I hired you to curse Jayden.”
The instant the words left his mouth, he jerked back, his eyes wide and his pupils dilated. “I mean…I…why did I just say that?”
“Because it’s the truth,” I answered easily. “It’s important to tell the truth.”
“I didn’t mean that. Well, I meant it, but I didn’t mean to say it out loud.”
If his eyes grew any bigger, they might actually pop out of his head. The roses fell to the floor, their petals scattering in a wide arc, and he clapped both hands over his mouth.
“Why?” Jayden asked, coming to join us. “Why would you want to hex me?”
Elijah shook his head and pressed his hands more firmly against his lips, but he couldn’t stop the words from coming. “I just wanted you to quit the play, so you’d want to be with me again.”
Well, I hadn’t expected that one. I’d been thinking it had been an act of pettiness. Turned out, it was actually just stupidity.
“I didn’t break up with you because I got this role. I broke up with you because you’re an asshole.”
A quiet giggle drew my attention to the shadows beyond our circle of light, to the small group that had started to gather. While I didn’t want to embarrass Jayden by airing his dirty laundry, I didn’t necessarily mind the audience.
“Why did you really come to my apartment last night?” Jayden continued, his tone sharper now.
“To trick you into sleeping with me.” Elijah coughed, choking on the words, but he couldn’t stop them. “I thought if I could just get inside and surprise you, then you wouldn’t want me to leave.”
“That is the stupidest—” Jayden cut off abruptly, closed his eyes, and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Is this even real life right now?”
I sympathized with his struggle, but I also had the insane urge to laugh. All this time, I had been envisioning dark secrets and insidious schemes. In reality, it had just been an entitled, self-absorbed idiot.
“We met at the cafe the morning you made the MNSTR request,” I said, needing clarification on a few things. “Was that just a coincidence?”
“Yeah.” He drew back, wincing at the admission. “I had already filled out the forms before you came in. I recognized you from your picture, and I figured that meant it was probably fate.”
Oh, it had definitely been fate. Just not in the way he’d intended.
“And when I canceled the job, why didn’t you hire someone else?”
“That was way too stressful. Do you know how many questions I had to answer?”
