Bye-Bye Jerk, Hello Mr. Right by Rosie Steppe

""Where did you bury that urn?"

The question blindsided me.

A faint smile tugged at his lips. "Don't worry, I'm not trying to bring up old stuff," he murmured.

He shifted, clearly struggling, like he wanted to get closer. I leaned in, bringing my ear near him. His voice was barely above a whisper, but the weight of his words hit me hard.

"Listen carefully. That urn has a data sync device inside. My phone's synced to it. There's... a lot of critical info in there. If anything ever happens to me, take the device and give it to the authorities."

I froze. The urn... it had been hiding something this huge all along?

It was Yara who gave it to me. Did she know about this, too?

The thought of her made my stomach twist a little. "Why not have Yara deal with this instead of me?" I blurted.

Hayden let out a quiet laugh. "You're jealous right now? Really?"

I huffed, but he kept going. "She and I are just comrades. Nothing romantic, I swear. And besides..."

He took a shaky breath before continuing, "She doesn't know what's inside. She handled the ashes, sure, but that's it."

I frowned. "Then how did you even get the device in there?"

He smirked faintly. "What do you think?"

didn't take me long to figure it out. "You

sharp," he said

so familiar-was the confirmation I'd been waiting for. He was admitting it.

mix of relief and frustration surged through me, and before I knew it, I leaned down and bit him lightly. But when I tasted the faint tang of blood, I froze, guilt washing over me.

did was make the

out of sight,

started, best I cut

you,

His voice was

and beaten. Don't even try to tell

was silent for a beat before he finally said, "You think I'd do something like

you think?"

But Xander? I'm grateful

and reasonable, which honestly made me even madder. He apologizing and acting like

I stayed quiet.

is he now?" Wayne finally asked, like he didn't already

the hospital. Emergency

He still sounded

"let them think I'm weak" plan, I decided to lean in. "Wayne,

he could say another word, staring back at

sure. Like that was even possible. He'd bled so much. Those guys had gone hard.

Cole showed up. Like, one after the other,