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

he said with a

familiar-was the confirmation

tang of blood, I froze, guilt washing over me. Instead, I pressed a soft kiss to his cheek and stayed quiet. The ambulance arrived not long after. As they loaded Hayden onto the stretcher, he leaned close. "Don't worry. I'll be

me, but all it did was make the knot in my chest tighten.

he was out of sight,

started, best I cut

you,

voice was all

then ambushed and beaten. Don't even try to tell

for a beat before he finally said, "You think I'd do

do you think?"

that. But Xander? I'm grateful to him.

was all calm 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.

He

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

hung up before he could say another word, staring

sure. Like that was even possible. He'd bled so much.

crawled by, my nerves getting worse, until-boom-Wayne and Cole showed up. Like, one after