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?"

"You messed with the urn before it was

sharp," he

he said it so natural, so familiar-was the confirmation I'd been waiting for. He

guilt washing over me. Instead, I pressed a soft kiss to his cheek and stayed quiet. The ambulance

was supposed to reassure me, but all it did was make the knot in my chest

was out of sight, 1 grated my

I cut him

you,

was all fake

road, then ambushed and beaten. Don't even try to

before he finally said, "You

you think?" I

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

made me even madder. He

I stayed quiet.

Wayne finally asked, like he didn't

the hospital.

seriously hurt?" He still sounded

"let them think I'm weak" plan, I decided to lean in. "Wayne, if anything happens to him, I'll

up before he could say another word, staring back at the glowing EMERGENCY

me not to stress, but yeah, sure. Like that was even possible. He'd bled

one after the other, both standing in front of me before I