Page 7 of Ivory's Ruin Romance

She stiffened, and the tension in her muscles sliced through him like the edge of a knife. An exaggerated version of how she reacted when he blew smoke in her face. He’d done it to test if she’d call him out, but she hadn’t. Now, when confronted with someone far worse, she wouldn’t call this bastard out, either.

“Is that true?” he asked, directing the question to her.

She shook her head, the brim of her witch hat hiding her expression as her hair fell from Jace’s hand. “I’m just waiting for a ride.”

Of course it wasn’t fucking true. This pathetic waste of particles couldn’t make anyone smile, but the rejection meant more coming from her mouth.

Then she added in a whisper, “We aren’t friends, either.”

Jace laughed. “Come on. Are you really about to do this? Call me a mistake after—”

“You weren’t a mistake,” she said, flames rekindling as she turned to face him. Her head lifted, eyes locked onto Jace’s with the same perseverance he’d seen in her night after night. “You’re a joke.”

Jace sneered, and anger flashed behind his eyes. He took a step closer, positioning his body over hers like a threat—as if he’d really be able to get away with hurting her more. Adrian stepped between them.

“That’s how it is?” Jace hissed, glaring at Ivory. “I think it’s much more hilarious that this good-girl thing you’ve got going on is a fucking lie.” He stretched his fingers, balling them into fists, and turned to Adrian. “I’ll tell you the truth. She’s a whor—”

Yeah, no way was he about to finish that sentence.

FOUR

The tequila gods had spoken.

Not only had the deck started spinning in every direction, Jace had morphed into two Jaces, and her pink-haired leather-clad black knight had learned how to fly. No, not exactly—his fists could fly.

Little twinkles of light reflected off Adrian’s gold rings as they soared toward both of Jace’s faces, colliding squarely into both their noses and merging them into one. Jace stumbled backward and clenched his jaw, then grit his teeth and stalked over to Adrian before throwing his own fist.

Her heart pounded, both in horror at the scene unfolding and—although it was certainly not the time—in admiration, along with a hint of confusion. He’d just told her she meant nothing to him.

He’d left.

Now he came back, and in her defense, at that. Or maybe one of the Jaces had managed to piss him off. Wouldn’t surprise her. Either way, this couldn’t be good.

Before she could say anything to stop them, the men began to exchange blows. Blood smeared across Jace’s face and left a dark stain over one cheek. She really hoped none of it belonged to Adrian. Then she’d feel bad. But Jace could suffer an injury or two, as long as it wasn’t serious. Maybe then his face would match his personality.

Hearing the ruckus, Jace’s two friends stumbled over from the hot tub, bringing the heavy sour scent of weed and several girls complaining about the noise. “Shit,” one cursed, too high and drunk to be of much use. “What the hell’s happening?”

“Where the fuck were you?” Jace hissed, spitting out blood onto the deck as he and Adrian finally separated.

Attempting to refocus her splitting vision, something slipped from her fingers and clattered to the ground. Oh no, that something had been her phone. She groaned and tore her eyes away from her black knight. This better not end in a cracked screen.

Bending to retrieve it, her witch hat tumbled off and rolled away as the deck lurched to the side. Great, now gravity had it in for her, too. A steady hand gripped her arm as she swayed. The cool metal of her phone slid into her hand.

“Watch yourself, sweetheart.”

The now familiar tone of Adrian’s voice and his pair of leather boots made her flush as she clutched the phone, which had been handed to her from bloody fingers. She mumbled a thank you as Jace started up again.

“This motherf—”

Adrian cut him off with a boot to the knee. She gasped as Jace crumpled, then that same black boot connected with Jace’s stomach. He groaned, rolling over on his side.

“Don’t let me hear you disrespect a woman again,” Adrian threatened. “Unless you’re referring to yourself.” The scowl on his face did not look pleasant. If she thought he cloaked himself in shadow before, now he’d evolved into something straight out of the underworld. Adrian glared down at Jace. “But I’d say from this angle, you look more like a bitch than anyone else here.”

“I think he got the point,” she stammered, tentatively taking a step closer. Starting a scene, or more than they already had, would be a bad idea. If anyone else came, they’d assume Adrian had started it, and she didn’t want him to take the blame.

“Get the fuck off our property,” Jace’s friend hissed, turning to them while doing a poor job at being intimidating. Despite being taller than her knight, Jace couldn’t stand straight, nor walk in a straight line. However, reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a slender silver blade and brandished it.

Even in her present state, she knew that was very, very not good.

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