Page 22 of Love's Ace

Not when he wanted me dead.

Not when I knew I couldn’t keep him.

Wren wasn’t mine—I wasn’t his.

None of this was actuallyreal.

Chapter 9

Wren

By the time Theofinally finished his shower and came out of the bathroom, I was in the other room. I’d gone around and jammed his door from the outside, then run like a fucking coward.

I never ran from my problems, but the knowledge of what had happened, of what we’d done… the way my body was still burning…

I’d had to clean cum from the bathroom door before I’d left.

I’d never experienced anything like this. I occasionally had sex because it was something to do, because it was the phantom itch of a need I wanted to scratch. The one time I’d taken Ardor, the effects had worn off after a few hours. After the first orgasm, I’d already felt it waning. But this? Nothing was fading away; the need wasn’t subsiding. I could stillfeelthe way he’d worked himself in his hand, could imagine how it would feel if I was the one doing it, if…

It was better for me to hide in my room, even though I left the door between us open so I could listen to see if he tried to leave when he thought I wasn’t around.

All I heard was the cool sound of sheets slipping back and then his breath slowly evening out to a soft snore.

Maybe I’d justimaginedwhat had happened, because he certainly didn’t seem affected by it.

I was too angry and frustrated to sleep much that night. It came in fits and bursts that were filled with the memory of how Theo felt, even though I’d never touched him at all—my mind filled in the gaps with promises of soft skin and his burning eyes.

It was worse when I woke in the morning to two missed calls staring up from the screen of my phone. The first one was irritating, but not unexpected. Angela kept tabs on when I was in and out of our apartment building, so she would have noticed that I didn’t come home last night. She probably thought I was out fucking my way through a club somewhere with Ardor running through my system, and I was more than happy to let her keep assuming exactly that.

The other call brought me up short.

Aiden.

He had no reason to call me, because there wasnoreason for him to know what was going on. The only other time he usually contacted me was when there was a specific job he wanted me to take.

My eyes drifted to the open doorway, where I could still hear Theo taking deep, even breaths. How he was sleeping so soundly when he was in the presence of someone who had tried to and said they still wanted to kill him was beyond me, but at least it made it easier for me to get things done now.

I stood and pulled on my jeans, trailing outside. Theo wasn’t going to get out through his door, and my back was pressed to mine.

“Wren, so nice of you to bother answering.” Aiden’s deep voice spilled through the phone before the first ring had ended. Had he beenwaitingfor me to call him? Shit, was it that serious?

“I was asleep.” That was a bit of a lie, but at least it made sense, given the hour.

“Busy night?” At least I understood the slight tease to his tone. We didn’t get vials of Ardor unless he authorized it, so it was only logical he’d assume that was what I’d been doing.

“You could say that.” At least it wasn’t strange for me to be a bit of an asshole, so it wasn’t like I was acting out of character. I wanted him to get on with it without asking too many questions, so I added. “Did you have a mission for me?”

There was a moment where he didn’t answer… a moment where I had to wonder if he knew something after all. There were times when it felt like Aiden had eyes and ears everywhere, when it seemed like he knew the things we were going to do before we’d even done them. There were times when I wondered if he was more than just a simple cupid, but he’d never let on that he was anything else… and I had to assume that centuries upon centuries made it easy to predict what people were going to do when you’d probably seen it all before.

Whatever it was, Aiden laughed.

“Nothing so serious. I just heard there was an attack last night, and you never came home. I was making sure you made it out alive.”

I didn’t want to know how he knew there was an attack—he always seemed to know when we’d fought without us having to tell him—but that was easy enough to answer.

“I made it out alive. I just got a hotel after.” And then, because I needed to give him a reason, I added, “You gave Angela my vial of Ardor. She was looking to share it with me.”

He didn’t pause this time. “If Angela wants rewards, she should earn them herself.” Aiden’s deep voice took on a tone of annoyance, and I inwardly congratulated myself. I knew he hated it when we weren’t working to our full potential.

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