Page 104 of The Wrong Play

And Jace deserved better than me.

Minutes passed in silence, the only sound, the soft, steady rhythm of our breathing. My body was exhausted, my mind frayed, and eventually, my eyes drifted shut. But just as I teetered on the edge of sleep, I felt it—his fingers ghosting over my arm, the weight of his presence still wrapped around me like something unshakable.

Then, in the quietest voice, barely more than a breath, he whispered, “Some day, I’m going to say it. And some day, you’re going to believe it.”

I didn’t move, didn’t let him know I was still awake.

But the words slipped into the cracks of my heart, settling deep.

CHAPTER 17

JACE

There were exactly three things I didn’t want to wake up to, especially after such a nice night of cooking a steak, having sex, and then watching my favorite movie before Riley had made me take her back to her dorm:

One: A crying voicemail from my mom about her fear of dying before I give her any grandbabies.

Two: Darla Pinswallow’s boobs.

Three: A fucking blindfold strapped over my face while I was clearly not in my own bed.

Guess which one I woke up to?

The answer:all three,if you counted the fact that Darla drunk texted both me and Matty in a group chat with her guzzling a bottle of wine with her tits out. And then when I tried to delete it, I opened a voicemail instead and had to listen to my mom’s existential crisis, sobbing about the fact that she’d probably die before I ever gave her grandbabies—which was actually Jagger’s responsibility as the oldest, obviously.

Although now that I’d found my babycakes…I could probably be persuaded to fulfill that wish sooner rather than later.

But that was after I ripped a blindfold off my face. After I clumsily reached for my phone to check the time and gotbombarded instead. After I shoved it back in my pocket and realized I was not in my own bed.

I was instead…outside. High up. And judging by the way the air sliced across my bare chest like a fucking blade, I was nowhere safe.

I sat up fast, my body already on high alert, gravel crunching under my palms.

A slight tilt to the ground made my stomach lurch. And then—the wind, howling and ripping around me. And the distant wail of traffic below.

Looks like my second Sphinx trial had begun.

I blinked at the blinding city lights below me—belowbeing the important word there. Because…I was on a rooftop. A high one. One that was still under construction if the unfinished concrete and steel beams sticking out like ribs were anything to go by.

I blew out a breath, dragging a hand over my face, wincing at the bits of roof gravel stuck to my palm. How the fuck had I been passed out hard enough not to notice being dragged out of my fucking bed? Had they drugged me somehow? I glanced around, trying to see if there were cameras watching me or something.

“Motherfuckers could’ve at least given me coffee first,” I muttered, thinking longingly of that macchiato Riley had made me the other day.

That’s when I noticed the envelope.

A red envelope, the Sphinx symbol stamped into the wax seal, sitting right next to me like a taunt. I sighed, snatching it up and tearing it open.

Congratulations, Jace. Trial #2 begins now.

Retrieve the item at the edge of the rooftop.

Blindfolded.

No safety harness.

One way down.

Find it yourself.

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