Cuffed by Will

XIII. Jade

Friday, 11th May. Day 11.

Ezra and Jade's conversation was done with three minutes left to spare on the timeout. And through that entire conversation, I stood outside because that entire bar started to sicken me. At some point of time, Evan came outside and we exchanged phone numbers, a silent promise was made that after this whole cuffed bullshit nonsense was said and done, I could start fresh with him. When Ezra came out, he dutifully put his bracelet while I put mine and the entire drive to his mansion was clouded in silence. It was clear from my expression he shouldn't say or do anything and the smart bastard understood.

I didn't sleep the whole night and I was pretty sure Ezra didn't too. Although, he did have his back facing me the whole night. I considered it good because I might have slapped him in that face of his for the fifth time if I did see it. So instead of sleeping and letting my head rest that night, I sorted through the mess of feelings and emotions I had created. Boy, what a wreck I was.

The first thing I did, was clarify and accept a few things about Ezra. That included that he did care, he wasn't Lucifer, I kind of liked him (which will soon become past tense) and finally, that he could be an arrogant asshole when he wanted to be. Then next thing I accepted was that there was some bad blood between him and his brother. After that, I thought what exactly was Jeremiah to me and my answer was a playboy who can never be serious and someone I will have to associate with from time to time but won't and cannot cause me any serious harm. Hence, I didn't have to worry about him. And lastly, my feelings for Ezra, if there were any, have been demolished into rubble. People like Ezra can go to hell and if he pushed me beyond my limit, he was going to lose out on his inheritance and I wouldn't care a fucking bit.

During breakfast, Ezra watched my every move but I ignored him and focused on my toast. So far, there had been no reason to talk to him and I hoped it continued that way. The staff was surprised to see us behaving this way but they were smart enough to not bring it up.

In the office, Ezra loaded himself up with work and there was a meeting which I also attended but didn't pay attention to. I smiled at his associates and made small talk but other than that, my face was stuck in a permanent scowl. When it was time for lunch, I ate with Ezra because I wanted to save the timeout for some other time during the day and I found the calling at 5pm when I decided to take a coffee break. When I was outside the building, I bumped into a person I could deal with but didn't want to deal with.

"Clara!" Jeremiah's face lit up and he hugged me.

"Jeremiah." I said and gave a brisk nod before walking away. However, he did run after me and fall in step beside me. "What do you want?" I asked and he grinned.

"Coffee. With you. Shall we?"

"No, thanks." I said but he examined my face first before speaking.

"Something happened." He stated and when I made no move to reply, he continued, "did you guys fight? Cause I swear you act like an old married couple sometimes."

"You won't get to see that day." I stated and he chuckled.

"No seriously, what happened?" He grabbed my arm and stopped me from walking. I turned to face him and stared intently at him before deciding it was safe to talk to him.

"I met Jade. Well, I saw Jade before Ezra and she went to have a talk."

"Ahh..." He said in understanding. "He just abandoned you and ran with her, didn't he?" Jeremiah nailed that on the head but it made me grit my teeth anyways.

"Who is she?" I asked and he smiled.

"Have coffee with me." I contemplated the trade. A coffee wouldn't hurt for some answers. I nodded and we went to the local Starbucks.