Cuffed by Will

XIII. Jade

"Well?" I asked once we were seated with our respective mugs.

"Let me take a sip first," Jeremiah said and took a gulp of his coffee. I almost felt ashamed for being rude. Almost.

"You've had your sip. Now spill."

"Wow, Jade had some affect on you didn't she?" He asked and I couldn't agree with him more. That red haired, jade eyed beauty left me feeling completely third class.

"Jeremiah, I have no time for your banter."

"Right, with the one hour timeout and stuff." He nodded and sighed. I didn't bother correcting him. It wasn't about the timeout, it was about my tolerance level. "Oh well, here it is. Jade is Ezra's ex." I nodded slowly at his words. Okay... that was expected, right? "Oh wait, ex fiancé." His correction made me choke on my coffee.

"What?"

"Crazy lovebirds during college. He was all set to marry her."

"What happened?"

"She broke it off. Fell for someone else." He smirked and I raised an eyebrow. "Okay, okay, you got me." He raised his hands up in mock innocence.

"Is that why he hates you?"

"Almost. He hates me for showing him the truth."

"What truth?" I asked but Jeremiah checked his wrist watch.

"Will you look at that, I gotta go."

"Jeremiah..." I said in a warning tone but he stood up.

"You know, this proves Ezra and you aren't as close as I thought you guys would be. He must love his secrets, huh?" Once he rubbed salt in my pained wounds and left, I let all the information soak in. When I thought I was fine, I finished my coffee and went to leave but I ran into the last person I wanted to run into at the door. Fuck.

"Jade." I acknowledged her and she studied me with narrowed eyes.

"Uh... Clara, right?" She asked, her tone sweet, almost honey like. I hate honey.

"Yeah." I said and looked anywhere but at her in fear she might just get struck by lightning with my curses.

"Can we talk?" She asked, taking me by surprise. Her jade eyes plead with desperation. I hate jade.

"You want to talk?" I asked, just to be sure.

"The way things happened last night... I just... I feel like things need to be cleared." I thought about it. It seemed too tempting but I was afraid of hearing something I might not like. I decided to suck it up and we took a seat at the table I had previously occupied with Jeremiah. "Have you... uh... heard much... about me?"

"Not really. No one likes sharing anything in the Copper family." I stated and she giggled. I, on the other hand, found nothing amusing about my statement. "I know you are Ezra's ex. That's pretty much it." I offered.

"I hadn't seen him in years and when I did, last night, I wanted to clear a few things." She said and I nodded slowly. "I'm trying to make things right again. I made mistakes, listened to a serpent and just... changed my view of Ezra. And it all seemed reasonable then but..." She trailed off and sighed.

"Do you still..." I trailed off, not wanting to say it because I knew it would only hurt me in the end.

"Is it wrong to say that I do? I thought I didn't, not after what Jeremiah told me about him but then I realized I was the stupid one. I hurt him beyond repair and now I'm trying to fix it."

"So you're back in his life?" I asked and leaned back in my chair. A heavy lump settled in my throat and I tried swallowing it down but the stubborn thing wouldn't move.

"Step by step. I heard about you... uh... the inheritance thing. Marvin must have really liked you." She said, landing another blow on my heart.

"Yeah. He was like a father to me."

"I'm sorry." She said and there was an awkward pause before she continued. "But, can I ask you something? If you don't mind?"

"Sure."

"Do you uh... love... Ezra?" She asked, waiting for my reply. I took a long time to get the word out of my mouth.

"No. I'll be gone after he gets his inheritance. He's all yours then." The words stung as they left my mouth. That was all I am, that was all I would ever be to Ezra, someone to use until he got what he wanted.

"So you don't mind...?"

"Not at all." My tone was clipped. Another silence passed and after a minute, she laughed and slowly shook her head.

"I just thought, after the way you both looked at each other last night, there was something-"

"There's nothing." I cut in but with the way she looked at me, I could tell she saw straight through me. "He doesn't feel that way."

"But you do?"

"I said it before, I don't. There's no point falling for a player, you just end up getting hurt." I stand up and take my things. "You'll set him straight, won't you, Jade?"

"I made him this way, it's my job to fix him." She nodded and smiled. I felt the blow of a sledgehammer on my heart.

"Goodbye, Jade."

"Bye, Clara. It was nice talking to you." She said and I simply smiled and walked away. I realized my stupidity, this isn't my story. Ezra and I won't lead some happy married life. People like me don't end up with people like him. And besides, if there was one person he had and will love, it's Jade. She's perfect. She's got the money and the looks and she's smart. If Marvin remembered her, I was sure he would have put her in this position instead of me. God knew what he was thinking when he planned this out but that was all it would ever be, a plan. Stay cuffed for 30 days and get the estate. Done. Finished. We both go our separate ways and forget it ever happened.

So that was all that had to be done. Act for another 20 days, act like you are the perfect, crazy in love couple, get hitched, let him get his inheritance then stage a messy divorce and then walk away. Simple enough, right Clara? Freedom in 20 days. I took a deep breath and plastered on a smile as I walked back to the Copper House. This is just a play, an act if you will, and I have the lead role. Might as well do justice to it.

When I walked through the doors of Ezra's office, he looked up from the files to me and had a questioning expression on his face. I walked to the desk and then sat down on my chair and put the cuff on my right hand. Ezra was still staring at me quite strangely and I met his eyes with my own.

"Are you okay?" He asked, the first few words I had heard from him since last night.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I answered with a question of my own and he appeared to be in deep thought.

"Since last night you've been-"

"Do you really want to discuss that right now?" I cut him off and my tone made him pull back like he'd been burnt.

"Look, Clara, Jade is..."

"I don't care about Jade." I said instead and looked down at the sudoku puzzle I was solving before. I could still feel Ezra's eyes on me but I ignored them.

"Clara, I'm trying to clear the air..." I scoffed and looked at him.

"It doesn't matter, Ezra. I'm just a temporary part of your life and vice versa. We don't have to do all that over sharing and talking bullshit. I'll be gone before you know it." He stared at me like I was a foreign creature and to some extent, I did feel foreign. I didn't know who I was anymore but for some reason, I didn't care too. All I knew now was that I had everything planned out properly and I didn't have to do or say anything I didn't want.

"Clara-" He continued again and again, I stopped him.

"Don't, Ezra, I just don't want to listen anymore." I focused on completing my puzzle and thankfully, Ezra sighed and got back to his own work.

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A/N: I know I invented her but I officially hate Jade, who's with me?