"What are you doing here?"
Ariana stared at Jace pissed and curious as to why he showed up.
Or better yet, why he followed her because there was no way that he just happened to show up there.
"I could ask you the same thing." Jace still held onto her wrist.
"No. You don't get to ask me that." She said, "I can go anywhere whenever I want to. The question is why did you follow me."
"I didn't want you to put yourself in danger."
Ariana's brows creased at that. He confused her.
"Hold on a minute. I don't need you to follow me around, I can take care of myself perfectly fine." She snatched her hand from his, "And I've said it once and I'll say it again, I'm the bodyguard here, not you."
Jace balanced on his other leg and sighed.
"I can't help it," He said, "It just feels natural to worry about you."
Jace looked at her in a way no one had looked at her in a long time. Like she mattered and he wanted to take care of her. His gaze dropped to her lip which had split.
"Let's get you out of here."
Ariana turned around and was about to hop on her bike when Jace held her hand again. She turned her head to look at him wondering what the matter was again.
"No Ari, we're taking the car. I'll call Marvis to get your bike."
Ariana looked at him for a moment wanting so much to argue with him on that but the tiny part that wanted so badly to be taken care of won.
Just this once.
She told herself.
Ariana nodded and walked past him heading towards his car and Jace followed behind, opening the passenger's door for her to get in which made her pause for a second before she got in.
While Jace drove, Ariana clenched her jaw to push away the urge to look at him and well after the feeling passed and she thought that was it, she turned her head and looked at his side profile. Jace felt her gaze on him, so he glanced at her and she turned her gaze away from him making him smile.
"How bad does it hurt?" He asked her,
Ariana looked at him,
"What?"
"Your jaw."
"It's numb." Ariana looked away,
"That bad uh."
"All thanks to you."
"Yea, sorry about that." He was sorry it had happened but then smiled when he thought about it for a second. "So, I distracted you."
"Enough to get myself punched in the face." Ariana said accusingly.
"If it's worth anything, you put him on his ass." He glanced at her, "You were pretty damned good out there."
Ariana glanced at him with a smile that he caught before he turned back to look at the road.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Go for it."
"Why were you discharged?"
"Uhm..." Ariana looked at her fingers, "Medical issue."
"You got injured?" He glanced at her with worry in his eyes.
"Not exactly." Ariana said, "It was mental. I wasn't deemed fit anymore."
Ariana swallowed the lump in her throat.
"What about you?"
"Honourably discharged after my sixth tour." He said,
"And you never thought of reenlisting?"
"Was thinking about it but then my dad..." He went silent and she knew the rest from there,
"Yea." She said, "I'm sorry about your dad."
Ariana glanced at him and he glanced at her just at the same time with a sad smile.
A few minutes later, they walked into Jace's house.
"I'll grab the first aid kit." Jace said as he shut the door behind him.
"Hmm-hmm."
Ariana walked into the living area while Jace disappeared up the stairs. Ariana took off her jacket and placed it on one of the sofas as she walked towards the window, her favourite spot.
"Why exactly do you love that spot?"
Ariana turned around to see Jace smiling and heading towards her with a first aid kit in his hand.
"It feels peaceful from up here. Down there it's just...really loud you can barely hear yourself think. And the lights look like twinkling stars," She smiled a little bit but then caught herself when she saw that he was staring at her.
Ariana cleared her throat,
"It's silly, I know."
"It's not." He said looking at her like he was seeing her for the first time. "That's the first down to earth thing you've ever said."
"Ouch."
"I didn't mean it that way." Jace gestured for her to sit, "It's just that you've taken this undercover job as my bodyguard seriously and you've never gotten to be yourself."
But this is me.
Ariana thought,
Undercover, at work or by myself.
Jace opened up the first aid kit and pour some disinfectant on the cotton wool.
"I can do this myself." Ariana said when he reached out to dab at the cut.
"Just...let me take care of you, ok?"
Ariana saw the plea in his eyes like he wanted to do this more than anything else.
Ariana nodded,
"Alright."
Jace sighed in relief and placed the wet cotton wool on her cut making her almost want to wince but she clenched her jaw instead to stop herself from flinching. She shifted her gaze from his piercing ones to anywhere else in the room but could still feel his gaze on her.
"You can scream if you want to." He smiled, "You don't have to bury your feelings every time."
Ariana smiled almost laughing.
"Scream because of a cut?" She said, "Nah, I'm good."
The silence engulfed them like a bubble as they stared into each other's eyes.
"I... I want to apologize for what happened back at the office."
"It's alright." She said quickly before it got any more awkward than it already had for her, "All forgotten."
"Right." Jace's gaze dropped, "It should never have happened in the first place; I was just a bit carried away."
"Like I said; all forgotten."
Jace gave a curt nod and they just sat there looking at each other like it was as normal as breathing.
"I'm hoping when morning comes you wouldn't be closed off again. I hate it when you do that, it makes me think I did something wrong."
Ariana shook her head.
"No, it's not you, it's me."
"Now it feels like you're breaking up with me." Jace put his hand on his chest,
They both laughed at that and then Jace stopped and just watched her.
"You have a really nice laugh."
That made her stop laughing and then he looked at her in the way he does. The sweet, gentle look that made her heart skip a beat along with some fluttering feeling she couldn't describe.
"Hmm," Ariana pulled back, "We should call it a night."
Jace sighed inaudibly,
"We should."
They got up at the same time and almost bumped into each other. They stood close to each other for a moment before Ariana took a step back.
"Thanks for the first aid,"
"Thanks for an interesting night." He smiled and she smiled back.
"Goodnight, Mr. Black."
Jace chuckled,
"Please Ariana, call me Jace."
"Yes sir." Ariana picked up her jacket and headed to her room.
Jace closed the first aid kit and headed towards the stairs, but stopped when he saw her walking to the end of the hall towards her room.
"Goodnight, Green." Jace called when she reached her door.
Ariana turned her head to look at her, her hand on the knob. She smiled before she pushed the door open and entered.
Jace sighed and then headed up to his room.
Ariana shut the door behind her and leaned against it. She let out a breath to let go of the strange feelings that were starting to build up inside her and then made her way to the washroom.
Ariana stood in front of the mirror and inspected the bruise on her jaw and her split lower lip.
It could be worse.
She thought.
The second day was always the worst but she'd deal with it the next day. She didn't bother washing off for the night because she already had and because of the nice job Jace had done in treating the bruise and the cut.
She changed her clothes and then went to bed trying not to talk herself into being closed off with him by morning. For once, she was going to try being...normal. Hopefully not her definition of normal.