My office. Two thirty. Use the staff corridor. Both of you.
Jace stared at the message on my phone.
“Both of you,” he said.
“She knew that much.”
“Or she’s a witch.”
“She’s Tessa.”
“Same category.”
The hours between breakfast and the meeting stretched strangely. Jace showered in my bathroom and came out wearing yesterday’s clothes with my hoodie over them because he claimed his shirt had “developed an attitude.” I didn’t ask. He helped me clean the kitchen, badly but earnestly. He forgot the cabinet where the plates went, opened three wrong ones, then got frustrated enough that I took the plate from his hand and pointed without comment.
“Thanks,” he muttered.
“Yeah.”
“I know where plates live in my own apartment.”
“I didn’t say otherwise.”
“I’m just saying.”
“I know.”
He leaned against the counter for a second, eyes closed, collecting himself. Then he finished wiping the island.
That was the shape of loving him in daylight. Not fixing. Not managing him into someone easier. Just noticing where the edge was and not making him bleed on it.
We drove separately.
I hated that.
He left first, after checking the street twice and kissing me once in the side entry like he meant to make it last the whole day. I gave him ten minutes before I left. By the time I reached the arena, my hands were steady on the wheel and my stomach felt like I’d swallowed a stone.
Tessa’s office was tucked behind media operations, all glass walls with blinds she used like weapons. When I arrived, the blinds were already closed. Jace was there before me, sitting in one of the chairs, bouncing one heel so fast it blurred. He had a bottle of water in one hand and a pen in the other, clicking it open and closed without realizing.
Tessa stood behind her desk, tablet in hand, expression calm enough to make me more nervous.
“Close the door,” she said.
I did.
Jace stopped clicking the pen. Then started again once. Then put it on her desk like it had betrayed him.
Tessa looked between us. “I’m going to ask direct questions. If either of you lies to me, this meeting is useless.”
“Understood,” I said.
Jace nodded. “Yeah.”
“How long has this been happening?”
I glanced at Jace. He looked at me, then away.
“A few months,” I said.
