Vicious Romance

Chapter 31

My hair wrapped in a turban, a towel securing my bare body, I open the bathroom door, finishing my moisturizing routine. A mild smile still sitting on my lips, thinking about my first, official date with Noah.

I don't care if I sound like a sappy teenage girl... but it's going to be perfect. I can almost feel it.

My sweet moment of euphoria dispensers as Jaya's eyes land on mine, smirk on her face.

"What?" I question, a scowl appearing on my face as I walk to the closet, picking out my clothes for the day.

Her smirk only seems to widen.

"Nothing," she states, leaning back in her computer chair, putting her feet up next to her keyboard, still eying me with a taunt in her look.

I take in the sight of the setup that she's done. Jaya, surprisingly, managed to bring two computer monitors, a dock for her computer, and whatever else she needed to feel at home.

"You sure set your tech up fast," I comment, swishing hangers through my fingers as I briefly stare at each item that hangs from them.

I can't seem to find anything comfortable to wear.

"Well yeah, I needed to set up quickly. How else am I supposed to help out on your cool FBI things," she asks, acting as if the answer's obvious.

I take a break from staring at my clothes, and try my best to give her a death stare, remembering mom's wishes about Jaya's interaction in my work life.

"You're not helping, Jay. You can't," I emphasize, and her arms crossed over her chest as a response. "Mom said no... it was practically the only reason she let you stay," I continue, trying to get my best to get through her, but judging by the look on her face, I wasn't getting far.

"Yeah, and when have you ever listened to mom?" she asks stubbornly. "When we were in California, and when I wanted to go to Coachella, who took me? You did, even though mom was pretty prominent about us not going," she continues, staring at me with frustration lined on her face.

"Well, this is different, Jaya. This is not some music festival where you throw parties and have fun. This is life or death, and for the sake of your life, I will not involve you in this mission," I argue, gritting my teeth in anger.

But she can't seem to get the message.

"You're watching a Whole Foods worker, and if you're dating him, that means that he's probably not all too dangerous," Jaya claims, her hands bunching into fists, her brows joining at the center of her forehead.

Then the realization hits.

She doesn't know.

She doesn't know about the attack at my apartment, or the bar. Why would she? I didn't tell her. But again, if this all happened to me, while I was on duty, then shouldn't it have been included in the case file? The one that she referred to before coming to New York?

Before getting lost in my pool of thoughts, I clutch the towel tightly, around my body and stomp over the kitchen. My brows furrowing, I disgustingly pick through the scraps in the sink until my fingers find their way around a smooth, round metal texture.

I pull it out and then run the cold water of the sink over it so that despite the rusty, bloodstains, it's fairly clean. Then I hold it up to her.

"You know what this is?" I ask. She nods her head plainly, expecting to know what's about to come out of my mouth. "It's a bullet, Jaya" I state obviously, and continue, without waiting for her reaction. "And this bullet, this god damn bullet was buried in my abdomen, because some idiot tried to kill me. But that's not even the worst part, Jay. Noah could be the one calling the shots. He could be the one that sent the idiot to kill me," I continue, unintentionally squeezing the life of the bullet, and pressing my palm over the area where I was shot, the memories flowing back.

Jaya's face is filled with both shock and worry, and she makes her way to me, but I hold out my hand in front of her, stopping her in her steps.

"Don't," I start.

"But, di-," she tries to intervene, but I hold up my hand higher, turning my head, and shoving past her to put on something to wear.

Once I exit the bathroom, clothing on, and towel in hand to soak out the excess water from my hair, I see Jaya on her table, arms crossed, foot tapping impatiently until her eyes meet mine.

"Hals, I'm sorry. I am sorry, that all this happened to you. I know your job is dangerous, I know it is, but, I want to help," she begs, looking at me with puppy eyes. When my brows curve inwards, she continues. "I won't do anything out on the field, it's okay, you can do that. But can I at least help you from here? Like helping you find clues and all that badass stuff that the tech people do in those crime movies?" she asks enthusiastically, interlacing her fingers as her palms touch each other.

I shake my head.

While Jaya's making a valid point- she can be safe, and help me with things remotely, it's still too risky. What happens if there's another assassination attempt on me? I don't want Jaya to see something like that. I want to keep her far, far away from the messy life I've created for myself.

I walk towards the couch, still rubbing the bullet through my fingertips until I feel the small engraving, my heart skipping a beat for a split second.

Ignoring Jaya's reasoning, and begging for her help, I walk back to my closet.

I open the doors, and go to the left of it, flipping open the small box, revealing a keypad. I quickly jab the buttons with my code, and soon the clothes that once hang peacefully, fold back, replacing themselves with computer monitors, along with the rest of my lab.

Disregarding Jaya's hanging mouth, and wordless mumbles, I place the bullet under the magnifying glass.

I grab a disinfecting wipe from my right, trying to clear the crusty, dry blood. It's hard considering that it's been draped over the bullet for weeks. But after several minutes, the blood gives away, and I'm able to wipe the bullet clean, being able to see every crack, every line on it.

I bring the glass closer to the bullet, turning it over until I find the mystery engraving.

"What's that?" Jaya whispers over my shoulder, peering to get a look at the engraving. I pull my body in front of her line of vision, hoping that she can't see the engraving.

If she saw it, she might dig into it, and that's something I want to avoid at all costs.

I need to keep her away from this.

Still shielding my body from Jaya, I lean closer, looking at the engraving, recognition hurting my insides.

It was theirs.

It was The Black Marker.

Well, fudge.

A/N: Shocker... Doug was right. Looks like The Black Marker is trying to kill her... well grab your popcorn you guys, because things are about to interesting as frick.

Yay.

VOTE, VOTE, and VOTE if you're pumped for this.