"I need to talk to you," Jasper said, leaning back in his chair and pinning me with a serious look, arrogance emanating from his posture.
I leaned back in my own chair and crossed my legs, swinging the one on top casually. "Please be quick. I have things to do."
He gave me a once-over and raised an eyebrow. "Clearly. You look really busy."
I lifted my middle finger and showed him exactly what I thought of his opinion and he smirked.
"You need to come back."
I froze at his words and my eyes went wide with shock. "Huh?"
He ran a hand through his hair. "Cole. He's miserable and I can't stand it. I need you to fix it."
Despite the shock his words gave me, I felt a twinge of pain inside at the thought of Cole's misery and my every instinct screamed at me to find him and kiss him till he smiled at me again. My face crumpled with emotion and Jasper's mouth tightened as he watched me.
"I can't believe you two became so smitten with each other without even doing anything in the space of two weeks," he grated, curling his long fingers around his latte. "Fucked if I understand that but damn it, I can't watch him like this. He pretends he's all right but he isn't reading any goddamned books even though I got him new releases by his favourite authors which he had been anticipating for months. He quit taking new projects and left his current job and he's started drinking and-"
"Cole doesn't drink," I blurted out.
Jasper scowled at me. "I know that," he snapped at me. "I'm worried about him. He isn't moving on."
I swallowed hard. "So you want me to take care of that," I stated in a low voice. "And how long before you ask me to fuck off again when you can't take the fact that your boyfriend has strong feelings for someone else? When you realise you aren't the centre of his universe anymore? You claim to love him but I won't keep repeating this cycle and hurting him over and over-."
"Stop," he ordered and then downed his coffee in one shot. Fucking savage. "I'm willing to try this time. I didn't know he was this crazy about you." Jasper grimaced as if it pained him to admit that. "Skye. Just come back....please."
I gave him a surprised look and then inclined my head so that my right ear was exposed to him. "I'm sorry, what was that?"
His eyes narrowed and I was pretty sure he was gritting his teeth. "Fuck-"
"Wrong word."
A loud exhale left him. Pushing back his chair, he stood up, holding out his hand to me. "Please. Come home with me. I love him too much to stand by and watch him get fucked up every day. This is my fault because I went back on my word and I need to make it right."
His earnestness got to me. His love for Cole was unquestionable. I pursed my lips and smirked at him, needing to taunt him a little. "This is less about Cole and more about appeasing that guilty conscience, isn't it? It's not letting you sleep at night."
"Skye," he growled in warning and I threw up my hands and stood up then eyed his hand skeptically.
"I'm not touching that," I quipped like a smart-ass and Jasper curled his lips in distaste before burying his hands in his pockets.
"Let's go," he snapped but I held my ground.
"Just one thing, Wells," I said firmly, holding his gaze. "You might be used to people following your commands but I'm not putting up with that shit. I'm not yours to order around. Got it? If you need me to do something, ask nicely."
His dark eyes raked over my body again. I didn't know how many times he had done that since we met. It was like he hated it but he could not help it either. I didn't hate it though. It gave me a thrill because I got the feeling he wanted to do so much more to punish me for my attitude but he just could not, due to obvious reasons.
I smirked at him again, satisfied with my conclusions and he huffed out another impatient breath. "You got it," he agreed mildly and my smile stretched at his compliance.
I was really going to enjoy this.
~~~
Chapter 10
Cole
"Skye, have you seen my glasses?"
Skye looked up from her painting, scrunched up her beautiful face in thought and then looked around her messy room.
"Um..."
I grinned. "Never mind. I'll use my spare ones today. Could you please look for them when you get a chance?"
She nodded. "Yup. Don't worry. Have a great day at work."
I stepped over some clothes strewn on the floor. Yeah. My new girlfriend was a slob and I found it adorable. It had been a hell of a week when she had disappeared from my life but she had come back for me.
It was almost a fortnight now since she had brought me back to life by showing up on my doorstep for the second time and just several days ago I had asked her to move in because it was really hard to juggle work, one existing relationship with Jasper who had a crazy schedule and my new relationship with Skye who also had weird hours and lived too far away.
This was a trial period but so far, it had worked out fine. We were happy. There were no hold ups. I was able to give both Jasper and Skye my attention without worrying that I was neglecting either of them.
I captured her soft, pink lips in a kiss and it was our only point of contact because she was covered in
