Ariana couldn't stop thinking about that day, the day he made her feel things. It'd been almost two weeks since she was physically close to Jace. Two weeks since he held her so close to him, since she started feeling something; something new and unfamiliar.

She had no idea who was avoiding the topic because they've both been quiet around each other ever since. Asides from their time at the gym and at night, he was never around. Always working somewhere she wasn't which was all good because if he wasn't the one avoiding her, she would be the one avoiding him. Jace could feel the tension between them building up and it was becoming palpable and difficult to ignore.

Ariana had gotten her balance back. She'd gone from trying to stand upright to walking on the treadmill, while holding herself up, of course, hopefully soon, she'd be able to walk with her hands by her side. When she'd started on the treadmill, every move of her injured leg made her want to wince but over time, the pain had slowly disappeared and she was able to walk without wanting to wince every single time. She wanted to go faster, but Jace said she could go faster once she was able to walk without holding onto the side handles. He thought she'd been trying really hard and she'd come a long way in such a short period of time.

As for her limp, it'd gotten more pronounced when she stopped using the crutch but every step she took was her way of learning to walk without support. Jace didn't want her on her feet without the crutch because he thought it was too much too fast. So, he mostly got everything she needed, so she wasn't on her feet for more than a few minutes at most.

At night, she still snuck away to the living area and fell asleep on the sofa and then woke up before Jace did to avoid any other embarrassing mornings like that morning. Of course, Jace knew she had been sneaking off at night to sleep downstairs. He just didn't want to bring it up because he figured it was because of what happened that morning.

Ariana, who was seated upright, her back against the headrest and her laptop in front of her, couldn't wait to get back in the ring and on the field. But first, she needed to learn to walk before she ran.

Jace cursed as he spilt water on the floor at the top of the stairs as he headed to the bedroom that evening. He had just wrapped up a deal with Mr. Payton of Payton Industries and he was beat. His head throbbed and he needed an Aspirin before he went to sleep.

He opened the door to his room and immediately, their gazes met and they were both breathless for a second before Ariana shifted her gaze back to her laptop. Jace walked inside the room and shut the door behind him and headed towards his side of the bed. He placed the glass of water on the bedside table and checked the drawer for an aspirin. He popped one into his mouth and downed the glass of water.

Ariana turned her gaze to look at him,
"Are you alright?"

Jace set the glass on the bedside table and turned to look at her,
"I will be," He sat on the bed, "I just need to rest."

She gave him a small smile before she looked away. Jace got into bed and under the blanket, he fell asleep to the sound of her clicking away on her keyboard.

Ariana thought he'd looked so tired. He'd been working harder from home with Bridget rescheduling his office meeting to video conferences with the other party. She'd also been coming once in a while to check up on her and also used it as an opportunity to brief Jace on what's been going on at the office.

Jace told his Charlotte he'd gone out of the country on business because he didn't want anyone to know about the accident. The director had put Shay on the watch out in case something or someone was out of place at the office or sticking their nose in Jace's business. But so far, they had nothing which got Ariana thinking.

The accident wasn't an accident, it was planned. That was a fact but they still had nothing on the driver. Shay had sent the CCTV footage of that night and all she could make of the driver was nothing because he wore a mask and gloves. Shay had gotten the location of the truck and when she went to check it out, the truck was abandoned by the side of the road. No license plate, no documents, no prints. Nothing.

They were back to square one.

Ariana narrowed down the number of trucks bought that week. Then she narrowed it down to the make of the one that had hit them. She found a truck that was similar to the one involved in the accident but it was a different colour but it was purchased the morning of the accident. She called the company and was told the purchase was done over the phone and they were asked to deliver the truck to a garage. She got the name of the garage and Shay got in contact with them. They said they got a call and they were asked to paint the truck black and to drop it off at a particular address at 6 pm the same day which they got paid handsomely for.

Whoever planned this knew exactly where they wanted the truck because the truck was delivered to an address that led to the crossroads the accident had happened. So that meant, they knew Jace would be going through that road.

But how?

Jace didn't even know he had a get together until that morning. Dante, Alex and Rick would have been the only ones who knew and no one else. But then, that still brought her to how Mark knew about the get-together?

She racked her brain but couldn't come up with any other scenarios. She shut her laptop and placed it on the bedside table and checked the time. It was almost midnight and she was thirsty and tired.

Ariana got out of bed as quietly as she could and headed out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind her. She headed down the hall towards the stairs and just as she was about to take the first step down, she slipped on something and then went rolling down the stairs. She had her hands protecting her head until she landed with a thump at the bottom of the stairs.

Ariana winced in pain.
Fuck!

Her whole body screamed out in pain and her injured leg felt worse than it did after the effect of the anaesthesia had worn off at the hospital. Jace who had heard the thump, got out of bed so quickly and was out of the room and heading down the stairs when he saw her lying there in pain.

"Ariana!" Jace ran down the stairs, "Damn!"

He carried her to the living area and placed her on the sofa.
"What happened?"

Jace sat next to her, frowning, his hands on either side of her.

"I slipped at the top of the stairs."

"Fuck! I'm so sorry. I-I spilt water earlier."

She looked at him and tried to mask her pain with a smile,
"It's okay."

"It's not," He combed his fingers through his hair in frustration, "You fell down twenty stairs."

"How do you know?"

He looked at her, confused.
"How do I know what?"

"How do you know it's twenty?" She asked, "Don't you have better things to do than count the number of stairs you have?"

Jace gave a sad smile before he reached up with his right hand and brushed her hair away from her face.
"Are you hurt?"

She shook her head,
"Just my ego," He smiled with a scoff, "And maybe my leg...and my entire body."

His smile disappeared
"I can draw up a hot bath for you."

Ariana smiled at the thought of soaking in a hot body, she sighed in relief,
"That sounds good."

"Great because that gives me a good excuse to give you a rub down."

Ariana was stunned into silence at the insinuation of a rub down.

"C'mon."
He got up, slid his hands behind her and underneath her legs then lifted her into his arms.

"What are you doing?" She asked as he picked her up,

"Taking you for a bath."

"I said no more carrying."

"The situation permits it."

"Put me down," Ariana said when he headed up the stairs.

"Hey, no wiggling unless you want us to fall down the stairs together."

Ariana stopped wiggling until he reached the top of the stairs.
"Put me down, now."

Jace smiled and walked into the room and shut the door shut with his leg and headed to the bathroom.

"Jace, put me down!" He snapped.

Jace stopped and Ariana waited for him to place her feet on the ground but he didn't. She turned her head to look at him and found him staring at her.

What now?
Ariana raised her brow in question.

"You just called me by my name."

Oh.

"Not sir. Not Mr. Black," He smiled ever so sweetly, it almost made her melt in his arms, "Jace."

"The situation permits it." She threw his answer back at him.

His smile grew into a grin and he walked the rest of the way into the bathroom and slammed the door with his leg. Ariana frowned and thought the bath was meant for her.

She didn't agree to a them.