Toasty Embers (Book #1.5 Of Fire Series)

3

"Logan," Enzo spits as he rips him away from Jayden.

Jayden is quiet.

The dangerous kind.

The kind that isn't followed by well wishes and laughter.
The kind that chills an entire room of people to the bone.

Quietly Jayden lifts his finger and wipes a lone drop of blood from his lip. He looks at it for a good second before he slowly turns to look at Logan.

If looks alone could kill. Logan would not just be dead, but unrecognisable.

"Stone," Enzo warns as he places a hand on Logan's chest. His other hand is held up towards Jayden who is staring poison-clad daggers at Logan.

Stone? Is that the name they call Jayden in this world?

I won't lie, Logan seems to have woken up and realised what he has done. Although the look in his eye is that of fear and regret, pride has championed over reason.

Jayden chuckles, albeit it is dark and menacing, but it feels so much more scary than simply throwing threats or cussing.

"Let it go, Stone," Enzo pleads as he cautiously walks over to Jayden.

Without warning Jayden rips passed Enzo and has Logan by his t-shirt. Before I can even process how quickly he just moved across the room, Jayden's punch lands with a crack against Logan's nose.

Jayden pulls him back and punches him again with even more force.

He is seeing red.

Logan is relentlessly too as he begins to kick and punch back, throwing insult and obscenity into the air.

It's all just ... Wow.

Jayden is a strong man, I knew that already, but he had only punched Logan about three times when he started bleeding a significant amount. Logan is very obviously struggling to keep up with Jayden's strength but his pride won't let him quit.

Jayden still has just the slightly busted bottom lip, otherwise he's pretty much unscathed. Logan, on the other hand, is riddled with bruises, cuts and now blood.

For the first time, in a long time, I feel conflicted. It should be fear. It should be abhor. But all I feel is conflict.

Jayden can't seem to come down from his rage and if he doesn't stop he might seriously injure Logan, whose blood has started to stain his shirt.

"Not in front of Nandi, Jayden," Enzo spits as he goes to rip him off of Logan.

"Jay-" I begin in a whimper but I'm cut off by the loud pop of a gunshot.

I admit that I shriek and dive off my bed for cover. In fact, almost everyone is startled by the awful sound.

Not Jayden though. He is unfazed.
Who was I just in bed with?

I just realised that I have no idea who this man is, what he has truly done and been through.
My ancestors knew what they were doing when they made me make this man wait for an answer.

Jayden Henry van Tonder or Stone or whatever the fuck his name is, is no better than a random person on the street that I don't know.
Because, well I don't know him. All of him.

Do I want to?
I ... I don't know.
I'd be crazy to want to, but... I don't even know.

I look over my bed and see Logan, now, cowardly standing behind his father. His mother is already nursing his wounds.