I Fired the Jinx Male Lead

[This male lead isn't the whole package. He's just the package.] The system told me that the male lead I'd spent three years strongarming into staying was a jinx.

It said he was the one who had jinxed my company out of existence. [Cut him loose and I'll have a luckycharm male lead lined up for you before you can blink.] I was quiet for a few seconds.

Then, for the first time, I opened the door myself. "Go." Dorian rolled his eyes. "Here we go again. Don't think I don't know.

You've got a tracker hidden on me somewhere, and once I get far enough away you'll drag me right back—" I reached over and pulled off the earring with the red light blinking in it.

The sneer froze at the corner of his mouth. Chapter 1 The little blackandred earring in my hand was still giving off that almost invisible glow. The room was frighteningly quiet.

It took a long time for Dorian to find his voice. "How would I know if you've got another one hidden somewhere else? You do this every time.

If you're letting me go, then open the door. You can't stand to—" I dropped the earring in the trash, reached over and opened the door, then turned and sat back down on the couch.

Dorian looked at the wideopen door. There was no particular joy on his face, but his breathing got a lot heavier.

After a while he spoke, his voice a little hoarse but stubborn all through. "So we're playing chase again, huh? Fine.

This time I'm hiding for real, and a controlling, evil woman like you is never going to find me." His footsteps faded. The slam of the door left my ears aching.

The ache crawled from the nerves in my head down into my chest. I closed my eyes. Inside my head the system was still yammering, thrilled. [That's how it should be!

That jinx of a male lead never did anything but jinx my Jewel.] [You should have thrown that door open ages ago. Did you see how he couldn't wait to get out of here?

And he actually thinks he's some rare treasure…] Maybe it noticed how dark my face had gone, because the system wisely shut up.

After a moment it put on a breezy voice and pulled up a transparent panel. [All right, Jewel. The jinx is gone.

Let's pick out a new male lead.] Numbly, I opened the takeout container in front of me. Two orders. On Dorian's I'd paid extra for the sausage he liked.

I kept my head down and chewed slowly, watching the system lay out one man's profile after another in front of me.

All I could hear in my head was the thing Dorian had said. "Stick with you and I'll starve to death eventually.

Two bites of your food and I have to work it off all night." I wanted to ask him: didn't he get off on it too?

All those late nights tangled up together, saying over and over that we'd stay tangled up in each other until we died — had I imagined all of that? "Sorry.

I'm not interested in picking a new male lead right now—" I stopped halfway through, frozen, when I got a clear look at the photo of the man on the panel. "Gareth Devereux?" The system paused midswipe.

Seeing that I was finally interested, it blew his profile up as large as it would go. [You like this one, Jewel? Don't worry, I handpicked every one of these male leads.

I guarantee they're all better than that jinx—] Gareth really was better than Dorian. Back in college he'd usually had the edge on Dorian. Dorian said Gareth was a poser.

Chapter 2 So once Dorian and I started dating, he wheedled my phone out of my hands and deleted every trace of Gareth's contact.

But what stopped me short wasn't his good looks or that mild smile. It was that Gareth had died a year ago. Dorian was the one who told me.

My company had just started going under and I was running myself ragged. I'd barely gotten home when he gave me a cold look. "How was the funeral? Did he leave you any keepsakes?

I figured you'd follow him into the grave and not come home at all." I blinked and stared at him, startled by how snide he was being. "Whose funeral?" Once he realized I genuinely hadn't been paying attention, his expression got a lot better. "That Gareth Devereux.

Depression or something. What's there to be so torn up about?

You've had me locked in here for years and you don't see me—" Gareth and I had never been close, but hearing it made my heart skip half a beat.

That night Dorian was gentler with me than he'd been in a long time, almost like we were back at the beginning. The system was still rattling on with its pitch.

The gentle smile of the boy from movein day blurred into the panel in front of me.

I swallowed my last bite of rice. "You can bring back someone who's dead and make him the male lead?" The system, delighted that I'd finally stopped crying, chattered away. [I can, Jewel.

Whoever you want, I'll get him for you. And don't worry, every man I pick is a lucky charm.

Money, adoration, power, all of it, for my Jewel.] I listened to it chatter, and my nose stung. It had been so long since I'd heard that kind of burning affection.

Ever since I'd locked Dorian up three years ago, coming home had meant sneers and jabs and that snide tone. "Him, then." It wasn't that I wanted to be with Gareth.

I just thought it was a waste, someone that gentle slipping out of the world without a sound. "Can you make him hurt less?" I didn't know what had been wrong with him.

The system paused, then swore up and down. [Relax. He'll be a perfectly healthy male lead.] I had nothing left to say. I lay back down on the bed, and my phone buzzed.

I pulled it out. The alert showed Dorian's location at the airport. It took me a long time to remember there was still a tracker on him. In the bracelet I'd given him.

He hadn't been wearing it when he left, and somehow it was back on his wrist now.

I deleted the tracking app and opened his profile. [Freedom, here I come.] Dorian had posted it a minute ago.

The photo showed nothing but his wrist with the bracelet on it, and next to that, a boarding pass to Cabo. He'd even tagged the airport itself.

I stared at the photo for a long time, then put the phone down and fell into a deep sleep. Somewhere between sleeping and waking, I was back in college.

A bright, goodlooking boy with red ear tips, looking at the record in my hands. "I'm glad you like it.

It took me forever to find one." "If you really want to thank me, have dinner with me tonight." The scene shifted.

His arm was around my waist, his eyes full of love. "Let's get married as soon as we graduate, okay?

Sylvie Calloway, I love you so much." But my parents said no, so I blew up at my family and threw myself into my company. And Dorian started freezing me out.

He said I was so busy my feet never touched the ground, that I didn't care about him at all.

He went out drinking and clubbing with other people constantly, like a kid throwing a tantrum for my attention.

Chapter 3 After his crowd of deadbeat friends egged him into making another scene at a bar, I pushed back a packed day of meetings and went to bring him home.

We sat on the couch a long time, and then I gave him two options. Either he stopped going out without my permission, or we broke up. Dorian chose the first one.

At first everything was fine, but as time went on he got more and more restless. He didn't want to be shut in anymore, but he wouldn't agree to break up either.

I spent my days holding the company together and my evenings facing his cold stares. We were both exhausted.

More than once I thought about ending it, but on all those nights when we couldn't get enough of each other, he'd bite the back of my neck and say that even if we tortured each other to death, we could never be apart.

When I opened my eyes, it was full daylight. I really was broke now. I couldn't even afford curtains. The sun was straight in my eyes.

I sat up and looked at the empty pillow beside me. I opened my phone. Dorian had posted ten times overnight. Boarding, landing, checking into the hotel, breakfast.

The latest one was ten minutes old. Every single post had a location tagged on it. I turned my phone off. I didn't want to play along anymore. I was so tired.

I had a deal to pitch today. I didn't want to know where he'd gone this time. I only wanted to know when my life was going to be good again.

The system said: soon. [Jewel, your future is supposed to be bright and brilliant.

That rundown apartment isn't yours, and neither is that jinx.] I hadn't expected it to move that fast.

Looking at the man in the suit across from me, I nearly lost my grip on the papers in my hands. Gareth seemed surprised too. His eyes lit up all at once. "Rookie.

Long time." I sat down in a daze and made small talk, drifting off a little as I stared at that flawless face of his.

It felt like forever since we'd sat this close and talked. "Here's to working together, then." The boyish awkwardness was gone from him.

He waved a hand in front of my face. "Rookie, all these years and you still zone out like that?" "Spacing out in the middle of signing a contract." His smile was gentle.

My hand shook as I signed my name. I couldn't tell whether I was shaking because someone I'd known was back in the world, or because I was finally seeing daylight.

For years now, no matter how late I worked or how hard I pushed, deals that were practically in the bag would vanish for no reason.

This was the first one I'd ever gotten all the way to a signature. [What do you think, Jewel? Was I lying? You got away from that jinx and all your luck came back.

He was put on this earth to jinx you!] Walking out of the building, I suddenly thought the sun felt good.

Next to a business that was finally moving, the pain of yesterday's breakup was nothing at all. "Did you take a rideshare here, Rookie?" Gareth jingled a set of keys. "New car.

I've been dying for someone to show off to." I was too embarrassed to tell him I'd come on my bike. That bright, harmless smile dazzled me a little, and I got into Gareth's car.

When we pulled up in front of the old, rundown apartment building, I saw the confusion cross his eyes, plain as day. I'd been a rich girl once, spoiled within an inch of my life.

Falling this far in a few short years was hard to make sense of. "The place is pretty bare. I won't invite you up for coffee, Mentor." I was a little embarrassed.

Gareth laughed softly. Chapter 4 "Okay.

But once the project gets going you'll be out of here soon, and when you move into the new place you don't get out of inviting me up for coffee." I pressed my lips together.

Thinking about the contract I'd just landed, a fine, prickling happiness rose up in me. "Okay." Gareth had barely driven off when my phone rang.

The second I picked up, a gruff man's voice came through. Over the noise in the background, I finally made out what he was saying.

Dorian was drunk, making a scene in his bar, and he'd smashed his good bottles. The man gave me the address and asked when I'd be there. Dorian was a bad drunk.

A few too many and it went straight to his head, which was what had set off my locking him up in the first place. The contract I'd signed that day was still hugged to my chest.

A dog trotting past peed next to the reeking trash can. All at once I badly wanted out of here. I shouldn't be living here. So I said, "I don't really know him.

Call somebody else." Before I'd finished, there was a crash on the other end, and it sounded like the phone had been snatched away. "Who the hell told you to call her?

It's not like I can't cover it." Dorian's heavy breathing came through loud and clear.

His teeth were clenched. "Sylvie Calloway, I don't really know you either." "So you've got a backbone this time, huh? Fine. Whoever caves first is the punk." The call cut off.

I hesitated a few seconds, then blocked his number for good. I wasn't going to be the punk. I was going to have my good life back. The project went smoothly.

With Dorian out of my world, everything seemed to slide back onto its tracks. There were open seats on the train. One project wrapped and another came right behind it.

Even my parents, who hadn't spoken to me in ages, called to say I should come home for dinner sometime. The day the money landed, I hired my old employees back.

I'd started the company in college. It had gone well at first. Even my father, who had never been easy to please, used to mention me with something like satisfaction.

Then it fell apart, piece by piece.

Now I sat in my familiar office and turned to watch familiar faces come back to their desks, grinning, and the wad of cotton that had been stuck in my chest was suddenly gone.

Even when a bright, pretty girl showed up in Dorian's newest post, it didn't hurt as much as it used to. The two of them were pressed close together in the photo.

Dorian's smile was beautiful, and the bracelet I'd given him was still on his wrist. I zoomed in on that smile, and the last of the ache went out of me.

I hadn't seen him smile like that, all sunlight, in years. Not at home, not in bed, not even when I carved time out of an impossible schedule to take him somewhere.

He was always cold and dark. I'd almost forgotten how happy he used to look when he was with me. [This new girl I met is so friendly, says she wants to get drinks with me tonight.

What do you think, man, should I go?] Two minutes later the message was unsent. [Wrong chat.] I knew he'd done it on purpose, but I was busy going through contracts and didn't have time to deal with him.

When I finally finished, I remembered I still hadn't deleted his account. I'd wanted to do it the same day I blocked his number, but for some reason I'd let it sit until now.

The moment I unpinned our chat and cleared it out, something in my chest went hollow. And right after that came a lightness that had no bottom to it. Gareth had been right.

I'd be moving out of that rundown place soon. I just hadn't expected him to get there before the movers did.

Chapter 5 The lease on the old apartment had six months left on it, and I could never get hold of the landlord, so I never bothered to end it. "All of this.

You're throwing it out?" Gareth looked at the pile, his eyes very dark. My eyes settled on it too. It was all things I'd bought for Dorian.

Matching couple sets, and things I'd bought just for him. "Yeah.

I don't want it." I said it quietly, and the corner of his mouth curved. "Sylvie, you still throw things away as easily as ever." I froze. "What?" Gareth's smile was gentle, but there was a faint sadness under it. "Did you forget?

All those love letters Mentor wrote you, more than a dozen of them, straight into the trash. I remember it.

That was the first girl I ever liked, and I cried for days." He said it lightly, calmly, while my eyes went wide. "I didn't—" The air went quiet.

The easy smile he'd put on froze on his lips, and he asked again, hoarse. "You didn't throw them away?" I was about to deny it when my phone rang. Unknown number.

I frowned and answered, and Dorian's voice came through, gritted and smug. "Guess what I found. I actually believed you were going to let me go this time.

Nice acting, Sylvie Calloway." "Blocking my number, blocking my account. If you're so tough, don't plant trackers. So what's the tracker in my bracelet about?

I knew you—" I frowned hard. Gareth's eyes flickered, and he pulled a record out of the pile I was throwing away. "Oh, there's one you didn't throw out back then.

This record…" Dorian went silent in an instant.

Then I heard his voice shaking, past his control. "Sylvie Calloway, who's that man talking on your end?!" I pressed my lips together and hung up