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Your lips are like fucking velvet.
Kiss.
I’m so preoccupied with the deep rasp of his voice in my ear and the goose bumps chasing my skin that when the bathroom door bangs open, it barely registers. It’s not until I hear the loud clearing of someone’s throat beside us that I open my eyes and find Charlotte staring at us in wide-eyed disbelief.
“You!” She points.
With a grunt, Jace releases my leg and glances beside him while continuing to shield me with his body, one hand still pressed to the wall beside my head.
“Um . . . found me?” I say with a feeble smile.
“To think I was worried about you when you left so abruptly and then took so long, but here you are, and . . .” She shakes her head, eyes glittering with amusement as Jace adjusts himself before fully turning around.
“Yep. I’m fine.Allgood.”
“I can see that.” Charlotte purses her lips as if holding back a smile. “Can I just tell you, I told you so?”
“No, you cannot,” I say, my tone indignant.
Charlotte snickers while Jace glances down at me. “What did she tell you?”
“Oh, you know,” Charlotte beams. “Just that I was right about you two having chemistry.”
“Can we please talk about this later?” I ask with a tight smile.
“Fine. Shall I tell Chad you got sick and called an Uber?” She winks at me, and if I weren’t so grateful for her taking the heat off me with Chad, I’d strangle her.
“Yes,” Jace and I say in unison, which only exacerbates her gloating expression.
“Okay, then. You two kids have fun,” she singsongs, then winks, and disappears back the way she came.
With a sigh, Jace plants a kiss on my forehead, then takes a step back. His gaze slides over me and he drags a hand down his face with a groan before stepping forward and smoothing the front of my dress like it pains him to do so.
Once he’s finished, he takes my hand in his and tugs me toward the door. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
CHAPTER 24
BRYNN
Isit in thepassenger seat next to Jace who has one hand on the wheel and the other holding mine between us on the center console. A smile curls the corners of my lips as I ride the blissful wave of our earlier interaction at the restaurant.
The now familiar streets blur behind my window in the fading daylight. Soon, it’ll be dark as we drive the familiar streets back to campus. Any moment now, the moon will replace the sun, and stars will blanket the sky. I’m feeling sentimental as we near the apartments, thinking about the irony of me and Jace as something more than enemies—more than friends. Never in my wildest dreams would I have guessed Jace Taggart to be the jealous type, or that he’d be following me on a date, pinning me against bathroom walls, and telling me he wants me all to himself.
I glance over at him in the shadows. He’s so much different than I thought. So muchmore.
I wonder if this is just hormones talking or if it’s real.
Behind us, Chris is sprawled out in the back seat, eating breadsticks and pasta from a takeout container. “Well, you two certainly seem to be getting along now,” he says between bites. “Makes me wonder why you ever hated him in the first place.”
I stiffen, feeling the wave I’m on crest and break as I risk a glance at Jace, who appears oblivious to the discomfort this statement causes.
My eyes find the side mirror and I watch Chris sop up sauce with a chunk of bread, gums flapping. “What happened in high school, anyway? Did you have a crush on him or something and he rejected you? Did he bully you? Steal your boyfriend?” Chris asks with a snort. “Yeah, that’s it. I can totally see that one.”
Jace offers him an arched brow in the rearview mirror, but his expression remains one of quiet bliss while I swallow, shifting in my seat.
Memories press against the edges of my mind, and I know it won’t take much for them to come flooding in since I already went there once this evening. Two reminders in one night are one too many.
But I really don’t want to think about what happened that night in high school. The night that changed me. More than anything, I want to forget, or at the very least, ignore it.
