Page 58 of Already Callin’ You Mine

My mortification is directly connected to my still very mixed feelings about him. And what I thought was his confirmed dislike of me. Although his actions this last week-ish have made me start to question that.

“Because, I am sorry.”

“Jace, you don’t have⁠—”

“I do.” He cuts me off, looking at me as he turns onto my street. “I just don’t know where to start.”

Taking his foot off the accelerator, Jace lets the truck crawl to a stop, then slips it into park. He shifts, pulling a leg up onto the bench seat so he can face me. The dashboard’s glow is now dancing across his face, highlighting his somber expression. The dim light is all I need to see all the emotion in his brown eyes, chipping away at my walls.

“Because I am sorry, Presley. Deeply sorry. For everything.” His voice cracks, so he takes a moment, swallowing hard. “Not being more welcoming when you moved to town. For being an all-around jackass in general. For the cheating rumor—not only letting it get started, but for not stopping it. The prom rumor. For refusing to dance with you at prom, leaving you all high and dry, and even more of a target for taunts. For not being welcoming a second time. And criticizing your parenting skills. It’s obvious that you’re a great mom. While I’m just a jackass.”

“You said that already.”

“It bears repeating. I could have stopped all those rumors. Told people to shut it, or even just set the record straight. But I didn’t. My stupid teenage self was too caught up in how things weren’t like they were ‘supposed to be,’ so I acted out. It was wrong. My mama raised me better. I promise.”

I chuckle softly, my insides melting. Blinking, I try to fight back the emotion that is starting to move up my throat. Jace’s apology isn’t anything grand—his jumble of words falling out of him like dice out of the Yahtzee cup—but holy hell, is it sincere. More so than any other apology I’ve ever been on the receiving end of.

“I’ve met Miss Belle, so I don’t doubt that.” I sigh, reaching over and placing my hand on his knee. He doesn’t flinch or tense up, but I can hear his breath stop for a second in the silence. “Apology accepted.”

Jace heaves out a hard breath that shakes the bench seat. Like he was worried I might not actually forgive him. How could I not after that?

“And while we’re on the subject,” I continue, “let me apologize for holding on to my grudge for so long. It wasn’t fair to you.”

“Ha!” Jace scoffs, placing his hand on top of mine. It’s warm, comforting, making me feel everything even more intensely. “I was giving you plenty of ammunition. And really, if that’s the worst thing you’ve ever done…”

I purse my lips to the side, pretending to think. “It might be second to lying to my mama about breaking her favorite cookie jar when I was seven.”

Jace throws his head back, a sharp bark of laughter erupting from him. One that activates the pinball machine inside my chest, the little metal balls ricocheting off each organ at light speed.

“Give me the chance to show you the real me? The one that is only half a jackass instead of a whole one?”

Well, now there’s a proposition if I ever heard one.

Still, there’s no resisting that.

“Okay.”

The smile that takes over Jace outshines the dash. Hell, it probably has enough power to light up this whole street. It certainly sends a zing down my spine. Because I have good money that the real Jace is the one I saw this past weekend. That guy was zero-part jackass. He was sweet, patient, understanding, and not afraid of vomit or kid shows.

All qualities that scare the shit out of me. It would be way too easy to fall for a man like that.

“Okay then.” He squeezes my hand, then lets go, turning back to face front and putting us in drive again.

The mood shifts right along with the truck, any kind of weird tension that had been lingering between us dissipating. Opening us up to something new. Something relaxed. Something that makes me want to open myself up the same way he did to me.

To let him into my world.

“Can…can I confess something?” I ask tentatively.

“Go for it.”

We slowly hug the bend in the road and now we’re almost home. My pulse thumps through my veins, nerves rising in me. It’s now or never to put this out there.

“I really wanted you to ask me to prom. Despite all the other stuff back then, I had a really massive crush on you, and would daydream about you changing your mind and making this whole public scene about asking me out.”

“And then that’s what I did with Ashley.”

I nod, pressing my lips together. The memory doesn’t sting now like it used to—time healing that wound a bit. But only a bit. There’s still some stinging; I am only human.