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"What the hell are you trying to pull, huh?" he sneers. "Why don't you just go back to wherever you fucked off before?"
The question itself stings, because he has no idea how much I wish I could do exactly that. How much I wish that the circumstances that brought me back to North Haven weren't a thing happening in my life.
"Sit down, Jace."
He snorts, as if I just made a joke. "You're not my mother."
A smirk makes its way to my face. "Maybe not, but I do remember how much your mom loved me. How about I call her? Let her know I'm here and that we should all get together. Wouldn't that be nice?"
My determination catches him off guard, and he backs away just enough for me to breathe my own air again. "You wouldn't."
"Try me." I cross my arms over my chest. "Sit down, Jace."
With a huff, he turns around and goes back over to the couch. "Fine, but don't expect me to talk. You want to sit here in silence all damn day, suit yourself. I don't want to hear a word come out of your mouth."
Okay, so maybe it's not exactly a win, but it's something. And besides, Carter wanted someone to keep an eye on him. If that's the most I accomplish while being here, so be it.
"Davi, calm down!" I call, but that only pisses her off.
"Calm down?" she balks. "You want me to calm down? You didn't hear what he said to me back there!"
Pinching the bridge of my nose between my thumb and index finger, I take a deep breath. "So why don't you tell me instead of screaming at me like I'm the one who pissed you off?"
"No, because you'll just make excuses for him. He's your best friend."
"I won't."
She looks me in the eyes, and I watch some of the tension drain as her shoulders settle. Taking a step forward, she grips the bottom of my T-shirt and bites her lip.
"I should just leave him," she whispers. "Then the two of us could be together. We could be so happy."
The way she's staring up at me is like she's begging to be kissed. Her plump lips are right there, and so much of me wants to press my own against them, but I can't. Reluctantly, I grab her wrists and remove her hold.
"You know that can't happen," I tell her softly and tuck a stray hair behind her ear. "I can't do that to him."
It happens so fast I don't even have a chance to stop it. Her brows knit together and her jaw locks as she winds up and slaps me right across the face.
I jolt awake to the stinging pain in my cheek, only to realize that it was a dream. However, instead of her hand hitting me in the face, it was a ball—thrown by my douche of a best friend. Granted, it was a nerf ball, so it's not causing any serious damage, but there are nicer ways to wake up.
Carter stands in the doorway with
his arms crossed against his chest and a shit-eating grin on his face. I sit up, running my fingers through my hair.
"Really asshole?" I grumble. "A simple “Wake up, Jace” would have sufficed."
He chuckles and shakes his head. "You told me not to come in your room anymore, so I had to figure out how to wake you up from here."
Okay, so maybe I said that, but that's only because his tendency to go through my shit is getting irritating. If he would learn to keep his hands to himself and not dig through my stuff, we would have no problems.
I flip him the bird and pull a t-shirt on. Carter only steps out of my way so I can leave the room, but he's clearly not going to leave me alone this morning. I head for the coffee pot, the only salvation I'm going to find after not falling asleep until sometime after three. My insomnia just would not let me rest. It's like it needed me to stay awake or the whole damn world would end.
"So, you must have had a fun day yesterday," he murmurs. "I have to say, I was pretty surprised to see Paige asleep on our couch when I got home."
Chuckling sarcastically, I roll my eyes. "No you weren't. You and I both know you sent her here to babysit my ass."
His jaw drops and he clutches his metaphorical pearls. "Moi? I did no such thing."
"She had a key, asswipe."
