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Now that manages to make me laugh, but still. I can't stay cooped up in here all day, and there are no other doors. My only option is to walk past Jace. So, as I leave the room, I lace my arm with Charlotte's and make every effort not to even look at him.
"Paige, wait," he calls but I keep walking. "Please?"
I sigh heavily and slow down, feeling the pleading tone in his voice hitting a soft spot. After I give Charlotte a look that tells her it's okay to walk away, I turn around to Jace.
"Look at that. He does have manners."
He smiles in a way that always used to turn me to mush and nods. "I deserved that."
"I know." I zip up my jacket and look around. "So, what is it today, Jace? Walk in silence to my car? Go find Carter so you can insinuate that I'm a whore? What is it?"
It looks like he's trying to keep himself calm as he rolls a rock under his shoe. "I want to take you somewhere."
"Somewhere?"
His gaze finds mine and there's something in it I can't put my finger on. "Just...please."
There's that damn word again. To be honest, I like it better when he's an asshole. At least then I have a better chance of not giving a shit if I tell him no or offend him. But this…ugh. This makes it so I don't have much of a choice.
"I'll follow you."
Without another word, we head over to our cars—where he just so happened to park behind me and block me in. I give him a look, and he shrugs unapologetically.
Whatever.
WE PULL INTO A parking lot that may as well be in the middle of nowhere. I'm pretty sure we drove through at least a mile of forest before getting here. I get out of my car the same time Jace gets out of his, and he nods for me to come with him along a trail that looks like it hasn't been touched in months.
"Just so you know, I sent Becca my location and told her I'm with you," I announce. "If you're taking me out here to kill me, you won't get away with it."
He snorts and looks back at me with a cocky grin on his face. "Good to know."
We walk for at least ten minutes until we come to a cliff. It looks over the rest of the forest, all the way until it reaches the ocean. The sight is one you would expect to see in a magazine or travel brochure.
"Wow," I breathe.
He sits down on an outcropping of rock. "I know."
The two of us just stare out at the space, and I re
alize how much the big open space makes me feel small. In a way, it's intimidating, thinking of how big the world actually is, but in another way, it's comforting. I take a seat next to Jace and just stare out at the sunset.
It takes a minute before he says anything at all, but when he does, it's not at all what I thought it would be.
"Why did you do it?"
I look over at him, but he won't return my gaze. He keeps his eyes on the view.
"Do what?"
"Disappear without so much as a goodbye."
Jace is the king of not confronting his problems. I mean, he literally ran away from home once and spent two weeks in a hotel because he got into an argument with his brother and didn't want to be around him. So, hearing him ask me about it so directly is a bit of a shock.
"I can't explain it." My tone is as quiet as a whisper, but he hears it as if I screamed it into the empty space.
"That's bullshit," he growls. "You had to have a reason, Paige. What was it?"
I look down at the ground and shake my head. "It doesn't matter."
