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ALLIE
Wrapping my arms around myself, I bounced up and down on my toes and stared out at the ocean at the Overlook as I waited for Jace. The Cartier bracelet that he had begged me to wear last night for his game glided back and forth around my finger. I had taken it off because I didn’t like wearing something that expensive—especially in my neighborhood—but I made sure to keep it on me all the time.
I sat on a rock and glanced down the road to look for his car. Jace had asked me to meet him here a half hour ago and hadn’t offered to pick me up like usual, so I had to walk here in the raw January cold. I’d tried calling him two times, but he hadn’t picked up.
My teeth chattered, a puff of white air forming in front of my face. Where is he?
When I heard a car drive toward the Overlook, I turned around and hopped into the air with a big smile on my face. Finally, he was here. My stomach tightened with little fluttering butterflies.
Jace parked beside me, taking a couple of minutes in his car. I peeked into his window and waved at him. He turned the car off and got out, staying a good five feet away from me when he did. I furrowed my brows at him, wondering what was wrong.
Dark circles lay under his eyes. Those tan cheeks were flushed. He couldn’t look at my face.
“We need to talk,” Jace said, his voice cold and distant.
I clasped my hands together and rubbed them to keep my fingers from freezing off. “About what?” I asked.
Is it about his mother again? He has been—
“Us,” Jace said.
My eyes widened, and I stepped toward him. “What about us?” I asked, thinking the absolute worst of the worst. What could he possibly want to talk about us? We hadn’t fought about anything recently, and last night … last night, we had been great.
“We’re over.”
My heart dropped, tightened in my chest. “What do you mean, we’re over?”
“We’re over, Allie,” Jace said, glaring at me. “Done. Finished. Over.”
Tears welled up in my eyes, and I shook my head. “Why?” I whispered.
Jace paused for a long moment. “Because I don’t want a girlfriend who’s going to use me for my fucking money and popularity, just to fucking feel better about her shitty life,” he said harshly, yet he couldn’t look me in the eye.
“Wh-what?” I whispered, shaking my head. A tear slid down my cheek. “I’m not, Jace. I’m not. I would never do that to you. You know that. You know that …” My voice sounded so hurt, so defeated, so betrayed.
The corner of Jace’s lips twitched, and he looked me right in the eye. There was hurt in his yet more pain than I had ever seen in them before. Even more than when he had found out his mother died.
“Did you think you could keep this act up forever? Did you think I wouldn’t find out?” he asked me. He gave me a lifeless kind of laugh and shook his head, glaring at the ocean. “It’s good that we were never fucking serious, huh?”
I stepped toward him and grasped his arm. “Jace, what are you talking about?”
“Did you think I wanted to build an entire life with you, Allie?” He blew out a breath through his nose in an attempt to laugh again.
All I could feel was my heart breaking. Jace doesn’t want to build a life with me? Has everything he told me been a complete lie? All those late nights and early mornings? All that fucking love? All of it’s an act?
“Stop, Jace,” I pleaded.
Why is he acting like this suddenly?
A car pulled up to the curb, and Nicole got out.
“Jacey!” she squealed, wiggling her fingers at us.
Jace looked in her direction. “You should leave, Allie.”
I stared between them, tears spilling down my face. “What are you doing?”
I shook my head, not able to believe this was happening. He couldn’t be … he couldn’t be with Nicole. He couldn’t.
