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With that stunned disbelief still swirling in her eyes, she pushes herself up on her elbows so that she can meet my gaze fully. “So wait, let me get this straight.” Lifting a hand, she motions between us. “We’ve been giving each other absolute hell… when in reality, we both just want the same thing. Freedom.”
A laugh rips from my lungs, because she’s absolutely right. Still chuckling at that realization, I nod. “Yeah, it would appear so.”
“Huh.” She sounds astonished.
The mattress bounces underneath me as she drops back down and then twists so that she’s lying on her back next to me instead. For a little while, we just stare up into her pale ceiling. The sun is starting to rise now, casting its first rays over the sleeping city around us.
“How about this?” She turns her head so that she’s looking at me again. “We stop making each other’s lives hell.”
“I can get behind that.” I raise an eyebrow at her. “So… we’re civil?”
She flashes me a devilish grin that makes her eyes glitter like jewels. “Civil-ish.” Then she winks. “Wouldn’t want things to start getting boring around here.”
A laugh, full of both surprise and happiness, escapes my throat. “No, we wouldn’t want that.”
33
KAYLA
The building is almost empty, but somehow still full of noise. I glance towards where Jenn and Aurora are carrying, carting, and sometimes outright dragging in the variety of items that we have managed to obtain for our silent auction. It’s happening on Friday evening. Two days from now. My pulse speeds up at just the thought.
I’m not usually nervous about presentations or assignments like this. I know that I’m good at what I do and that I always get high grades on anything I turn in. But this assignment is different. Not only because it’s an actual event and not a paper that can just be handed in, but also because it’s a group project. That means that there are too many variables. Too many things that can go wrong.
Though to be fair, I couldn’t have pulled this off without the others. Aurora really came through for us with this building. It’s the perfect venue for our silent auction. And Jenn has been incredible at getting all of the items organized and delivered here.
My gaze drifts towards where Lionel is unpacking some white linen tablecloths. He hasn’t contributed much to this project, to be honest. Sometimes, he seems more focused on trying to flirt with me than actually participating in this project. Well, that and staring daggers at Jace when he inevitably shows up to ruin his attempts to get some alone time with me.
Maybe I need to talk to Lionel about that.
Not that I owe him an explanation or anything. But it might make things easier if I just outright tell him that I’m not interested in dating. Not him anyway.
While pushing another table across the floor, I sweep my gaze around the massive high-ceilinged room. Apart from the furniture and items we’re currently unloading, there is almost nothing in here. But Jace has somehow still managed to make himself invisible.
It makes warmth and gratitude flood my chest. He truly has been doing his outmost to make me feel as if I’m not being constantly monitored. And it works. I’m not feeling as stifled anymore. It also helps that I now know why he is here. Why he is doing this job.
As if he can feel me searching for him, Jace appears and raises an eyebrow at me from across the room. I shake my head in response to his silent question. He just shoots a pointed look towards the heavy table that I’m pushing across the floor, and then arches his eyebrow again. A soft chuckle rolls from my chest, but I shake my head again. I’ve got this.
He rolls his eyes as if he thinks I’m being stubborn for no reason, but then flashes me a bright smile and moves back to where he was hiding in plain sight earlier.
My heart flutters erratically behind my ribs.
I don’t know what Jace and I are now. He’s still my bodyguard. He still works for my father. But we’re somehow also… more. Friends, maybe.
The table grinds against the floor as I push it the final distance to the other table that’s already waiting by the wall. I frown at myself, at my own confused emotions, as I move around the table and adjust it so that they line up better.
Are Jace and I friends? We talk to each other and mess with each other as if we’re friends. But friends don’t kiss the way we do. Friends don’t fuck the way we do.
A flicker of insecurity ripples through me. Because friends also don’t get paid to spend time together. And Jace is here to do a job. I’m a job assignment.
Fuck, why does it all have to be so complicated?
“It’s really starting to take shape now,” Lionel suddenly says from right behind me.
Surprise pulses through me, because I was so wrapped up in my own tangled thoughts that I didn’t hear him approach. While adjusting the table one last time, I look up and then turn towards him.
“The event, I mean,” he continues, and gestures with one hand at the building around us. His other arm is carrying a couple of white tablecloths. “It’s so close to being finished.”
I flick a quick glance around the mass of items and tables that are still waiting in a cluster on the floor. We’re not even halfway done yet. But I return my gaze to Lionel and give him a smile anyway.
