“Noah…”
He’s silent for a moment. “Do you love my sister?”
My heart crawls into my throat. “I…I…”
He frowns, shaking his head. “Let her go, Miller.”
This would be the time to tell him. To explain to him the fear of failing her is what keeps holding me back. I know deep down, I want nothing more than to be what she deserves, but what if I don’t live up to that?
If I were to let her down, I would never forgive myself for it. Noah would want to kill me and I’d probably let him.
“You hesitated and my sister deserves more than that.”
Without another word or a glance back in my direction, Noah heads out of the rink, leaving me alone with the hard truth hanging heavily in the air.
And the remnants of my betrayal.
CHAPTER THIRTY
WILLOW
Sitting at the table next to Jace, I slowly turn my head to the side and study his profile. He sets his fork down, lifting his glass of water, taking a slow sip of it. Dr. Grey purrs as she weaves through my legs and finally walks away when she realizes she doesn’t have my attention.
Something isn’t right with him tonight.
It’s been a few days since I’ve seen him and he texted me after he finished at the rink today, asking me to come over for dinner. He’s been weirdly quiet and a bit distant since I walked in the door.
The more I think about it, the more I realize there’s been some distance growing between us since he came over last week. Since we had sex in the bathroom and almost got caught by Noah.
Jace rises from his seat and collects both of our plates, taking them over to the sink. Instead of handwashing them, he rinses them and sets them inside the dishwasher. My heart pounds inside my chest and I get up, walking across the kitchen to him.
“Hey, can I ask you something?”
Jace doesn’t look at me for a moment but then he turns his body to face me head on, his expression giving nothing away.The rich, woodsy scent of his cologne infiltrates my senses when we’re this close and in any other moment, I would find it calming.
“Always.”
“Is something wrong?” I pause, my throat bobbing as I swallow roughly. As much as I don’t want there to be anything wrong, the fact that he didn’t immediately pull me into him when I walked up to him suggests otherwise. “Did I do something?”
He tilts his head to the side, taking a step closer. His fingertips are soft as they brush against the side of my face, tucking a curl behind my ear. “No, you didn’t do anything.”
A frown pulls on my lips. “But something is wrong.”
He’s silent for a moment, his eyebrows cinching together as he slowly searches my eyes. An unsettling feeling washes over me, dread filling the pit of my stomach as he cups the side of my face. He takes another step closer and my lips part. Just as I’m about to question him on it, his face drops down to mine and he silences me with his mouth.
Instinctively, I reach for him, pressing my body flush against his as both of his hands cradle my head. He kisses me with a tenderness, without any urgency, and my toes curl inside my socks. His lips move slowly against mine, like he’s memorizing the way they feel, every movement they make, the way they taste. Wrapping my arms around his back, I hold onto him tightly, gripping the back of his shirt as if he’s sand about to slip through my fingers.
Something happened.
Why does it feel like I’m losing him?
His tongue slides against the seam of my mouth and my lips part for him, allowing access. He kisses me with hunger and need as his fingertips drift down the sides of my neck. “Willow,” he murmurs against my lips, planting one more peck againbefore pulling away. His expression is unreadable as his eyes search mine, bouncing back and forth.
“Jace, what’s wrong? What’s going on?”
His hands rest against my collarbones and he lets out a shallow breath, his eyes closing as he presses his forehead to mine. “Noah knows.”
My stomach falls onto the floor. “What?”
