“You don’t give yourself enough credit, brother.”
The loud drunk cheered, pulling Jace’s attention. “I was so sure some lucky son of a bitch would have snapped her up by now.” And that thought had terrified him. Had that contributed to him coming home? Because he knew if he stayed away any longer, she’d be taken?
“Maybe she was waiting for someone.”
Jace shook his head. “No. That’s not it. It’s been hard enough to get the woman to talk to me.You’veprobably talked more to her since I got back than I have.”
“I’ve seen her a bit, but that’s because she lives around the corner from the bar.”
Jace frowned. “She does?”
“Yeah, on East Avenue in that big apartment building.”
Jace’s gaze slid to the door, his feet suddenly itching to go to her, even though he knew that would be fucking reckless.
Elle sat on her couch,laptop open on her lap as she flicked through old photos. She wasn’t sure why she was doing this. Every second photo was of her and Jace.
She traced the ample curves of her hips with her eyes. Curves that had caused her so much angst as a young girl. She wished she’d just been able to love herself. But then…even now, looking so different, she still didn’t love herself. Not completely. Whyexactly, she wasn’t sure. Maybe because the people who’d called her beautiful in her life were few and far between.
Maybe because the man she’d loved for years had always dated women who looked so different than her.
She paused on a photo of her and Jace during a school camping trip. They were both drenched in water after he’d fallen into the river and asked for her help getting out. But when she’d extended her hand, he’d just pulled her in with him.
She could still remember the chill of the water on her skin. The shock and anger that had coursed through her body. But one look at Jace’s head thrown back in laughter, and she’d laughed along with him.
With a sigh, she closed her laptop and set it on the coffee table before going into the kitchen to make a hot cocoa. The large window over her sink felt too exposed, and she flicked the curtain closed. She lived on the fifth floor of an apartment building, and there was a keypad downstairs to get in. She was very safe up here, but for some reason over the last week, she kept getting this feeling like she was being watched. Not so much while she was in her apartment, but when she was at work, or while running errands around town. A chill would sweep down her spine, or sometimes she’d go as far as swearing she could hear a rustle of movement around her. Sometimes behind. Sometimes in front. It was strange.
She shook her head and took the milk out of the fridge. The candy from Jace toyed with her. She’d poured it into a large glass container, sat it on her kitchen counter, and so far, she hadn’t eaten a single piece. Which was nothing like her. She loved candy, to the point that when the candy store here in town had closed, she’d cried real tears. Her aunt had thought she was insane.
Her gaze caught on the cola skulls. They’d always been her favorite. Jace had joked that they didn’t last two seconds in her company.
But she couldn’t bring herself to eat them. Because every time she so much as looked at them, they reminded her that she hadn’t been completely forgotten by Jace. That she’d been on his mind, even when he’d been doing God knows what in God knows where.
Dragging her gaze from the jar, she poured milk into a saucepan. She’d just taken out a mug when her apartment buzzer dinged.
What the hell? What was the time? Ten? It was ten o’clock. Who on earth could it be? Her neighbors minded their own business, to the point she didn’t even know their names.
Cautiously, she moved toward the door. She was almost there when a voice sounded through the intercom.
“Tink? You there?”
She stopped, jaw dropping.
Jace?
“Please tell me you are,” he continued. “Because this is the twentieth apartment I’ve rung, and I’m pretty sure some old lady called the sheriff. Don’t think my brother would arrest me, but you never know. He can be a dick when he wants.”
She closed the distance to the door and pressed the talk button. “Jace…what are you doing here?”
“Thank fuck! Can you buzz me up?”
She opened and closed her mouth, so many questions rattling around inside her head, but first she needed to get him in here, because therewouldbe unhappy residents if he’d already buzzed that many apartments.
She hit the button. “Door’s unlocked. Come up.”
She stepped away from the door, her mind swirling.
Jace was here. He was going to step into her apartment. She scanned the small space, and everything she’d thought of as cute and comfortable suddenly appeared cluttered and messy.
