He tried to go around her, but she stepped in front of him. “Come on, one dance. I did hear correctly that you’re the fun brother, right? Plus, you’re single, I’m single…” She inched closer. “I promise you won’t hate it.”
He opened his mouth to tell her he was going home when his phone buzzed with a text. He held his breath, needing it to be Elle.
Unknown number: Nothing to say?
The air hissed through his teeth as he replied.
Jace: Who the fuck is this?
Distracted by the text, he almost didn’t feel Molly slip her hand around his neck. But then she was pulling his head down. Her lips didn’t touch his, but they came close, her breath brushing over the skin beside his mouth as she whispered, “One dance…”
He cursed as he grabbed her wrists and gently broke her hold. “No.” Stepping away, he opened his mouth to say more, but a quick motion at the door distracted him. A woman who’d already turned and was walking away, almost running out.
Elle.
Elle hurriedout of her car and toward Meridian. She was late. Actually, was she? She hadn’t replied to Jace, so technically she couldn’t be late if she’d never confirmed she was coming, right?
She should have replied. The only problem was, she’d gone back and forth all night on whether she was going to come. One minute she’d typed out, “sounds great, see you then,” and the next, “sorry I’m busy.”
She hadn’t been able to send either.
Coming here tonight had ended up being a spur-of-the-moment decision. One she’d made while feeling utterly pathetic, standing alone in her living room, eating three-day-old Chinese takeout from the container.
Her aunt’s words flashed in her head as she jogged to the door of the bar.
If you risk nothing, you gain nothing.
Well, Aunt Jewel, this was her taking a risk.
She pushed inside and scanned the room, nerves tickling her spine.Whyshe was nervous, she wasn’t sure. Maybe because she hadn’t seen Jace all day and had no idea how to act around him after their kiss last night.
She frowned as she moved farther inside. There were people everywhere. Maybe he’d already left?
She was about to take out her phone and text him when she suddenly spotted him. His head was down, and a woman in a short, tight blue dress was blocking most of Elle’s view of Jace. She stood close…so close it looked intimate.
Were they—
She didn’t have a chance to finish her thought before the woman slipped her hand around his neck and tugged his head down for a kiss.
Elle’s heart thumped, and every insecurity, every thought of not being enough—pretty enough, outgoing enough—gushed through her system, making her want to not be here, to notexistin this moment.
His fingers wrapped around her arms, but Elle couldn’t watch any longer. She swung around and beelined for the door. Her eyes stung with the threat of tears. She blinked them away, refusing to let herself cry over this.
It shouldn’t hurt so much. She’d seen Jace kiss a hundred girls before. But after last night? God, it hurt so much that it felt like someone had punched a hole into her chest, right where her heart used to be.
She rushed toward her car, and when she heard Jace’s deep voice calling her from behind, her steps turned into a jog. She didn’t want to speak to him right now. She didn’t even want to look at him. The pain was too much, weaving itself into her veins, causing every part of her to hurt.
She’d just reached her car and was about to tug the door open when strong fingers wrapped around her arm and swung her around.
“It wasn’t what it looked like,” he rushed out.
She shook her head, feeling the threat of tears in her eyes once again. “I need to go.”
“Did you hear me? I was looking at my phone, Molly was drunk, and she pulled my head down.”
Molly…of course it was Molly.
“I can’t do this.” The words were out before she could stop them.
