The latter doesn’t let her in. He just leans against the door, more immovable than a brick wall.
“Why are you here?” Kieran asks.
She glances beyond the door, ignoring him. “Is Jace home?”
Beside me, Jace freezes, his jaw set so tight I feel I could thump him and watch it shatter. I step forward, staying in the shadows, keeping us both out of her sight while I study her behavior through the camera.
“Don’t,” I warn him in a whisper.
“I’m fine,” he lies.
“You’re not.”
Back at the door, she gives Kieran that amused little tilt of her head. “Can’t I visit old friends?”
Kieran snorts. “We’re not your friends.”
“Still sensitive, I see.” She smiles wider, but it’s brittle. “Holding onto the past, K?”
“I’m not holding onto anything,” he says evenly, his cheek rounding as he returns her smile with one of his own. “Except for my lines and standards. You crossed one, but you can’t reach the other.”
Jace steps past me and right into her view. Her expression lights up like a sparkler thrown onto gasoline.
“Jacey,” she purrs. “I was?—”
“You need to leave,” he interrupts coldly.
“That’s not very welcoming.”
“We’re not welcoming,” he agrees, shaking his head. “And I’m seeing someone, so when you leave, don’t come back.”
Her mask slips a fraction, exposing a crack in her expensive veneer. It’s quick, but it’s there.
“I don’t believe you,” she whispers.
“I don’t care,” Jace replies, rubbing at his jaw like he’s trying to loosen the muscle. “Your belief doesn’t make it any less true.”
Her eyes flick between us… First, to Kieran, then back to Jace, and finally, she turns her attention to me as I step in behind them. She doesn’t smile at me; she never has. She knows I see her too clearly to fall for her games.
“Why are you here?” I ask again, repeating Kieran’s question.
She hesitates, her tongue running along her teeth as she lies. “Just curious.”
“Try again.” I raise an eyebrow, and she just glares at me, letting me see the festering hatred in her blazing eyes. “Or don’t.”
She doesn’t.
Kieran slams the door in her face, flipping the lock as obnoxiously as possible.
Jace stares at the wood grain like it’s saying something he doesn’t want to hear, a frown growing on his face. “She’ll come back.”
I smile, thin and sharp.
Kieran and Jace know very little of Crimson Bay… but their ex? She knows next to nothing.
Including how quickly she can disappear.
“Not if I see her first.”
