She doesn’t swoon.No hair flips.No batting eyelashes to make him want her.She rolls her eyes, mutters “dickhead” under her breath, and drinks his shot like it’s her right.
And Jace consumes it eagerly.Which is crazy, because he hasn’t truly respected a girl since he figured out what his cock was for.But somehow, Lola Bellamy, the clever, nerdy girl with zero tolerance for his bullshit, has become the only girl in this room that Jace doesn’t see as a game.
And honestly?That might be the most fucked-up part of all.
I blink, and Aubrey leans in close, whispering exactly what I’m thinking.
“What the fuck just happened?”
“I have no fucking clue,” I reply.
Their friendship slowly developed over the past two months, strengthening in the quiet moments between Aubrey and Noah’s whirlwind.No one really saw this happening, least of all me.Jace is a complete asshole to the core.
Lola doesn’t let him get away with anything.She calls him out when he’s being an asshole.She laughs in his face when he tries to smooth talk her, but she also shows up with an extra sandwich tucked in her bag, plays it off as nothing, and tosses it his way at lunch while pretending the whole thing was an accident.
She knows he doesn’t eat much.He never talks about his home life.But everyone knows about the trailer behind his aunt’s house, the roof that leaks when it rains, the front steps held together with duct tape and hope — the frosty nights and busted water heater.The way Jace never asks for help, never expects anyone to care.
Aubrey told us more.Quietly.As if the truth was not supposed to be shared.
Lola just nodded and said nothing.The next day, she had a Tupperware container filled with leftovers and a witty comment about how she made too much.She told him he had to help her eat it in her own savage, sarcastic, eat-this-before-I-punch-you way.
And he lets her.
Because maybe, for the first time in a long while, someone is showing up without expecting anything in return.And that messes with him more than he wants to admit.
Jace never thanks her.But he never turns her down either.And for someone who acts like he doesn’t need anyone, who’s made a name for himself pushing people away, he definitely doesn’t push Lola away.
She understands him like no one else does.Her, sitting beside him, teasing him until he grins and calling him out when he pretends he doesn’t care.
And maybe that’s why he’s doing it.
She sees right through all the armor he’s built and doesn’t flinch at what’s underneath.
I keep talking with Aubrey and Liz for another ten minutes, pretending the walls aren’t closing in, that I’m not listening for any voice in the room that sounds like his.
Eventually, I can’t take it.I murmur something vague and slip away, weaving through the crowd, my pulse chasing something I won’t admit to.
The moment I step outside, the night air hits me instantly.Cool against my skin.I take a breath deeper than any I’ve had all night and lift my face toward the sky.
The moon hangs low over the trees, bleeding light into the backyard.
I close my eyes.
I try to breathe through the ache crawling up my spine.Pretend I didn’t spend the last half hour scanning every corner of that party, hoping for a glimpse of Reece.Just to see if he’s here.If he ever spares a thought for me, the way my mind can’t let go of him.
Behind me, the door opens and slides shut.
I don’t turn.
My spine straightens.Recognition hits me before I even think, a shiver racing down my back, skin prickling with awareness.
“Hey,” he says.
That one word opens something inside me.I tilt my head just enough to see him standing under the moonlight, jaw glowing in silver-blue.That face, all sharp angles and quiet chaos.That messy hair falling into his eyes.And that mouth.God, that fucking mouth.The one that left me yearning for more.
Without saying a word, he shrugs off his jacket and drapes it over my shoulders.His scent lingers on the fabric, brushing against my skin.Warm.Familiar.Intimate in a way I don’t quite know how to handle.
I freeze.
