“She’s a good... girl,” my dad says, and the pride in his voice makes my chest ache.
“Yeah,” Jace says quietly, and when he looks up, there’s something in his expression I’ve never seen before. “She is. She’s... she’s better than good, Sir. She’s the best person I know.”
Another pause falls between them, heavy with unspoken words.
Then Dad shifts slightly in his wheelchair, the leather creaking. “You... and Lola.”
It’s not a question, but my father is putting the truth on the table between them, waiting to see what Jace will do with it.
Jace doesn’t flinch or look away. “Yes, Sir. I care about her. More than I’ve ever cared about anyone. And I know what you’re thinking.” He runs a hand through his hair, and I can see thetension in his shoulders. “But I would never hurt her. I would never hurt anyone I love.”
Love. The word hangs between them.
Dad looks at him for a long moment. Long enough that I can almost see the gears turning in his head, weighing Jace’s words against everything he knows, everything he’s heard.
Then he speaks again, his voice rough but clear. “She’s… stubborn.”
Jace chuckles softly, and some of the tension eases. “Yeah. I’ve noticed. Does she get that from you?”
The corner of Dad’s mouth twitches, not quite a smile, but as close as he can manage right now.
He shifts again in the wheelchair. When he speaks next, his voice is firmer, every word carrying weight.
“You hurt her...” He pauses, gathering the rest of the sentence, his good hand gripping the armrest. “I break... your legs.”
There is no humor in it. Just a cold, hard threat.
Jace doesn’t crack a joke. He just nods, locking eyes with Dad.
“Fair deal,” he says. Then something softer slips into his voice. “But you don’t have to worry about that, Sir. I’m not going anywhere. And I’m not going to fuck this up.”
The profanity lingers in the air for a moment, and I half expect Dad to call him out on it. But he doesn’t. Instead, he observes Jace like a father deciding whether a man deserves his daughter. Whether he’s strong enough to protect her or good enough to keep her.
After a long moment, Dad nods once. It’s permission. And from my father, a man who’s spent his whole life protecting me, that means everything.
I stay in the hallway for another second, my chest warm and aching all at once. My hand is pressed against the doorframe as my eyes burn with tears I refuse to let fall. Because, somehow, the two men in that room just found common ground. And Ithink, despite all odds and logic, my dad might actually like Jace Cooper.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Jace
Miss Mallory places the test paper on her desk and looks at me over her reading glasses. The fluorescent lights above make her appear older than she probably is. For a moment, I think she’s about to tell me I fucked it up. That I came close but not close enough, and that all those hours Bells spent drilling information into my thick skull were for nothing. That I’m still the same screwup I’ve always been.
But then she actually fucking smiles. “You passed, Jace.”
The words don’t register at first. I stare at her, waiting for the punchline. The “but” that always follows good news in my life. But, it doesn’t come.
“You passed,” she says again, and this time there’s something in her voice that sounds almost like pride. “Not just passed. Yougot a B-plus. That’s the highest grade you’ve ever received in my class.”
A fucking B-plus.
“That means...” I start, but my throat is tight, as if someone’s hand is wrapped around it.
“That means you’ll graduate,” Miss Mallory says, leaning back in her chair, with her fingers steepled under her chin. “Assuming you don’t fail anything else between now and then you’ll walk across that stage with the rest of your class.”
I’m actually going to fucking graduate. The realization hits fast. Four months ago, I was ready to drop out. Ready to say fuck it and take my chances at finding a job. Now I’m sitting here, staring at a B-plus on a test, and a warm, easy sensation develops in my chest, something that seems dangerously close to hope.
I have to look away before Miss Mallory sees whatever the hell is happening to my face right now. Before she notices that the guy who doesn’t give a fuck about anything, actually does care.
