“Yeah, she had fun. Sorry for interrupting. I’ll get going.”
I gave each of her friends a brief nod of acknowledgment before turning to leave when Ozzie said, “Why don’t you join us?”
The question had me pausing for a beat as my gaze fell on Shannon. I tried gauging her reaction, but she gave nothing away. A part of me wanted to stay, but another part didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable. I arched a subtle eyebrow at her that asked,You okay with this?She gave the smallest nod in return, though I couldn’t tell if it was a resigned nod or an easy-going one. In the end, the part that wanted to stick around turned back to Ozzie and replied, “Sure, I’d love to.”
8.
Shannon
It was like he sucked up all the air in the room. When Jace moved farther into my kitchen and sat down at the last available seat at the table, my heart gave a sharp, hard thump. Maybe it was Beethoven’s hopelessly romantic words written to his Immortal Beloved, or perhaps it was simply Jace’s presence alone, but my cheeks were flushed, my chest hot.
“So, what was that?” Jace asked, glancing at Ozzie. I wasn’t entirely in love with his idea to invite Jace to join us just now. But there’d been something in Jace’s expression that had told me he wanted to stay, and I didn’t have it in me to reject him.
“It’s one of Beethoven’s love letters,” Margie explained. “He wrote them to a woman he referred to as his ‘Immortal Beloved’; however, it’s not known for certain who she was. Some theorise it was his brother’s wife.”
“That theory was debunked,” Lotte put in. “People only believe it because of the movie.”
Jace’s eyebrows jumped. “It’d be an awkward family dynamic, if it were true.” His gaze flicked to me, and I briefly wondered if he was thinking about Roan, though I mostly still refused to entertain his and his father’s theory that the man I’d called a good friend for half my life was in love with me.
“Um, would you like some wine?” I asked, grabbing the bottle that was closest to Lotte. “Ozzie’s on a detox so these are all non-alcoholic.”
“Yes, he’s making us suffer with him,” Margie remarked with a chuckle.
“Hey, it’ll do your liver some good,” Ozzie shot back and I noticed something shift in Jace’s expression. Ah…did he thinkwe were drinking non-alcoholic wine because he was dropping by? An awkward feeling seized me. I knew he was in a good place and that although he should probably avoid being anywhere active drug use was happening, he didn’t need people walking on eggshells around him.
“I’m good,” Jace declined. “I’ll take some mint tea if you have it, though.” He patted his extremely flat, not at all bloated stomach. “Elias fed us way too many carbs at dinner.”
“Sure,” I said, relieved that he didn’t seem offended, but also for the chance to escape the table where all three of my closest friends were observing Jace and me like we were bacteria under a microscope. I busied myself with the kettle while Ozzie finished reading Beethoven’s letter. It was only every so often that we read romantic letters, and it was just my luck that Jace had turned up on the very night we were reading one of the most romantic letters of all time.
The look in his eyes when our gazes met while Ozzie was reading had my stomach fluttering, and I really needed to stop having such intense reactions whenever Jace was in the room.
I was going to meet up with Rufus on Sunday morning for coffee at a nice little place along the canal. I’d forced myself to be brave and ask him out, and he’d said yes. I’d been convincing myself ever since that it was the right move. I needed to decentre Jace, and Rufus seemed like a nice man. I just had to meet him in person to see if we had any real spark.
“Hey,” came a deep voice.
Jace was suddenly standing directly behind me as I shakily placed the teabag in a mug. I turned my head, my gaze flicking to my friends who were happily sipping wine and discussing their theories on who they believed Beethoven’s beloved was. I lifted my eyes to Jace’s, and goosebumps rose on my arms because he was closer than anticipated. His gaze tripped over my eyes, nose, and lips before he finally seemed to focus.
“Can we talk about what happened this morning?” he said, and I stared at him, drawing a complete blank. “With your neighbour?” he went on, and I let out a tired sigh.
“Oh, right. You really don’t need to worry about that.”
“But I do worry,” he insisted, towering over me as the kettle finished boiling. “If she’s hassling you or Zara—”
“She’s not,” I said, instinctively touching his arm, and his gaze lowered to where my fingers grazed his elbow. I immediately dropped my hand and cleared my throat. “I mean, Viola is annoying, but she’s harmless. She just likes to complain a lot. Honestly, I think it might be some weird sexual fetish at this point.”
Jace let out a surprised chuckle. “Oh?”
I smirked. “Maybe she likes to complain, then go back into her house and fuck her husband.” I joked quietly, and our gazes connected. My breath caught at the hot glimmer in his eyes and quickly took the opportunity to turn away. Lifting the kettle, I poured hot water into the mug, watching the steam rise.
“Seriously, though, Shannon. What’s the deal with her?” he persisted, and I tensed. Although I’d enjoyed the idea of Viola or her husband, Gary, confronting Jace directly and him giving them hell for it, I really needed to back away from anything that would make him ever more entangled in my day to day life. Having him bring Zara to school every day was difficult enough.
I gave the teabag a little jiggle with the string and told him, “Viola has taken issue with you parking outside in the mornings when you collect Zara. Apparently, your car is blocking the light to her window nook, which it definitely isn’t, and even if it were, there’s no avoiding cars parking outside our houses. There’s literally no other option. Plus, you park outsidemyhouse, not hers, so she can go and spin about it for all I care.”
The entire time I spoke, Jace watched me, his expression going from light and amused to vaguely perturbed.
He folded his arms, causing his top to stretch across his defined pecs while also making his biceps pop. I had to force myself not to stare. Seriously, this date with Rufus couldn’t come any sooner. I really needed it to go well because it had been way too long since I’d had sex. Drooling over Jace was a slippery slope that I should avoid at all costs.
“And she complains about this type of thing often?”
