“What are you thinking about right now?” I asked.

He looked over at the time on the dashboard. “I’m thinking I’d better get you home. Nathan will worry if you’re late. He thinks Kellianne is driving, and she would’ve had you back by now.”

“He would’ve texted me if he was that worried.” I paused, looking out at the playground in the darkness. “I like talking to you, Jace.”

“I like talking to you, too,” he whispered.

Despite what he’d just said, he looked conflicted.

I arched my brow. “But…”

“But this can’t be anything more than talking.”

No way was I going to make myself seem desperate and argue about that. But I refused to give up hope. I wasn’t imagining things that day in the pool. It was real.

Without saying anything further, he started the truck and began driving down the palm-tree-lined streets toward our house.

As promised, Jace stopped around the corner. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Thank you for the ride, Kellianne,” I teased as I opened the door.

“Wiseass,” he muttered.

Jace stayed in the same spot until I turned the corner. In the distance, I could hear him take off. I hoped he wasn’t going to some girl’s house.

His instincts were apparently correct, though, because the second I walked in the door, Nathan was there, looking concerned. I couldn’t imagine what he would have thought if Jace and I had walked in together.

“You had me worried,” he said. “The bar closed a half hour ago. I thought you got into an accident.”

“How come you didn’t text me if you were worried?” I asked.

“I was just about to.”

“You shouldn’t have been worrying.”

“Jace mentioned you’d gone out with some guy you met on the Internet earlier today. I wasn’t sure if you were really with him and not Kellianne.”

I felt terrible lying to my brother. So I attempted to avoid it. “I was with Kellianne at The Iguana. And you’ll never believe what happened.”

“What?”

“I finally got up and spoke.”

“You did?”

“Yeah.”

“What made you do that tonight?”

“My emotions were kind of going haywire all day, and I needed to get it out somehow. I spoke about what happened to Mom and Dad—without going into detail. I honestly surprised myself.”

“Wow.” He pulled me in for a hug. “Really proud of you. Wish I could’ve been there.”

He and I talked for about fifteen minutes before the front door opened.

Our heads turned in unison as Jace walked in.

Nathan seemed surprised. “Hey. Didn’t expect you to come back. Figured you went back to that girl’s place after your parents’ house. What a freaking hottie.”

I felt my face go hot. I hadn’t gotten a look at her, and now I was glad for that.

“No. She’s not my girl. Staying here tonight.”

Jace’s eyes locked with mine for a moment, guilt written all over his face. Strangely, that gave me hope that whatever was happening between us was far from over.

• • •

In the middle of the night, I couldn’t stop thinking about Jace. I reached for my phone and clicked on his name.

Farrah: Are you awake?

I stared at the screen, awaiting his response.

Jace: Why are you texting me?

Farrah: What do you mean?

Jace: You know your brother is always grabbing your fucking phone. You shouldn’t be texting me.

His rationale made perfect sense, but his abrupt response still pissed me off.

Farrah: You can stalk me, but I can’t text you?

He didn’t respond, so after a few minutes, I typed again.

Farrah: I’m sorry for calling you a stalker. The fact that you showed up tonight made me really happy. But I went from feeling happy to bummed out after our conversation, and now I can’t sleep.

The three dots moved around for a while. His response finally came through.

Jace: Try to get some sleep. And delete this message chain off your phone, okay?

Rolling my eyes, I resisted the urge to scream in frustration.

Farrah: Done.

I swiped over his name to delete our history.

Chapter 8

* * *

Jace

I vowed to stay away from the house as much as possible the following week. I’d worked on Farrah’s car and got it running again, but I did my best to avoid her. Having crossed so many lines with her the other night, I wasn’t going to risk doing or saying anything reckless again. It was bad enough that I’d gone to The Iguana to check on her, but I’d also pretty much told her I would want to fuck her if she weren’t Nathan’s sister. I cringed. I should’ve never admitted my attraction to her.

Despite the fact that Farrah could rival a freaking Victoria’s Secret model in the looks department, it was more than a physical attraction that drew me to her. I felt very connected to Farrah—not only because we shared some of the same pain, but because whenever I looked in her eyes, I was reminded of innocence and passion and all that was good in the world. I always felt like she could see the good in me, even if I couldn’t see it myself. For years, I’d known about her little crush, and I’d never felt deserving of it, or of the way she looked at me—then or now. But especially now.