Chapter 4
Jace
The curtains were twitching again. While I sat in my car outside Shannon’s house, I shut off the engine and considered knocking in on her neighbours and introducing myself.
They were clearly curious about me since they were peeping through the curtains for the second morning in a row.
Confronting them was the sort of thing I’d normally do since I didn’t often have much of an inner voice telling me the negatives of an action.
My inner voice was more like that kid we all knew at school, the one who got overexcited whenever there was a fight, egging other people on.
I’d gotten much better at ignoring the little prick in recent years, thankfully.
There was also the chance that they were just fans who’d recognised me and were building up the courage to come out and ask for a selfie.
In that case, I’d be happy to pose for a picture, but no, it appeared they were going to stick to peeping.
I reminded myself that Shannon would probably be pissed at me if I interacted with her neighbours.
She could be pretty uptight about those sorts of things, and although I used to get fiercely turned on at the challenge of getting her to like me again after I’d made her mad, that wasn’t the goal here.
I just wanted her to accept me back into her life or at least tolerate my presence in it for now.
Besides, I’d already pushed things too far yesterday with my flirting.
I couldn’t help myself sometimes when it came to her, but I knew I needed to ease off.
It had only been my first day taking Zara to school and already I was trying to push Shannon’s buttons.
Grabbing the reusable mug from yesterday, I headed out and knocked on the door.
Shannon answered only a few seconds later.
Unlike yesterday, she was fully dressed in black trousers and a pale grey top, her dark hair tied back in a neat ponytail.
This was Shannon to a T. You might catch her off guard once, but it wouldn’t happen twice.
One of the things we often argued about when we were together was her need for control.
She couldn’t stand to be even a minute late for things.
If there was a tiny speck of dirt on her top, she’d obsess over it until she could change into something clean.
And she especially hated when unexpected visitors turned up first thing in the morning before she had the chance to get ready, her hair a sexy mess that just made me want to throw her over my shoulder and carry her back to bed.
That was the thing that I always found so irresistible about her, dirtying her up when she was prim and proper.
Some of it was her natural demeanour, but a lot of her need for perfection came from her parents.
When Shannon was a kid and she’d get muddy knees from playing out in the garden, her mother would frown with such disappointment you’d swear she’d stolen the car keys and crashed their BMW into a tree.
She’d even been sent to etiquette lessons as a kid, with all these unnecessary rules being drilled into her.
Hell, the first time we’d met was when we were twelve, and my dad had invited her over for pizza.
Shannon had sat at our table with perfect posture and requested a knife and fork while the rest of us folded over slices and shoved them into our mouths.
I’d always encouraged her to be a little more easy-going, fuck her parents and their ridiculous disapproval over the tiniest unimportant thing.
Unfortunately, she’d found solace in it, like if she could control her appearance and her day to day routine, she could control the universe.
In the end, I’d accepted that it was just who she was, and I’d fallen in love with that person.
“Morning,” I greeted her with a smile, and she nodded, briefly looking me up and down before a faint flush stained her cheeks. Even though I only wore my usual hoodie and jeans, I could tell Shannon found me attractive. She was so easy to read in that way.
A rush of pleasure swept over me as she quietly replied, “Morning, Jace, please come in.”
God, I loved it when she said my name.
I followed her into the kitchen, then set the clean mug on the countertop. “Brought this back for you.”
“Right, thank you. Would you like another one? For the drive?”
My features softened because she seemed antsy, just like yesterday, and clearly making me coffee gave her something to do, which she seemed to need.
“Sure, that’d be great.” I sat down to wait for Zara. How many mornings of me being here was it going to take to get her to relax?
“She should be down in a minute.”
“Cool.” A moment of quiet fell. Shannon picked up her fake vape and took a hit while she waited for the coffee to brew, shoulders stiff.
“Oh, before I forget,” I said, breaking the quiet, and her eyes lifted as though in relief that I was filling the silence. “Roan has an art show tonight. He said he sent you an e-vite a couple weeks ago, but you never RSVP’d. It might’ve gone to your junk mail. He wanted me to ask if you’re going?”
Roan was my cousin and an up and coming artist, the son of my Uncle Jack and Aunt Lille.
He was also the younger brother to Elias, who was the bass guitarist in my band.
Elias, Roan, and I had been joined at the hip as kids, with Elias and me being born only a few weeks apart.
So when Shannon and I became friends, she also became friends with my cousins.
She and Roan in particular had gotten along really well.
Their energies just seemed to gel. It was something I was frequently jealous of.
“Oh my goodness,” she said, placing her hand to her mouth with an expression of horror. “I did get the e-vite, but I completely forgot to reply. That’s tonight?”
I nodded and arched an eyebrow. “It’s not like you to forget to respond to an invitation.”
She blew out a breath. “I know. I’ve just had a lot of projects going on at work that required my attention, and—”
“Shannon, breathe,” I interrupted. “It’s fine. If you still want to come, I can text him now and let him know.”
“That’s all right. I’ll text him myself. I’ve been looking forward to seeing his collection, and we haven’t had a chance to meet up in months. I should be able to get Margie to watch Zara.”
“Great, so I’ll see you there?”
A faint flicker of apprehension passed over her features before she responded with a tight smile. “Sure.”
“I’m ready!” Zara called as she hurried down the stairs. Shannon placed the cap over the reusable mug before handing me my coffee to go. She might’ve only made it to keep busy in my presence, but I still planned to savour every drop.
“Have a good day at school,” Shannon said as she placed a kiss atop Zara’s head. Then her dark brown eyes came to me. I was addicted to her attention, even if there was a wall up.
“Bye, Jace.”
“See you later, Shannon.” I threw my arm around Zara’s shoulders and led her outside. “C’mon kid, let’s get you to school. Gotta learn those ABCs.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m eight, not a baby!”
I chuckled. “Okay, genius. Guess you’re already onto String Theory.”
“Dad, stop being weird,” she replied with a giggle as I helped her into the car.
***
My cousin’s art show was being held in a gallery in the city centre.
He’d been sharing his art online for years under the alias, Bowie Tozer, and it had suddenly exploded in popularity in the last few months.
Roan was a lot like his mother, a sensitive, artistic type, while his brother, Elias, was much more like their dad; tall, dark and a little bit intimidating.
Shannon had hung out with us a lot when we were kids, and as I said, I’d always been jealous of the closeness she shared with Roan.
My irrational possessiveness when it came to her meant I was envious of their bond even now.
Still, I went out of my way to invite her.
I knew it meant a lot to Roan to have her at his show, but he was the sort of person who hated to bother people.
For instance, he wouldn’t text or call Shannon to remind her of the event since he’d already sent the e-vite.
He’d feel like he was pestering her if he did.
I spotted my parents first when I entered the gallery.
They were standing with my Uncle Jack and Aunt Lille, admiring one of Roan’s larger pieces.
Uncle Jack and I had always been close. Sometimes I felt like he understood me better than my own dad.
Whereas Dad and I were so alike we’d butt heads, Jack was a calm, non-judgemental figure who I could come to for advice.
In fact, it was a conversation with him that finally got me to ditch my drug habit.
Jack had spent his younger years as a loner, never letting anyone in.
It wasn’t until he’d met Lille that he’d realised how hollow that existence was.
He’d basically told me that if I kept going the way I was, I’d lose everyone I loved, and I’d be stuck in that same hollow existence with no chance of ever getting my family back.
He’d been right, and although Zara loved me because I was her dad, not to mention she was too young to remember my junkie days, winning back Shannon’s affection felt like an impossible feat.
The painting they were all looking at showed dancers performing on some nameless city street.
Roan’s brush strokes somehow managed to capture their lively movements.
The artist himself was nowhere to be found, but I did spot Elias and my two other bandmates, Kami and Angus, nearby sipping on the complimentary glasses of prosecco that were being passed around.