Chapter 16
Jace
I knew she’d love this. Shannon fought against a smile and lost the battle. As I moved into the microphone and began singing the Red Dwarf theme tune, I saw her shoulders bounce with a chuckle. When we were young, we’d sing along at the beginning of each episode, knowing every single word by heart.
I held her gaze from where I stood, and though the song wasn’t in any way romantic, I felt like I was singing the greatest love song ever written.
It wasn’t the content but what it meant to both of us, how a single tune could bring me all the way back to the best part of my life when I’d been falling deeply in love with her and hadn’t even fully realised it.
“Get up here!” I called in between verses, but she shook her head.
Fran moved behind Shannon, encouraging her to join me on stage, but she continued to refuse.
I let it drop, knowing she hated attention, and instead launched into the guitar solo.
Several cheers came from my friends and family, and suddenly everyone was singing along to the chorus.
For the first time in a long time, I felt the joy in music.
It had been such a mixed bag for a while, but tonight I felt that carefree spirit I’d once had start to return.
It was all down to Shannon, her smile, her tinkling giggle.
She filled my heart up with the nourishment it desperately needed.
When I finished the song, Fran and several of her friends began hounding the band about doing the theme tune to Game of Thrones. The poor guitarist, whose instrument I’d borrowed, had a hard time explaining that you can’t do karaoke to an instrumental piece.
“We can hum along, though,” one of the girls argued, and I fought a chuckle at the idea of them hogging the mike while enthusiastically humming along for two whole minutes.
“I’m not talking to you,” Shannon declared when I came and slid into the seat next to her.
“Aw, come on. You loved it,” I nudged her shoulder with mine.
“I did not love being called up to the stage to sing,” she pointed out. “Plus, you know I’m a terrible singer. I would’ve ruined a perfectly serviceable performance.”
“Serviceable?” I feigned outrage. “I have three Grammys. Three!”
“My God, did you really just say that?” Kami asked with a laugh as she came and joined us.
Elias and Angus were right behind her, taking the last two empty seats.
I noticed Shannon tense slightly, and I thought it was because the last time she’d seen Angus he was pointing fingers at her being the catfish.
But then I saw it was Elias she was staring at, a concerned frown tugging at her lips.
Unsure of what was bugging her, I shifted closer, pressing my thigh against hers in an effort to soothe her tension.
“Hey, Shannon,” Angus began, and I glared at him because if he was about to be a dick to her again, I wasn’t having it. Instead he surprised me by saying, “I’m really sorry about last week at Jay and Matilda’s house. What I said was rude and uncalled for.”
“That’s okay, Angus. I get that it was a stressful situation.”
“Well, I feel shit about it, so yeah, just wanted to say sorry.” His gaze met mine briefly, and I could see he was making an effort. After our heart to heart, he knew how much Shannon still meant to me.
“I appreciate that,” Shannon said. “I think that’s the nicest you’ve ever been to me.”
Elias let out a chuckle, and Kami grinned. “She’s not wrong.”
Angus shook his head, suppressing a smile, and then my mother came over to get some pictures of us all together.
She’d been going around all night snapping shots, especially of Fran since it was her big night.
Without thinking, I threw my arm around Shannon’s shoulders while Mam took pictures, and for a second, it was like going back in time.
Her familiar scent in my nose, the warmth of her body.
Mam moved on to take more pictures of the others, and I felt Shannon lean in, her breath on my neck.
“What time are we collecting Zara from Roan’s?”
I checked my watch. “Soon, actually, we should get going.”
“Okay.”
We quickly said goodbye to everyone, and then we were alone in my car.
Like usual, I was sober, but Shannon had put away a couple glasses of wine at her friend’s apartment, plus she’d mentioned that she’d slept terribly all week.
She was exhausted, so it was no surprise that she was fast asleep only moments after she’d settled into the passenger seat.
It had been a stressful few days.
I still felt unknown levels of anger when I thought about that car swerving towards her. If anything had happened to her, I would’ve burned the world down to find the culprit. The fact that we were still completely in the dark about who was behind the attack was even more infuriating.
My dad’s Garda friend had managed to get some CCTV footage from a newsagent at the end of Shannon’s street, but it only showed the car speeding by, not the occupant.
Not that we could determine much since they’d obscured their face anyway.
They’d tried seeing if any of the neighbours had doorbell or security cameras, but there was none at the angle we needed.
It was almost like they’d scoped out the street and determined where they could park without being caught on camera.
I hadn’t told Shannon any of this yet because I felt like such a failure.
This person had tried to harm her, and they were still out there, living their life.
Free to try again when we least expected it.
To add to this, I had Cai’s memorial to attend tomorrow, which was an emotional rollercoaster all on its own.
The last time I’d spoken to his parents was years ago, and at the time, they’d hated me, considered me the reason their son was dead.
“Mammy’s asleep, so we need to be quiet,” I told Zara, holding her hand as I led her out of Roan’s place.
“Oh, she must’ve had a big night,” Zara said, peering into the back of the car as I strapped on her seatbelt.
“She did.” On top of a week looking over her shoulder every time she left the house. “We better get her home to bed.”
When we arrived back, I carried Shannon in while Zara ran ahead to open the front door.
Settling Shannon on the couch with a pillow under head—so fucking pretty—I went upstairs to help Zara get ready for bed.
By the time I returned to check on Shannon, she was awake, sitting up on the couch and rubbing at her temples.
“Did I fall asleep in the car? I have this awful headache.”
“Poor baby, come here,” I murmured, lowering next to her and pulling her fingers from her temples, replacing them with my own. My heart pounded when she practically melted into me, her back to my front. Every day I longed to be close to her like this, but we weren’t there yet.
“I didn’t know you could do Indian head massage,” Shannon commented tiredly as I ran my fingertips along her scalp.
“I took a lesson once at a retreat I stayed at during my rehabilitation.”
“Oh?”
“You can do it to yourself, but it’s not as enjoyable as having someone else do it,” I explained, and Shannon emitted a quiet chuckle. “I’ll say.”
“Now I know this must be a really bad headache. Lucid Shannon would never make a double entendre in my presence.”
“That’s because lucid Shannon has to keep her wits about her around you,” she replied candidly, and I smirked.
“Oh, yeah?”
“Mm-hmm. Otherwise, you might offer to give her free orgasms again, and this time, she might take you up on it.”
My cock hardened just hearing the word “orgasms” emerge from her perfect lips. “Did she want to say yes the first time?” I knew it was a dick move to ask her this when she was tired and in pain, but my curiosity won out.
“She wanted to say yes sooo badly,” she confessed. “Why have you stopped?”
I realised I’d completely ceased the head massage because I was too busy trying to get my erection under control.
Shannon wriggled against me, and it made things even more difficult.
Well, it was my own fault for asking questions when she wasn’t in full control of her faculties.
I continued the massage, and when she let out a pleasured groan, it was all I could do not to come in my pants.
“Okay, I think that’s enough for tonight,” I said, my breathing laboured as I gently tugged her up to stand.
“But I was enjoying that.”
“I’ll give you another one in the morning. You need to get to sleep.”
She pouted, and I swear I was two seconds away from biting that bottom lip. “Come on. Up we go.”
I made sure she was in her room, prepared to leave when she said, “Jace.”
Turning, I saw her standing there, looking helpless. “What is it, Shan?”
She gestured to her clothes. “I need help.”
Exhaling the most tense sigh in history, I shook my head and approached her, “Come here, then.”
In quick succession, I had her out of her top and skirt—she’d already lost her shoes somewhere between the living room and here—and then she was crawling into bed in her bra and knickers, her perfect arse in the air as she wrestled with the covers.
“Someone grant me the restraint to survive this,” I muttered to myself as I closed the distance between us and helped her under the duvet.
Once she was sufficiently settled with her pretty head on her pillow, I made to leave, but she caught my wrist. Her delicate fingers wrapping around it.
I swallowed thickly when she peered up at me with sexy, hooded eyes.
“Will you ever ask again?” she whispered, and I knew instantly what she meant.
Would I ever offer for her to use me for sex again?
It was an impulsive thing, one borne of possessiveness and jealousy and the inability to function at the thought of her with anyone else. My mind was clearer now, my goal solid.