19. Jace
NINETEEN
JACE
Easter Sunday comes, and I drag my ass out of bed to attend the town’s egg hunt, only so I can see her.
Her . Payton. A fucking religion of the highest order. A deity who owns my heart, soul, and loyalty. If last night was considered a sin, then I’ll burn in Hell to do it with her again.
I want to make sure she’s okay, but I can’t ask.
I want to look at her and know the marks are from me.
I want to see how she reacts around me, how much of her recent sexual history she’ll pretend doesn’t exist.
After three coffees, I dress and leave, throwing my hat on to hide the black smudges beneath my eyes. I got maybe an hour of sleep after returning from Payton’s, only leaving once her lights shut off.
I tasted her. Fucked her. Touched her. Kissed her.
I need so much more. As me, not as a stranger in the night. I want her aware of who’s been inside her.
Years of fantasies came true last night, and I’ll be damned if it takes that long for a repeat.
I drive downtown, finding a parking spot around the corner from Fawn’s Diner. Cars line most of the side roads, because it seems the town doubles in capacity for events since everyone and their dog (literally) comes out for them.
I scan the town’s centre—a small piece of land in front of the mayor’s office and a town hall most often used for events and gatherings. Some hundreds of people are already mingling, kids vibrating with excitement.
At the front, the mayor and his wife—Bennett’s parents—are giving an introductory speech about Easter and family time and other bullshit I tune out, searching for Payton, and even Bennett. If his parents are here, no doubt he’s looming, and I’ll lose my shit if he says anything degrading to her. Or really, anything at all.
A hand clamps on my shoulder, jerking my attention to Brad and his wife, Claire, coming to stand beside me. Claire’s hand is resting on the side of her large bump.
“Hey,” I greet them. “You okay there? Should I keep my truck nearby in case a hospital run is required?”
She rolls her eyes, tapping her pregnant belly. “Still three to four months to go. I’ll be fine.”
Brad shoulders me. “Surprised to see you here.”
“Yeah, well, I…” Don’t really have a reason for attending, considering every annual egg hunt—along with most town celebrations, for that matter—I avoid.
“I meant”—Brad twists me around—“I’m surprised you’re standing here when Payton’s over there.” He points through the crowd.
Across the field, Payton’s listening to the mayor’s speech. Her hands are shoved in the pockets of a maroon-coloured coat that dips past her hips. Her hair’s done up away from her face, and she’s speaking with a woman beside her. I recognize her from around town as one of the few to ever relocate here, rather than have familial connections to these parts. Gwen is her name, I believe.
Barely remembering I’m beside two friends, I wave bye and head for Payton, cutting through the crowd until I’m in front of her, ending whatever conversation she and Gwen were having.
Payton pauses, staring up at me, and I search for any sign she has a clue I’m the one she was with last night. But her eyes remain bright, shining in the afternoon sun, trusting though cautious—the norm for how she’s always regarded me. Up close, the marks on her neck are apparent, unhidden behind embarrassment, and something inside me roars. Now, I hope Bennett’s around so he understands she’s moved on and has reclaimed that part of herself.
“Hey,” she greets, teeth sliding over her bottom lip, and I’m taken back to last night when she did the same thing before I secured her to the tree.
“Hey. Happy Easter. Here for the hunt?” Obviously she is, dumbass.
Her friend offers her hand to shake. “Hey, name’s Gwen. Don’t think I’ve ever had the pleasure. You run the construction company in town, right?”
“That’d be me. Name’s Jace.” I adjust my hat, which has my company’s logo etched onto it, and return my attention to the woman who invaded my entire night—senses, brain, and every breath since eight p.m.
“Yeah.” Payton shifts, glancing past me as the crowd begins breaking apart. “Don’t really want to be here, but Gwen insisted.”
“It’s good for you to get out of the house and diner once in a while.” Gwen knocks into her shoulder, throwing a sly grin my way. “Wouldn’t you agree, Jace?”
Am I supposed to say yes?
“Then again,” Gwen continues, “Payton’s recently taken up long walks in the forest, so I guess that counts.”
I stiffen, and so does Payton.
“We should get going,” Payton mumbles, stepping back.
Gwen follows, but quickly retrieves her phone out with an annoyed groan. “My mom’s calling. I need to take this, sorry. But you two are good, right?” Her attention flicks between us. Without waiting for a response, she takes off in the opposite direction without answering her phone, which I’m guessing wasn’t actually ringing.
“She’s not subtle, is she?” Payton stares at her friend walking away with a head shake. “Either way, we should get going.”
The field is mostly empty, small families and groups spreading throughout town. Already, kids are shouting in excitement as they discover coloured eggs behind bushes and on store ledges.
Payton leads me down the closest road, waiting until we’re farther away from people. Being beside her is near impossible, making me wonder how I believed I’d manage this all day. As the wind picks up her hair, it reminds me of when it was streaming behind her as she ran last night.
“You look tired.” She glances up at me, lingering on the bags beneath my eyes.
“Didn’t sleep well.”
“Exciting night?”
“Something like that,” I answer carefully, searching her expression for any indication why she cares.
Payton glances over her shoulder before taking a side street out of view. A few steps down, she abruptly turns, pulling her hand from her pocket.
In her palm is one of my eggs from last night she didn’t cash in.
Fuck. Maybe? I don’t know what the hell it means.
“Found one before the hunt began? Impressive.” I go with a lie, because my rapid heart isn’t certain what to say.
“Don’t play dumb, Jace. I know it was you last night.”
Shit .
Her expression remains calm and collected, but there’s no doubt at any moment, she’s about to be pissed I technically lied and broke her trust, meeting up with her as a stranger rather than admitting who was beneath the mask.
“How’d you figure it out?”
“Your scar.” She flicks her eyes toward my hand, which fists in response. “I first noticed it after you caught me, and thought I was seeing things. Between the quick movements and concealing your voice, I couldn’t be certain until you began undoing your pants.”
When I had her on her knees in front of me, a sight that’ll live rent-free in my head.
There’s a fact buried within her words. A fact that shoots a lightning bolt to my senses.
She knew before I fucked her, which means she was with me willingly.
“I’m not mad,” she murmurs, her admittance damning us both further. “It was better knowing it was you. I’m glad it was.”
Fucking Christ, she’s going to unravel me.
“I could have stopped you any time,” she continues. “At first, you were the stranger I so unwisely hoped wouldn’t be a murderer. Once you caught me and I figured it out, everything made more sense. If anything, thank you. After my house, you kinda acted differently, and I assumed it was something I said. That, like Aaron, I freaked you out and lost my only remaining non-friend?—”
I shut her up, unable to take another fucking word.
Her back hits the brick wall behind us as I haul her face to mine, kissing her with everything I am and everything I want to be for her. It’s different than last night, when I was cautious and afraid she’d go for my mask. This time, I’m kissing her as me .
My hands cup her face, fingers brushing along the marks on her neck. It’s with a low, pleased moan I tip her head to the side and drag my lips over them, reminding us both what they mean.
“You didn’t freak me out. I left because I had to stop myself from doing this.” I nip her pulse, pushing my body against hers. “Never compare me to Bennett, because the moment I act like him is the moment I want you to take a hammer to my head.” I lift off her, catching her gaze to make her see the sincerity in my words. “Never let me be like that dick. Never let me hurt you, no matter what. As long as I’m not like him, I promise, little rabbit, you’ll never lose me.”
Her hand comes up to my face, thumb dragging across my bottom lip. “‘Little rabbit.’ I don’t know how I didn’t hear it the first time, since the similarities in your voice are all I can hear now.”
I nip her thumb with my teeth. “Also, I’m not your non-friend, Payton. We were kidding ourselves giving it that title.”
“Then what are you? What are we?”
“Whatever you want us to be.”
Her eyes drop to my chest as her hand skates down my front, pausing over where my heart lies. She seems to think it through, but never grants me the answer I long for.
“Thank you,” she whispers after a moment. “For doing all that. Being that. The knife, the running…it’s what I wanted.”
“What you needed .” I tip her chin up with a finger, brushing my lips over hers.
She brings the egg from last night between us, holding it up. “This thing still get me what I want?”
“Consider me the Easter Bunny. Or a genie.”
“Can I instead consider you a wolf again? That’s what I want: a repeat. Tonight. This time as you. No mask. I want to look behind me and see you .”
Always.
“Get running, little rabbit.” I grab the egg from her, slipping it into my pocket as I lay a final lick to the inside of her wrist. “Sundown tonight, I’ll be coming.”