9. Kayla
This is the perfect plan. Given his sculpted body, Jace must be a health freak who no doubt treats his body like a temple. He probably never drinks alcohol because it would mess up his perfect body. So I will easily be able to drink him under the table. And I don’t even need to make him pass out or anything. Just drunk enough to make it difficult for him to keep track of me. Then I can enjoy the rest of the party without him looming over me like a bloody god of death.
Four people look up from the massive dining room table when we reach it. Three girls and one guy. I’ve never met them before, but Ivy River University is huge, so it’s not really that surprising.
“Alright, everyone, this is Mitch,” Lionel says as he points to the guy.
Mitch tosses his black hair out of his eyes and raises a hand. “What’s up.”
We all give him a nod while we start pulling out chairs.
“And this is Trina,” Lionel motions to one of the blonde girls next to Mitch before pointing to the one with stunning green eyes. “And Felicia.” His hand moves to the brown-haired girl on the other side. “And Rebecca.”
“Hi,” they say in unison and smile at us.
Chairs scrape against the pale wooden floor as we all join them around the table. It’s one of those massive tables with room for ten people, so we all fit comfortably around it. Just like most students at Ivy River, the guy who lives here is rich. Or his parents are, anyway. And they’re out of town, which is why he decided to throw a party.
I glance around the beautiful kitchen and dining room. The marble countertops are now littered with red plastic cups and empty bottles and cans. One of the pale wooden cabinets has been left open after someone no doubt searched for more glasses. Or maybe more alcohol. And the grand painting of a sunlit beach on the white wall opposite me now hangs a little crooked. Cleaning all of this up is going to be a pain. For the guy at least. Or rather, for the people he has no doubt hired to clean for him.
“And this is Kayla,” Lionel says from where he is now sitting next to me. Then he motions to the Carlisle sisters on my other side. “And Jenn and Aurora.” A frown pulls at his brows as he turns to Jace, who is sitting right opposite me. “And, uhm… I’m sorry. What’s your name again?”
Jace just keeps holding my gaze with those penetrating eyes of his for another second. Then he leans back in his seat and draws a hand through his messy brown hair while giving the rest of the table a confident grin.
“Jace,” he says, his warm brown eyes glittering in the light from the ornate lamp above the table. “The name’s Jace.”
Aurora, Trina, and Rebecca all watch the way his muscles shift underneath his white t-shirt when he moves his arm like that. Lust burns in their eyes. I suddenly find myself scowling.
“Are we playing or what?” I demand, my words coming out with a little more bite than I had intended.
Lionel blinks and looks over at me in surprise. I catch myself and make a show of rubbing my hands together instead, as if I’m just excited. Lionel buys it completely and flashes me a smile before reaching for a bottle of vodka from the ones waiting in the middle of the table. Jace, on the other hand, slides his gaze back to me and smirks. I give him a dark look.
“Alright, the game is simple,” Lionel begins while Mitch starts sliding shot glasses across the table. “You say never have I ever and then you finish the sentence with something that you have never done. And then everyone who has done that takes a shot.”
Jace chuckles while he grabs another bottle of vodka and leans over the table to fill my glass first. Once it’s so full that I’ll barely be able to lift it without spilling the alcohol, he winks at me and then starts filling his own glass. To his credit, he pours as much alcohol into his own glass as he did mine.
On my left, Lionel scowls at the way Jace laughed at his instructions. “What?”
“I just love how you felt the need to explain the rules of a drinking game that everyone here has no doubt been playing since high school,” Jace replies, without even looking at Lionel, while filling Felicia’s glass.
Everyone else at the table chuckles softly and nods in confirmation. A hint of red creeps into Lionel’s cheeks. I shoot Jace a glare, which he pretends not to notice.
“Alright, who’s first?” Mitch asks once everyone has a shot ready and waiting on the table.
“Me,” I say quickly. With a wicked smile on my lips, I look straight at Jace as I say, “Never have I ever beaten someone up.”
Jace raises his eyebrows and gives me a flat look that I can only interpret as, seriously?
I just look back at him expectantly.
He lets out a huff of amusement and then picks up his glass. Mitch does too.
“Mitch,” Rebecca blurts out, blinking at him in surprise. “What the hell?”
“What?” he replies, pausing with his shot glass halfway to his mouth. “Some guy was trying to hit on my sister even after she said no, so I beat him the fuck up.”
Jace shoots him an approving look and leans across the table to clink his glass against Mitch’s. “Oh, I’ll drink to that.”
Mitch grins at the approval, and both of them down their shots.
Pain twists inside my chest. Victor would no doubt have been that kind of brother too. The protective older brother type who would beat someone up for disrespecting me. The kind of brother who would’ve stroked my hair while I bawled my eyes out about some guy who broke my heart in high school. Someone who would’ve always been there for me.
But instead, I’ve been alone most of my life.
My fingers tighten around my shot glass, and I have to resist the urge to fiddle with my watch.
“Alright, Jenn, you’re up,” Aurora says, and nudges her sister in the ribs.
“Oh, uhm…” Jenn clears her throat, looking like she’s scrambling for something to say.
Shrugging off my painful thoughts, I force my mind back to the plan at hand. To drink Jace under the table.
Discreetly leaning over, I whisper in Jenn’s ear. She gives me a small nod and a quick smile.
“Never have I ever fired a gun,” she declares, echoing what I told her to say.
Jace lets out a soft laugh and shakes his head at me while picking up his glass again. His eyes gleam. “If I didn’t know better, I would think that you’re trying to get me drunk.”
I flash him a devilish smile. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“My turn!” Aurora announces. Mischief sparkles in her green eyes as she says, “Never have I ever gotten my dick sucked.”
All three guys groan and roll their eyes at her.
“Oh, come on,” Mitch protests. “That’s cheating. You don’t even have a dick.”
“It’s called playing smart.” Aurora winks at him. “Now, drink.”
All three of them take a shot.
“Watch your back,” Mitch says, and grins at Aurora as he sets his empty glass down and refills it. “Revenge is heading your way.”
She just laughs and wiggles her eyebrows.
“Never have I ever had a threesome,” Trina says.
A jolt shoots through me when Jace picks up his glass and drinks again. Felicia does too.
“Felicia!” Trina squeals and gapes at her friend. “You’ve never told me that!”
“There’s not much to tell,” she replies with a shrug. “It was a pretty disappointing night, to be honest.”
Jace slides his gaze to her, and a sly smile plays over his lips. “Sounds like you just didn’t have the right partners.”
Heat creeps into Felicia’s cheeks, and she almost drops her now empty shot glass. A small noise comes from the back of Aurora’s throat while Trina stares at Jace with open longing.
Annoyance ripples through me.
“Mitch, your turn,” I say, cutting off any further discussion of this particular topic.
A smile full of challenge spreads across Mitch’s face as he looks straight at Aurora. “Never have I ever had my pussy licked.”
With that victorious smile still on his lips, he waits for all six of us girls to drink.
Only Rebecca does.
Shock pulses across his face as he stares between the other five of us.
Aurora shrugs. “You’d be surprised by how few guys are actually willing to reciprocate.”
The rest of us nod in confirmation.
Jace clicks his tongue and shakes his head in disapproval. “Once again, you’ve clearly not been fucking the right kind of guys.”
This time, all of the other girls glance towards him with longing in their eyes. But Jace only looks at me, his intense gaze searing through my soul.
An absolutely insane image flashes through my mind. An image of Jace getting down on his knees, draping my leg over his shoulder, and eating me out while I writhe in pleasure against a wall.
My clit pulses.
Pressing my legs together under the table, I give my head a quick shake and force that stupid image out of my mind.
The game continues. Most of the statements are about sex now. I drink on some of them. Jace drinks on every single one. Well, except on his own turns, of course. He always uses those for a targeted attack on me.
My head is buzzing with alcohol, and I’ve started giggling at the stupidest things, which means that I’m starting to get seriously wasted. I reach for the bottle of vodka after downing another shot, but my fingers fumble and I almost knock the bottle over.
From across the table, Jace quickly reaches out and wraps his hand over mine, steadying my hand and the bottle.
Electricity shoots up my spine at the feeling of his hand over mine like that.
It makes me irrationally angry, and I try to yank my hand and the bottle out of his grip. He just raises his eyebrows expectantly. A frustrated sigh rips from my lungs. Releasing the bottle, I let him fill up my glass instead.
Through narrowed eyes, and a vision that is slightly blurry at the edges, I watch him pour vodka into my glass with a completely steady hand.
How the hell is he not drunk yet? Because of all the sex statements, he has been taking more shots than anyone at the table. Yet he appears entirely unaffected while the rest of us are giggling and fumbling and slurring our words. I swear, Aurora almost toppled over in her chair when she leaned over to jab her sister in the ribs. But Jace is just sitting there, smirking at us as if he has been drinking water instead of vodka.
Drawing my eyebrows down, I fume in silence while everyone finishes refilling their glasses.
On the other side of the table, Felicia leans over and places a hand on Jace’s arm while Trina and Rebecca bat their long lashes at him as well. Even Aurora is eyeing him like she’s starving for his attention.
During the course of the game, all of them have unconsciously shifted closer to him. Leaning a little forward in their seats. Twisting their bodies a little more in his direction.
I watch the way they all try to catch his eye or get his attention or make him laugh.
But Jace simply refills Mitch’s glass and gives his arm a slap while chuckling at something he said.
I wonder if he even notices that people seem to gravitate towards him. As if he is a radiant sun that everyone is circling in the hopes of being bathed by his brilliant light for a few seconds.
That irrational anger inside me grows.
“Alright, how about this one?” Mitch says, his voice now significantly louder after all the shots he has been downing. “Never have I ever fucked more than four people in the same night.”
Jace smirks and picks up his glass.
A booming laugh escapes Mitch’s chest as he pounds his fist on the table while Jace downs the shot.
The image of five girls worshipping Jace’s body all at the same time flashes through my mind.
“Man, you are a fucking legend,” Mitch says, and slaps Jace on the back.
“Or a whore,” I snipe, that crackling annoyance still pulsing inside me.
Jace snaps his gaze to me, anger flashing in his eyes.
I flinch at the intensity of that rage.
It’s the first time I have seen true fury in his eyes. Even after all the bullshit I have pulled this past week, I have never seen him get truly angry. Except now.
“Being experienced does not make me a whore,” Jace says, holding my gaze with hard eyes.
Guilt twists inside me, because I didn’t even mean it. I was just angry and frustrated. But before I can respond, Felicia speaks up.
“Of course not,” she says, once again leaning over to place a flirty hand on his arm. “We hate it when guys say things like that to us, so why would we say that to them?”
Embarrassment burns through me at the truth in her words.
I clear my throat and push to my feet. “I think I need to get some water.”
But the thing about drinking while sitting down is that you don’t feel just how drunk you really are until you stand up.
My legs wobble as I awkwardly climb off the chair and take a step away from the table. I immediately have to throw out a hand to steady myself on the back of Jenn’s chair.
Lionel jumps to his feet and wraps an arm around my waist for support. “Here. You should probably go and lie down for a bit.” With his arm still around my waist, he starts walking me away from the table. “Come on, I’ll take you to a quiet room.”
I gasp and almost fall over when Lionel’s body is suddenly ripped away from mine.
Jace’s dark voice cuts through the room like thunder. “Back the fuck off.”
Spinning around, I find Lionel bracing himself on the table that Jace no doubt threw him into. Jace is now standing between me and Lionel. His arms are crossed over his broad chest, and there is an unforgiving look on his face as he stares Lionel down.
Lionel’s cheeks are red with indignation as he straightens from the table and throws his arms out in frustration. “I was helping her!”
“You do not put your hands on her body unless she gives you express permission to do so,” Jace growls at him.
My heart skips a beat. At his commanding tone. At the power that pulses from his body. But most of all, at his word choice. He didn’t say that Lionel is not allowed to touch me. He said that he’s not allowed to touch me without my permission. Meaning that my will, my choice, is the deciding factor here. Not anyone else’s.
The realization sends a pulse of warmth through me.
But before I can do anything, Jace uncrosses his arms and turns back to me instead. “Come on, let’s get you home.”
I’m still a bit dazed, and very drunk, so I just nod. Then I turn to the others at the table, who are watching Jace with expressions varying from surprise to adoration.
“Bye, guys,” I manage to say while my head spins from the alcohol. “I’ll see you later.”
“Uhm, yeah,” Mitch replies, casting a hesitant glance at Lionel, who is staring daggers at Jace.
The girls wave and call out goodbyes as well. Aurora even winks at me while casting a sly look between me and Jace. I just roll my eyes at her and then start towards the doorway.
Music and laughter and loud voices envelop us as Jace and I make our way through the elegant but now very messy house and towards the front door.
Warm night winds wash over us as we step out onto the lawn. I draw in a deep breath and close my eyes. But that only makes me stumble a step to the side, because my legs are still far too unsteady.
A firm hand appears on my elbow, steadying me.
I open my eyes to find Jace there. He raises his eyebrows in silent question. I just clear my throat and start down the small path that leads to the street. The world sways around me.
Once we reach the street, I turn in the direction of my apartment. But I have to throw out a hand and brace myself on a metal pole because the abrupt turn made my head spin.
Clearing my throat again, I start forwards.
I only make it five more steps before I trip over something.
Jace’s hand shoots out, grabbing my arm and stopping me from falling on my face. My hair swings over my eyes as I look down. I drag a clumsy hand through the long strands, pushing them away from my vision as I raise my head again while straightening.
A deep sigh sounds from right next to me.
Then Jace scoops me up into his arms instead.
Lightning pulses through me.
While shock still rings inside my skull, I tilt my head back and stare up at Jace while he starts us down the street. But he doesn’t look down to meet my gaze. Instead, he simply keeps carrying me in his arms as he walks back to my apartment.
Heat, both from embarrassment and something else, washes through me at the way my body is pressed against his chest and the way his strong arms are wrapped around me. I study his handsome face in silence for a few minutes. The streets are dark and deserted around us.
“I didn’t mean it, you know,” I say quietly after a while.
“Mean what?” Jace asks, still not looking down at me.
“I don’t think you’re a whore.”
He says nothing for a few seconds. And he still isn’t looking at me. Guilt and regret twist inside my chest like snakes.
“Then why did you say it?” he asks at last.
“Because I was jealous,” I admit in a soft voice. “Because I wish that I was more experienced.”
Finally, he glances down at me. His steady gaze searches my face, as if checking to see if I’m just making this up. I’m not. I do wish that I was more experienced.
I want to do stupid shit and have kinky sex and try crazy things too. But it’s very difficult to do that when there is always a man in a suit watching my every move. I’ve had a few boyfriends, of course. And I’ve had sex with them. But it’s always hard to get in the mood for that when I know my bodyguard is standing right outside the apartment door.
Jace can apparently tell that I was being sincere, because he nods in acknowledgement. Then he returns his gaze to the street ahead.
The warmth from his body wraps around me, seeping into my bones and soothing my soul, as he holds me tightly to his chest while he carries me down the next street.
Countless questions swirl in my mind, but I know that I shouldn’t ask any of them. I shouldn’t make any effort to get to know Jace. Not when I’m trying my best to get rid of him. But there is one question that I can ask. One question that I can convince myself is strategically important for my plan to make him quit.
“Why did you take this job?” I ask.
Jace says nothing. Only turns the corner and starts us down the street that leads to my apartment.
“You’re an assassin,” I push. “You kill people. You don’t protect them. So why did you agree to take this job?”
Only silence answers me. From a few streets over, a car alarm starts beeping. Someone honks their horn from that direction as well. Mist and car exhaust mingle in the night air that fills the city.
Just when I think that Jace is not going to answer, he replies with a single vague sentence.
“I have my reasons.”