41. Kayla
The coffeeshop is bustling with activity when I walk in. Chatter and laughter mix with the whirring and hissing from the fancy coffee machines behind the counter. I scan the pale wooden tables until I find the people that I’m looking for.
Jenn is sitting next to Felicia, one of the girls that we met at that party all those weeks ago, and they look to be engrossed in a deep discussion about something. Across the table, Aurora is laughing at something that Mitch said. Ever since they met during that drinking game we played, they’ve been casually flirting whenever they see each other. Aurora hasn’t said anything, but I think they might be on the verge of dating. Lionel is sitting in the chair next to Mitch, looking thoughtful as he stares unseeing at the table while he absentmindedly uses his straw to stir his iced coffee.
I stride up to them and pull out the chair opposite Lionel. They all turn towards me.
Aurora’s beautiful face lights up with a bright smile. “Kayla! You came.”
“Of course I did,” I reply, smiling back at her.
She winces apologetically. “It’s just… after what happened with Jace and your dad and all that, I wasn’t sure if… Well, if your freedom of movement had been impacted.”
“I’m an adult. He can’t exactly ground me anymore.” I chuckle and give her a knowing look. “Not that he didn’t try.”
“Well, I never doubted you for a second,” Jenn says as she slides an iced coffee towards me.
Taking the drink she must have ordered for me when they arrived, I give her a grateful smile and a nod. Since I showed up to school with a different bodyguard this week, I had to tell them what happened with Jace. At least the short version of it. They understood. Normal twenty-year-olds don’t have to worry about their parents’ approval or opinions, but for people like us, who are so intricately connected to our family businesses, it’s a little different. It’s one of the few downsides of being a rich heiress.
“Yeah, uhm, speaking of…” Lionel suddenly says. He leans to the left and then the right, scanning the space behind me, before his surprised gray eyes meet mine again. “Where is your new bodyguard?”
A villainous grin spreads across my mouth. Leaning back in my chair, I cross my ankles and flick my hair behind my shoulder. “Probably still sitting on the couch in my apartment, guarding me while I’m taking a nap.”
He jerks back and blinks in surprise. Aurora laughs loudly enough to startle Mitch, who then glances between me and her since he’s not really all that familiar with my situation.
I smirk and take a sip from my iced coffee. “It’s really not that difficult when you’ve been doing it your whole life.”
At least not unless it’s Jace keeping watch.
Pain stabs through my heart.
God, I miss Jace.
Aurora laughs again. Jenn shoots her a look that seems to say, I told you so. Felicia just shakes her head in confusion.
Then Aurora goes back to flirting with Mitch and Jenn resumes her discussion with Felicia. It sounds like they’re talking about a fantasy series. Or maybe an anime. But I can’t really focus on what they’re saying because my mind keeps drifting back to Jace.
While taking another sip of coffee, I discreetly glance at Lionel. Since we’re sitting opposite each other, I thought he was going to start up a conversation the way he usually does. But thankfully, he seems to read my mood and instead simply pulls up his phone and focuses on that as he types something.
Relief flickers through me, because I’m suddenly not in the mood to talk to anyone.
I miss Jace.
It’s ridiculous, I know that. I’m not a kid. I don’t need anyone. I’m stubborn and independent and I can take care of myself. But I still miss him.
And I didn’t realize just how much I’ve come to love having him in my life until he’s suddenly gone from it.
I love his stupid jokes and his swaggering confidence. I love his silly lectures about how breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I love the food that he makes for me. I love his brilliant smile and his glittering brown eyes, so full of life and energy and mischief. I love how he always makes my life feel easier. Lighter. Even during the dark moments. I love how he never backs down. I love that he is never intimidated by me. By my wealth or my power or status. I love that he sees me. That he gets me. I love?—
Stunned realization pulses through me, and I sit back in my chair. Blinking, I stare at the brick wall on the other side of the coffeeshop while that sudden realization finishes echoing through me.
I don’t just like Jace. He’s not just someone that I plan to date and see how it goes. I already know how it will go. Because I can’t imagine my life without him in it.
Holy fuck.
I think I love this guy.
“Kayla,” Jenn suddenly says. Her pale brows are pulled together in a slightly worried frown. “You okay?”
Clearing my throat, I give my head a quick shake to clear it before I snap my gaze back to Jenn. “Yes. Yes, I’m okay. Sorry, I just spaced out a little.”
She smiles, and then asks me what I think about a character that I have never heard of. While she explains who it is, and then launches into a whole discussion about him with the rest of the table, I do my best to engage and talk and nod like an active participant. But my mind is still echoing with that realization from earlier.
I think I love Jace.
Even after we’ve finished our coffee and said goodbye, I can’t get the thought out of my head.
Sliding my hands into my pockets, I stare unseeing at the sidewalk ahead of me as I walk back to my apartment. My mind continues churning and my heart is pattering in my chest.
I’ve had boyfriends before, of course. When I was younger. But I don’t think I’ve ever loved anyone before. Not like this. And it terrifies me. Because now, I suddenly have something to lose. What if Jace doesn’t feel the same? What if he’s?—
The back of my neck prickles.
Yanked out of my thoughts, I blink at the street ahead. But everything is empty and quiet. This is one of the more deserted parts on the outskirts of campus, so no one else is walking along the sidewalk. And there are no cars coming towards me either.
But that strange feeling in my stomach doesn’t go away.
I glance over my shoulder.
A nondescript blue van rounds the corner and starts coming down the street.
It shouldn’t be an odd occurrence. And yet…
Where have I seen that van before? Have I seen that van before?
And it’s driving much slower than is needed on this road.
A sudden pulse of panic shoots through me, and I yank up my phone and hit call.
Jace picks up after only two signals. “Kayla, are?—”
“I think there’s a van following me,” I blurt out. “I think I saw it outside the coffeeshop when I left and it’s here now and it’s driving really slowly and?—”
“Kayla,” Jace interrupts. His voice is sharp. Clear. Alert. “Is your bodyguard there? Are there any other people around you right now?”
“No.”
“Get to a crowded area. Now.”
Fear and panic whirl through my chest like a storm as I whip my gaze around the street, trying to figure out where I will find people. This road has nothing but small university shops, which are all closed now since it’s evening. I cast another glance over my shoulder.
My heart leaps into my throat.
“Oh God, it’s speeding up,” I blurt out as the van suddenly accelerates and starts barreling towards me.
“Run!” Jace snaps
I break into a run.
My sneakers pound against the ground as I sprint towards the next cross street. The car roars behind me, coming closer. I’m not going to make it. The next street is too far. I’m not going to?—
A narrow alleyway appears on my left. It’s blocked by a tall wooden gate.
Skidding to a halt, I slam shoulder first into the gate, throwing my entire weight against it.
It flies open.
I dart forward, into the alley.
And nearly smack right into a stone wall.
Dread crashes over me like a cold wave as I skid to a halt in front of the wall. It’s a dead end.
Car doors are being slammed and footsteps are pounding against the ground just a short distance from me. Racing back to the tall wooden gate, I throw it shut and press myself against it to stop them from following me in here.
“Kayla!”
It takes another second for me to even recognize that it’s my name being called. Recognize who is calling it. And where it’s coming from.
While still bracing my back against the wooden gate, I stare down at the phone still in my hand.
Jace. Jace is trying to talk to me. How long has he been trying to talk to me? What is he saying? I can barely hear anything over the blaring panic in my head.
Yanking my hand up, I press the phone to my ear again.
“I’m trapped,” I gasp into the phone. “I’m trapped in a dead end and?—”
A weight crashes into the wooden gate from the other side hard enough to make it rattle in its hinges. My shoes slide across the ground. Fear grips my heart like an iron fist, but I throw my body back against the gate, slamming it closed again.
“They’re here!” My voice doesn’t even sound like my own. “They’ve found me. I can’t get out. I can’t?—”
“Listen to me!” Jace screams on the other end of the line, and I realize that he has been trying to say something but I’ve kept talking over him. “Are you wearing your watch?”
My panicked mind can’t process his strange question. “What?”
The weight slams into the gate again, and I skid forward another inch.
“Answer the question,” Jace snaps. “Are you wearing your watch?”
While digging my heels into the ground, I press my back against the wood behind me, desperately trying to push the gate fully shut again. My gaze darts down to the watch I’m always wearing. The watch that was supposed to have been my brother’s.
“Yes,” I blurt out.
Another weight slams into the gate.
“Good,” Jace says. He sounds calm. Collected. In control. “No matter what happens, you must never take off your watch. Do you understand?”
“Yes—”
The gate is forced open almost an entire foot. Straining my legs, I try to stop it from moving but it’s impossible.
“Jace,” I gasp. “Jace, they’re coming in!”
“Kayla.”
His voice is so steady. So full of power and confidence and promises. I try to use his calm, his control, to force my own mind to stop panicking. To force my heart to stop beating like a battle drum in my chest.
“Listen to me very carefully,” Jace says in that steady tone. “Don’t fight them.”
Two weights slam into the gate at the same time.
It sends me flying forward.
Wood cracks as the gate crashes into the stone wall of the building on my right. I whip around, stumbling to regain my balance.
And come face to face with two men in ski masks.
“They’re here,” I breathe into the phone as I back away.
But my back hits the wall behind me after only a few steps. The masked men advance on me. My heart is slamming so hard against my ribs that I think I’ve broken something.
Fear and panic course through my body like bolts of electricity as the two men pull out zip ties, a gag, and a black hood.
“Don’t fight them,” Jace says into my ear, but this time I swear I can hear his voice crack a little. “Do whatever they say. And never take off the watch. I’m coming for you.”