Chapter Ten
Wanna come by the record store when I close?
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The bell above the record store door chimed as Myah stepped inside. It had been raining on and off for several days now, but warmer weather was coming–thank God.
The shop was quiet, the late afternoon rush apparently nonexistent.
Music drifted softly from the speakers overhead, something mellow and melancholy that felt aggressively on-brand for Jace.
Her chest did a stupid little flutter when she spotted him behind the counter.
Which was annoying because she was twenty-four years old, because she'd spent most of the day texting him, because none of those things should make her feel like she was twelve and seeing her crush in the hallway.
Yet there she was, fluttering like an idiot.
Jace looked up from whatever he was doing and his face immediately softened. And there it was again, that stupid flutter.
"Hey."
"Hey yourself." He smiled.
Myah leaned against a display rack, trying very hard to look normal. Trying and failing.
Jace had asked her to stop by after work. Just casually, like it wasn't a big deal. Like he hadn't completely derailed her ability to function like a reasonable human being.
The bell chimed again before he could say anything more, as a woman entered.
She was pretty and blonde, and probably had more confidence in her big toe then Myah had in her entire body.
She looked like the kind of woman who probably didn't spend three hours dissecting a text message before replying.
Myah picked up a vinyl layered in dust to keep from staring at the beautiful, yet irritating woman. She ignored her at first. Until the woman walked directly to the counter and smiled sweetly at Jace. Until Jace smiled back. Then suddenly Myah was paying very close attention.
The woman leaned forward and laughed at something he said before touching her hair. And Myah immediately recognized what was happening. Because she flirted for a living. Not literally, but close enough. The woman was flirting, hard.
Jace, meanwhile, looked completely unaware. Answering questions, being polite, being helpful, being Jace. Which somehow made everything worse because he wasn't encouraging it, he was just naturally kind.
The woman eventually left with a record tucked under her arm, but not before giving him one last smile. One that definitely meant she'd like to see him again.
Myah's stomach twisted as she watched the door swing shut behind the blonde before forcing herself to look away.
It shouldn't have bothered her. People flirted with attractive men all the time.
Jace was attractive, even if he didn't seem to realize it.
He was kind, patient, and funny in that quiet way that caught her off guard every single time.
He listened when people spoke. He remembered things.
He paid attention. Of course women flirted with him.
The fact that her stomach felt strangely hollow afterward was her own problem.
"You okay?" Jace asked.
Myah blinked and found him watching her from behind the counter.
"Yeah," she said, forcing a smile. "Why?"
He shrugged. "You got quiet."
"I know. Shocking."
His mouth twitched with amusement, "There she is."
The warmth that spread through her chest at such a simple comment only made everything worse.
While Jace rang up another customer, Myah pulled out her phone to distract herself. Her thumb drifted automatically toward their text conversation, and the moment she opened it, her chest tightened. At the top of the screen, where some joke of a name should have been, was: J <3
Myah stared at it. She couldn't even remember changing it. At some point, he'd stopped being Project Win and became a real person, which obviously felt like shit hearing herself think that.
The realization hit her with startling force. Project Win. That was what she'd originally saved him as after agreeing to the stupid bet with Kaylee. It had been a joke. A bet. Something harmless and ridiculous that she hadn't expected to think about for more than a day or two.
Instead, somewhere along the way, she'd changed it, and now there was a heart sitting beside his name like it belonged there. Like he belonged there.
A knot formed in her throat and her mouth filled with saliva. Was she going to throw up right there in the record store? That would definitely be a way to get Jace to second guess being with her.
For most people, it probably wouldn't have meant much. A nickname in a phone was just a nickname. But Myah knew herself too well.
Attachment had always happened quickly for her.
Feelings arrived without warning and without moderation. There was no gradual incline, no safe middle ground where she could test the depth before diving in. Every connection felt enormous. Every loss felt devastating. Every possibility carried enough weight to crush her.
Years of therapy had taught her how to recognize the patterns, but recognizing them and stopping them were two very different things.
She liked Jace. Not in the playful, harmless way she'd convinced herself she did at the beginning.
Not in the way someone liked flirting or attention.
She liked him. Enough that seeing another woman flirt with him had hurt.
Enough that his texts could improve her mood.
Enough that she'd started looking for him in every part of her day.
That should have made her happy. Instead, it filled her with dread, because underneath every laugh, every kiss, and every late-night text message sat a truth she hadn't told him.
The bet. The stupid, selfish, awful bet.
Jace deserved someone who hadn't approached him because of a challenge from a coworker. He deserved someone who hadn't started this whole thing with ulterior motives. Someone honest. Someone uncomplicated. Someone better.
The thought settled heavily in her chest as she watched him help another customer. He smiled politely, listened attentively, and treated the stranger with the same quiet kindness he offered everyone else. Including her.
The guilt had become impossible to ignore. Tomorrow, she would end it. She would tell Kaylee she was done with the bet. Kaylee could win. Myah didn't care anymore. The prize wasn't worth it.
Maybe it never had been. Because somewhere between shared headphones, rainy afternoons, and kisses that left her breathless, Jace had become real to her. And every day she kept this secret felt like another betrayal.
For the first time since this whole thing began, Myah wasn't afraid that Jace would leave. She was afraid of what would happen when he discovered why she'd approached him in the first place.