1. Jace
one
Jace
– three and a half months later
“You better work it, girl!” My shout is loud as my non-biological niece, Delilah, prances across the stage of her first ever dance recital. Like a proud mom, I hold my phone sideways with one hand and pump my fist in the air with the other to a sound mix of classical and pop instrumental music.
“You’re doing great, Deli!” my best friend, Blake, shouts from beside me in the same exact pose as me and the rest of the hockey team. I snicker quietly at how stupidly embarrassing we all are.
Tonight’s Delilah’s first ever dance recital, and we’re all here to support our number one girl.
However, her father, Derek—my best friend—is not here yet.
I find it funny how the asshole made it his mission to instill the art of time management into the skulls of twenty-one hockey players, but he himself is nowhere to be found.
The thought of him not showing up for his daughter does something to my protective nature, but I know Derek.
He’d never bail on anyone, especially his kid.
None of us would. In the three years since we’ve met, Delilah has become the niece to all players on the Summerfield University Men’s Hockey team .
“Dude, oh my gosh…I don’t know how my mom did all that cheering for me at my Peewee games. My throat is dry.” Blake frowns, taking his seat. I follow behind him, chuckling as he blows out a deep, exasperated breath.
The idiot looks crazy dressed in his “funcle fit” consisting of a #1 Uncle tee shirt, cargo shorts, black fanny pack, and Birkenstocks, topped off with a red flannel thrown over his shoulders.
“You look ridiculous,” I say chuckling as Blake smiles, running a hand through his hair. “I know you do but, what do I? Wait…” He furrows his thick brown brows.
“Fucking idiot.”
A hand on my shoulder pauses me from laughing at Blake. Charlie Tyson, one of my teammates, pops his head in the space between Blake and I’s heads.
“How does it feel to officially be moms like Momma bear?” he asks in reference to Derek, gesturing to our semi-matching outfits.
“Puh-lese…I pull this look off better than—”
“Did I miss it?” A deep, hurried voice cuts my sentence short.
Derek Perez looks like a man who has seen better days. His usually tamed hair is a mess of damp curls around his head, the usual day-old stubble on his face has been replaced with a light beard, and he’s wet.
“Why are you wet…” I grimace as he takes the empty aisle seat beside me, saved for him.
“The hell happened to you?” Blake’s bright blue eyes furrow as he looks the giant up and down.
“And why the fuck are you late?” My tone bites as my blood rushes through my veins hotter. There should be absolutely zero reason he missed Deli on stage.
“Long story—did I miss it?” he repeats his question again, his voice hurried.
My heart sinks from the sound of desperation and sadness in my friend's voice. Derek is the “Mom” of our friend group, he’s our glue. So to see him out of character has my cold dead heart feeling a certain way.
“By five minutes, man. She did amazing…take a look.” My voice is softer than usual as I hand him my cell phone with the dance pulled up, watching over his shoulder as Delilah dances across the stage.
My stomach drops as I watch the video back. I was so focused on making sure to capture the moment, I didn’t see it.
The look.
But it’s there, clear as day.
While the rest of the girls do a turn, Delilah pauses on the stage and looks around the crowd before frowning. Her little four-year-old body is quick to recover and almost instantly falls back into line with her fellow dancers.
My shoulders fall as does Derek’s. He looks around frantically as if searching the dark theater can give him the answers to all his problems.
“I’ve got to find my baby, she probably thinks I abandoned her…” he mumbles, but I can hear him loud and clear as he jumps up from his spot next to me, rushing out of the theater.
He was so quick, I hadn’t even processed what he’d said until he was gone.
Replaying the part again, I frown as images of a past I want to forget flashes before my eyes.
Her skin is cold. She shivers beneath my touch as my small, lanky arms pull her into my body. I wrap her up in my side and kiss the top of her forehead as she shakes.
“They didn’t show, was it me? I did everything per-perfectly.” She hiccups, diamond-like tears falling down her mahogany face.
“You were an angel out there,” I say, my eight-year-old self trying my hardest to comfort her just as my mom comforted Jackson, Asa, and I.
“I was an angel…sure, but I wasn’t theirs. Why won’t my parents just choose me for once?”
“Sometimes we put faith in others and don’t expect them to hurt us…but they do. No one knows why, but it’s never your fault that other people can’t see how bright you are. ”
My chest caves as she turns to look up at me, her hazel eyes are bloodshot as our eyes lock, and she holds up her pinky.
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
“I’m gonna go check on him.” Blake coughs, snatching me back to the present as he drops his half-empty container of popcorn in my lap.
I inhale deeply, pushing the memory of her out of my mind. I haven’t willingly thought about her in a year, and I refuse to start back now.
Fuck, who am I kidding? I’ve thought about her every day since our last encounter.
Now I can’t not think about her. Hell, this is that incident all over again, only this time, I’m witnessing it as it happens.
What could’ve possibly made Derek late for this? He’s usually the only person out of the team who’s punctual to a T.
I take a handful of the popcorn, shoving the salty snack into my mouth.
Deep breaths, Jace.
Derek didn’t bail. He’s here.
Deli won’t be disappointed like her.
Two more groups of dancers perform without a hitch before Blake and Derek return to their seats, flustered like two kids who’d just gotten told off.
I’m about to get up to replenish my stash of popcorn and fruit snacks, when my friends slide into the seats next to me.
The blue-eyed bastard of the two smiles from ear to ear while the other looks… murderous.
Interesting.
“Dude, Momma bear just got his balls busted by a dance teacher.” Blake snickers, leaning in close to tell me .
I raise a brow over his head at Derek, who’s on his phone, watching the video of Delilah I’d sent into our group chat.
“A dance teacher?” I question, eyeing the two of them.
“Yep! She was hot as hell, pink hair and everything.”
Charlie leans forwards between Blake and I’s seats and chuckles. “Dere-bear got his balls busted? No way.”
“Way! And she was hot !”
I ignore Blake as he proceeds to inform the rest of our team about what had happened in the hall between Derek and Delilah’s dance teacher.
I’m about to tell him not to send a text to the group chat about it when all of the lights in the theater go out.
My knee bounces as my mind recounts my favorite dancer—the Alice who’d once escaped my Wonderland. I silently reminisce about the summers and mild winters the two of us shared as children when a spotlight shines over a figure on the stage.
The woman is hunched into a ball, her body contorted to look small as she breathes heavily.
I’m immediately brought back down to Earth and all air evaporates from my lungs as light pink hair shines brightly under the stage lights.
I don’t notice the rest of the audience’s gasps as the woman rises from her spot before dramatically falling to the ground as a piano key thuds loudly in the background.
My heart rackets as my eyes lock on the woman in front of me.
Smooth mahogany skin, light pink hair, and eyes the color of the Earth shine bright under the lights of the stage.
Sienna Jones is right in front of me.
My chest tightens as she rises from the ashes of my heart, her movements slow and magnetic as an instrumental song begins to play.
Sienna wears a black leotard with a flowy, sheer, black skirt that’s languid with her body as she lets the music encompass her.
I watch in astonishment as she tells a story of feeling alone and confused in a world that was not made for her.
I sit up in my seat, goosebumps kissing my flesh as I lean in to get a better look at her as she dances her heart out.
My cheeks warm as she does a leap that seems to be impossible and my brain catalogs every. Single. Moment.
Sienna is captivating as she dances.
She’s a lone star in a room full of darkness, shining brighter than anything else. Her eyes catch mine for a short second, and it’s all my body needs to have a knee-jerk reaction.
I’ve been in awe of Sienna since I first watched her dance in her uncle's backyard at eight-years-old, but to see her growth as a dancer does something to me. I want to run up there and tell her how proud I am of her. Yet, another part of me wants to pick her up and run away, whisk her off to a forgotten place where she’s the only star in the universe and I’m her moon.
Sienna bows, pleased with herself as the audience jumps and claps for her. She knows she’s in control, and she loves it—I can see it. I can also see something else. Something much more sinister.
Is that anger, angel?
I can see it in the way her jaw clenches slightly and how her eye twitches faintly.
Sienna’s livid, and I’m going to know exactly why.
I’ve lost my angel once before—I fell from the sky and landed in Wonderland without her. I see my shot to get her back, and if I don’t take it now, I won’t get the chance to do it again.
I have to have her, even if it’s the last thing that I do.