27. Jace
twenty-seven
Jace
“Of course I’ll kiss you…Wow, Eren—”
For the love of…
“Cleo!”
The sound of a kiss fills the air of the silent bedroom as Cleo kisses her stuffed bear, Mr. Pickles.
“Cleo!” I whisper again, hissing as she sighs dreamily.
This girl…
“Cleo,” I say her name in full volume but surprise, surprise…She remains fast asleep.
In all honesty, I’d think that her ability to sleep so heavily at night should earn her an award.
However, my best friend sleeping next to me and having sex dreams about her celebrity crush while her cousin—the woman who I actually want to sleep beside—is in the other room, makes me a little less enthusiastic towards her.
Cleo shifts, her leg slinging over my hip, causing me to groan. She’s the wildest fucking sleeper out of all the girls. With a sigh, I twist to lay on my back, knowing that I won’t be asleep anytime soon.
Time to plan, Jacey…
How can I get Sienna to stop hiding whatever this is between us? It’s only been a month, but fuck if I don’t feel like my skin is crawling every time the guys mention hanging out with other girls or when I see another guy talking to her on campus. Sighing, I rub a hand over my face.
This would be so much easier if Cleo weren't her cousin …
Maybe I could take her out? Get rid of all of our problems.
Turning my head slowly to my right, I sigh. I can’t kill my best friend, even if she’s fucking drooling on my shoulder.
I’m going insane here just thinking about the fact that we’re hiding this.
I just want to love her out loud, not hide ourselves from the world because of other people’s opinions of us.
I want to be able to laugh with my friends and hold her in my lap whilst doing so, hearing her laugh the loudest in my ear as we all talk.
I want to be able to hold her hand freely on campus and to be able to sleep in her room instead of this beast’s bed for crying out loud.
I just want her .
And she’s all I can think about as I drift off to sleep.
My brain pounds against my skull, and I cringe as my nose burns. Something just punched the shit out of me. Groaning, my hand shoots to my nose as a body moves next to me, pulling a brick off of my face.
“What the fuck, CJ?” I sigh, popping one eye open before she shoves a screen into my face.
It’s only nine o’clock on a Sunday.
Why the fuck is she up before eleven on a Sunday ?
“What the fuck is this?! Read it!” she exclaims as she shoves the phone in my face harder. My head pounds with the beginning of a headache as I open both eyes.
My mind is still on Sienna and how fucked our current situation is that anger boils in my chest as I read Cleo’s phone, my jaw clenching.
Blake (Wilder)
Wat ER oui ?
Fucking great…
“Let’s go,” I say, my voice stern as the pink loving girl next to me widens her eyes.
The confused, wide eyed look that Cleo gives me reminds me so much of her cousin that I have to look away because the longer I look, the more I want to go to her.
Cleo can’t know about Sienna and I, and I’ll be damned if I tell her when Sienna told me not to.
Happy wife, happy life, am I right?
Looking at Cleo, I frown thinking about what I’ve gotten myself into. Why the hell am I dealing with drama on a Sunday morning?
I’m annoyed as Cleo and I make our way to her car. I take her to get breakfast first because knowing her, she’d just complain about being hungry the entire ride over, and I don’t want to hear it. Not right now, at least.
Right now, my mind is still focused on how I can get Sienna to let loose. She’s an only child and has never done a lot of the things that I was able to do as a kid since her parents were never home.
What she craves right now is rebellion, and I’m the best man for her to lead through one.
When I pull up to my house, dropping off Cleo with a full stomach and her cow pajamas, I tell her that I have some things to handle and stay in the car.
Cleo’s a big girl who can handle herself so I’m not too worried about her as she marches up the steps of my porch and knocks shyly on the front door.
Now back to business.
Pulling out my phone, I find an image of Sienna’s list and smile.
Hello, number 19…Let’s see how well our girl is with needles.
I make a few calls and soon enough, the lovely Sienna Jones has an appointment at Ink and Tales this afternoon. Grinning like I won the lottery, I recline in the driver's seat and begin sketching a small piece, letting my fingers have a mind of their own.
Around five minutes later, the sketch is finished and my stomach is growling. Since it’s Sunday, Derek should be cooking breakfast .
I could really go for an omelet right about now…
My foot is just about to make contact with the plush green grass of our lawn when the front door flies open and Cleo runs through it, running past me and to her car.
What the hell—
“Cleo! Wait, no—” a loud voice belts, but it's too late. Cleo drives away so fast, you’d think she was fleeing from a crime.
Deep breaths, Jace.
The sight of Blake standing on our lawn in his favorite cartoon boxers with the guys standing behind him, watching, has my blood boiling.
One job. The idiot had one job, and he fucked with my best friend’s heart. I knew the asshole was going to fuck up eventually, but now I’m hangry and seeing as I was woken up because of this, I want to kill him.
“You’re in deep shit,” I say, pointing at the idiot as I jump into my other car, a sleek blue Maserati Granturismo. I shake my head as I think about Blake and Cleo, still not believing that Cleo really woke me up for this shit.
Driving the Maserati out of our driveway, I make my way down to the loft.
I have two cars and a bike, but I never usually drive the Maserati because it’s my favorite and I don’t want anyone to ruin it out on the road.
My mom and dad got me Lola, my Aston Martin, for my birthday, but this baby right here is all mine.
Running a few errands, I grab all the things that I need to make today’s date the best one yet.
Sienna may like to call the things we do on her list “activities” or whatever she calls them, but to me, they’re everything.
By the time I’ve arrived back at the girls’ place, I’ve changed and gotten her and I breakfast. Knocking on the girls’ apartment door, my veins thrum with excitement as I wait for Sienna.
I’m smiling from ear to ear just at the thought of seeing her, but when the door opens, my smile crumbles to ash.
“You.” I sigh, rolling my head back as Georgia rolls her eyes.
“They just let anybody in here these days…” She purses her lips, stepping to the side to let me in. “Now what’re yo u—”
I don’t give Georgia the time to finish her sentence as I make my way to the sleeping pink haired girl's bedroom, already knowing Cleo isn’t home after checking her location.
Sienna is laid halfway across her bed in a cute little purple and white flower pajama set, snoring softly, when I enter her room.
Chuckling quietly, I take a seat on the side of the bed that she’s not occupying and snap a picture of her sleeping, but just as I’m about to put the phone away, a hand shoots out to grab it.
My heart falls out of my ass as I jump off the bed, looking at the now very awake woman. Sienna’s eyes are unfocused as she groans, stretching and yawning.
Her voice is groggy and riddled with sleep as she rubs her eyes and asks, “What happpened?”
Instead of responding like a normal person would, I kiss her cheek and pick her up bridal style. Her eyes bulge out of her head as I walk her out of her apartment and down to the Granturismo.
She doesn’t say anything as she looks around her new environment, taking it in as I put the car in reverse and take us to the loft.
On the way there, I hum whatever’s playing on my Bluetooth and she remains quiet the entire trip.
Sienna allows me to carry her back up to the loft, without a word.
I think she may have fallen back asleep but when she looks up at me, I know that she hasn’t.
Entering the loft, I make a beeline to the kitchen and place her on the island.
Sienna hisses as her butt makes contact with the cold surface, and I kiss her lips quickly, stunning her before leaving to get our breakfast from the car.
She has no clue what we’re doing today, which is great because if she knew what I had up my sleeves…She’d probably kill me.
When I get back up to the loft, Sienna has brushed her teeth and is lounging on the couch on her phone. Her face lights up like a kid in a candy store when I place our breakfast in front of her.
“You really know the way to a woman's heart,” she mumbles over a mouthful of chocolate chip pancakes as I take a bite of my own blueberry ones .
We sit in a content silence, scarfing down our sugary breakfasts until Sienna clears her throat, her sharp gaze calculating as she eyes me.
“You didn’t just drag me out of bed, feed me chocolate chip pancakes, and sat here quietly eating for nothing, Heart. Spit it out,” she says, setting her food down and resting back in the seat.
I grin as I mimic her actions, setting aside my own food. She’s going to have a heart attack when she sees what I have planned for her. Sienna might’ve thought that being a backpack on my bike was crazy, but this might just be insane.
“Finish your food, angel. There’s so much that I have planned.” I grin maniacally, twisting the stubble on my upper lip like a mad scientist with a curly mustache.
Sienna rolls her eyes at me. “That wasn’t vague or creepy at all.”
It takes her about forty minutes to finish her food, take a quick shower, and throw on some of my clothes.
By the time she’s done getting ready, we’re cutting it close for our appointment time.
Sienna comes skipping down to the lower level of the loft, a smile on her clean face as she stops in front of me.
My clothes drown her, my white and orange SFU hoodie hangs around her thighs and my large basketball shorts make her look like she has chicken legs.
When we finally make it to the car with about ten minutes to spare before we’re late, Sienna turns to me in her seat. “So…what’s on the agenda for today?”
A lot…
Instead of answering her, I tilt my head, looking up at her with a daring smirk. “Do you trust me?”
She smiles sweetly, but I can see through her feisty mask as she gets closer to my face, her cool minty breath dancing against my skin.
“As far as I can throw you.”
Sienna and I’s ride to Ink and Tales is filled with laughter, singing, and her asking questions about where we’re going. She reminds me so much of her younger self, and I love it. She’s still the girl with the overactive imagination and too many questions to count that I remember.
When we arrive at the tattoo shop, Sienna’s brows furrow, creating a deep V between them as her eyes track between the shop and my own green ones .
“Why are we here? Are you getting my name tattooed? I mean I’d be flattered, but–”
“No, you little pyscho…we’re here to get number 19 crossed off of that list of yours.” I chuckle, holding an arm out to usher her into the studio as she frowns.
“My name would’ve been hotter—especially on your forehead.” She shrugs as I snicker behind her and her large pink curls.
This girl…
“Do you know what you want to g—”
“Tramp stamp,” she says immediately, cutting me off as she turns to look up at me. Her hazel eyes are big and bright with amusement as I smile down at her.
The thought of Sienna having a tattoo above the swell of her ass does something to me. I shift in my spot in front of her as she keeps our eyes locked together before hers slowly roam down my body.
“Does that idea excite you, Jace?” she coos seductively, a hand on my chest. I cough, trying to reel myself in, but fucking hell this girl is mesmerizing.
“Yeah—”
“Can I help y'all with anything?” A deep, gruff voice pulls my attention from Sienna. A tall woman with tattoos for days, pink and purple split-dyed hair, and black lipstick stands before us, an amused smirk dazzling her face.
Sienna looks up at me as if I have all the answers to our problems, and I gulp, still thinking about our interaction as she grins at the woman.
“Jacey here is getting a tattoo.”