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A heavy sigh emits from my chest. It’s not as ifI’dforgotten about Christian. I was just hoping Jace had selective short-term memory loss or something. Well, him and everyone else who was there. “I wasn’t,” I admit. “Not until yesterday. And it’s not as if I’m scared that he’ll do anything to me. I know he won’t. It’s just… I’m trying to move on, and he’s a part of my past I don’t want to revisit.” I pause a breath, lower my voice. “I don’t need the constant reminder that I’m a horrible person.”
Wishfully, andstupidly, I expect him to convince me I’m not, but he doesn’t. He simply stands to full height and stretches out his back. “You ready to go?”
I shove down my disappointment, swallow it whole. “Jonah drives me to school.”
“I texted him, told him I’d be taking you.”
I stand, take what little pride I have with me. “Then I’m ready to go.”
23
Harlow
Not surprisingly, Jace doesn’t speak on the ride to school, and I don’t have a lot to say. The past twenty-four hours have done a number on me, and even though I slept better last night in the dark—with Jace in the room—than I usually do in my closet, on the floor, hugging my dead brother’s jacket, I’m exhausted.
My battery for merely existing is so close to depletion it’s sending off warning signals I keep choosing to ignore.
As soon as Jace pulls into the school parking lot, I immediately feel the sense of dread take over me. Like the day I returned to school after Harley died. Or when my mom forced me to return after everything with Christian came out. At least then, I was in familiar territory. Here? I don’t know what to expect.
Jace kills the engine and hops out of his van, never once looking in my direction. He stops by the front, his back turned, and waits. And I know I should move, should get out and face reality, but my fear and humiliation paralyze me to my spot. I glance toward the back of the van, at the mattress there. I could just hide out for the rest of the day, wait until Jace returns and gohome. Never come back. Who needs a high school diploma anyway?
My door opens, and I reluctantly turn to Jace. He’s standing just outside, between the open door and my seat, his forearm resting on the roof of his car.
He looks from me to my seat belt, still buckled in tight. Then he sighs, so done with my bullshit. “What’s wrong?”
I shift my attention from him to the school, then cross my arms. “I don’t want to go in there.” I sound like a brat, but it is what it is.
“Why not?”
My shoulders deflate, my chest caving in on itself. “Did you see how many people had their phones out recording yesterday? I won’t be able to escape it.”
“So don’t,” he says, his tone flat.
“It’s easy for you to say. It doesn’t involve you.”
“Kind of does,” he murmurs under his breath. “I was there too.”
“Yeah, but you were the hero, and I was the whore.”
Another sigh. “Stop calling yourself that.”
“Am I lying?”
He moves back a step and looks around us. There are more than enough students in the parking lot, and they’re all doing their best to hide the fact that they’re watching us, whispering about us.
“We can’t change what happened yesterday,” Jace says, shrugging, “but we can at least use it to our advantage.”
“How?”
“There’s no doubt we’re together now, so the whole sex thing is going to be far more believable.”
It takes a moment for my mind to catch up to his. “We’re still doing the whole bet thing?”
He dips his head slightly, so his attention’s back on me. “You still need that car, right?”
“Obviously.”
“And you’ll still help me with my teammates?”