Page 35 of The Comeback Road (Leaving #2)

Jace

My neck collided with the coolness of the leather of my sofa, where I sat with a barely touched beer in my hand.

The TV was off, the moonlight casting long shadows in the darkness of my living room.

I was pretty sure it was snowing outside—it usually did in December.

I glanced at my phone for the hundredth time, half hoping for a message from Lexie, but the screen remained blank.

Always blank. The days had extended into weeks, weeks into months, and as they passed, the emptiness that clawed at my heart grew.

Her absence ran through the space where my heart used to lie—I had ripped it out the day I made the worst decision of my life.

The light ripped out of my days. My starlight.

When Jess had shown up out of the blue, I panicked. I could admit that now, hindsight and all. It was the shock of seeing her, of something that felt unfinished, but it was. It was finished—it had been all along, I just hadn’t seen it.

I had thought, for the briefest of moments, that I was doing the right thing. But every second since that moment felt like agony. An agony I deserved, so I sat in it, enduring her absence.

Just as I was about to toss my phone on the charger and call it a night, preparing myself for the sleeplessness that plagued me every evening, an incoming message buzzed.

I couldn’t help the lump that climbed in my throat and the disappointment at seeing Sloan’s name.

I thought about ignoring it, like I did so often in those days, but something tugged at me, urging me to open it instead.

Sloan: You awake?

I didn’t have it in me for small talk anymore.

Me: Yeah, everything okay?

A glance at the time on my phone made me realize how late it was. Sloan’s silence made me anxious, and I started to pace.

Me: Sloan?

The three little dots appeared for a few seconds, then disappeared with no response to follow them, sinking me further and further into my worry. An impending awareness that something was wrong was creeping in at his silence. I hit the call button, only to be sent right to voicemail.

Growling in frustration, I texted again.

Me: Seconds away from getting in my car and coming to you.

That just elicited the dots to appear again as I continued to pace before Sloan’s response rang through.

Sloan: Lexie’s home.

Somehow, I could feel the reluctance in his words from where I was, the pause in his texts from letting me know.

A realization washed over me; his loyalty was one hundred percent with Magnolia, and that would mean protecting Lexie at all costs.

If he was texting me, it meant something was happening.

I wondered if it meant that she was back to pack up her things for good.

If it meant she was leaving. No, no, no, no. That could not happen.

I debated shooting Sloan a text to let him know I was on my way despite the ungodly late hour, but quickly dismissed that. I had a feeling he knew I’d be coming, and that was exactly his intent.

Deciding at the last minute, I opened Lexie’s text thread.

Me: I’m coming for you Starlight, whether you like it or not, i’m coming.