Wallflower Ink

Chapter 31

"Jace Declan," he says. The woman looks down at a notepad then nods her head and offers him a friendly smile.

"You're party is waiting in the private dining room."

I look at Jace quizzically for a moment, but he doesn't meet my gaze. I chew at my bottom lip, suddenly wary. We follow a waitress to the back of the restaurant, where she stops and ushers us through a doorway. Just inside, I halt and utter a small gasp of surprise.

Around the table and already seated are all the people closest to me. Dorothy Mattingly and Randal Watkins sit next to my brothers, Byron and Daryl. On the other side of the table sit Kyle and Katie, alongside Sophie. There are two empty chairs, one at the end of the table and one between it and Katie.

As Jace makes to guide me to one of them, I stop and take a shaky breath. Something is wrong here, my mind screams. Why are all these people here waiting for me? My heart thumps hard in my chest and my immediate reaction is to run. I quickly turn and slip around Jace then back out of the room.

"Merripen!" my mother calls out after me, but I am already gone.

Nearly tripping in my haste to get away, I hurry through the restaurant and don't slow until I am out the door and halfway to the parking lot. Traffic zips by to my right, light washing over me sporadically and sending the surrounding shadows into a dizzying waltz. When a hand grabs my arm I nearly scream, but when it turns me around and I see his face it dies away in my throat.

"What's wrong, Merri? Why'd you run away?" His brow is furrowed with concern as he looks down at me and his frown speaks loudly of it, too.

"Why are they in there, Jace?" I bite out. I point angrily at the restaurant as I continue. "Why is nearly everyone I know sitting in that room waiting for me? And why did you keep it a secret from me that they would all be here? You only mentioned Katie and Kyle."

I am trying my best not to be angry by what feels so much like a betrayal, but I am fast losing the battle the longer he remains silent. By the time he finally takes a slow breath in preparation to give me an answer, I am no longer interested in any excuse he might give me.

"They're worried, Merri," he says softly and looks away from my angry glare before continuing. "We all are."

"I don't know why," I mutter, but I do. I understand completely but don't feel worthy of the sentiment from any of them.

"Because they care about you," he says. When he turns back to look at me, his gaze is as soft as the next words he speaks. "I care about you."

He reaches out hesitantly to cup my face in his hands then leans down and places a tender kiss on my forehead. When he pulls me close to him and wraps his arms around me, I automatically do the same. I lean my head against his chest and have to fight to control my emotions. He's not supposed to care about me.

I want to shout at him in fury, want to cry against him in regret. I want to feel nothing at all, the same as I did before, but with Jace I find I no longer can. Most of all, though it makes no sense to me, I want to kiss him, or for him to kiss me.

The emotions he stirs in me are a confused vortex that swirl through both my heart and mind; they leave me dizzy with their disorder and unable to right my former life. Nothing is the same as it had been before, and it scares the hell out of me. The worst part of it all is that I don't know if I want that back, and that in itself feels like a betrayal to Joey's memory.