Kissing My Ex ✔

19)A Permanent Mark

Clenching my jaw, I nod. My eyes betray me as they drink in the raw emotion carved into his sculpted features, a strained mix of relief, and...fear.

I nearly choke on that realization as he steps closer.

"What does that mean for us, Alexis?"

I shake my head. "It means nothing."

"What?" He jerks back.

Looking away, I focus my attention on a flickering street light in the distance. "Go back to your date, Jace."

"No!" He snarls. "I don't fucking want her! How many times do I gotta tell you that?"

Enough times to mean it.

"You've said that before and yet you let her mark her territory all over your neck."

"You're right." Jace throws his arms wide. "I'm a fucking idiot. All I saw was you wrapped around Derek and I wasn't thinking straight. But I swear to fucking God, she means nothing to me."

His words make my pulse thump faster, my heart joyfully beating for each promise that leaves his lips. But that's the thing about Jace, he has an amazing way with words. Always has.

He can convince God that he's a saint. Make a cop believe that he's a victim even as he's knocking a guy out. It's just natural for him, and I'm tired of falling for his words.

"What do you want from me, Jace? You tell me to be real with you but you can never do the same."

"Isn't it fucking obvious?" he throws my words back at me.

I laugh under my breath. "No. Nothing's obvious when it comes to you. So why don't you spell it out for me!"

"I fucking care about you!"

My heart leaps into my throat. The look on Jace's face mirrors my own emotions, his jaw hanging open while comprehension fills his wide eyes.

His confession stuns us both. Neither of us expected those words to rip from his throat.

Stumbling back, I look at the dew-covered grass and shake my head hoping to stir up some kind of response. My mind is fuzzy, my dazed thoughts replaying his words on a loop. "I fucking care about you!" I didn't think he'd actually say it. Hell, I didn't even think that would be his answer.

Returning my gaze to Jace, I'm dumbfounded by the intensity in his stare. His eyes flash with a new determination. Something's changed. The tension between us shifting, sending my body into fight or flight mode. I step back and he steps forward. One step. Two steps.

Adrenaline pumps through my veins, thick with fear.

Jace closes the distance between us, backing me up against the wall and resting his arms on either side of my head. Just inches in front of my face a raw feral look blankets his features, a sign that the dam inside of him has finally broken. Fuck teasing and caution, he's prepared to give me everything I'm too scared to have.

My chest aches. My heart hammering away, trying to reach out to him. The thump-thump-thump a desperate cry for attention.

I can't let this happen. It's too much.

"No," I whisper, fighting my heart's desperate pleas. "That doesn't make any sense. You were the one who left me. You didn't care anymore."

"Really?" He looks possessed, his eyes locked on me like I'm the only thing he can see. The world around us fading to black.

With nimble fingers, he unties the cape to my costume and lets it fall to the ground, revealing my strapless corset top. The cool breeze tickles my bare shoulders but there's no chill, not with his hard heated body this close.