Page 25 of Dark and Dangerous

“No, it was?—”

“Abort! Abort!” Jeannie whisper-yells, sitting taller while her eyes go wide at something behind me.

Before I can even begin to turn around, the chair beside me scrapes along the old wooden floors, and next thing I know, our topic of conversation is sitting right next to me. And not like any normal person would sit at a table, but sideways, directly facing me. Then, he has the audacity to say, almost accuse, “Your bedroom light is always on at night.”

What.

The.

Fuck?

Jeannie gasps at the same time Sammy quips, “Good morning to you too, Sunshine.”

I quirk a half smile in her direction.

Jace graces her with a minuscule glance and states, “It’s afternoon.”

“Wait. How does he know…” Jeannie trails off.

“He’s my neighbor,” I answer.

“You live in that?—”

Sammy covers Jeannie’s mouth, then jerks her head toward me and Jace. “Carry on,” she says.

Jace focuses on me again and repeats, “Your bedroom light is always on at night.”

“I heard you the first time, but your tone lacks inflection,” I say, staring down at the table. “I don’t know if you’re asking me a question or stating a fact I clearly already know.”

For seconds that feel like days, Jace doesn’t say a word. No one does.I take a chance and peer over at him. Dark eyes meet mine for one short, fleeting moment. “Why can’t you sleep?”

“I sleep just fine,” I lie.

Jace must pick up on my bullshit, because he says, “It didn’t happen at your house, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

My eyebrows lower, confused. “What are you talking about?”

His gaze shifts to my friends on the other side of the table, as if asking a silent question. They shake their heads, almost in unison. And then he turns back to me, but doesn’t meet my eyes. Instead, he focuses on the space between us as he leans forward, his mouth almost to my ear. “If I see that light on again, I’m coming over.” And then he gets up and leaves. Not just our table, or the classroom, but the entire school. He doesn’t return for the rest of the day.

The first thing I do when I get home is find the empty, flattened cardboard boxes from when we moved and use them to cover my bedroom window. I’ve already let Jace too deep into my headspace. I really don’t need him in my physical one.

15

Harlow

I’ve just shut my front door behind me when Jonah’s truck appears, emitting a low rattle from the bass of its speakers. He’d given me a ride home from school yesterday, then offered to continue doing it, and how could I say no?

After sliding into the passenger’s seat, Jonah greets me with his megawatt smile. “Mornin’, Passenger Princess,” he says, and I laugh under my breath as I buckle in, then pull out some cash from my backpack and hand it to him. His eyebrows lower, gaze shifting from the money to me. “What’s this?”

“Gas money,” I state. “It’s not a lot, but it’s all the cash I have right?—”

He shoves my hand away before I can get out the rest and turns his car around. “I’d be driving, anyway.”

“I know, but my house is out of your way, and?—”

“Barely.”

“Still. You don’t have to, and you are, so…” I trail off.

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