Page 128 of Cursed Bonds: An Alpha's Destiny

Back at the house, Harley cornered Jace in the kitchen.

“Okay, Mister. For the rest of the afternoon and all night, the living room and kitchen are ladies-only areas. I don’t care where you go, but you can’t stay here.”

Jace goggled at her. “I’m being kicked out of my own house?”

“You can sit in your bedroom or the garage or something. That will suffice.”

Jace smiled at her. “I guess I’ve been outvoted. All right, I’ll let you all have some fun.” He caught my eye and nodded to the hallway. “Can I talk to you real quick?”

I joined him as Harley and Tinsley unpacked all the groceries. Harley was already talking about making sundaes.

“I’m really sorry,” Jace said, keeping his voice low. “I didn’t mean to push so hard. I was being a dick, and I apologize.”

“Thank you for that,” I said. “I’m doing my best, and I wanted you to see that. I wasn’t slacking off, so you thinking that pissed me off.”

He winced as though I’d pinched him. “Yeah, that was shitty of me. It’s not that I thought you were slacking, I was just getting scared. I kept thinking what would happen if Eren actually did attack you. If, for some reason, your magic didn’t work or…” He shook his head. “If anything happened to you, it would kill me.”

I put my hand on his chest, touched by what he’d said and the emotion in his eyes. “It’s going to be okay, Jace. Seriously. We’re doing all that we can.”

He gazed into my eyes, and for a second, I thought he would kiss me. But then the moment passed, and he took a small step back, putting distance between us.

Just like that, irritation surged through me. “Why won’t you kiss me?”

Jace blinked in surprise. “Uh, well, I… I didn’t think you wanted me to. You’re mad at me, and I’m giving you space. Plus, we never really got to talk about our fight.” He shrugged helplessly. “I didn’t want to overstep. Not until you were ready.”

His words rang true. With everything that had happened, we hadn’t had time to discuss anything, really. We did need to have a long talk about that.

“Okay.” I nodded. “You’re right. After this whole girls’ night thing, we can talk, get everything out in the open. Does that sound good?”

“That would be great.” He pointed a thumb over his shoulder to the rear of the house. “I’ll give you guys some privacy. I’m gonna head over to Waylan’s place to watch a baseball game with him and Langston. You guys can have the run of the house.”

Harley didn’t hesitate to make good on that offer. Within twenty minutes, ice cream was scooped into balls, popcorn popped, and frozen pizza rolls and cheese sticks in the oven. A trashy reality TV show played in the background. It looked like the premise was women wearing as little clothing as possible, trying to seduce men who were somehow wearing even less. It was turning into one of the better nights I’d had in months.

“Question,” Harley said, pointing with a spoon streaked with ice cream and chocolate fudge at Tinsley. “Did you notice that big cutie checking you out today? Our bodyguard?”

Tinsley rolled her eyes and used a tortilla chip to scoop salsa into her mouth. “I noticed, yes. He’ll need to make the first move, though.”

I nearly choked on my popcorn. “What? You like him?”

Tinsley shrugged. “When you’ve lived as long as I have, you learn to take things at face value. No offense to humans, but their lives are so short, so they have this idea that every relationship needs to be the end all be all.” She smiled slyly. “Sometimes, you just need to have fun. Whatever is supposed to happen will happen. That’s my take.”

Harley shook her head in wonder. “Went to Woodstock? And talks like that? You’re not a witch, you’re a hippie!”

“I will admit, this Tank guy is no Ed Roland, but he’s cute. Really nice butt.”

“So,” Harley said. “Let’s say Mr. Tank comes knocking tonight and asks you to throw down? What do you do?”

Without missing a beat, Tinsley said, “If that’s the dog I get to lay down with, I’ll be happy to catch some fleas.”

I burst out laughing, my wine almost coming out of my nose. All three of us dissolved into girlish giggles like we were teenagers at a sleepover. It was the first time since Nana died that I was truly at peace. Suddenly, everything else didn’t matter. I wished Jace was here so I could share that moment with him.

As though he’d read my thoughts, my phone pinged with a text from him.

Hope everything is good. I was just thinking about you and wanted to check in.

I stared at the message for a long time as Harley and Tinsley made disparaging remarks about the people on the show. After several seconds, I tucked the phone away and smiled.

This, right here, felt like home.

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