Page 132 of Dare To Live

Eli rests his chin on the top of my head. “That must have been difficult. What are you doing now?”

“I work at a bar down by the coast and spend my spare time helping out at a soup kitchen for the homeless.” Jace releases a shaky breath. “I’m trying to make amends for everything I did. A twelve-step thing my therapist came up with.” He scrubs a hand down his face. “I didn’t have anything to do with Kellan’s death.”

“But you knew Evan was behind everything.” It’s not a question.

Jace nods. “As I told Arabella all those years ago, he knows how to get in your head and make you feel special. He always knew the right things to say.”

“You weren’t the only one close to him, were you?” Eli’s voice is soft.

Jace hesitates. “He never said anything or mentioned anyone else. I don’t know. He never told me everything. But … I need to tell you that Evan reached out to me about two years into his sentence.”

Eli goes still behind me. “What did he want?”

“To stay in touch.”

“What did you tell him?”

“Nothing. I didn’t answer his letter.” He raises his chin, his eyes filled with torture. “He’s sick in the head. I didn’t want anything else to do with him. I’ve already screwed my life up enough as it is, without getting caught in his web of lies again. I just wanted you to know that he tried to contact me.”

“I’m not sure I can forgive you for your part in what he did, but I hope this talk can help you move on.”

Jace nods jerkily. “Thanks. Just being able to talk to you means a lot to me.”

Lips brush my neck. “Ari?”

I shiver at the contact and feel him smile against my skin.

As much as I distrust the man in front of me, I can’t help a pang of compassion thumping through my chest. “I hope you have a good life, Jace. Don’t let the mistakes of the past define you.”

“I’m sorry.” His shoulders slump. “If I could go back and change things, I would.”

Eli’s arms loosen and slip free from around me. “I think we all would. See you around, Jace.”

I accept the hand he offers me, and we walk away from the former jock, leaving him standing in the middle of the field.

I don’t speak until we’re a good distance away from him. “I don’t trust him.”

He turns his head and meets my gaze. “I’m not surprised after everything that happened.”

“How do we know he’s not lying and is still in contact with Evan?”

“We don’t.”

I frown, thoughts turning inward. “He might be the one behind the flowers.”

“Flowers?”

“Nothing.”

“Ari, what flowers?”

“The ones that kept getting left at Zoey’s plaque in the cemetery.” I don’t want to tell him about the flowers I keep receiving. Now isn’t the time.

The thought of Evan reaching out to Jace makes me feel sick. If he manipulated Jace so easily in the past, who else has the psychopath reached out to in the last ten years?

Chapter 74

Eli

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