Page 61 of The Leaving Road

He gave me a sideways glance but kept the primary of his gaze on Lexie while she hunted through the refrigerator, looking for something edible, knowing that she shouldn’t be allowed near the stove if we wanted to make it through the night without catching a case of food poisoning.

“I’m staying.” His eyes were stillfirmlyplanted on Lexie, watching her move around the kitchen.

Iknewhe wasn’t staying for me; he was just using all this as an excuse to spend time with Lexie.

“Well, I see nothing.” Lex threw her hands up in frustration. “Guess that means we just have to order something.”

“Does anything in town deliver?” I questioned.

“Yeah, Montgomery’s.” He winked at me, and I smacked his arm.

“Good thing Sloan is covering Yuliana’s tonight, huh?” Lex shouted from behind him.

“You’re in luck hotshot; I’m in the mood for a greasy bar burger. I can go pick it up once it’s ready instead of waiting for them to deliver it,” I offered, deciding I definitely wanted some space between Jace and Lexie and the looks they were giving each other.

“I’ll call it in. What do you want, babe?”

My head swiveled at the term he called my friend, and I saw the hesitation from her.

“Uh…the same is fine,” she croaked out.

He promptly walked out, either not realizing what he called her or not caring.

“What’s going on with you two, Lex? I know you said nothing, but this sexually charged air in here is notnothing.It’s stifling; I feel like I should open a window.” I dramatically fanned myself, hoping that would ease some of the anxiety that was showing on her face.

“I don’t know.” She sighed. “I keep trying to keep it friendly, but there’s just something about him… It’s like I can’t help but turn into a pile of actual goo, and I lose all sense of right and wrong around him.” Her emotions were clear on her face, and she was struggling with this.

“And going to work for him is therightthing?”

With everything going on, I had forgotten that she had taken a job with him.

“I’m supposed to start in a week,” she whispered, her face paling with the reminder.

It was so unlike my best friend to seem unsure of herself, and I couldn’t help but wrap her up into a hug.

Damnit, this town was turning me into a hugger now.

“You know you’re a millionaire, right? You could always turn the job down.” I squeezed her shoulders, and I backed up to take in her features, but she looked completely lost in her own thoughts.

“Lex?” I tried to use a soothing tone to bring her back to the conversation.

“Not working for him scares me more than working for him does,” she said, barely above a whisper. I could feel her distress but before I could question her more about what she said, Jace had returned.

“Food has been ordered! It’ll be ready in thirty minutes or so. But I don’t think you should go get it alone, Magnolia; I should go with you. Or I should just be the one to go.” He frowned while looking down at his phone like Sloan was about to call him and chew his ass out for even thinking of letting me go pick up the food alone.

“You mean in my car? Then into a completely populated restaurant, and then back here? It’ll be fifteen, twenty minutes tops.”

The worried look on his face still didn’t lessen, so I took a cheap shot and played on some of his clear emotions as well. “Plus, you don’t want Lexie here allalone,do you? At least I have a shotgun in my truck…”

He glared at me, knowing exactly what I was doing. “Fine,twentyminutes though, Magnolia, or I’m calling Sloan, and you’ll have to deal with him.”

“Ooh, I’m shaking in my boots,” I retorted with an eye roll, and I heard Lexie snicker, but Jace’s usually carefree demeanor changed as he looked me in the eye with a very serious and very unlike Jace expression.

“Sometimes I forget you weren’t here…” The minute the words were out of his mouth, he looked like he regretted them.

“What do you mean by that?”

“It’s nothing, never mind.”

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