Page 130 of Jace
I don’t know why he’s so damn worried. It’s only three months that he’ll be gone. They already have the go ahead that they all can finish the semester online. Courtesy of the dean, aka Missy’s dad.
This means that Jace will be back in the summer. The summer he’s going to spend with me. I already asked him a while ago, and he agreed to stay at my parents’ house for summer break.
So yeah, nothing to worry about.
I eye him as he puts his phone back in his pocket, and I aim. This time, I let the football fly at half my usual speed, but he still manages to fumble with the thing before he drops it in the grass. Seriously?
“Seriously?” I echo my thoughts. “Have youevercaught a fucking football before?”
Jace glares at me, his cheeks flushed red in obvious embarrassment, before quickly grabbing the ball and giving me the finger while he does it. “Oh I know how to catch a football, you dumbass. But this,” he waves the ball erratically, “isn’t a fucking football.”
I grin as I grab one of the couple of Gatorades we brought with us to the front yard of the jock house. “Really? Are we back to this boring old argument again? You’re stateside now, so yeah, that is a ball.” I nod a hello at Lamar who comes out of the front door before taking a sip.
“No!” My boyfriend raises his voice, his back still to the house, not noticing Lamar. “A round ball is a ball! Like basketballs or baseballs oryourdamn balls! This thing is shaped like a buttplug without the sparkly end! It’s a fucking butt-ball!”
I nearly choke on my Gatorade when Lamar raises his brows, turns around and goes back inside without saying a thing.
“Are you a bit agitated, babe?” I ask after wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, walking over to Jace.
One corner of his mouth turns up in a half-smile. “Yeah. Sorry. Missy wants me to call Madden to give the go ahead.”
Yup. My boyfriend has Madden St James’ fucking telephone number.
“So, you're going to do it?” I ask, grabbing him by the waist.
He swallows thickly, looking at a point over my head. “Yeah. No. I dunno.”
“Jace,” I say, grabbing his chin to make him look my way. “Youcan’tsay no.”
He looks at me then, and I see the longing there, but the fear as well. “It’s three months,” he says. “I don’t know if I can miss you for three months.”
“We’ll make it work,” I say with confidence.
“Madden says there’s a good chance we’ll get a record deal out of this,” he explains, like he did before.
“Again.We’ll make it work,okay?”I ask before pressing my lips very firmly to his.
He nods, lips to mine, holding on to me for a second too long before letting go. “I have to go to the band… I love you,” he says before giving me the football and turning around.
“I love you, too,” I say in an automatic response, taking him in for as long as I can as he saunters away, because something feels… Off.
I’m freaking terrified after I haven’t heard from him all damn night. I’ve called him. Messaged him. Gave up and went to bed, trying to give him some space. But when it’s nearly noon, I’m over it. I just know in my gut that something is wrong. And I always trust my gut. My instinct is what makes me such a damn good QB in the first place.
So fuck this, I’m done waiting.
“Lamar?” I yell when I barge into his room the next morning. Which is empty. “Damnit,” I mutter, proceeding to grab my phone out of my pocket and dialing my last resort, Missy.
She should know where he is.
And when she–thank God–picks up and explains what's going on, I’m in my car and driving to their apartment before she even hangs up.
“What are you doing?” I ask on a choke when I barge into his room five minutes later, seeing him dropping a couple of folded t-shirts in a duffel. “Are you alreadypacking?”
Jace looks up like a deer caught in the headlights, eyes rimmed red.
“Did you accept the contract, then?” I ask with a forced smile, trying very hard to be excited for him, but I first need to know why he… “Why didn’t you return my calls?”
Something shifts in his gaze as he clutches a shirt to his chest and shit, I know what it is I see.
