Page 73 of Entangled

My brows drop in confusion. “Tiff?”

“No.” He shakes his head. “No, her older brother.”

“I didn’t know she had an older brother.”

“Yeah… it’s a bit of a touchy subject. He—” Jace shakes his head as if reordering his thoughts. “That’s a story for another time though. Back to this story,” He sighs and looks toward the fireplace, lost in memory. “We ended up getting in pretty deep with some bad people. And when I say bad, I mean they’ll bury your body somewhere no one will ever find it kind of bad. My dad was beside himself, kept trying to reel me back in but I was so far down the rabbit hole by that point there was no getting through to me. I couldn’t or wouldn’t see a way out. Just knew what I was doing was keeping me from feeling everything surrounding my mom’s death and that was all I cared about.” He pauses, running his hand behind his head before bringing his eyes back to mine. “The Morrisons had a boat and we started doing smuggling runs with them. One day… we picked up this shipment with them and were supposed to deliver it to the people we were mixed up with down in Florida. And the rule was, we were never supposed to look at what we were delivering, right?”

“Right,” I answer, unable to help the sarcasm in my voice despite the levity of the topic. “I would assume that’s rule number one of being a smuggler.”

“Right. Should’ve been idiot proof.” Jace huffs a soft laugh. “I’ve never been great at rules though… so that day I looked.” He pauses, his eyes pinching up as they dart to the fireplace. “It was the drugs I figured would be there, which held little interest for me considering it wasn’t pot. But there was also cash… thousands upon thousands of dollars of cash and that well… for a kid who was dying to escape Landing Point at that time, that was too tempting to pass up.”

“You took the money?” I guess softly.

“Yeah.” He brings his eyes back to mine and I see the guilt and shame filling them. “Yeah. I took some of the money.” He clears his throat. “Barely a drop in the bucket considering how much was there. I figured they wouldn’t even notice because of that… I was a fucking idiot. But when we dropped the shipment off, they noticed right away and I froze. Couldn’t say a word. Knew if I copped to it that I’d never see the light of day again. Things went bad quickly then.” Dropping his elbows to his knees, he looks down and heaves a breath. “Shots were fired from both sides and the next thing I knew, Trey Morrison was dead at my feet. The cops showed up and arrested us all after that.”

“Wait.” I interrupt in shock. “I thought I saw Trey Morrison today?”

“It was a message.” Jace answers softly, bringing his eyes up to mine. “I’m guessing from his brother Kyle based on your description. They blame me, and rightfully so, but they’ve been locked up since it happened. They had priors that caused the judge to not be as lenient with them, plus, even though I may not like her, my aunt had some pull in getting me the deal I did. This is the first I’ve heard from them since… I guess they finally got out and are looking to get even. It was a warning using his name the way they did.”

“Against me?” I ask, stomach somersaulting with fear at how close these guys already got to me today.

“I’m guessing so.” His jaw clenches, shoulders tightening up with tension and I see the wheels turning in his mind as he looks away. “Tiff is the sheriff’s daughter so they won’t risk going near her, Zane and my dad might put up too much of a fight to be worth it, and Andrea, while I care for her, is too far removed. But you…” He scoffs a humorless laugh. “All they would need to see was us together one time and they would know how to get to me. You’re the perfect target.”

Jace nods his head and brings his fearful eyes back to mine. “By using Trey’s name and saying he was sending his regards through you… it was a threat. One against you to get to me. And it worked. I fucking lost it after you left today.”

I drop back against the arm of the couch, leaning my head back and staring at the ceiling. “Well, fuck.”

Inappropriate reaction thy name is El.

Silence falls for a moment as I process everything Jace just told me before I hear him take a deep breath and start to speak haltingly.

“You-you should leave town. I fucking hate it but I went round and round today and… I don’t know how else to keep you safe.”

He’s right. I should leave. If I had any good sense of self-preservation I’d be packing my bag right now and halfway out the door. But there’s still so much… unfinished here. I guess I could read my mother’s diaries from LA as easily as I’m reading them here, even though they’ve been boringly bland since she met my father. I could have the sheriff send me the file once she gets it. But it doesn’t sit right with me. I came here looking for answers and to just up and leave now before I found them… everything would just feel so unfinished, including whatever this is happening between me and Jace.

But are you really willing to put yourself at risk for that, El? A smart girl would leave.

Painful memories strike at the thought and I quickly squash the idea. I won’t let myself become a quitter just because of a little fear. I won’t let that emotion rule my life anymore. Plus, Jace has brought a bit of that reckless girl I used to be back to life and she was never one to turn down a fight.

“I’m not leaving.” I sit up with the announcement, looking him in the eye and letting him see my determination. “I still have too much to do here. To figure out. So fuck them and their threat.”

And apparently I have literally zero sense of self-preservation when it comes to the guys I fall for… am falling for? Fuck.

Jace searches my eyes for a moment and I see the conflict in his own gaze. The battle taking place within him. He wants me to stay but not if it means I’ll be at risk. Finally, he gives me a slow nod. “Then I’m going to need you to stay close to me… or Zane if I’m not around, just while I figure this out. Okay?” His eyes dart down suddenly and he hurries to add. “Only if you want to, if you still want to be around me that is… if not, I don’t know. I’ll figure something else out.”

My lips twitch up at the sight of his nervous vulnerability and I reach a hand out, placing it on his arm and closing the distance between us.

“Jace,” I call his name softly, drawing his eyes back to mine. “It’s clear to me you’re not the same guy today that you were back then. Outside of your lock-picking proclivity, that is.” I throw him a smirk and shrug. “I get it. We all deal with our pain differently. That doesn’t make what you did right… but you made it to the other side.”

“Thank fuck.” He heaves a deep breath and collapses back against the couch.

My brows pull down as a loose end from his story snags in my mind. “Hey, whatever happened to your cousin?”

“Oh.” His lips twitch as he slides his eyes back to mine. “Last I saw him, he was headed back home to the love of his life so I’d say he fared alright.”

“Oh.” I nod. “Good for him.”

A hint of playfulness winds back into his firework eyes as he lifts his brows at me in question. “So are we good, Blondie?”

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