Page 52 of Always. Forever.

“Do what?” I say, staring at a photo of me and Jace he has sitting on his desk.

“Stay in this apartment. He is everywhere I look; I don’t know how you do it.”

I walk over to Jace’s desk, picking up the picture and staring at it. It’s when we were at Disney World in Florida the first year we met. I begged him to take a picture with Mickey Mouse and wear the ears, he protested for all of five minutes but then agreed. I was so happy I’m smiling like I’m on happy pills. Jace had said he had never seen me so happy; he wanted that memory forever and said he wanted my happiness looking back at him when he’s having hard days at work, so he framed it and put it on his desk. I did, a couple of times, walk in on him holding the picture, staring at it with a smile on his face. I smile down at the picture.

“How could I leave this place. It’s what keeps me going, Cash. I feel like I still have him here with me.” I look up at him and give a half smile.

“That’s not healthy though, is it?” He doesn’t say it in a dick way, which is surprising for him. I know he’s saying it in more of a caring way, and I get it. I agree with him to a certain extent, but this is my way of coping, and I feel like I’m getting there.

I shrug. “Maybe not.” I place the picture back down and turn around to him. “But it’s my way, and I like it this way.”

I walk past him and open the door for me to slip out. Before I slip out of the room, I turn around to Cash.

“If you still have your key, you’re more than welcome to come around whenever you want. Jace’s memory will live here forever.” I then slip out of the room, leaving him alone to have his moment in Jace’s office.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Laterthatnight,onceeveryone has left, I do what I do every night. I lie in bed and cry in one of Jace’s shirts. I know people would say I need to speak to someone or see someone but I’m content being like this. I know it’s weird, but it feels like one of the only things getting me through. As my tears subside, I lie there in silence, waiting for the exhaustion to take me from crying so much.

I sit up in bed, thinking I heard something. It’s dead silent, so I lie back down.

Bang.“Ahhh.” I hear a manly groan.

I shoot up again.What. The. Fuck.Someone is in my apartment. My adrenaline kicks in as I hunt my room for something, anything to whack this person over the head with.What if there is more than one?It takes me a second to realize I should have probably called the cops. I look but then remember I left my phone on the dining room table from earlier.Fuck.I’m struggling to find anything, so I unplug my lamp and creep out. I don’t know whether to go to the dining room or confront the person. As I get to my door, I hear a shuffle in the room next to mine. Jace’s office. Oh my God. No way is anyone taking anything from there. Before I can even think, I’m charging out of my room and heading straight for the wide open office door. The figure is standing in front of the door. I don’t think, I just swing the lamp as hard as I can, which is probably not even that hard, but it sends the person to the ground.

“Ahhh,” they groan out. I turn the light on and am horrified to see Cash lying on the floor rolling around in pain.

“Oh my God,” I shriek. “Cash!” I drop down to the floor, trying to get him to hold still.

“Cash, stop. Where are you hurt?” I say in a panic. Fuck, I don’t even know where I hit him, it was too dark.

He’s rubbing the bottom of his head aggressively, probably trying to damp down the pain. I go to touch the back of his head, but he pushes my hand away.

“Just let me look.” I sigh. I still don’t get what he is doing here in the middle of the night. Well, I can guess now that I’m getting a stench of alcohol off him. He moves his hand, allowing me to look. There is no blood, thank God, just a slight red mark.

“Do you feel dizzy or sick?”

“No,” he grunts, trying to stand up. I help him up and he just stands there, well, tries but sways a little. I’m not sure if that’s from the hit on the head or the alcohol. I move him over to Jace’s desk chair and sit him down.

“Do you want to tell me what you were doing creeping in my apartment at 1:00 a.m.?”

“You should really be trying to ring the police when you think someone has broken in, not approach them, Rylee,” he grumbles.

“Don’t try and change the subject, what were you doing?”

“You ssssaid I could commmme whennnhever I wanted.”

“I did. At a reasonable hour, Cash. Not in the middle of the night, scaring the shit out of me.”

“I’m sorry.” He goes to stand but wobbles slightly on his feet.

“Sit down, let me get you some water.” I walk out of the room, heading for the kitchen. He has clearly been drinking and thoughts of Jace have invaded him, he wanted to be close to him, and I get it, his office does make you feel close to him. He spent a lot of his time in there and it still looks the exact same. I don’t blame him; I just wish he wouldn’t scare me at stupid o’clock in the morning. I grab a cold bottle of water out of the fridge and two painkillers from the cabinet. When I enter Jace’s office, he has the picture of Jace and me in his hand, staring at it. I take the picture out of his hand, placing it back on the desk and pass him the bottle of water along with the two painkillers.

“Here.” He takes both pills together and downs the bottle of water in a few gulps.

“Thanks.” He places the empty bottle on Jace’s desk and goes to stand.

“Stay seated for a bit,” I tell him. I stand up, walking around him, checking the back of his head. It’s red but there is no lump, so it should be okay. I’m still worried. I then realize with everything that has gone on, I totally forgot about Becky. She hasn’t been mentioned since the night of his dinner.

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