Page 27 of Head Over Wheels

“Tell me about it.” Jace puts a little space between us and gives me his full attention.

I take a deep breath. Do I really want to tell him this story? My slip hasn’t left me with a lot of options. It’s gotten to the point where if I don’t tell him now, it will turn into a bigger thing. “It happened months ago now, so there’s not much to tell.”

“It obviously is still affecting you if you’re this anxious just thinking about it. If it’s too much to talk about, I understand.”

Now Jace is going to think it’s something really terrible. I might as well just get it out and over with. “No, no, I want to tell you.”

He squeezes my hand, his gaze watching me closely.

“Last June, I had a random user follow me on Elevate. I mean, it happens all the time when you’re in a ride. You exchange high fives and then at the end of it, someone adds you. I’ve made some online friends that way.”

“Yeah, I get that. It’s nice when all the riders are sharing high fives and leaderboard names.” He nods when I pause.

“Right, and it’s always been fine in the past. But then I started noticing this user in a lot of my classes, mostly because they kept sending me high fives. I probably wouldn’t have noticed otherwise because some of the classes have thousands of riders at once.”

“So they weren’t being subtle?” He raises an eyebrow.

I shake my head. “No, not at all. Not just one high five per ride either, but constant high fives. It was becoming a distraction. And then I noticed that they were in all my rides. Every single one. Right after I’d start a new class, the high fives would come. They were sending me DMs as well, constantly.”

Jace’s lip curls. “That sounds pretty sketch. What did you do?”

Sitting up a little straighter, I shrugged. “I blocked them. At least then they couldn’t see what I was doing anymore, and I don’t get anymore messages.”

“Did you report it to Elevate?” he asks, his eyes narrowing slightly.

A small sigh escapes my lips. “No, what was I going to say? Nothing really happened. It just felt creepy.”

Jace lets out a hmph sound. “I think you still could have reported it. The user was harassing you. They could have maybe sent a warning or something. I could still do it if you wanted. What was the username?”

Placing my hand on his forearm, I shake my head. “Please don’t, Jace. It’s long over and done with. If you open it up again it will only stir everything up.”

One side of his mouth turns down. “I get it. Can you at least tell me which user it was, for my own knowledge? I promise I won’t report it.”

I stare at him, trying to gauge if he’ll keep his promise. “It was @greasemywheels.” His eyes widen. “I know. I should have figured it out from that alone.”

He smirks, and then we both burst into laughter. I’m so happy that the tension is broken and just want to move on from this topic already. The air is lighter now, and I’m glad to have told my story even though he had to pull it out of me. Sometimes just telling another person makes the load a little easier to carry.

“What a terrible experience. I know that was hard for you to share with me. My lips are sealed. I won’t tell anyone else unless you ask me to. But if you ever hear from him again?—”

I jump in before he can finish. “I’ll tell you right away.”

He nods. “Great, that makes me feel a little better about this whole thing. If you ever change your mind, I’m sure it’s not too late to report him.”

“That’s just going to reopen everything at this point. I think he’s moved on now, and I don’t want to make it worse.” I give him a level stare to make sure he understands.

Jace throws his hands up. “Got it. I’ll leave it alone.”

A nervous giggle escapes me. I know I’m being a little dramatic. A yawn slips out, and my hand flies to my mouth to cover it.

He looks at his watch and his eyes widen. “It’s so late! I’m sorry, I totally lost track of time.”

Sneaking a look at the alarm clock on my bedside table, I realize it’s past two a.m. “Wow, it really is late. I had no idea either.”

I’m so glad we’ve had this time to clear things up, hang out and talk, and get to know each other. The more time I spend with Jace, the closer he gets to being the ideal guy. Usually it’s the other way around. Find a guy you like, start dating, and after a few dates you find out that he isn’t at all what he seemed and you aren’t sure how you made it this far. But getting to know Jace is the opposite. He keeps showing me what a great guy he is—loyal, loving, smart…hot. Oh right, I knew that part from the beginning.

He leans in and puts his arms around me. “One last kiss, and then I’ll let you get to sleep.”

My face is turned up, waiting expectantly. His lips brush mine—once, twice—and then he pulls away. I think he may mean for that to be the end of it, but before I even realize I’m doing it, I’m kissing him back. His lips are firm and soft at the same time, and a warm floaty feeling travels down into my limbs.

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