Page 20 of Give Me Forever Love

It’s laid-back cool, yet stylish. It’s decorated to match the man who lives here. Dark wood and framed photos of bands that were once on top of the world. Just like my guy.

Time has a way of changing everything.

Every. Single. Thing.

We have control over little in this life. Our choices are our own, our feelings. But time…

Time is untouchable.

Part of me wants to curl up on the couch and breathe in this whole room.

Even if Jace has been here with a woman, I can still smell Bryce, feel Bryce.

“Bryce’s hearing is in an hour.”

Jace holds his smoke between his lips. “I’ll clean up and wash the sheets.”

“You think he’ll come home?”

“I don’t see why not. He isn’t a flight risk. He got into some shit as a kid, but Pops helped with all that.”

I nod as my eyes go over to the bottle of bourbon on the counter. “Can I have a drink?”

He runs a hand over the back of his neck, lifting his brow. “Yeah.” Walking over, he pours both of us a glass before handing me mine. I look down at the brown liquid.

“To life,” Jace says, holding up his glass. “May it fuck you less than it’s fucked me.”

I smirk. “You obviously don’t know anything about mine.” We toss back the drink, and I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand and look over at Jace. He’s pale, skinnier, and has dark circles under his eyes.

And suddenly I forget about my own shit and realize this boy is heartbroken. The first girl he falls for turns out to be an undercover cop, lies to him, and sends his family off to jail.

“You all right?” he asks. While I’ve been looking at him, he’s been looking at me.

I’m sure I look just as defeated.

“I should be asking you that,” I say.

He takes a drag from his smoke. “It hasn’t been a good few days.”

My eyes bounce back to the cocaine. “This all you been doing?”

He shrugs, sniffing as he sits down on the arm of the sofa, propping his bare feet up on the coffee table. Coasters go unused and ashes are sprinkled over the top. The rotating fan above feathers them across the table.

“I’m not judging you. I haven’t been doing much better.”

He lifts a brow and rubs under his nose before taking another hit.

“We were in a good place, ya know?” I shake my head, bunching my eyebrows together as I stare at the table. “I’d never been there. Never stepped foot in the basement. He was excited for me to see it. And even though Iknewwhat he was doing was illegal, I just let it be.”

“Because you love him.”

My eyes go back to Jace’s face. I roll them as I lean my head back and exhale, scanning over the ceiling. “Yeah. I’m sick in love,” I spit.

Love is looking past things that you shouldn’t. I walk over and pour another glass of bourbon.

“Bones came by to visit, Bryce,” I tell him.

“Really?” He looks as surprised as I was.

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