Page 12 of Between the Stars

Maybe don’t answer that just yet.

Griff’s shoulders stiffen. He doesn’t like it when plans change suddenly, which is weird, don’t you think? He’s going to be a cardio god—as he puts it. You’d think he’d need to think open-minded, but not Griffin. He likes his world predictable and planned. “I thought we were staying home for Christmas. My parents want us to come over for dinner.”

I nod, scrubbing my scalp and trying not to let on that while I was sucking his dick, I was thinking of someone else. The images of Jace above me in that back seat rush back and the heat rises in my cheeks again. I think of the moonlight in his hair and his eyes on fire with need.

Fuck, stop already!

“It wasn’t that I agreed,” I whisper, watching the water bead down Griff’s chest. “It was that you couldn’t leave because of your residency. You assumed I’d stay here for the holidays.”

His expression shifts and there’s a blip of anger digging deep in his brow. “Okay.”

He’s not happy with me. I can see it in the flat line of his lips and the tightening of his jaw. I drop my hands from my hair and reach for his shoulders. “I’ll be back for New Year’s. I just want to see my family. I feel like I haven’t seen them in so long, and then the first they hear from me and I’m sending them a wedding invi—.”

He interrupts me with “We saw your parents last month.”

“That’s them coming here.” I blink, slowly. “I want to go home for Christmas. I—”

“I don’t see why,” he interrupts again. Can you see a pattern? I rarely get to finish my sentence. I’m a “look pretty and don’t talk” kinda fiancé in his eyes.

“Don’t be like that.” I slap his shoulder playfully and turn away, embarrassment surfacing. “I miss my family.”

He rolls his eyes, his jaw tense. “I’ve met your brother. I don’t see how you can miss him.”

“You know what I mean.”

Groaning, he runs his hands over his face and then eyes me carefully. “Make sure you’re back by New Year’s.” He pulls me closer, his hand around my waist as our eyes lock on one another. “Because I’m the only one you’re going to be kissing at midnight.”

I fight off the nerves and force another smile. “Are you jealous, Griff Hemington?”

He lets go of me and turns away toward the spray of water. “Jealousy is a trait of a weak man.” After rinsing his hair, he regards me once more. “I know you’re not stupid enough to lose the best thing that’s ever happened to you.”

The best thing that’s ever happened to me? Do you not like him after that remark? Because I like him a little less. Griff knows who Jace is. I told him about my high school boyfriend, if you could have ever called Jace my boyfriend. But I think about Griff’s words again.

Sometimes I wonder if this man in front of me is the person I fell in love with. Sometimes I wonder if he has a heart. People don’t always reveal themselves before you commit to them. Sometimes you get caught up in the romance of it and think they’re perfect. He was charming, sweet, attractive, and sold himself to me. But still, he has the uncanny ability to seduce me at the same time as degrading me.

But the boy bathed in moonlight and calling me his back seat baby, he’d never talk to me that way. In fact, I never got much in the way of words from him. I never got an “I love you,” but he made me feel like it was impossible to say away from me.

CHAPTER4

Texas Kind of Way

JACE

What’s Tennessee have that I don’t?

I haven’t gottenmuch sleep lately.

Surprised?

Didn’t think so. We’re really starting to get to know one another and I’m not sure it’s for the better. You should rethink our friendship. Spend thirty seconds in my head and that’ll freak ya out.

I’ll tell you one thing. I need to find something that can get me over this girl, but I’ve been looking into the bottom of a bottle for years and still haven’t found a way. And I’ll tell you something else. Sometimes I don’t think. Okay, most men can say that, and it will probably be the most accurate statement of their life.

Do you agree?

Put your hand down. You look silly.

But, if you’re not 100 percent on board with my take on this, take a look at my current situation. See that frozen solid sheet of ice they call a road? And the Jeep attempting to drive on it? That’s me. I’m a fucking mess and obsessed with a memory of a girl who isn’t mine any longer.

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