Page 20 of Hideaway

“I’ll add that to your list of stunning accomplishments,” Kara quipped sarcastically, her eyes rolling to the heavens.

“You’re keeping a list?” Cade asked brightly as though he found the idea positively adorable.

“It’s incredibly short,” Kara deadpanned.

“Love, I think we both know nothing about me is short.”

“Goodnight, Cade,” Kara said dismissively before returning to her book without a second glance in his direction. She had no intention of engaging in playful banter with a man who wouldn’t deign to grant her the fuck she so desperately needed. As far as she was concerned, he could go fuck himself.

“Goodnight, Kara,” he answered softly.

AN hour or two passed in melancholic silence while Kara tried to focus on literary characters fucking and not think of Cade being out for the evening fucking someone who wasn’t her. It was proving to be an impossible task. The words on the page were a blur, and, when she’d accidentally re-read the same sentence for perhaps the fifth time in a row, Kara surrendered to the inevitability ofnotforgetting Cade. She bolted from her seat with a huff of exasperation and threw thedamnbook at thedamnchair pretending that she was assaulting thedamn British bastardinstead of a helpless piece of furniture.

Kara’s cathartic, albeit unbecoming, tantrum was cut short with an unusually melodic knock on the door, as though someone were playing out a tune on the hardwood. The rhythm of Kara’s heart quickened at the thought of Cade returning to finish what he started. Why hadn’t he left yet? Had he decided to stay? Kara’s frantic heart had the sudden urge to bolt from her chest at the thought that Cade might have stayed for her.

With trembling hands, Kara unlocked the doors that she had angrily bolted after Cade walked out the first time and opened them. She flinched in surprise when she discovered who was on the other side. Jace stood before her, his wrinkled, white dress shirt unbuttoned a little too low at the top and his sleeves rolled halfway up his arms to expose the dark, inky ripples of tattoos snaking up his forearms. Absentmindedly, Kara wondered how far the ink went. This was the most she’d seen of Jace’s skin, his partially unbuttoned shirt also revealing what looked like a sequence of numbers tattooed along his neck. His hand was still raised as though she’d caught him in the middle of beating down the door—which she had—and his other hand held a half-full bottle of dark liquor. Jace’s eyes were darker than usual, more like the deep blue depths of the ocean rather than the pale shallow pools that usually stared back at her. Kara’s skin warmed and her cheeks flushed as she watched his eyes roam her body with a lascivious gleam. He was so close she could smell the faint hint of whisky on his breath mingled with notes of spearmint. Instinctively, Kara took a step backward. Jace sober made her skin crawl with unease; Jace mixed with alcohol was a danger that had her body subconsciously begging her to run.

“I brought the party,” Jace announced cheerfully, shaking the bottle of bourbon in the air.

“I’m not in the partying mood,” Kara responded sullenly, breathing a sigh of relief that he didn’t sound drunk. At least not yet.

“Why so serious, Dr. Caine? Mad Ashford left you to go play with his club whores?” Jace asked as he drew closer, leaning his arm across the top of the door frame. “You know, we could play too. Might be fun.” Jace ran the tip of his index finger down Kara’s neck, so lightly she couldn’t be sure if he actually made contact with her skin or not.

“Cade is at a nightclub?” Kara guessed, too distracted by getting information about Cade to move away from Jace’s touch.

In response, Jace flashed her a cruel smile that had her blood curdling in her veins. “No baby, not a nightclub. Asex club. And not just your run of the mill, everyone gets naked and fucks each other type of sex club. This shit is elite. Catering explicitly to kinky motherfuckers with no limits—on their bank accounts or their deep, dark desires.”

Kara stood in open-mouthed silence, too shocked to come up with any clever retort. Jace’s fingers trailed a little farther down; she allowed it because her body seemed to have momentarily lost control of its functions. Cade was at a sex club? Akinkysex club? That was so far out of her limited sexual experience that she didn’t even know what to think. Absentmindedly, she wondered if that should make her feel better about Cade’s refusal to have sex with her. Somehow, though, it made his rejection worse. Now she knew why he didn’t want her. She couldn’t even begin to understand how to be what hewanted.

“Forget about him, baby,” Jace crooned as his body pressed against her, pushing her into the library. “Have a drink with me.”

“Okay,” Kara agreed numbly, temporarily relieved of her senses. She allowed Jace to take her hand and pull her toward the leather couch in the middle of the room. He tried to pull her onto his lap, but she had enough propriety to sit beside him instead. Jace handed her the bottle of bourbon, and she took it, lifting it to her lips and nearly choking on the burn of liquid fire spilling down her throat. “Holy fuck, how do you drink this?” she asked as she coughed on the lingering remnants of alcohol in her mouth.

Jace laughed, taking the bottle from her and drinking large gulps without so much as a flinch.

“Show off,” Kara sulked, crossing her arms over her chest. She couldn’t even get drunk properly.

“You can’t drink it like it’s water or some shit. You have to throw it back, swallow it without trying to taste it or let it linger in your mouth.”

“If you don’t want to taste it, why do you even drink it?” Kara asked as she accepted the bourbon and choked on another small sip. Straight liquor was revolting and needed to be doused in sugar to make it even remotely appealing.

“Because the point isn’t to taste it, it’s to fuckingfeelit. To forget about everything else. Hell, the world could crash and burn around you, and you wouldn’t give a fuck,” Jace explained after another long drink.

Kara studied Jace in surprise. His explanation was unexpected, not exactly deep, but more contemplative than she’d given him credit for. She suspected this was probably the closest anyone got to having a real conversation with Jace, and he had to be drunk to do it. Something about his words resonated with her. “What do you want to forget, Jace?” Kara asked softly, her eyes peering into his.

Jace looked away, suddenly uncomfortable with the attention that he had been begging for just a few minutes before. “You know what, guess it already worked because I can’t remember shit,” Jace replied after several moments, his playboy persona firmly back in place as he gave her a wink.

Kara ignored him and choked down another swallow of bourbon.

“You’re doing it all wrong,” he said with a laugh as he watched her struggle in a losing battle against the liquor. “Here, let me help you. Tip your head back.”

“I don’t know, Jace—”

“Just do what I tell you, Kara.”

Kara got a little thrill of excitement from his command, but it was an empty feeling compared to how Cade made her feel—hisdemands set fire to the blood in her veins and made her want to crawl through fire just to please him. But she was trying to forget about him, so she agreed to let Jace help, tipping her head back like he asked.

“Good, baby. Now, open your mouth.”

---