Page 25 of Set the Moment
Continuing down that road with Jace would only lead to two things: failure and regrets. Two very,verydisappointing things that I don’t see for my future self any time soon.
As the game progresses, my skin grows clammier, and by the time the game is done, I’m hot all over.
What the hell is happening to me?
“You coming to the bar tonight?” Blake asks Derek, who’s been awfully quiet all night as he declines, gesturing to his sleeping daughter.
I can feel eyes watching my every move as I wipe a bead of sweat from my forehead.
“What about you guys? Sienna, you coming?” Cleo asks, turning to face me, and it’s then that I realize I’d been zoning out.
“Huh…?”
“She’s not, she’s going home and getting some rest.” Jace cuts in for me, and I don’t know if I want to thank him for saying what my mouth wouldn’t or scold him for speaking for me.
“What?! No, it’s the first game of the season!” Georgia groans, butting into the conversation.
“I don’t know, G. I don’t feel too good,” I mumble, holding a hand to my aching stomach as Georgia’s frown deepens.
“Fine…Hey, DILF, can you take her home? We live in the RiverView complex, but I drove here.” My eyes widen as Georgia calls out to Derek, mynemesis.
Nemesis may be a strong word, but he’s up there on my list right next to my former mentor at NYU and toe socks.
I look at each and every person around me before my eyes land onhis. If a person could hold a storm in their eyes, then Jace’s holds a wildfire. His eyes are brimming with heat and anger as his jaw clenches. I watch him as he folds his arms across his chest and my stomach churns. I don’t know if it’s from sickness or because of attraction, but I want him to say something…anything.
I wanthimto take me home, not this asshole.
Just when he’s about to open his mouth, Derek cuts in.
“Of course, I’ll take her home.”
My heart falls. I don’t know what I had expected—Jace isn’t my knight in shining armor. Why would he give up his Saturday night at a bar just to take me home?
The car ride with Derek is silent and uncomfortable with him and I sitting in silence while Delilah sleeps.
It isn’t until we get close enough to my apartment that he makes the first move and initiates a conversation.
“How long have you known Jace?” he asks. His eyes are on the road, but I can feel him looking at me through his peripheral vision. My head snaps to my left and I stare at him.
“What? It’s not every day that my closest friend stares at me like I’ve committed treason…you two hookup or something?”
“God, you’re unbearable,” I groan quietly.
The first time he’s spoken to me since the recital and he’s asking if Jace and I have had sex? Typical ogre male mentality…
“You can just drop me off here,” I offer as we get to the street light five minutes away from the apartment. Derek cracks a hearty laugh.
“I’m not letting you out the car at a random light—Shit, Deli’s hair.” He curses under his breath after quickly turning to look at the sleeping toddler in the back seat, snuggled into her stuffed lion.
I smile at the sight of Delilah’s adorable sleeping form before my eyes widen, taking in the sight of her hair. When he’d put her in her car seat back at the stadium, it’d been in two long ponytails.
Now, her hair resembles a bird's nest, messy and tangled. When we pull up to my apartment, I waste zero time, hoping out of the car and gently pulling Delilah to be able to access her head while letting her sleep.
My nannies would always put two braids in my hair as a kid, and since that's the only style that I know how to do on another person, I do it to Delilah's hair in no time.
Derek watches silently as I finish the last braid before deciding to open his big fat mouth, spoiling my mood.
“Thanks, but she’s not your kid.”
