Page 111 of Muse (Fighting Fate)

Reaching over to where my phone sat on the bedside table, I fumbled, trying to find the power button so I could ignore the call, but all I managed to do was push it off to the floor.

“For fuck’s sake!” I growled.

I considered just letting it ring out, but the volume was turned up full blast for some stupid fucking reason and it was grating on my fucking nerves. Why had I chosen that song as my ring tone again?

Leaning over the bed to silence it, I froze. Mia’s face was staring at me from the screen. It was Mia trying to ring me?

My heart instantly sprang into a panicked beat. Before I knew what I was doing, I’d scooped up the phone and was on my feet with the phone pressed to my ear. “Hello?”

The silence on the other end confused me. Had I left it too long to answer? Had she misdialed? I pulled the phone away from my ear so I could check the status of the call. It said it was connected. It was timing the call…

Putting it back to my ear, I tried again. “Mia?” That was when I heard the little sobs, and I felt my heart shatter. “Mia, baby? Are you there?”

“Jace…” she choked out. “I’m...so...sorry.”

I didn’t know how my heart could break any more than it already had, but it did. Just the broken sound of her voice, the desperation in it, did it.

“I..c...can’t...”

Fuck! I fucking hated this! I felt so fucking helpless. “Are you at home, baby?” I asked frantically.

“...y...yes...”

I banged my forehead against the wall and squeezed my eyes shut. I couldn’t stand it. I needed to go to her. Reaching for my jeans, I swallowed hard against the lump in my throat. “I’m going to come over okay, baby? I’ll be there in a minute.” I was already halfway into my jeans.

She didn’t answer. All I could hear was crying.

Grabbing a shirt and my keys, I ran out the door. “I’m getting in the car now, okay? I’m coming.”

The sobbing on the other end of the line grew louder. Motherfucking hell. At this rate I was going to be in tears by the time I reached my fucking car!

“Baby, I’m going to hang up now, okay? Can you go open up your patio door for me?”

I heard her gasping for breaths. “O...okay...”

I didn’t want to hang up, but I needed two hands for this drive. I pressed end and cranked the car to life. It was much the same driving I’d done when I’d found out she’d been hurt. Luckily, this time I didn’t have far to go. I reached her house in less than two minutes.

Parking haphazardly, I threw myself out the car and ran around the back of the house. Her door was already open, and she was standing there with tears pouring down her face. Without a thought, I scooped her up into my arms and lifted her off the floor.

Mia’s arms went straight around my neck, clinging to me with her life. Harsh sobs wracked her body, making my chest ache with indescribable pain. I held her against me harder. I had no idea how to take away either of our pain, but this was a start.

She pressed her face into the curve of my neck as I walked further into the room, shoving the door closed as I went. For countless moments I just stood there in the middle of her room, the both of us just clinging to each other.

When her sobs subsided, I lowered her feet to the floor, keeping my arms wrapped around her tightly. There was no way I was letting her go if she didn’t ask me to. But Mia didn’t loosen her hold on me either. She just continued to cling to me as though she was frightened I’d leave if she let me go.

Neither of us said anything while we stood there holding each other. I was just so fucking grateful she was letting me be there.

A few moments later, Mia loosened her hold on me, bringing her hands down to rest on my chest. She didn’t lift her head to look at me. She just left it resting there, taking slow, deep breaths.

I didn’t know what had happened to make her break down like that, but I was so fucking happy I’d been the one she’d called, nothing else mattered. I just stood there, holding her and breathing her in.

As she tried to calm her shuddering body, I gently smoothed my hands over her back, soothing and loving. I listened to her breathe, feeling the slight rise and fall of her back with my hands. Not being able to stop myself, I pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

Tentatively, she lifted her head and gazed into my eyes. She looked so fucking devastated it made my chest ache all over again. “I’m so sorry, Jace,” she whispered.

What the fuck? I frowned at her with confusion. “What for, baby?”

Her face crumbled a little and she swallowed hard. “I was so mean to you.”

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