Page 61 of Muse (Fighting Fate)

She huffed. “Hardly. Unfortunately, I think I missed the best part. What did she say to you to make you go off like that?”

I furrowed my brow trying to recall it all. “She warned me to back the hell off Jace because they had a ‘thing’, and she wasn’t going to put up with some clueless princess taking what’s hers, or something like that…”

Kaeli’s eyes near popped out her head. “What the fuck?!”

“I know, right?”

“So, what did you say before I walked in?”

I scrunched my nose up guiltily. “I may have told her she was the clueless one and reminded her that Jace was my brother’s best friend and I got to see him every weekend. Then I might have called her on her bullshit about sleeping with him and told her it made her look desperate.”

Kaeli burst out laughing before slapping her hand over her mouth. “Please tell me you’re not joking.”

I smiled, feeling pretty good about standing up for myself. “I’m definitely not joking.”

“Oh my god. That is just gold. I can still see her face. I don’t think she was expecting you to bite back.”

“I know. She’s a bully. I can just imagine what she’s going to put on Facebook.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it. I think Claire and Meaghan will be more than happy to counter anything she says. Melissa’s targeted them a lot over the years.”

Yeah. It was time these girls learned it wasn’t right messing with people’s lives like that.

Chapter 30

Jace

I watched my little wild cat disappear around the corner with a smile. I loved that little wild side of Mia. It was the same part of her I saw in the bedroom. It was the ‘real’ Mia. The person she would be if she hadn’t had tragedy thrown into her life.

I turned to grab my books from my locker and suddenly found myself slammed against it. Hard.

“What the fuck do you think you’re playing at?”

My natural instinct told me to hit back, but when I realized it was Aiden, I refrained. Just. “What are you talking about, man?”

He shoved me harder. “Don’t play dumb with me. You think I don’t know your MO after all these years? You need to stay the fuck away from Mia.”

Well, this wasn’t going as well as I’d hoped. I could see Matt and Dean out the corner of my eye, fucking off anyone who tried to come and see what was going on. I sighed. “I can’t do that, man,” I said quietly.

He pulled back a little in surprise and frowned. “What the fuck do you mean, you can’t?”

“I mean, I really like her, Aid.”

He just blinked at me. I think he was in shock. I could just make out Matt and Dean standing close by. I was sure they could hear what we were saying but I didn’t want to break eye contact with Aiden to see.

Aiden seemed to snap out of his trance and shoved me again. “No fucking way. Not going to happen. She’s not some bimbo slut you can just use and throw away. I mean it, Jace. Stay the fuck away from her!”

I pushed against him a little. He was starting to piss me off. “Fuck you. I know she’s not a fucking bimbo slut. I don’t want to fucking use her. I want to date her!”

I watched the confusion come over his face again. His grip loos

ened a little. Not by a lot but it was something. “Man, I know you. You don’t date. Mia’s just a challenge for you.”

Now I was mad. I pushed him off me. “Fuck you, man! Have you not noticed I haven’t been with a chick since Aspen?!”

My gaze flickered to all three of my band mates. They all had that dear in headlights look about them. Matt was the first to snap out of it. “Fuck off.”

I stared him down. “Name one.”

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