Page 22 of Entangled

And it wouldn’t be anything good.

So I had told her I had somewhere to be and quickly ushered her out of the house in a decidedly less neighborly fashion than I had welcomed her in. The slamming of the door behind her was quickly followed by the realization that I actually had to go somewhere or else the nosy neighbor would definitely know I had been lying. Andbless her heart, Doreen had been oh so conveniently watering her plants when I had gone to leave.

I had been sure to give her a bratty wave.

Which is how I had ended up in the small parking lot adjacent to the beach, looking out at the bonfire like a moth drawn to a flame.

What the hell was I doing here? This was probably the worst idea I’d had since…

Nope, not even going there.

Just pull away, El. Jace will never even know you were here.

Be smarter than you were before.

Decision made, I nod to myself and go to put my car in reverse when a loud knock sounds against my window, causing my heart to damn near jump from my chest.

Jerking my head up, I look out my window and am greeted by the sight of Jace’s smiling face framed by the hood of a white sweatshirt like he’s some sort of angel. As if.

Dammit. So much for my quick escape.

I throw open my door and step out, scowling furiously at him along the way.

“What the hell, Dawson?!” My voice whips out and his grin falters. “You can’t just sneak up on someone like that!”

“Uh. Take a breath, Blondie.” He takes a step back and raises his hands in surrender. “I was heading down to the beach when I saw you sitting here all sullenly so I thought I’d stop and see if you were planning to go down at some point or if you just wanted a good view to watch the festivities.”

I cross my arms and stare up at him, shifting uncomfortably. “I wasn’t sitting here sullenly, I was just contemplating—you know what, this is not about me.” I lift my hand and poke him in the chest for emphasis. Not at all noticing how firm it is. “You can’t sneak up on people like that. What if I had thought I was being carjacked and pulled a gun or something?”

His eyes widen, expression morphing into an uncomfortably curious look as he shoves his hands into the front pocket of his hoodie.

“You own a gun?”

“What?” I snap, bewildered by the sudden change in topic.

He shifts awkwardly on his feet. “I just thought… given your history…”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“I just meant—”

“I know what you meant.”

“No, no, no,” he rushes out, lifting a hand as if to reach for me before thinking better of it. “That’s not what I meant. It’s just people who lose a loved one to gun violence tend to come down on the gun control side of things.”

“Right,” I draw out in disbelief.

“Seriously. If you own a gun, I’m all for it. Hell, I’d take you to the shooting range myself and we can see who’s the better shot.”

My head jerks back in surprise. “You own a gun?”

He cringes openly in response to my question before opening and then closing his mouth as if deciding it wiser not to answer.

“Can we start over?”

I narrow my eyes at him and stay silent, quickly sorting through my options. I could be a bitch, play that he had hurt my feelings, get in my car and leave. The excuse was ready-made now. Problem was… I didn’t genuinely think he had been questioning my sanity when it came to owning a gun, not that I did, and… fuck it all to hell but part of me didn’t want to leave now that he was standing in front of me.

There was something about him, a lightness that spread out to me when he was around. It lured me in, driving away the shadows that had followed me around for the past year and brought to life a part of me that had been lost. And I liked it. I liked him. It would be nothing but foolish of me to try to deny it any longer. Better to just face up to it. The question was… if things progressed, could I keep them purely physical?

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