Page 95 of Entangled

“It’s great.” I answer him honestly. “Far better than I originally expected.”

“Really?” Sam’s snarky voice sounds. “Because I heard you almost got Jace killed the other day.”

Turning my head toward her, I rake my eyes down the length of her body. “Did you?” I tilt my head in faux consideration. “That’s interesting. Thanks for the update.”

I grab the shot out of Tiff’s hand and throw it back without saying anything else. No need to give her more information and add to the town gossip. Plus, I don’t exactly want to relive the experience.

Setting down the shot glass on top of the cooler, I loop my arm through Tiff’s. “Come on, your cousin is waiting.”

Tiff rises up on her toes and plants a kiss on Jared’s cheek. “I’ll be back.”

Keeping my arm looped through hers, I start to backtrack to where I left Jace. The art of working my way back through the crowd taking a bit longer with another person in tow now. We eventually make through the oppressive swell to the path leading back to Jace and Tiff sighs wistfully.

“You know, I always wanted a sister.” She bumps my hip with hers, almost stumbling. “But I’ll settle for one badass cousin-in-law.”

I roll my eyes at her, making sure we step around a bottle lying in the sand and mutter uncomfortably. “Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

“Oh come on!” she groans. “Y’all are perfect together. Like these little beach versions of Barbie and Ken I had when I was little.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“It’s happening.” She claps her hands together, jerking my arm. “Did Jace bring his guitar? I told him the only thing I wanted for my birthday was for him to play later.”

“Yeah, he left it in the—”

My words cut off and I come to a halt as Jace comes into view, head thrown back in laughter as a perky little blonde number with ringlets lifts her hand to his shoulder. Zane and Andrea are standing a bit away, propping up chairs in the sand. Narrowing my eyes, I watch as Jace immediately takes a polite step back and lets her hand drop smoothly from his skin.

“Who is that?” I ask Tiff, nodding my head toward them and watching as the girl smiles, lifting a finger to play with one of her ringlets.

“Oh, that’s Alyssa, Jace and she used to—” She stops. “Uh, used to hang out.”

Hang out with his pierced cock inside of her, I’m sure.

Turning into the possessive type now, El?

My brows drop as I start to walk again, annoyed by the abundance of his pastflingsand the possession filling my chest. Jace notices me immediately and turns away from the perky blonde, taking a step toward me and flashing those damn dimples as he drops a kiss to my lips. I flick my eyes to the blonde as he lifts his head and wraps an arm around my shoulders, pulling me in and tucking me under his chin. Her expression quickly turns crestfallen and I can see the confusion in her eyes as she looks at us.

Jace reaches over and ruffles the top of Tiff’s hair. “Happy birthday, cousin.”

“I’m so happy you came!” Tiff exclaims. “How are you feeling?”

I feel him shrug against my back. “No worse for wear. And I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.” He presses a kiss to the top of my head. “El, this is Alyssa. Alyssa, this is El.”

What the fuck?

El? Just El? That’s really all I get?

“Nice to meet you.”

The perky little blonde smiles at me and I manage to twitch my lips up into some semblance of one in response. “Likewise.”

“Alyssa lives in the next town over,” Jace explains. “Our schools were actually big rivals growing up.”

“Hmm. That’s nice.”

I narrow my eyes on the girl as awkward silence falls and after a second she starts to squirm under my gaze. She’s definitely not a Sam and seems like a perfectly nice girl but… I just don’t really care. She touched him, they have history, and she needs to go.

“Uh… so,” Tiff starts lamely. “El said you brought the guitar, Jace?”

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