Page 61 of Stolen Fate

Jace

It was past midnight.

I should have been in bed. I had an early morning the next day, and I had a billion things that required my attention, but instead of resting, I was sitting alone in my kitchen, in the dark, nursing a glass of scotch.

I could have called Jensen up to see if he was up for getting a drink at the late hour. Jensen had been my best friend since we were five. We were about the same age, though, unlike me, he didn’t have a family to worry about. He had never even been married, and sometimes, I envied that about him.

No, I wouldn’t ever wish away the existence of either of my sons, but I had wished I had been smarter and never married Camila. Jensen had tried to warn me about her the night before the wedding. I didn’t listen to him, went against my gut instinct, and married her anyway.

I downed the contents of my glass, savoring the slight burn as it made its way down my throat, and poured myself another one.

I was conflicted.

And it wasn’t like me to be like this.

Evelyn brought out all sorts of raw, uninhibited feelings out of me, and I didn’t know if I hated it or loved it.

Or perhaps both.

I knew I should leave her alone.

She loved Elliot, and I knew Elliot loved her. I knew he was happier in the three weeks he spent with her than he had been in the first four years he’d spent with Camila, as rare as their spending time together had been.

And if I wanted her to stay in Elliot’s life, I knew I should leave her alone.

And so far, I had been.

For the first three weeks she was living with us, I avoided seeing her as much as possible, leaving as early as I could get away with in the mornings and coming home at exactly six o’clock so I could relieve Evelyn from her work.

For three weeks, I only allowed myself to think about her at night, only allowed myself the sweet relief of getting off from my hand at the thought of her.

Then I came home and saw the way Simon was looking at her.

My hand tightened around the glass and I gulped it back before setting the glass on the kitchen island in front of me.

How could I not have thought of the fact that Simon could be interested in Evelyn?

She was beautiful, in that girl-next-door kind of way, with gentle, expressive brown eyes and a body I would commit all sorts of atrocious sins for.

She was the kind of girl every man wanted to ruin and own, and I was no different, even if she was too good for the likes of me.

If only she knew…

Soft footsteps came down the stairs, and I knew they weren’t Elliot’s. The person was being too quiet—and Elliot was afraid of the dark. My little boy was as loud as he was energetic, which meant there could only be one person coming down the stairs.

I wondered whether she was coming down to the kitchen to look for a midnight snack because like me, she couldn’t sleep, or whether she was sneaking off in the middle of the night.

I shook my head. I needed another drink.

I knew I had no right to feel possessive of her—that just because she was working for me didn’t mean she couldn’t have a social life—only the thought of her with someone else made me want to ram my fist into the wall.

I owed her an apology for acting like an asshole before, but I knew I wouldn’t give it to her because I didn’t want her with anyone else but me.

“Fuck,” I said softly, getting worked up over the thought.

I heard her pause in her steps, then her small voice rang out, “Who’s there?”

“Do you really think a robber would answer you back at this time of night?” I asked, unable to keep the amusement out of my voice.

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