Page 96 of Stolen Fate

“Oh, is Elliot there? Hey, buddy, how’s my little man doing?”

“Uncle Jensen!” Elliot called out, and whatever sad thoughts he had been thinking seemed to have been quickly wiped away. Jace met my eyes with a smile, and I mirrored his expression.

“Guess what, Uncle Jensen?”

“What?” And even through the phone, I could hear the amusement and fondness in his voice. Whoever he was, he really loved Elliot. Which was good. I was happy to see there were more adults in Elliot’s life who loved him more than his bitch of a mother.

“I’m getting a haircut today.”

“Oh, is that so? You don’t want to keep your hair long?”

“Nooooo,” Elliot said, drawing out the word a bit. My smile widened. “Only girls have long hair. And I’m not a girl.”

“Well, you know boys can leave their hair long, too, right?”

“Really?” Elliot tried to move up in his seat, but his belts were in the way. “But you don’t have long hair. And Daddy doesn’t have long hair. But Evelyn does, and she’s a girl.”

“Ah, Evelyn. You’re, uh, friend, right?”

I could see him nodding fiercely, as if he was defending our relationship to this Jensen person.

I winked at Elliot and he giggled. “Yes, she’s my friend, and so is Charlie and Marcus, and Daddy, and you, Uncle Jensen.”

“Well, I am honored to be your friend.”

I looked back to Jace to see him full-on smiling. My breath caught in my throat, and it was taking everything in me not to reach out and touch him.

Jace met my eyes briefly before he turned back to the road, but I swore, that half a second shared between us felt infinite, and I could see a lifetime shared between us in that half a second, better and clearer than I had ever seen my future with anyone else.

With my heart beating erratically in my chest, I turned to my side and stared out the window while Jace tried to bring the conversation back to him and Jensen.

“I’ll call you later, okay? We’re almost at the salon.”

“Yeah, that’s cool. I just wanted to call and check up on you.”

“I know. Thanks. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Later, man. Bye, Elliot.”

“Uncle Jensen, aren’t you going to say bye to Evelyn, too?”

I frowned a little and looked back at Elliot. But he wasn’t looking at me, he was looking down at his teddy bear. Ah, jeez. Now things were going to get awkward.

“Oh, I didn’t realize Evelyn was with you guys.” And it could have just been me, but Jensen’s voice sounded weird to me then, and I couldn’t figure out why that was.

“Yes,” Jace answered casually. But I could hear a small warning in his voice, and I was sure Jensen heard it, too.

I decided to speak up then. “Hi—Jensen, is it?”

“Hi, Evelyn. It’s nice to finally hear about the person Elliot and Jace have been talking nonstop about.”

I glanced over at Jace then. He had been talking about me to his friend? Why did that make me want to blush?

Ah, hell, I was already blushing, and Jace's cheeks were turning a slight pink, too. And now there was nothing but awkward silence.

“Um, yeah. That’s me, I guess.” I let out an awkward laugh and had to stop myself from cringing.

“Yes. I hope to meet you soon. It’ll be nice to finally put a face to your voice. And by the way Jace and Elliot were going on about you, I have no doubt I’ll be meeting a real beauty.”

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