"Shit," Caleb mumbled, interrupting the moment.

We both looked over to see Caleb standing above my dad. He bent down and held his hand above his mouth. "He's barely breathing," Caleb panicked. "You better get out of here. Now, before I call the cops."

A small part of me wanted to run to my dad. To make sure that he was going to be fine, but the bigger part of me told me that I needed to get Jace out of there. He was only protecting me. He never meant to hurt him.

"Jace." My voice shook as I reached for his arm.

Jace took a deep breath and bit his bottom lip. "I didn't mean to hurt him that-"

"I know," I cut in. I knew that Jace meant well. He was taking care of me as he promised. Just as he did that day when Max touched me.   

"Take that monster and get out of here," Caleb spat. "That's who you choose to be around? He's dangerous, Avery."

"He's not. He was-"

"It's fine, Avery. Let's get out of here." Jace said, pulling me into him.

I took one last look at my dad as he coughed and struggled, spitting up blood. My legs grew weak as I let Jace lead me outside and to his Mustang.

Jace opened the door for me and gently helped me inside before running over to his side and roughly shutting the door behind him.

He shoved the keys into the ignition and then reached over and cupped my face. He was silent as his eyes studied mine. My heart sped up. Both of us started to shake, as he looked me in the eye. "I'm going to take care of all of this. I promise."

I sat back in my seat and squeezed my eyes shut as Jace shifted the car into drive and took off. The tears rolled down my face leaving little wet spots on my shirt and jacket.

I could see Jace turning to look at me every few minutes, but I was in so much shock that I couldn't even get words to form.

I shook my head and slammed it into the seat. I didn’t know what to think. If my father died then Jace would probably get thrown into jail, not to mention the fact that my mother could already be dead.

The car was silent as we pulled up in front of Jace's house. He took the keys out of the ignition and looked over at me. "I have something to tell you." He forced out. "I should've told you in the first place."

My whole body started shaking as I attempted to look over at him. The look on his face was one of worry and pain. I wanted to reach out and hold him, to comfort him. "Tell me," I said softly, wanting him to know that he could tell me anything.

Jace leaned his head back and squeezed his eyes closed. He nervously played with the steering wheel as he pursed his lips. "That girl. The one that was in the picture that broke." He paused and looked away.

"Yes," I pushed.

"That was a close friend of mine. Zara was her name," he whispered. "Her boyfriend used to beat the crap out of her. She would come over at least once a week with bruises and cuts, crying and telling me all of the horrible things that he did to her. Finally, one day after I had enough and couldn't take anymore, I found him when he was alone. I found him and I beat the crap out of him." He stopped and looked over at me.

I nodded my head for him to continue.

He took a deep breath and ran his hands through his messy hair. "Zara came home just in time… she stopped me. He was barely breathing by that time. Fuck!" He slammed his head into the seat. "It was the same thing that happened tonight. I didn't mean to do so much damage, but something takes over me and when I care about someone I want to protect them."

I reached over with shaky hands and grabbed his face. I looked him in the eye, while rubbing his cheek. "What happened to her?" I questioned.

His eyes became glassy as he quickly turned his head away. "She felt bad for him so she stayed by his side. A week later he beat her...to...death." He choked it out. “I should’ve done more to save her. After that I promised to never let that happen to anyone that I cared about again.”

My heart sank to my stomach as I sat there, mouth open in shock. I was speechless. Jace had probably spent all of that time blaming himself. That's probably why Max said that he hadn't changed. He meant his violence, but it wasn't fair. He was only protecting his friend. "It wasn't your fault," I blurted out, wanting to cry and hold him and tell him that it wasn’t his fault.

He looked over at me with a look of shock. His eyes softened as he reached over and ran his finger over my lip.

"I missed you. I've been wanting to do this for so long now." He leaned in, pressing his lips against mine, causing me to become breathless.

My arms instantly went around his neck and squeezed as he pressed his lips closer to mine causing us both let out a moan of passion.

The kiss was broken up as loud knocking on the car window shocked us out of our own little world.

We both looked up in surprise to see a police officer with one hand on the window and the other gripping the top of his gun as if he was ready to pull it out at any minute.

His tall build leaned into the window as he nodded his head and waved his thick arm. "Jace Montgomery," he said stiffly. "Please step out of the car."

This can't be happening....

I watched in horror as Jace stiffly pressed his face into the steering wheel and huffed, before slamming his right fist into the roof of his Mercedes. "Dammit," he mumbled.

I felt sick to my stomach. Caleb called the police! My father died? Jace is going to jail?

I couldn't control my thoughts or emotions as I reached for the door handle, hands shaking as I pushed the door open. I placed one shaky leg after the other down to the dirty gravel as I attempted to get out of the car. My right leg gave out, but I quickly caught myself before I could fall down to the ground. "No!" I shouted. "Jace didn't do anything-"

"It’s fine, Avery." Jace shook his head and looked toward the ground. "I will take full responsibility for what I did," He said while stepping out of the car and leaning against it, eyes glued to mine. "I'm sorry, Avery.

"No," I whined. "I won't let you go to jail." I looked up with pleading eyes as I stood in front of the police officer. "It's not his fault. You can't-"

"Look here." The police officer cut in. "I don't have all night to listen to you two whine about a ticket." He looked between the both of us and raised an eyebrow. "You both act as if you've never received a speeding ticket before," he grunted, while pulling out his pad of tickets.