My body silently protests the loss of his touch. “What? Why?”

He grips my hips before shifting us so we’re lying longways on the couch. “I need you to sit somewhere else.”

“Where?”

Grinning, he taps his chin. “Right here.” Those dark orbs flash as he takes my panties off. “Right fucking now.”

I start to move, but he shakes his head. “Turn around. I want you to finish what you started while I eat this little pussy.” He slaps my ass as I reposition myself. “Trust me, it won’t take long.” Warmth rushes through my veins like a potent drug as he guides me over his mouth. “For either of us.”

Shivers dance over my skin as he laps at me, flicking the metal against my most sensitive spots.

I’m so turned on I can’t see straight. I suck him as deep and fast as I can, gunning for those rough, wild sounds he makes.

My body thrums with tension and my thighs start quaking as he pulls and licks my flesh. Just when I think it can’t possibly feel any better, he adds a finger to the mix, strumming it over my clit like his favorite instrument.

White-hot heat sizzles up my spine as I pick up the pace on my end. His cock pulses in my mouth and he thrusts his hips upward. It’s the only warning I get before he groans and shoots down my throat. Some liquid trickles out in the process and I lick it off his balls, loving the way he shudders underneath me.

Hands kneading my ass, he goes back to working me into a helpless frenzy. A moment later, the tight coil of pleasure inside me snaps and I buck against his mouth, whimpering his name as I come.

Little shivers rake up and down my spine as he plants a soft kiss on my pussy, before easing me onto the couch and standing up.

Neither of us says a word as he tucks himself back into his jeans and picks my wet dress up off the floor.

Dread sinks like a stone in my gut when he places it in my hands without looking at me.

I’d say he’s disconnected—but that’s not it. I can feel his pain digging into my soul as though it were my own.

Jace looks so guilty, so disgusted with himself, I feel sick as I put my dress back on and gather my heels.

I can sense the agitation and repulsion stirring inside him as he types something into his phone. It’s as if he can’t wait for me to leave so he can make plans with someone better.

Someone who doesn’t repel him the way I do.

My throat clogs as I blink back tears I refuse to shed.

I don’t understand why hooking up with me causes him to act like this.

One second he’s worshipping my body, and the next it’s like my presence repulses him and he’d rather claw his eyes out than spend one more second in a room with me.

“Jace,” I whisper, my voice a razor’s edge from cracking.

“Oakley will be here in a few hours,” he informs me. “You can stay here until then.”

He can’t even bring himself to share a car with me for the ten whole minutes it would take to drop me off?

Shoving his phone into the back pocket of his jeans, he heads for the door.

“Jace,” I choke out, my voice shattering like glass.

Talk to me. Tell me what I did.

Why you hate me so much when I’ve never stopped loving you.

He pauses, his breathing staticky. “We can’t do this anymore.”

There are a million things I want to say, and even more, I want to ask.

Instead, I brush past him.

I have too much self-respect to let him reduce me to nothing. I’m the one leaving this time around.

“Tell Oakley I walked home,” I say over my shoulder as I march out the door.

My heart rattles in my ribcage with every step I take.

I want him to run after me, tell me he made a mistake and that he’ll never let me go again…but he’s already made it perfectly clear I’m the only mistake he made tonight.

Chapter 36

Dylan

“Why is it so freaking cold?” Sawyer gripes as we walk up the stands.

I feel her pain. The temperatures don’t usually drop below sixty-five in November, but tonight it’s almost fifty. Far too cold for our west coast blood.

“I don’t know, but I’m grateful it’s my first and last football game of the season.”

Behind us, Oakley groans. “Would you two quit your bitching? You’re putting negative energy into the universe right before my boy’s big game.”

“Whatever, you big hippie,” I tease as we find some empty seats and park our asses.

“Remind me again why we came tonight?” Sawyer says through chattering teeth. “I’m pretty sure my brain is frozen.”

I point to my cousin, who’s sitting between us. “Ask him.”

Oakley rolls his eyes. “I told you, Cole banned me from coming to any of his games because he thinks I’m bad luck.”

Sawyer scrunches her face. “So you’re here because…”

“It’s the last home game of the season,” he states with wide eyes. “I figure what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” He taps his head. “After all, luck only exists in here.” His voice drops down to a whisper. “Plus, I’ll be out five-hundred bucks if the Vikings don’t take the Knights.”

Sawyer and I exchange a glance.

“You mean if the Knights don’t take the Vikings.”

Oakley looks sheepish. “Sure. Let’s go with that.”

Sawyer smacks his arm. “You bet against the Knights?”

I smack his other arm. “What is wrong with you? I thought Cole was your friend?”

Oakley looks around. “Will you two keep your voices down?” He rolls his shoulders. “Cole is my boy, but everyone in Royal Manor is banking on the Knights whooping the Vikings.”

“Yeah, everyone except you,” Sawyer points out.

“Pipe down, short stack.” His expression turns pensive. “Like I said, everyone is banking on the Knights going to the state championship game…which means there’s a hell of a lot of money on the line for some lucky asshole if the Vikings win.”

“I thought you didn’t believe in luck?”

“Yeah,” Sawyer mocks while pointing to her head. “I thought luck only existed in here.”

He makes a face. “Would you two get off my case?” He pulls out his phone. “Talk amongst yourselves until the game starts…and then…” He makes a zipping motion across his lips before focusing back on his phone.

“Fine,” Sawyer says before focusing on me. “Have you decided what you’re going to do yet?”

“I’m not sure there’s really anything to do.” I shrug. “I gave the shoes to my aunt. She was a little confused since she told me not to worry about it but otherwise thankful.”

She wasn’t the only one.

Two days ago, I opened my locker to find a box containing a pair of Louboutins identical to the ones I wore the night I took an unsolicited dip in Jace’s pool.

To say I was shocked was an understatement, but then Oakley let it slip that a few days after our disastrous night together Jace asked him to find out my aunt’s shoe size so he could order her a new pair.