Page 25 of Jace
Pocketing my phone, I resume licking my bay leaf cheesecake ice cream cone while Vivian licks her usual Earl Grey brûlée scoop.
With my mouth full, I jabber, “You still not gonna tell me what it is? This bullshit bribe that I can help you with?”
She strides beside me, popping her creamy lips. “Nope.”
“Oh, come on, Viv,” I grumble, trying to coax it out of her. “I bought you your favorite ice cream.”
“Jaaacceee.” She whines my name in a warning, making it sound too cute. “Drop it, please.”
“My ice cream or the secret that I’ll never judge you for?”
“Both,” she mumbles, amused.
Anything for her.
I halt and open my hand, letting my cone crack over the cobblestones, ivory cream splattering my black tactical boots.
Her eyes widen in shock, a smile jolting her lips. “I can’t believe you just did that!”
“Why?” I shrug. “The ants will love it, and I love you, Viv. As your friend for an entire year, and we’ve never judged each other. You didn’t laugh at me when I tested bottles of flavored lube for Vale, and I didn’t judge you when you took an eggplant vibrator home, and?—”
“That was a joke for a friend.”
Now I mumble, amused. “That’s what theyallsay.”
“Jace.” She stomps her sandal. She isn’t mad; she’s cute. “It was a gag gift for my friend, Harlow, I swear.”
“Uh-huh. And if gagging on a man’s eggplant isyourkink, I’d never judge.”
She blushes, rolling her eyes.
“Viv.” I step closer because that’s how I feel—allowed to be closer to her now that I know she’s legally divorced. “We can joke as we always do, or we can get serious because that’s how I feel. Seriously fucking worried about you being alone with your ex.”
I lean into her space, explaining, “This past year makes so much sense now. That he’s been bribing you, trapping you. But you won’t tell me how, and that makes me two seconds away from breaking his scrawny neck.”
She sags. “I’m fine.”
“Tell that to your pretty blue eyes. They haven’t kept your lie for a year.”
“I’mnotlying.” She rubs her button nose. It’s her tell. “I’m fine. I got this. We have an agreement, and it’s working.”
“An agreement?” I fight to keep the rage out of my voice. I hate it when Viv has to see this side of me, when I have to beat down some dumbass, but oh well. Shitheads happen. “An agreement where he’s holding you hostage with something, and you’re fucking miserable, and I’m guaranteed to kill his punk-ass for it?Thatkind of agreement?”
“Don’t kill him,” she mutters. “As much as I hate him, I love you, too, and… Ahem.” She blinks. “As afriend. And I don’t want you to get in trouble for me.”
Love.
We say it a lot to each other, but always in the context of our platonic friendship, which has grown so deep in a year that there are only two things I don’t know about Vivian. Every moaning touch, taste, and thrust I want to give her; I’m obsessed with the thought. And the damning secret her ex-husband is exploitingthat’s keeping our friendship from becoming the hottest fuck of our lives, for therestof our lives.
This woman makes me salivate.
She makes me sweat.
She reminds me I’m a civilized beast.
I’ve shown her all the patience in the world, but I’m losing it to love.
I’m so fucking in love with her.
