He was already on edge.
Watching over his goddamn shoulder.
Fighting the misery of what he’d become.
The last thing he wanted was for either of them to know what he’d succumbed to, and he sure as hell didn’t want them to know he’d done it for them.
Most of all, he hoped to God they wouldn’t do something stupid.
Go behind his back and get deeper into that sort of sordid trouble.
Steven, that cock-sucking lowlife, had been lurking. Spending more and more time at the trailer.
Jace doubted it had much to do with the allure of his trashed-out mother.
He always worried that they’d slip into the lifestyle they’d been bred into. He knew it was so much easier than fighting it every step of the way. He could only pray that they got that fighting was worth it.
He dropped his backpack to the ground at the door, glaring at it like it held some of the culpability. Doing this?
Yielding?
It was his own form of fighting.
“Where you been, Jace?” Joseph called, something sour in his tone.
God, Joseph was pissing him off more and more.
Ian laughed. “He was probably off getting himself a fine piece of ass. Pretty obvious, isn’t it?”
Jace tried to control his temper.
Hating the way it constantly flared.
The way he was constantly on edge.
He looked at them where they sat on the couch watching a movie. “I was out.”
He sure as hell wasn’t gonna let on where he’d been.
“To see Faith?” Ian goaded, grinning wide. “You lucky bastard.”
Jace shook his head. “She’s not a joke.”
“But she is hot.”
Joseph glared daggers at Ian and then turned them on Jace. Angry in a way Jace hadn’t ever seen him before. He had no idea what his problem was lately.
Joseph climbed to his feet and headed for the door. Jace swiveled around as Joseph jerked it open. “Where are you going?”
“Out.” Joseph tossed out the same excuse Jace had just given them. Jace knew that was exactly what it was. A cover for something.
Worry sloshed with the anger, like two rivers coming together and forming white-water rapids.
“Where?” he demanded, taking a step in Joseph’s direction.
An incredulous smirk twisted Joseph’s mouth into something defiant. “You don’t have a say in what I do, Jace.”
Panic surged, and Jace had him against the wall again. “Stay away from Steven. I already warned you.”
Joseph pushed Jace back.
As hard as he could.
Jace barely stumbled, glaring Joseph down, ready to fight the insolence out of him if that’s what it took.
“You want to fight, Jace? Bring it on. I’m finished listening to you . . . spouting all your holier-than-thou bullshit while you’re off having all the fun.”
Scornful laughter rocked from Jace. “All the fun? That’s what you think? That I’m off, having fun?”
The time of his fucking life.
Yeah, right.
Joseph didn’t have the first clue what Jace had done for him. What he was still doing for him. The sacrifices he’d made.
Jace pointed behind him. “Now get your ass back on that couch. I need to take a shower and meet Faith. When I get back, I expect you to be sitting right there.”
Bitterness bled from the snort Joseph emitted. “That’s what I thought.”
Forty-five minutes later, Jace rushed back out to the small living room.
He was running late.
Quickly, he shoved the blanket he’d washed and folded into his backpack, looking back at Ian and Joseph who were again sitting on the couch behind him.
“I’ll be back in a few hours.” He stood, slinging the backpack onto his shoulder, and pointed between the two of them. “Don’t either of you go anywhere.”
Ian mock-saluted him. “Aye-aye, Captain.”
Joseph just rolled his eyes, and Jace slipped out into the night.
Tonight, the moon was high and full. Washing the leaves and the ground in a milky spray, a breeze blowing through from the ocean filling his nostrils with the scent of the sea and the summer.
Jace raced up the bumpy trail, running through the night toward the one place he wanted to be. He didn’t slow until he was at the base of the porch, staring up at the girl who stood at the door.
His own definition of a dream.
A fantasy.
Wearing this flowy dress, her hair a chocolate river, rolling over her shoulders, her skin glowing in the traces of moonlight.
She curtsied as if she had stepped out of the eighteen fifties. “Why, sir, welcome to the BBB.”
Jace felt the smile twitching all over his mouth, and he did his best to play along. “It’s a pleasure to be here, ma’am. It’s been a long trek, and I’m eager for a comfortable place to rest.”
“Oh, I plan on making you comfortable, all right,” she drawled, sweet seduction on her tongue.
Unable to stay still for a second longer, Jace started up the porch steps, his breaths coming shorter and shorter with each one he took, until he had the girl backed against the wall in their spot.