He shrugs and takes another sip. “I think your boyfriend’s crook of a father was involved in illegal fracking, and my dad took the hit. Rig exploded. He died instantly.”
“Was there an investigation?”
When he faces me again, the hard pull of his lips reminds me of his true nature. Darkness falls over his expression, his blue eyes glowing with ferocity. “No, there wasn’t no investigation. No one gives a shit about poor assholes like us. McNamara’s got all the money of Midas. He paid everyone off, includin’ my mother.” He yeets his bottle into the yard, and it shatters. “Fuckin’ rich pieces of shit think they can do anything they wanna do.”
“It’s okay. Just calm down. I didn’t mean to get you so upset.”
He jumps from his chair, and the back hits the house with a thud. “Who the fuck do you think you are tellin’ me to calm down?”
Fuck! I should have known better. I overplayed my hand, and now I’m back to being his punching bag. Every so often, Jace shows me there’s a sweet center buried inside that hard candy shell, but every time I get the nerve to take a nibble, he bites back harder.
“I’m sorry, okay.”
“No. You know who’s sorry? I am. You interested in truths, princess? Here’s one I bet you didn’t know. Your mother never returned one letter, phone call, or holiday card. Not once. Still, my mother kept insistin’ they were best friends and refused to give up. Now she’s dead, and we’re stuck with you. Some fuckin’ friend.”
He wrenches the screen open and storms inside while I stand stock-still, bleeding out onto the weathered porch boards. Whenthe pulsingthwap, thwap, thwapstarts from the garage, I’m unsure if it’s Jace’s bag or my heart ramming against my chest.
Jace is a liar. My mother didn’t speak of Cindy often, but she was tight-lipped about her past—it’s just who she was as a person—but she wasn’t one of those rich assholes who make a fortune and forget where they came from. I refuse to believe that.
I stop over to the garage and slide open the bay door. Jace’s fists thrum in a two-by-two pattern, his face pulled in determination. I reach out and stop the bag with both hands.
“You’re beggin’ for a punch in the face.”
“You’d love that, wouldn’t you?”
Blue slits glare beneath dark brows. “What do you want?”
“I want you to grow the hell up. A tragic past doesn’t give you the right to go around treating people like shit. People around here may think you’re some kind of god, but I have news for you, Jace Wilder. You’re not god. You’re nothing but a big bully.”
Adrenaline whips through my veins, my rioting heart pumping so fast I can barely see straight. With flailing arms, I beat my fists against his chest over and over, screaming out everything I’ve been holding in since the day we met.
But my advances are no match for Jace. He takes hold of my forearms and hurls me onto the bed. The mattress dips around as he pins me flat on my back. “You about done?”
I struggle, but his hold is unyielding. “Get off me.”
A rumbling laugh rolls off his tongue. “You’re tougher than you look. I’ll give ya that.”
Heat pools between my thighs. I curse my body for the lascivious traitor it is. I don’t understand how I can hate and want someone so badly at the same time. He boils my blood. He makes me rage like no one else ever has. Yet lying in his bed with his scent all around me, my brain shifts to overload. Kiss him or kill him. It doesn’t matter. I want to do both.
“Look at you. Them flushed cheeks ’n’ tremblin’ lips… dang, princess, you’re ugly when you’re angry.”
“I hate you. I’d rather live on the street than stay here with you.”
He licks his lips like a tiger toying with its prey before eating it whole. “Save it for the ring.”
He kicks his leg over the side and releases me, but I don’t make a move to get up. “The ring?”
He nods toward the truck. “Let’s go.”
Mad Dog’s MMA looks deserted. We creep into the lot and park in the back. “What are we doing here?” I ask, but Jace just rolls his eyes.
Keys jangle in his hand. He turns the lock with a click and pushes the heavy door open with a creak.
“Are we gonna get in trouble?”
Jace laughs. “Don’t wet yourself. We’ll be fine.”
One flick of the switch bathes us both in yellow light. I shield my face, my eyes accustomed to the dark. Jace walks, and I follow. This seems to be the basic nature of our relationship. The harder I fight, the more forced together we get. Now we’re stuck together with no way out for two straight weeks. I’m not sure I can survive.