But it was that second that I knew it.
It didn’t matter that she was Joseph’s kid. That she represented every goddamned thing I’d ever wanted and was the fruition of what I could never have.
I’d protect her the same.
Just like I was going to protect her mother.
With all I had.
With whatever it took.
Nineteen
Jace
Seventeen Years Old
Jace didn’t look back as he slipped out of the tiny, rusted trailer and into the night.
It wasn’t like he wanted to see.
His mama’s door sitting half open, all that shit lying on her nightstand, her passed out beside some asshole Jace was itching to grab by the hair and drag outside.
Give him a good beatdown. Watch the blood drip from his mouth and his nose as he promised he’d never come around again.
This guy was different from most of the guys his mama suckered in. Wearing nice clothes and rolling up in a shiny car.
That kind of pissed Jace off, too.
He swallowed it, bit it back, because he had more important things to focus on.
Under the light of the moon, he jogged up the path from the trailer, hitting the dirt road, increasing his pace until he stood right in front of the tree-lined drive.
The night was quiet. Super still. The leaves barely rustling where they stretched across the road. Surely, the small whispers they hissed were the ghosts Faith loved to dream about.
Standing in the middle of the road, Jace shoved his hands into his pockets and just . . . waited.
He was early by twenty minutes, but he couldn’t lay around and pretend to sleep in that trailer for one more second when he knew he had something good to look forward to.
He rocked back on his heels, tipped his head back, and looked to the stars.
Anxious.
Excited.
And somehow feeling guilty that he’d convinced her to do this.
It really hadn’t taken all that much. It wasn’t like they hadn’t been sneaking off to meet here almost every day after school. It was just the first time they’d decided to do it in the middle of the night.
He felt it the second she stumbled out of the thicket of trees up the road, coming from where she was spending the night with her best friend.
His attention immediately jerked that way, his breath hitching at the base of his throat when he saw her.
All chocolate hair and chocolate eyes and everything sweet.
A rumble clattered through his body.
Shaking him up.
Making him feel like he’d stolen into a place he didn’t belong but would pretend that he did forever if it meant he got to stay.
For a beat, they just stared across the space. Both of them frozen.
But then she started running.
Running below the blanket of the night, a milky glow all around her, looking exactly like that angel Jace knew her to be.
Two feet away, she threw herself at him, jumping into his arms.
He wrapped her tight, hugged her close, breathed her in as he spun her around.
God.
She smelled delicious. Vanilla and roses. Felt so right.
He could feel the force of his smile as he held her.
“You came,” he whispered into the still, still night.
Carefully, he set her back onto her feet but didn’t let her get far. He reached out to snatch her delicate hand so he could thread their fingers together.
She was all red blushes and shy grins when she peeked up at him. “Of course, I came. I told you I would.”
His fingers followed the tremble in her throat as she stared up at him. At the sound she made, he was sure his heart pounded harder than it ever had, and there was nothing he could do.
He drove his fingers into the long locks of her hair, savoring the flash of need in those chocolate eyes before he dipped down and kissed her hard.
Possessively.
Her nails dug into his shoulders as her tongue swept against his. That feeling burned between them.
Something big and profound.
Like he’d somehow gotten lucky enough to stumble into the place where he was meant to be all along.
He got the sense that he’d been made to stand right there with her in his arms.
Unease tickled at his spirit.
God, he wished he were different.
That he had something better to offer her.
That he’d be the kind of guy she would be proud to bring home.
She sighed against his lips, and he swallowed the sound. Tucked it deep.
Reluctantly, he pulled away and dropped a quick kiss to her forehead. Then he reached out and grabbed her by the hand. “Come on before I maul you right here on the road.”
She grinned one of those shy smiles, their hands swinging between them as they started down the gravel lane toward the house. “Hmm . . . I like the sound of that.”
A surprised laugh jetted from Jace’s lungs, but the words came out deep and low. “You’d better watch what you say, Faith. I’m liable to take you up on that.”
She spun out ahead of him, walking backward, the girl so damned pretty his insides twisted up like a bow. “You act like I’m scared of you.”
“You should be,” he warned her.
She laughed, this light, tinkling sound, her voice a tease. “You just wish you were scary. I know you better than that, Jace Jacobs.”
“Do you?” he teased back. Still, a clot of discomfort fisted in his chest. She had no idea the kind of life he’d had to live.
She’d had a good life. A good home. The way it was supposed to be.
He hated to drag her into his world. But there was something about her that made this feel unavoidable.
Inevitable.
He doubted he could keep away from her if he tried.
Mossy branches stretched overhead. Glints of moonlight broke through the leaves and shone on her face. Warmth radiated out. Her smile genuine and real.
Filled with belief.
Goodness and grace.
He wanted to reach out. Dip his fingers into the well of her sweet mouth and take some for himself.
Taste what it felt like to be that good. That pure. To be blameless and without shame.
A blush crept to her cheeks. “Why are you always lookin’ at me that way?”
“Because you’re so damned pretty that I can’t look any other way.” They’d made it to the deserted plantation, and he was backing her up the stairs and pressing her against the wall.
Time and time again, they seemed to end up right there.
They might as well have carved their initials in the splintering wall. Right inside the flaking paint.
That redness deepened on her flesh. Heat and fire.
He pinned himself against her, his hands planted above her head as he rocked against her. Taking more than he should.
She whimpered. “Jace.”
He kissed her. Deep and long and with everything he hoped one day he might be able to give her. Showing her how much he wanted to be good enough for her.
He cupped her face in his hands, this girl so precious, so delicate he was kind of terrified to touch her but never wanted to stop.
Especially when he ground himself against her. Almost delirious when he thought what it might be like to be inside her. Taking her.
Shit.
He was getting carried away.
And he couldn’t.
Not with her.
He had to be careful.
He gathered himself and forced himself to take a step back.
A needy, desperate sigh seeped from her mouth, though there was something confused and scared mixed up in it, too.
That sound alone nearly wrecked him.
Trying to compose himself, he took her hand and led her down the side steps to the patch of grass off to the side of the massive house.
Right to the garden of lavender and pink roses that grew like their own forest.
He stood in the middle of them.
Surrounded by beauty.
He shivered when fingers ran down his back. Slowly, he turned around to face her. Her expression was confused, eyes rich and dark, her lips still swollen from his kiss.
His chest clenched.
God. She didn’t get it. How perfect she was.
“Why do you always do that?” she finally whispered into the stilled night.
“Do what?” he asked just as quietly.
She almost smiled. “Treat me like you’re gonna break me.”
He reached out and played with an errant strand of hair at the side of her face, his head tilting to the side and the words coming so low.