Bands of the Unpaid Dowry

Chapter 18

"Little M." Jace called her for the umpteenth time but the woman who looked out her side of the window refused to talk. "Babe." His deep voice called distressed. He was so worried that she would never want to talk to him.

Millicent refused to admit how over the time that passed, his little pet names had become sweet sounding in her ears and a delight for her. She was so upset that she worried that if she opened her mouth, she would say all the wrong things. This was just a game but the fact that he lied to her even when she explicitly asked him, cut her deep to her heart. She suddenly turned to him in awareness.

"Was that what everyone was hinting at?" Jace almost grinned at hearing her voice but her question made his hands tighten considerably on the wheel. He had a pained look as he turned to look at her and feebly nodded to her dull awaiting expression. They were almost to their street.

"Drop me off at Manuela's." Jace clenched his jaw and snapped his head to her. They could have talked it out if the woman next to him was not a stubborn one. He was on edge with his need to have her forgiveness.

"Little M." He said disapprovingly. Millicent heaved out a breath before turning in her seat to him.

"If I go back with you, my head will still be muddled and that won't get you anywhere." She spoke in one breath and watched him frustratingly drag his hand through his hair, and she looked mesmerized as the wavy-curly hair deliciously bounced back to their place. Even though his lips twisted in displeasure, he agreed and stopped in front of his cousin's place.

"You'll be back tonight, right?" He called out after he got out of the car to see her at the front door. She didn't smile, nor did her muscles pull to show any reaction as she nodded. When Manuela opened the door for her moments after he sat in the car, he felt as if he was going crazy. He just wanted her around him and smiling. With a final pull to the roots of his hair, he drove away.

"What's wrong, Mimi?" Millicent sat on her friend's bed with vexation written all over her face and that increasingly worried Manuela.

"You knew about it, didn't you?" Millicent suddenly shifted to scan her friend's face with an accusatory frown.

Manuela's brows squeezed together in confusion as she asked, "What?"

"That he was engaged!" She saw her friend's eyes widen in realization and when Manuela carefully analyzed why her friend was this irked, she knew that Jace had messed up.

"He didn't tell you himself, I suppose."

"Oh, he didn't! I had to meet Ursula red-hair myself with his dad." Millicent ranted, throwing her hands about, still aggravated by the contact she had with Gwen before she left. Manuela giggled at the name she gave Gwen. "And she thinks she owns him."

"This is not good. Jace is going to flip. I'm sorry I didn't tell you Mimi, but I thought it was his life to share." Manuela laid her hand affectionately on the back of her friend who was still raging.

"You like him, don't you?" Millicent's eyes grew bigger at her friend's question.

"That's silly, no-"

"I know you, Mimi. You're not just annoyed that he did not tell you." She tried to weave through her feelings to detect what Manuela suggested but she was scared at the outcome, so she stopped and shook her head vehemently in denial. But she saw the look of knowledge in her friend's brown eyes and grew even more anxious. "If you say so. Just talk to him."

"He wanted to use me. I mean I'm using him, but he could have told me if it was the same! I would be hypocritical to deny him." Manuela sighed, going to respond when she received a call. As she spoke, Millicent threw herself back and slept on her bed. Her friend came to join her after she was done speaking.