Kissed by a Bullet

Chapter 17 ~ Warning: Jace has the body heat of a blanket and it's addicting

Jace looked at me in confusion and looked back down on the picture. "I thought you said he was in the army?" I looked down at my fingers because they were more entertaining then this topic.

"I lied." I say looking back up at him and his expression softens.

"Hey Jace let's go play some pool!" Luke came in all excitedly, then walked away.

Jace looked at me with an apologic smile. "It's fine, go have your bromance with my brother." He lays down the picture and walks to the door entrance.

"We'll talk later okay?" He asks and I nod, with that he gives me a smile and walks away.

Thank you mother for having Luke.

He comes in handy sometimes.

I look back down at my magazine and start reading the article again.

~••~

I shut off my light, wrapping the covers over me. Snuggling into my pillows, and finally getting into a comfortable spot when

"Melanie?" So much for my comfortable spot.

"She's asleep." I respond back to Jace and he chuckles. I feel a dip in the bed next me and reluctantly sit up to face him.

"I said we'd talk later, it's later so now tell me why you lied." Jace says sternly, I roll my eyes at him.

"Fine, but you can't tell anyone you understand?" I tell him as I glare at him in the dark. He nods, since it's dark I can't see his whole face and so this might make it easier.

Taking a deep breathe and sucking up my pride, I begin my painful story. "My dad left when I was eight, or to be more accurate on my eighth birthday." I said coldly and Jace remains slient.

"Before that though our family was happy, my parents got a long. They rarely fought, they were happy together. My dad and I were close, I was very fond of him. Never left his side, he would take me to the park all the time. He use to even collect the leaves in the backyard and we would count to three and then jump in." I say smiling at that memory, but that quickly turned into a frown.

"Next thing I know it's Luke's birthday and my dad was there and he gave my brother his gifts. The next day it was my birthday, my dad had promise me that my gift was huge. He also said that it finally came into the store so he had to go get it. So I watched him leave, I watched him pull out of the driveway. Not even knowing that was the last time I would ever see him again. I sat at the door for weeks Jace, thoses weeks turned into months and months turned into years. Waiting for him, he never came back. I was devastated, when bring your dad to school came around. Luke and I were embarrassed to say our dad walked out on us. So we came up with the lie of saying our dad was in the army. No questions asked." I finished looking down. Jace's hand came up to my face and his thumb wipes away a tear that I didn't even know had fallen.

"Thank you for telling me." He says calmly and I shrug. Not knowing what to say to him.

"The reason why I have been drinking more is because of the anniversary of my dad passing. He was killed in combat when I was eleven. My mom has been crying more and I hate seeing her crying. So I've been having a rough week, and Leigh hasn't been helping either. She been pestering me for sex but I'm not in the mood for it. She just doesn't get that, she thinks I'm playing 'hard to get'." He quotes with his fingers. "The reason I haven't talked to Reece or Troy about it is because they don't understand. I love them like brothers but they don't get it, they don't get how I feel about this time of year." He says scowling and glaring at the blankets.

I don't say anything, I grab a hold of him and hug him. Jace was shocked at first by my gesture but once he understood what was happening, he wrapped his strong arms around me and he held me close, so close that I was sitting in his lap.