Jace

{40}

The car pulled into the paddock and was immediately stormed with people.

"Liam where the hell have you been?!" Zayn shouted.

"You missed sound check!" Niall added.

Louis nodded. "We were worried sick about you."

"Were you looking for Jace again?" Harry asked sympathetically.

I nodded.

He put a hand on my shoulder as I undid my seatbelt and climbed from the car. "Hey look, we'll find her ok?"

"I did find her."

The look of astonishment on their faces was enough for me to force a small smile for half a second.

"W-what?! How'd it go? Where is she? Is she coming back?" Niall jumped with questions.

My frown and anguish returned. "I don't want to talk about," stomping up the tour bus steps and slamming the door.

I stood in the entrance area of the bus for just a moment and bit my lip, closing my eyes and sighing heavily, telling myself to keep it together. Then, as if fearing I would collapse if I stood there any longer, I threw myself onto my bunk. My face buried in my pillow as I cried until I couldn't breath anymore.

'How stupid I was,' I thought, rolling over regaining control of my breathing, wiping my eyes with my palms. 'To think that everything would be fine if I just found her.'

•

I didn't get out of bed for the next two days. We were on a short break before we left California for Washington, and I left Jace behind forever.

The door squeaked open and soft footsteps made their way to the edge of my bunk. I didn't dare roll over to see who it was, to absorbed in my self pity to even care the slightest bit.

"Liam." Ah, it was the friendly giant. "Come on Li you've gotta move on." Katherine sat down on the edge of my bed, her anorexic frame barely dipping the mattress.

"You don't get it Kat," I snapped.

She placed a hand on my back. "Oh but I do." With curiosity, I rolled over to face her. "When Jace left, Parker wouldn't talk to me anymore. He won't have anything to do with me. I can only imagine it was because of Aaron as well. I had something to do with Jacelyn, so he couldn't have anything to do with me."

I sat up, hitting my head on the bunk above before stooping. "I'm so sorry."

She shrugged sadly. "It's not all bad...it taught me to like beer and vodka." I chuckled, and then slid out of bed over Katherine.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going back to Samantha's."

•

It was a long drive and I arrived somewhere around two in the afternoon.

I pressed my thumb into the doorbell and stepped back for an answer. There was a loud crash on the other side as if someone had thrown something at it and the door shuddered with the impact.

"Samantha," I called, knocking. "Open up, its me." There was no answer.

"Sam!" I pounded on the door now. "Sam it's Liam-"

The door was thrown open halfway through my knocking and I nearly fell into the small, disheveled girl. "She's not here," she said. Her words slurred just slightly and her sweet smelling perfume mixed with the foul smell of liquor.

"Samantha, are you drunk?"

She left the door open for me, turning and walking back into the house with her bare feet padding heavily on the tile. "Yes. Why aren't you?" Her leggings were at different a lengths in her legs, one pushed up slightly and the other covering her heel, her hoodie slouched off one shoulder and was twisted in all directions, and her hair was an absolute mess, put into a frizzy, falling out bun.

Why wasn't I? The girl I loved left me in a evil plot twist.

"Here," she slid a bottle of vodka over the counter to me as she sat down on a bar stool with a beer in her hand. "Bottoms up."

Sam was a smart girl. She knew how to handle herself and live a decent life. This was nothing like her, so naturally I let it happen and drank the whole bottle in a matter if minutes.

I was on my third bottle of beer by the time she began to sober up and had resorted to sobbing on the couch. "My best friend's gone, my husband has been on tour for basically forever, and the one time he comes home he takes Aubrey out and leaves me here. She's a baby she's not even fun! I have the boobs! I should get to go out!"

"How could Jace do that to me?" I finished the bottle and cracked open another.

"Liam I think you've had enough," she sniffled and sat up on the couch, nearly sober with how long it'd been.

"And I think I've had enough with people telling me what to do," I tipped it all the way up and let the cool liquid flood my mouth and funnel down my throat. "Do you know what it's like to have a management team following you around?"

She didn't answer, but sat back on the couch, rocking off her heels until her butt sank into the cushion.

"For once," I start in a drunken fury. "For once I decide to do something for myself. I say 'I'm gonna date this girl. I'm going to make it happen'. and then here come Aaron being Sergeant Shitballs with his whole 'you can't touch her' thing. It's not fair Sam! I want her back."

"Life isn't fair Liam! Deal with it!"

"No!!" I shouted, standing as she did and towering over her tiny 5'2 stature. "No you're wrong! I'm going to get her back and she will be mine!"

"She's not a piece of property! Maybe this is why she left you-"

"And maybe this is why your husband prefers to leave you at home on his days off."

She clenched her jaw, pressing her lips into a thin line as her eyes pooled with tears. "You're a jerk."

"I'm getting her back Samantha. I need her. I need Jace or else this," I gestured around me. "This whole life, is meaningless."

Stumbling down the hall using the walls to keep myself upright, I pulled open the front door and tripped down the steps. I stood, leaving the door open and started across the yard to try and get to my car. But I couldn't even remember where I'd left it.

"Liam stop!" Samantha ran after me in her bare feet as I stormed out of the house. "Just because you're a pop star doesn't mean you're invincible!"

"Would you stop yelling at me!"

"You're drunk Liam! You can't drive!"

"I can do what I want I'm fine!"

The latter wasn't true. The ground spun and I struggled to stay upright.

"If you get in that car then I'll leave right now and never come back."

That voice. It wasn't Samantha. It sounded like Sam, but it wasn't Sam. It took me a good couple of seconds to look across the street at the light blue escalade and the girl standing next to it. I couldn't react. I was so drunk and shocked and overwhelmed that I just plopped right down on the nearly dead lawn and sobbed into my hands. Jace came running across the street and I recognized her red Vans as she stopped in front of me.

"I thought I'd never see you again!" I cried, hugging her legs and making her stumble for a moment.

"Aaron can't control me," she said, her own voice slightly unsteady. "I've made him believe he can but he can't. I stood up to him and I told him that I had a contract and I was coming back whether he like it or not. Listen, Liam...I'm sorry for what I said to you when you came to Sam's. I'm so sorry I didn't mean any of it-"

"I missed you so much!!" I couldn't even comprehend that she was here. I just cried and cried and cried. Jace bent down and sat in between my legs on the grass. I hugged her close and she rubbed my back in small circles.

"Shhh," she said softly. "I'm right here babe. I'm not going anywhere anymore."