First

Chapter 24

This was the first time I had ever been to Jace's house and I had no idea what to expect. But this... this I most definitely wasn't expecting. We pulled up in front of a small, two story house; it was hard to believe it fit a family of five. The paint was peeling and the sidewalk and stairs were deteriorating. Junk mail was overflowing the mail box. I knew Jace had a hard life and his family wasn't well off, but it was difficult to imagine him living in this neighbourhood. All the houses surrounding his were falling apart at the seams. It was a rough neighbourhood; one of the houses even had police tape covering the door and I really didn't want to know why.

Jace gave me a sheepish smile as he shut off the truck. I suddenly felt guilty; I didn't want him to feel embarrassed because of where he lived. If I had learned anything lately it was not to judge a book by its cover. Judging people was what had gotten us into this mess in the first place.

"It's not much," he said, gripping the steering wheel. "But it's... home?" It sounded more like a question than a statement and my heart broke for him a little more. Reaching over, I laid my hands over his and gently pried them off the wheel. My gut was telling me that something bigger was going on than just him being embarrassed but I was scared to dig deeper and find out what it was so I pushed the feeling to the back of my mind.

"It's okay. Come on, let's go inside," I suggested. Jace sighed and nodded. He hopped out and I was quick to follow suit. Grabbing my knapsack, I walked over to Jace and laced my fingers through his. Jace gave me a grateful smile as he unlocked the door.

It was dark inside until Jace flicked on the lights. It took a minute for my eyes to adjust but Jace didn't give me any time to look around. He was quick to grab my hand and pull me up to his room. As soon as the door closed behind us he seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

I dropped my bag and jacket on the floor and approached him. Wrapping my arms around his waist, I let my fingers trace soothing patterns across his back. I could feel how tense he was; with the slightest pressure I felt that he would snap. "What's wrong?" I asked, kissing his throat.

He buried his face in my hair and shook his head. "I hate being reminded of how different we are. I'm basically one step away from living in a trailer park. Seeing you, here, in my house, feels so wrong. You don't belong here," he finished, sounding absolutely defeated. He pulled away and gave me a sad smile.

I didn't know what I could possibly say that wouldn't make things worse. So I did the only thing I knew would comfort him. Standing up on my tiptoes, I pressed my lips gently to his and immediately felt him relax against me. Jace hauled me tighter to his chest and dragged me deeper under the tidal wave that was our kiss.

Eventually I was the one to break the kiss. "Better?" I asked. Looking into Jace's eyes, I could see the peace and serenity swirling throughout.

"Much," he sighed. "Thank you." Jace rested his forehead against mine and took a deep breath. After a few minutes of simply holding me I felt him relax completely.

Finally I said, "I guess we should actually get some work done, hey?" Jace pouted—which was incredibly sexy—but let me pull him towards the bed without argument. I dug out my science and crawled onto the center of his bed. As Jace was pulling out his books, I got my first real chance to take in his room. To my surprise, it was incredibly neat. There were no piles of dirty clothes littering the floor; in fact everything had its place. A part of me sensed that this was his way of controlling at least some aspect of his life.

Jace dropped his books beside mine and sat cross legged next to me. "So," he asked, "what are we working on?" I stuck out my tongue and showed him my textbook. Jace laughed and pressed a kiss to the side of my head. "Your favourite subject." Jace flipped open my textbook and started to re-explain what I was supposed to have learned in class today. Normally I tended to retain more when Jace explained it to me but today I couldn't pay attention for more than a few minutes at a time. Jace was constantly stopping and drawing my attention back to him.

"Focus, baby," Jace scolded when I zoned out for what felt like the millionth time.

I rubbed my face in frustration. "Sorry."

"Alright, no more homework," Jace said. "How about we just lay here instead?" Jace pushed the books off the bed; they landed with a thud on the floor, making me jump. He pulled me closer and I snuggled into his chest. "What's going on, Kade?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I'm just not into it, I guess," I replied, my voice muffled by his shirt. "This is the first time we've been alone in weeks. I'm just exhausted." Jace didn't say anything, he simply pulled me more securely into his arms and I wrapped myself around him like a vine. Before I knew it, I was fast asleep, snuggled in the arms of my safe place.