First

Chapter 30

Sunlight streamed in through my window, gently pulling me from my fitful sleep. After Jace had finally fallen back to sleep I had tossed and turned all night, too worried about Jace having another nightmare. It didn't take me long to find Jace; he was curled up in a ball on his side his arm thrown over my stomach and his head resting on my chest. I looked at my alarm clock; it was 8:30am—time to get up. Not wanting to wake Jace, I quickly and silently slipped out from under him and got dressed. Just before I went downstairs I gently pressed a kiss into Jace's hair. I gave him a long look as I closed the door; looking for the bruises I knew were there but it was too dark to see.

The second floor was quiet as I left my room but I could hear voices emanating from the kitchen down below. Hushed voices; the kind of whisper that said they were talking about you. As soon as I walked into the kitchen, it went deadly silent and I knew they had been discussing Jace.

"Good morning, sweetie. How was your sleep?" my mom asked a little too brightly, only confirming my suspicions.

"Alright; I just kind of dozed after Jace fell back to sleep," I admitted, sitting down at the breakfast bar.

"Where is Jace anyway? I was waiting for the two of you to get up so I could start pancakes," my dad said, starting to mix the batter. "Are you going to wake him up?"

I shook my head. "He's still sound asleep; he had a rough day and I wanted to let him sleep. Don't worry about him; he'll probably just end up having cereal or something."

"Don't worry about who?" someone said from behind me.

I turned and saw Jace standing in the entry to the kitchen, rubbing sleep out of his eyes and looking incredibly young and vulnerable. "Hey," I said, getting up and moving to his side to embrace him instantly. "I didn't hear you get up. You should have stayed in bed," I chastised lightly. I could see the bag under his eyes and the exhaustion clear in his body language.

"I woke up and you were gone," he whispered in my ear and my body stilled out of guilt. I hadn't even considered what would happen when he woke and I wasn't there. "I couldn't get back to sleep after that."

"Sorry, love; I should have left a note or something." I pulled back and really saw the bruises and the damage his dad had done for the first time. His left eye was swollen semi-shut and his right cheek was bruised. It was hard to tell where the bruises started and ended. His face was black and blue. "Oh god," I whispered in horror, gently probing the bruise.

"They look worse than they feel," Jace assured me, taking my hands and holding them in his. "Honestly, I'm okay, babe."

I nodded but didn't say anything as he sat down at my vacated seat at the breakfast bar, wincing as he did so. "Do you want some coffee?" I asked.

"Please, thanks." Quickly making his coffee, I handed it to him and stood behind him, rubbing his shoulders and back. "Come sit." Jace grabbed my hand and pulled me onto his lap, his arms wrapping securely around my waist and holding me to him. I leaned into his chest and felt him sigh in relief. I let me head fall back against his shoulder and I closed my eyes, burying my face into his neck briefly.

The kitchen was silent; no one uttered a word. It was like they were all scared that one word would shatter Jace. Everyone, no doubt, thought he was fragile and vulnerable after last night's nightmare and didn't know exactly what to do with him. So they were letting me handle it and I was completely okay with that; I wanted to protect Jace. It was my cousin, Dustin, who eventually broke the silence. "So what happened to you? And who are you? We didn't get to meet properly last night."