Chapter 16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Jace

I’m trying to calm down, but I don’t know if I can. I’m so damn angry right now. Nikki shows up at my house, tears my room apart, then has the nerve to demand money from me? After cheating on me? And what really upsets me is that I yelled at Kenzie. She got stuck in the middle of this. I got angry at her when I was really angry at Nikki. I’m so pissed at myself for doing that.

I need to call her and apologize.

“Jace?” she answers in a cautious tone, like she’s worried I’m going to get mad at her again.

“Kenzie, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you for letting Nikki in. It’s not your fault. You didn’t even know what she looks like. And you couldn’t have stopped her even if you tried. When she wants something, she doesn’t let anyone stop her.” I take a breath. “I’m really sorry. I was angry and I took it out on you when my anger should’ve been directed at Nikki. That’s just like her, letting herself in like that. Doing what she wants without asking. If she’d called, I would’ve told her I got rid of her stuff. It’s been so long, I assumed she didn’t want it. Anyway, I’m sorry for how I acted.”

“It’s okay. I get it. Anger makes you react without thinking. I’ve done it plenty of times. Don’t worry about it.”

She’s being really understanding. I thought she’d be mad, which she has every right to be after I talked to her that way, but instead she’s accepting my apology, something Nikki would never do. When we were together, I could apologize a hundred times and it still wasn’t enough. I had to buy her something to get her to forgive me.

“I don’t think an apology is enough,” I say. “So I’m going to give you one of my infomercial pans.”

She laughs. “Are you serious? Those are your magic pans. And you can’t buy them in stores. They’re like a rare antique.”

“That infomercial plays all the time. I can order more whenever I want. And I haven’t even tried the pans, so who knows? Maybe they’re not that great. If they’re not, I’ll give you something else. Anything you want to make up for how I treated you.”

“You don’t owe me anything. I totally understand what you were going through. If my ex showed up here without asking, I’d be pissed too.”

“But you wouldn’t take it out on me. I’m really sorry I did that. What if I take you out for dinner tomorrow? Can I at least do that?”

She hesitates, making me wonder if she doesn’t want to hang out anymore. She always acts like she does, but maybe it’s getting to be too much.

“I could probably do dinner. It depends on how much homework I get done. I have a paper due on Friday.”

That’s never stopped her from doing stuff with me before. Something’s changed. She’s acting differently.

“We can skip it if you want,” I tell her. “I just feel bad and want to make it up to you. I could bring home one of those coffee drinks you like.”

“Thanks, but I can’t sleep after drinking those. I can only have them in the morning.”

“Okay, well, think about what you want. It’s on me.”

“I should get back to studying.”

“Yeah, I’ll let you go.”

She doesn’t respond.

“Kenzie?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she says, but she doesn’t sound fine. She almost sounds sad.

“Are we okay?” I ask, but I’m afraid of the answer and kind of wish I hadn’t asked. Things have been great between us. I don’t want that to change.

“Of course,” she says, but she sounds uncertain. “I’ll see you tonight.”

“Okay, bye.”

I sit down on the chair behind the desk, trying to figure out what’s going on. She was fine when I saw her this morning. She was excited about our dinner tonight, saying she couldn’t wait to try the new pans. But I think her excitement was more about us making dinner. It’s become a regular thing now. We make it into an event with drinks and music and pre-dinner snacks. We both love it, even though we pretend it’s a chore. It feels more like a date, but we tell ourselves we’re just making dinner because we have to eat.

“You going to be there this weekend?” Brent says, startling me. He’s standing by the check-in desk, covered in sweat from working out.

“What are you talking about?”

“The party this weekend.” He wipes the sweat from his forehead, causing it to drip on the floor.

Grabbing a towel from the stack we keep behind the desk, I toss it at him. “Here. You’re making a mess.”

He wipes the towel over his face. “You better show up this time. The whole team will be there.”

“Which is why I don’t want to go.”

He rests his sweaty arm on the counter. “You’re going to let Carter keep you from having a social life? He wins if you do that. He gets the girl and your friends. Is that really what you want?”

“I still have friends. I have even more now that everyone knows what he did. I’m the hero in this. He’s the enemy.”

“Yeah, but everyone knows you’re not showing up at parties because of him.”

“That’s not the only reason.”

“What’s the other one? That girl? Your roommate?”

“Her name’s Kenzie,” I say, annoyed, because he’s met her enough times now to know her name. He sees her every time he comes to the house.

“People are starting to talk about you and her.”

“What about us?”

“Like that. The way you always say ‘us’ like you two are a couple. You keep saying you’re not, but then you spend all your time with her. Troy said you ditched him last week because you were doing something with that girl.”

“Kenzie. Use her damn name. And I ditched Troy because it was a setup.”

“Yeah? So? He was helping you out.”

“I don’t need help getting a date. Troy was out of line. He knows how much I hate being lied to, and then he makes up this story about how he needs to talk and wants to meet for a beer. Then I find out later some girl’s gonna be there.”

“You could’ve at least met her.” He slings the towel over his shoulder. “But instead you spent another Friday night doing stuff with your roommate, who you claim is only a friend.”

“Why is everyone so concerned about this? Who the hell cares what I do in my free time? It’s nobody’s business.”

“It’s our business because we never see you anymore, and we can’t figure out why. Even when you were with Nikki, you still made time for your friends.”

“Fine. I’ll go to the damn party this weekend. But if that fucker says anything to me, or even comes near me, I’m gonna smash his face in.”

Brent chuckles. “Wouldn’t be much of a fight. One punch and he’d be on the ground.” He motions to my arms. “You taking something to get that big?”

“You know I don’t use that shit.” I flex my arm. “This is all natural. I’ve been lifting more and drinking less. You should try it.”

“I work out enough as it is. And I’m not giving up drinking.”

“Hey, Jace,” a girl says on her way to the locker room. She gives me a wave and a flirty smile.

“Who’s that?” Brent asks.

“I don’t know. I’ve seen her a few times but never talked to her.”

“Then how does she know your name?”

I point to my name tag. “Not too hard to figure out.”

“She’s hot. You should ask her out.”

Ignoring him, I check my phone for the time. Tonight’s going really slow. I want to go home, but I have five more hours to work.

“Did you hear me?” Brent asks.

“Yeah. I’m not asking her out.”

“Why not? She made it pretty damn clear she wants to go out with you.”

“I’m not interested. Go take a shower. You stink.”

“You could take her to the party this weekend.”

“Just drop it, okay? If I want to bring someone, I will, but it’s not gonna be someone you pick for me.”

“Whatever.” He walks off, then turns back. “If you don’t want Kenzie, can I have her?” He smiles.

“No!” I yell. I didn’t mean to yell it. It just came out that way.

“Sorry I asked,” he says, putting his hands up in surrender.

Damn. I just proved he’s right about me having feelings for Kenzie. I assume he’ll point that out, but instead he continues to the locker room. I’m sure I’ll hear about it later.

The girl who said hi to me earlier reappears wearing tight black shorts and a hot pink sports bra, her blond hair in a ponytail.

“I’m Rhea,” she says, reaching her hand over the desk.

“Jace.” I shake her hand and smile. “But you already knew that.” I glance at my name tag.

“That’s not how I knew. My friend works out here all the time and told me about you.”

“Oh, yeah? Who’s your friend?”

“Carly. She goes to spin class every night. She’s addicted. I swear, if she misses a class she gets all cranky and whiny, like she’s going through withdrawal.”

I smile. “Exercise can be addicting.”

Rhea leans over the counter, her arms resting on it. “I don’t usually do this, but would you like to get coffee sometime? You seem like a really nice guy and I thought maybe we could get to know each other.”

This happened the other day. A girl asked me out and said almost the exact same words. I got asked out last week too, but that girl was more aggressive, telling me I was hot and that she wanted to have sex with me. She actually came out and said that. I turned her down. The other girl, too. I know I said I’d get out there and date again, but a month’s gone by and I still haven’t done it, unless you count Briana, but we never actually went out.

I should tell this girl yes. I told Brent I’d go on a date and I really should. I can’t keep putting it off. It’s possible Rhea’s just another Briana or Nikki, but I shouldn’t assume that without getting to know her. She could turn out to be really nice. It’s just coffee. We could go out for coffee. There’s no pressure with coffee.

“Can I get back to you on that?” I ask.

“Sure. Here’s my number.” Rhea writes it down on the back of one of the gym brochures. “Call if you decide you want to meet.”

I should just do it. I should agree to meet her for coffee. But I can’t, because going out with Rhea, or any girl, makes me feel like I’m cheating on Kenzie. It’s completely wrong to think that. Kenzie and I aren’t a couple, but I still feel guilty when I think about going out with some other girl.

“Have a good workout,” I say.

“I will. Bye, Jace.” She shoots me a flirty smile then walks off, giving me a view of her ass, which is nice but not as nice as Kenzie’s. I really need to stop comparing every girl I meet to Kenzie.

When I get home just after nine, I find Kenzie on the couch with her laptop.

“How’s the studying going?” I ask.

“Ugh.” She falls back on the couch.

“That bad?” I say with a laugh.

“I can’t take any more. My head’s about to explode.”

“Will this help?” I sit beside her and take the ice cream from the sack.

She sits up, her eyes wide, a big smile on her face. “You got me ice cream?”

“It’s the least I could do after what happened earlier.” I hand her the container. “I’ll grab some spoons.”

“You didn’t have to do this. I’ve already forgotten about what happened. It was nothing. Liam used to yell at me all the time, even when he wasn’t angry.”

I return with the spoons and hand her one. “I don’t want to be like Liam. The guy didn’t treat you right and never deserved to have you. Actually, he shouldn’t be dating at all. He doesn’t know how to treat women.”

“Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I’d never met him.” She dips her spoon in the ice cream. “How many other guys would I have gone out with? What if one of them was the one, but I never got a chance to meet him because I was with Liam?”

I reach over to get some ice cream. “If you’re destined to be with someone, then that someone is still out there. Being with Liam didn’t change anything.”

“That makes my head hurt,” she says, rubbing her forehead. “I’m running on low brain power after studying.” She digs her spoon around in the ice cream, trying to get to the cookie chunks. I got her cookie dough, her favorite kind. “Are you saying that everyone finds the one they’re supposed to be with?”

“I’m saying if you believe in destiny, then things will happen that will lead you to that person. Like if your soulmate was here in town, then something would’ve driven you to come here so you could meet the person.”

“You really believe that?”

“Kind of. And I only say that because sometimes the timing of things seems too perfect to be random. Like there’s some force out there making it happen.”

“Like when we met.” She points her spoon at me, her eyes getting wider. “It’s crazy that I just happened to stop on your porch when I needed a place to live and you needed a roommate. And then I find out the same thing happened to you that had just happened to me? I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to find someone to talk to. Someone who understood what I was going through.” She smiles at me. “We needed each other and we found each other. That’s kind of amazing, don’t you think?”

“It is,” I say, like it’s not a big deal, but I agree it’s amazing. Ever since that day we met, I keep thinking about it and how it didn’t seem random. I think we were meant to meet that day, at that exact time, after we’d both had our hearts broken. I’m not sure why, but whatever the reason, it seems like more than just a coincidence.

“Thanks for the ice cream,” Kenzie says, taking a bite of it. “It’s exactly what I wanted.”

“Guess I read your mind.” I take another bite. “You know, you can always call and ask me to pick up something on my way home.”

“That wouldn’t seem right.”

“Why not?”

“Because we’re friends. That seems like something you’d ask a boyfriend to do. Actually, Liam would never do that. If I asked him to stop and get me something, he’d tell me to get it myself, which is why I don’t ask guys, or anyone, to get me stuff. Liam trained me to do everything myself.”

“That’s messed up.” I set my spoon down and lean back on the couch, turning toward Kenzie. “Why the hell did you date him for so long?”

“Because I didn’t know any better. He was my first boyfriend. I didn’t date anyone else.”

“Then let me make this clear. Most guys would do most anything for the girl they love. Even if it’s a blizzard outside, or he’s exhausted from work, or it’s the middle of the night, if his girl asks for something, he’ll get it for her.”

“Really?” she asks, like she doesn’t believe me.

“Yeah. You’ve just been dating the wrong guy. Any guy’s going to be better than Liam, but if you find the right one, it’ll be a whole new world for you. You’ll finally see how a guy should treat you.”

“I wish I could find that guy,” she says, setting the ice cream on the table.

“Maybe you will.”

“Not if I’m committed to staying out of a relationship.”

“That’s true. I forgot about that. No relationships. Only dates.”

She looks down. “Speaking of that…”

My heart pounds harder. It knows what she’s going to say and it doesn’t like it. My head doesn’t either.

“You have a date,” I say.

“Yeah.” Her head lifts, but she doesn’t look me in the eye. “Tomorrow.”

“That’s great!” I say.

But it’s the biggest lie I’ve ever told.