Muse - Fighting Fate #1 (11 page)

Chapter 18

Jace

Having Mia sit next to me each day at lunch was the fucking highlight of my day. I was man enough to admit it. I fucking loved it. Every day, she stayed a little longer and shined a little brighter. Watching her was like watching a butterfly emerging from its cocoon. It was fucking beautiful.

There were two down sides
to it though. The first was the fact that every new minute I spent with her, my resolve to keep her at arm’s length slipped a little further away. The second was the interest she was getting from other guys. Twice, I nearly snapped and took some fucker’s head off. I wasn’t used to this possessive feeling, and to be quite honest, I wasn’t sure if I liked it.

The other problem – if you could call it that, was that Aiden had thanked me for looking out for her. While I did have her best interests at heart, I still felt
fucking guilty because I was doing it purely for selfish reasons.

By lunch time on Friday, I was really hanging out for my little
daily dose of Mia. After going through a few notes with Mr. Brennan after class though, I found almost everyone already out on the green before me.

Finding Mia already flanked by a couple of fucking douche bags who were eyeing her off like they wanted a taste completely ruined my mood. I felt like storming on up and grabbing them by their scrawny fucking necks and tossing them.
Instead, I grabbed one of the end seats on the next table so I wasn’t facing them. I didn’t want to be tempted to look up every fucking minute to see what they were doing.

It was a bad mistake on my part, because apparently sitting
there was like I’d given out an open invitation to every fucking girl in the school to come and talk to me. Like I was in the fucking mood to talk!

Matt and some of the other guys came to join me which I was more than happy with, but I was still just fucking pissed.
I knew I had no right to be, but she was mine god damn it.

As much as I wasn’t in the mood for putting up with groupies, I knew it was necessary to our image for us to play it up a bit and not come across
as total assholes. Knowing that didn’t help though, and it took all my self-control to not just let rip with a roar and tell them all to fuck right off.

I thought I was doing okay considering, but when I heard Mia’s sweet little laugh from somewhere behind me,
I was done.

Snatching my phone up off the table, I pushed up and stormed off towards the gymnasium.

I knew I was going to smash something, and considering we had a gig that night, I knew I had to choose what I was going to smash carefully. I was surprised I could still think so logically while I was so fucking worked up.

The weights room was off limits at this time during lunch, but my need for a punchin
g bag seemed more important than obeying rules. I stalked to the door and slid inside, tugging my shirt over my head as I went, and dropping it on the floor with my phone.

Without breaking my stride, I started laying into it. Hard. And I didn’t stop, not even when I was almost gasping for breath.

This thing with Mia was driving me insane. I didn’t even fucking know why I was staying away from her anymore. Oh yeah, that’s right. She didn’t like the spotlight. Well, you wouldn’t fucking know it from the way she’d been acting at lunch.

She’d said she thought it was time to stop hiding, whatever the fuck that meant. I thought what I was doing was the right thing by staying away, but I didn’t think I could tell the difference between right and wrong now if I fucking tried. All I knew was that whatever I was doing was tearing me up inside.

“Fuck man, stop already.”

I grabbed the bag a
nd looked up to see Aiden, Matt and Dean standing by the benches. I let my gaze fall to Dean seeing as he was the one who’d spoken.

“If you keep going like that you’re going
to bust your fucking hands dude.”

I turned back to the bag I was now clutching between my hands and dropped my forehead against it heavily. Now that I’d stopped, I was utterly fucking exhausted. My breath was still coming harshly and I was covered in sweat.

Releasing the bag, I walked over to one of the benches and slumped down, leaning forward and resting my forearms on my knees.

“Wanna talk about it man?” Aiden asked.

I almost laughed. Talk? Yeah, I was fucking your sister but then I lied to her about fucking other girls to save her from the shit my life is about to become and now I want to kill any guy who goes anywhere near her. “Nope.”

I didn’t need to look to know that hurt him. He’d offloaded on me only four days ago, and here I was, shutting him out.

“Pity you don’t have your axe here, man. That would be a way more constructive way to vent,” Matt said, a tinge of amusement in his voice.

Yeah, it fucking would’ve. Shit, I could’ve gone to the music room and done something smart, but then again, I probably would’ve ended up smashing up the school’s equipment or something.

The sound of the door opening had us all looking up. Miss Waters frowned when she saw us all sitting around like we were at a fucking scout camp or some shit.

“Do I need to remind you boys that this room is off limits at this time?”

Dean smiled. “No, ma’am.”

She sighed. “Are you already trying to escape your fans?”

“We just needed a break from it for a while Miss. Sorry, this is the first place we found,” Aiden said quietly.

She eyed him for a minute then nodded. “
Well, I’d rather see you guys struggling and working out how to come to terms with these kinds of things than you all being cocky assholes who think it’s their dues. It shows character and maturity which you’re going to need if you want to stay sane and alive where you’re headed.”

We all blinked at her brashness, a little stunned she would be so forward.

“I’ll let it slide this time, but try to be a little more respectful of the rules next time boys.”

She gave us a harsh look before stepping back out the door and closing it behind her. We looked at each other for a minute after she left then burst out laughing.

“Did that just fucking happen?” Matt asked, wiping his eye.

I stood, grabbing my shirt and shucking it back on again. That was fucking gold. I’d never come across Miss Waters before, but I fucking loved her now. “How much time have we got?” I asked no one in particular.

“About half. Why?” Dean said.

“Let’s hit the
stage.”

They grinned. “Fuck yeah!”

Chapter 19

Mia

I wasn’t sure what had happened back on the green. One minute I’d been laughing at Kaeli’s description of Aaron trying to dress for success, and the next, Jace had been striding away like a man possessed. I’d watched with alarm as Aiden, Matt, and Dean gave each other a knowing look and quickly got up to follow him.

Kaeli had given me a ‘what the hell’ look, and I’d just shrugged. It beat me. I had no idea what was going on.

It wasn’t long after that that we heard the music start up. Everyone did. It was like a mass exodus off the green and into the auditorium, people hollering and yahoo-ing the whole way.
Of course, we followed.

Watching the guys on stage was a real eye opener for me. Even though I’
d heard them while they’d rehearsed down in the dungeon, and had seen the YouTube clips they’d uploaded to the net, I’d never actually seen them perform before. Not that they were really performing like they would at a proper gig, but the way they played was just mind blowing.

I watched Jace mostly. There just seemed to be an intensity about him while he
was up on that stage. One that I hadn’t seen before in any video clip. It was more like the Jace I knew in private. The one who let himself go and
felt
.

The thought of him like that
stuck with me all the way through gym class, and again as I walked with Kaeli to Food Science. Kaeli was carefully keeping her thoughts to herself as we navigated the halls together, aware that this was only my second day of attempting the halls and not wanting to push me past my limits.

“Do you want to do someth
ing tonight?” she asked quietly when we reached the classroom.

I glanced up at her, surprised but excited. “Definitely.”

“What about movies and sleep over at your house?”

My eyes bulged. “Yes! Josh’s new movie’s playing. I want to see it so bad.”

She clapped her hands and did a little happy dance. “Yeah,
Willow’s Way.
I want to see that too. He was so excited when we were talking about it on Chat. He thinks his whole career is riding on it.”

“God, he has to put up with so much stress, doesn’t he? I’m so happy he’s still in touch with the guys. He might be able to help them learn how to deal with all the bullshit that goes along with the fame.”

Her gaze turned dead serious. “Mia, that’s the first time I’ve really heard the guys play.” She shook her head with wonder. “They’re really good, and I mean
really
good. They’re going to be huge.”

I inhaled deeply. “I know.” I just hoped they were ready for it.

***

Seeing Josh on the big screen was amazing.
Kaeli and I couldn’t stop giggling at all the girls who were sighing and proclaiming their undying love for him when he first came on screen. It was just surreal. But the movie was incredible. We both walked out of there shaking our heads at how unbelievably good he was as an actor. He blew us away.

Driving back home, we decided
to send him a text to let him know how much we loved it. Kaeli typed it while I drove.

Just saw Willow’s Way. Best. Movie. Ever. We love you!! xx Kaeli & Mia

She hit send, not really expecting a reply, but a few minutes later, one came through anyway.

Awww, my biggest, most beautiful, supporters. I love you girls too!
Miss you all soooo much :(

When Kaeli read it out, we both turned to mush. He was so sweet. We agreed on a reply and Kaeli typed.

We miss you too. Look after yourself & stay away from those bitches!

We giggled, our minds going wild with what he might respond with.

Haha! I’m trying – on both counts! Heard the guys are opening for the Hybrid boys. Awesome!

Yeah, they’re so excited. They crashed the auditorium today and played an impromptu concert before Mr. Daniels shut them down.

Haha! OMG I wish I had’ve been there to see it.

I laughed, remembering the look on Mr. Daniels face. “Tell him he could probably see it on YouTube.”
Kaeli giggled at the thought and set her fingers flying.

You could
probably catch it on YouTube. We’re sure someone put it up.

I’m going to do that right now. Thanks for thinking of me. I love that I can still be part of your group without anyone getting all
weird.

We love that you let us Mr. Rich & Famous ;)

xxx

Kaeli sighed. “Oh my god. I love him soooo much.”

I gave her a look.

“Not like that
, miss read-between-the-lines. Like a brother. He’s so sweet and caring and down to earth. He doesn’t trust many people these days, so I think he really values what we have as a group. I think it helps that he knows Fighting Fate’s going to be big, you know? Like he’s got something in common with them.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I know what you’re saying.”

We pulled up at my house and dawdled inside. When we were spread out on my bed, Kaeli cleared her throat and gave me an expectant look. “So what’s going on with Jace?”

I froze. “What do you mean?”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t play innocent. There’s been something between you two since Aspen.”

I looked at her and bit my lip.
I really didn’t want to keep it a secret from her anymore. “We’ve gotten together a couple of times since Aspen.”

“Shit. Really?”

I sighed. “Yeah, but after hearing about Violet, I just can’t do it.”

She plucked at a piece of lint on my bed and frowned. “Do you still think a relationship is out for you? I mean, you
seem to be much more comfortable around people now. Maybe it’s something for you to think about.”

I hadn’t thought about it like that. I’d only been thinking of making things easier for Aiden. “I don’t know. Maybe…”

The truth was, I wasn’t exactly sure of anything anymore. I’d thought everything I was doing was for everyone’s benefit, but I’d clearly got that wrong with Aiden. Did that mean I’d got it wrong with Jace too? And what about myself? Was I still hiding behind excuses?

I shook my head and exhaled. I couldn’t think about it anymore. It was doing my head in. The only thing that would work for me at this point in time was more time.