Muse - Fighting Fate #1 (15 page)

I took a step towards him with raised eyebrows. “Thank god you’re here. They were talking about my sex life.”

“Or lack of…” Lillian said, laughing along with Mia.

Aiden’s eyes nearly popped out his head as he gazed from his mom, to Mia, and back again. “What the hell, Mom! That’s not cool.”

I looked at Mia. She looked so carefree and beautiful in that moment, I didn’t care. They could talk about that shit all night if I got to see her so unrestrained. I laughed too, simply because she looked so happy.

“Well I’m glad you both get so much amusement out of the awkwardness that is my sex life. Now that I am thoroughly embarrassed, I’m going to go hide in Aiden’s room.”

Aiden gave both Mia and his Mom a stern look before snatching up a few pastries and
motioning for me to follow him.

Chapter 25

Mia

After Jace left the kitchen with Aiden, I started to feel bad. I knew I’d embarrassed him by talking about that stuff with Mom, and although he’d laughed it off, I wanted to apologize.

When I heard the shower running, I snatched at the opportunity and snuck down to Aiden’s room. Knocking softly, I cracked the door open and peered inside.

Jace looked up at me and smirked. “Aiden’s in the shower.”

“I thought so.” Moving closer to where Jace was standing, I bit my lip. “I’m sorry about before.”

He reached out and grabbed me, pulling me into a tight hug. “I can’t believe you told your mom that!”

I smiled against his chest and shrugged. “I usually tell my mom everything. Admittedly, I don’t usually have anything very interesting to tell her, but I don’t usually keep secrets from her either. Until you, that is…”

I looked up at him then stretched up to press my lips to his. His arms tightened around me and he softly urged my lips apart, deepening the kiss. “Can I come see you later?” he whispered.

“Oh…um…
it’s that time of the month again…”

His eyes narrowed. “I’m pretty sure I told you I’m not just in it for sex, Mia. We can just cuddle and talk. It doesn’t matter. I just want to be with you.”

Damn, he said the sweetest things. “Okay. I’ll text you when the coast is clear.”

He smiled and pulled me into another kiss. I sighed as he coaxed my mouth open again, and shivered when his tongue slid against mine. My fingers tensed on his back and his tangled in my hair, holding me to his kiss. God, I wanted him so bad.

The sound of the bathroom door opening down the hall sent us flying apart. I instantly froze, my eyes wide, but Jace jumped into action and grabbed an empty plate off the dresser and handed it to me before scrambling around the bed to grab a couple of glasses that were sitting on the bedside table.

The door swung open and Aiden frowned, seeing me standing there in the middle of his room. I scowled at him. “Mom wants your dirty dishes you pig.”

Aiden smiled sheepishly. “Oh, thanks. Sorry.”

I shru
gged, my heart still racing as I took the glasses Jace held out to me and fled from the room. Shit, that was a close call.

Dumping the dirty items in the kitchen sink, I went to my room and called Kaeli.
She answered on the second ring. “Have you seen Melissa’s Facebook page?”

I frowned. “No, I’m not friends with her.”

“Neither am I, but her settings are stupid like all those other skanks. I think they just want everyone to see what stupid shit they do.”

“So, what did she say?”

“She’s put all this shit up about having her world rocked by Jace. All these people have commented on it. There’s heaps of good stuff about the band and that, but there are a lot of comments from other girls about going after the guys, and I mean going after them!”

I swallowed back the sick that was hinting in my throat. What was with girls wanting to screw someone just because they were famous – or very close to being famous? I just didn’t get it.

Kaeli continued on her rant. “I just want them all to get caught out on their lies. I’d love everyone to know that they just made it up. I mean, can you imagine the uproar that would be happening if it was a guy who’d spread lies like that about a girl?! I can’t believe Jace isn’t as mad as hell, but then again, guys kind of like to look like they’re studs to their friends, don’t they?”

I sighed. “Obviously there are girls who like to look like sluts to their friends too…”

Kaeli heaved out a breath. “It’s like they’ve got this competition going where whoever gets to screw Jace gets into this hall of fame or something – and you’re the only one I know who deserves to be there!”

“Yeah, he’s no Mr. Inexperienced Kaeli. Remember who we’re talking about here.”

“I know, but he hasn’t been like that since you, and it makes me angry just thinking about these girls messing with your relationship with him.”

I sighed, but it thrilled me to think of Jace wanting to be with me and only me.
“It’s not going to change though, is it? I mean, he’s on his way to the big time. There are always going to be girls trying to get into his pants, regardless of whether he’s got a girlfriend, or not.”

“Yeah, but there wouldn’t be as many if they knew he had a girlfriend…”

“Do you really think that?” I asked dryly.

“Yes, I do. Some girls do have morals, but it’s not only that. At the moment, Jace can’t really shut them down because he’d just look like a rude dick, but if people knew he had a girlfriend, he could at
least say, ‘Sorry, I’ve got a girlfriend’ and yeah, they might be pissed, but they would kind of think he’s sweet and faithful, and not just a rude douche bag.”

“You
think I should make it public, don’t you?”

Kaeli was quiet for a while, and her words were soft when she finally spoke. “Yeah, I do, babe.”

I groaned. “God! What am I going to do?”

“Maybe you could just take it slow, you know? You’ve already started hanging around him at lunch. All you have to do is just start talking to him a bit more
where people can see you. If they could see you guys gradually interacting a bit more each day, it won’t be like, ‘Holy crap! Did you know Jace and Mia are together?’. Do you know what I mean?”

I nodded
even though she couldn’t see me. I knew she was right. I did. But it was still scary as all shit. What was the alternative though? As far as I could see, there were only three choices. Stay secret, make it public, or break up. Staying secret was only going to work for so long, and like Kaeli said, it made Jace’s life more difficult. Breaking up was…well, I didn’t even want to think about that. It hurt something inside me. That only left one option.

“I’m going to try it.”

Silence greeted me from the other end of the line. “You are?” Kaeli’s voice was all shock.

“Yes,” I said, feeling more confident
with each breath. “As long as you’re with me.”

“I’m always with you
, babe.”

We said our goodbyes and I decided to go have a shower and get ready for Jace. Having finally made a decision about going public, I was suddenly finding myself getting a little bit excited. I thought about telling Jace, but I decided to just ease myself into it, and just see how things progressed
naturally.

Pulling on my silk nightie, I slipped into bed and opened my kindle.

An hour later, I heard the patio door slide open and I smiled. Jace slipped off his shoes and climbed over the bed, coming to lie down beside me. “Hello, beautiful,” he whispered before kissing me thoroughly.

My hands came up so I could bury my fingers in his hair, and I kissed him hard, sliding my tongue into his mouth. He pulled me closer, running his hand down over my hip until he reached the hem of my nightie and slipped his hand underneath, retracing it’s path back up again on my naked skin.

I gasped at how good it felt and moved my hands down his back, over the hard contours of his muscles. I yanked at his shirt, frantic to pry it off. Jace shifted to make it easier for me, and I finally succeeded. My hands went straight to his chest, and I slowly ran them down over the hard shape of his pecs and down to the contours of his abs.

When they skimmed lower, his stomach muscles tensed and he gently bit my
bottom lip. I pressed myself harder against him, feeling his excitement growing, and I knew what I wanted to do.

Kissing my way down his chest, I took my time to explore every hard line. When I reached the butto
n on his jeans, I quickly released it and lowered the zipper. Kneeling between his legs, I grabbed hold of the waist band of his jeans and, as Jace lifted his hips off the bed, I pulled them down.

His erection sprang free before me
, and I eagerly took it in my hand and slowly moved it up and down his hard length. Jace groaned and my desire to pleasure him soared. Leaning forward, I licked up the length of him, letting my tongue swirl around the tip, then I slowly sucked him deep into my mouth.

“Fuck, Mia…”

His hands came down to cup my head, his fingers tensing against my scalp. I looked up to see him watching me with the darkest hunger I’d ever seen in his eyes, and my insides felt like they’d burst into flames. I sucked harder, sliding him back out until I could swirl my tongue around the tip again.

Jace’s head fell back against the bed and I heard his breath
coming hard and fast. I sucked him in again, this time taking him all the way to the back of my throat while continuing to move my hand up and down at the base of him. Then I started to move faster, bobbing my head up and down while pumping my hand with determination.

Jace’s hands tensed, holding me while he started to thrust his hips upwards, his breath rasping and heavy. He lifted his head ag
ain and I met his gaze with a lust-filled one of my own. The sound that escaped him was pure animal. It sounded like a choked growl.

He thrust harder, and I sucked him deeper
. Then I felt him twitch in my mouth, and he let out a groan. “Mia…”

The first spurt of hot liquid that hit the back of my throat surprised me, but when I realized he was coming, I gripped his hips tighter and swallowed.

The last time I’d done this, Jace had pulled out when he came. To have him so out of control that he couldn’t stop himself from coming in my mouth, did amazing things to my confidence.

I slowly continued to suck him in an
d out, swallowing every last drop of come, until his body began to relax underneath me, then I gently kissed my way up his chest. When I got to his jaw, he took my face in his hands and kissed me deep. I was surprised he would after what I’d just done, but he didn’t seem to care.

Breaking the kiss, he closed his eyes and pressed our foreheads together, breathing hard.

I stayed there for a while, silently waiting for him to return from wherever he’d disappeared to. When his hold on me loosened, I pulled up the blanket and shifted so I was snuggled into his side. Jace rolled so he was facing me, zipping up his jeans before wrapping both his arms around me.

“You didn’t have to do that, but I’m fucking glad you did.”

I grinned. Yep, it was definitely time to make my status in his life known.

Chapter 26

Jace

I arrived at school to find the paparazzi camped out at the gate, and about a dozen more girls than usual waiting to jump all over me. Admittedly, the paparazzi camp out only consisted of two dudes with cameras, but it was still the fucking paparazzi.

I knew their presence meant
that we were finally going places, and I had to admit I found that slightly cool, but the girls were just annoying. They didn’t give a shit about me – or my music for that matter. They were just after some lame social status, and that did nothing for me.

It was easy to see how guys in the same situation could get caught up in the whole pussy conquest thing though. I had no doubt I could get any of the chic
ks standing there to drop her panties for me with just one word, but I wasn’t some fucking geek band boy who’d been hard up for a fuck over the last few years and now found himself in a position equivalent to a kid in a fucking candy shop.

The truth was, I’d had more than my fair share of girls over the last four years, and having a hundred more willing to spread their legs for me didn’t put stars in my eyes. To be honest, sinc
e that very first night with Mia in Aspen, I knew I didn’t want that anymore. The way Mia made me feel was like a fucking drug, and it surpassed anything and everything any other girl could ever do to me.

“Hi
, Jace.”

I looked up to see a chick with short blonde hair batting her eyelashes at me. Seriously? Did these chicks really think that shit worked? She ran her hand up my arm, her fingers groping under the sleeve of my shirt and curling around my bicep. I looked down at her hand then back up to her face pointedly. She didn’t take the hint. Fuck. Who was she anyway? I di
dn’t even remember seeing her at school before. She was probably a fucking freshman or something.

I shrugged her hand off and stepped to the side, only to encounter another blonde girl ready to take her place. Holy fucking shit.

“Hey, Jace. I love the new song you guys have on YouTube. You must be pretty stoked to be going on tour with The Dark Hybrid.”

I vaguely recognized the chick from my English class. Rebecca, or Renee, or something like that. When her hands started making their way up my chest, I sidestepped her too. “Thanks. Yeah, The Hybrid are awesome.”

Glancing around, I saw Aiden’s car pull into the lot and start to drive towards me. My gaze automatically went to the passenger seat where Mia sat, and I felt a surge of some weird assed energy go through me. The urge to just grab her and stake my claim seemed to be getting stronger, and having all these girls hanging off me only made it worse.

I met Mia’s gaze through the windscreen and saw
a slight weariness there as she took in the girls around me. It worried me that I didn’t know if it came from the fact that I was surrounded by girls, or if it was because of the crowd itself. I didn’t like not knowing that about my own girlfriend.

To
be honest, it was not knowing the reason for her phobia of crowds that worried me most. I’d convinced her to try this with me without really knowing if what I was doing was right. I mean, the number of people that flocked to us was obviously growing every day. Was I only setting her up for something she couldn’t handle?

I sighed as I watched Aiden park. The only way I was going to be able to answer that was if I knew where her phobia came from
, and Mia was the only one who could answer that. I needed to get her to open up to me about it.

“Hey
, man,” Matt said as he came up behind me.

I turned to see both him and Dean standing there,
thankfully taking a lot of the groupie pressure off me. A bunch surged towards Aiden too as he stepped out, and I moved a little further away, positioning myself so I was closer to where Mia was climbing from the car.

I wasn’t planning on saying anything
. I just wanted to be closer to her, but when she met my gaze and gave me a shy but purposeful smile, I couldn’t help myself. “Good morning.”

I watched her take a deep breath and nervously look behind me. “Hi.”

Aiden moved around the car towards us, bringing all his attachments with him and making Mia tense. I wanted to growl at him to back the fuck up. “Okay?” I asked quietly.

“I…” her gazed darted between all the girls, Aiden, and me.

“I’ll see you at lunch hey, Mi?” Aiden said over my shoulder.

She met Aiden’s gaze and nodded softly. “Yeah, sure.”

Kaeli appeared from nowhere then, giving me a sympathetic smile before taking Mia’s arm and leading her away.

“You ready
, man?” Dean asked from beside me.

I was more than ready to get away from this crowd. I nodded. “Yep. Let’s do it.”

***

Lunch seemed to be the only objective in my day. Everything I did was with a purpose that would bring me a step closer to that time.
I didn’t even bother trying to convince myself that it had to do with anything other than Mia.

I timed my approach carefully, watching for
the exact moment she would start heading out to the green, before striding out and taking a seat on a vacant bench. Much to my satisfaction, Mia arrived a few seconds after me and slid down beside me, with Kaeli taking the seat beside her.

“Hey,” I said, trying to sound casual. Yeah, I was a dick.

“Hi.”

Her answer was soft and shy, but there was a little teasing shine in her eyes. It made me want to grab her and tickle her so I could hear the little giggle I knew would be just under the surface. “Have you had a good morning?”

She bit her lip, making me want to do the same. “It’s been…long…” she said cryptically.

“Mmm…I think I know what you mean.”

“Hey, Jace…”

I turned to see
Melissa sitting across the table from me and raised my eyebrows in question. She’d been annoying the fuck out of me all morning. I don’t know why she had to be in so many of my god damned classes.

“Are you guys playing this weekend? I’d love to come and see you.”

I bit back a rude reply and nodded. “Yep. Friday night. At the GV.”

“Awesome. Maybe we can catch up after.” She narrowed her eyes and lowered her head. I guessed it was supposed to be a seductive look or something. It wasn’t.

Turning back to Mia, I pressed my lips into a weary smile. “Have you ever been to one of our shows?”

She shook her head softly. “No. The crowds are a bit too much for me.”

I watched her carefully, trying to pick up on any clue that might give me some answers. “Why do crowds bother you so much?”

I was watching her so intently, I didn’t notice Aiden had turned his attention on our conversation. “They just do, okay?”

My gaze jumped over Mia’s shoulder to find Aiden glaring at me from the other side of Kaeli. That look, combined with the warning tone in his voice, had me instantly confused. I looked back at Mia to see she’d gone a little pale. Holy shit. What did I say? “I’m sorry. I didn’t…”

She smiled sadly and shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. It’s fine.”

I glanced over at Aiden again, hoping he could shed a bit of fucking light, but he’d resumed his interest in the swarming girls like nothing had happened. The fuck? Unease grew in my stomach. I had a feeling this wasn’t just some silly little phobia that could be fixed with a bit of gentle encouragement. This was big.

Kaeli whispered something in Mia’s ear and she shook her head
, whispering something in return. Her whole body language had changed. I could feel the tension rolling off her in waves. I wanted to fix it, but what the fuck could I do with everyone watching? I didn’t think I’d been more frustrated in my life.

“Hey
, man,” Matt said from further down the table. “How many tickets did Lenny give us?”

What the fuck did I care how many tickets he gave us? I shrugged. “I don’t know. Six?”

“You mind if I take a couple?”

Jesus, he could take them all
if he’d fucking stop talking to me. “Nah, man. Take as many as you want.”

“You’re not bringing anyone?” He sounded surprised.

Mia pushed to her feet beside me and I looked up with alarm. Shit, was she shitty with me? “Are you okay?” I asked so only she could hear.

She smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Yeah, I’ve just had enough for today.”

I watched her climb over the seat to join Kaeli. Yeah, I fucking sucked at this.

“Jace?”

Matt’s voice interrupted my thoughts before they could turn into a spiraling destruction. “What?” I couldn’t help the clipped tone that came out.

“You don’t want any of the tickets?”

“I fucking said I didn’t, didn’t I?”

Matt gave me an amused look, but had the smarts not to say anything. I turned my attention back to my lunch and did my best to blend in as much as I could until the bell rang.
It was a fucking nightmare.