Home is Where the Heart Is (Home #1) (19 page)

“Tate! Jace! Hurry up!” Isabelle called from the other side of the car park.

Tate didn’t say a word, just motioned to his eyes with two fingers and then poked Jace in the chest with a hard finger; his intention incredibly clear.

I’ll be watching you.

Jace waited until Tate was out of the car and turning away before gingerly pressing his hand to his chest. He pulled his shirt aside and saw a faint pink mark.

Yep, that was definitely going to bruise.

Bastard.

*

“What’s the plan?” Jace asked as he walked over slinging a casual arm around both Tate and Isabelle.

Isabelle shifted away from his contact but offered an apologetic smile whereas Tate shoved him away roughly.

“Ben and Kandi are off conning her brother into topping up the alcohol supply, so we just need to work out who wants to take care of food and who wants to deal with decorations,” Isabelle said.
Jace opened his mouth to say he’d be on whatever duty Isabelle chose when he noticed Maia piggy backed on Matt as they headed over. His jaw tightened as his fists clenched.

“Maia and I will do decorations,” he said absently. “She’s got the best taste and I’ve got the best chance at reining her in.”

Tate’s face lit up like a sunrise. “You know, I can see you as head of the decorating committee.”

Isabelle elbowed him in the stomach but Jace didn’t care. In fact, he didn’t even care that he was giving up some one on one with Isabelle because he felt confident that if Tate hadn’t breached the friend zone in sixteen years, a few hours wasn’t going to make too much of a difference.

Besides, he had a few things to discuss with his baby sister.

“Hey guys,” Maia beamed as they reached them, still perched on Matt’s back. “What’s the plan?”

“Jace volunteered you to be in charge of decorations,” Tate replied with glee.

“I’m deeply offended that there was ever any question in the matter.”

“Don’t worry Sis,” Jace told her with a humourless smile. “We can talk about how offended you are while we pick decorations together.”

Maia froze. “Together? As in you and me?”

Jace eyed her silently, knowing full well they didn’t need to be twins for her to understand him perfectly.

“What about me?” Matt asked sliding Maia down his back and moving to Jace’s side. “I’m with you guys, right?”

Jace glanced over at Tate pointedly so only Matt would understand.

“Someone needs to babysit the children,” he said in a stage whisper.

“We don’t need a baby sitter,” Tate scowled.

“Right, of course not. What I mean is, Matt’s lived here his whole life so you’ll have no chance of getting lost with him around, and he spends a hell of a lot more time eating then he does concerning himself with how anything looks, so he’s pretty qualified to help organise the food too.”
Maia looked anxiously over at Jace, clearly sensing that she may for the first time in her life not be getting what she wanted.

“But Matt, what if I need your help?” she whined, turning those big eyes on him.

Matt just gazed at her, not able to find words to muster a response.

“What could he possibly help you with Maia?” Jace snorted, breaking the silence. “Matt wouldn’t have any idea what a colour wheel is; let alone how to use one. We’re on a time frame here - if you girls want your standard three hours prep time, there’s no room for an hour long argument on why blue and green aren’t compatible.”
Maia gave him the most venomous look that would have anyone else wincing and backing off, but for Jace it made him feel triumphant because he knew he had won a rare victory. He couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face, it was an entirely new feeling and something he could definitely get used to.

“Well, if it’s all settled we’ll catch up to you guys later.” Jace pulled his keys out of his pocket and tossed them to Matt who caught them expertly. “We’ll see you back home in two hours.”

“Take care of my girl,” Matt replied firmly.

“No, I was planning on pushing her into oncoming traffic. That’s my sister you idiot, no one is going to bother her.”
Except him of course.

Isabelle moved forward shyly and placed her hand on his shoulder.

“Have fun shopping, I’ll see you tonight.”

Jace took her hand and pressed a light kiss to her palm, ignoring the burning sensation of Tate’s eyes on him and the curiosity of the others. The thing was, he didn’t care what Tate thought, what anyone thought. All that mattered to him right now was making sure he didn’t screw this up before he had a chance to work out what
this
was.

“Don’t miss me too much,” he whispered back before releasing her.

“It’s going to be hard but I’ll do my best.”

“And I’ll do my best not to throw up,” Tate quipped, moving up so he was side by side with Isabelle again.

Jace pushed away the frustration he felt towards the guy and forced a smile on his face; reminding himself that even though he was a judgmental dick, he was also the reason Isabelle looked giddy with happiness today. For her sake he was willing to play nice.

Turning away from them and grabbing Maia by the elbow firmly, he began to tow her away, his grip tight enough that she couldn’t escape. He ignored Matt’s protests and kept pulling her along until they were out of eye and ear shot before he spun her to face him.

“What the hell, Maia?” he snapped.

“What are you talking about?” she replied with a blank face.

“Don’t.”

The blank face was immediately replaced with wide, teary brown eyes and a trembling lower lip as she looked up at him, the very picture of devastation.

“Jace…I...”

Leaning over he pinched her hard on the inside of the elbow so she yelped, breaking off her sentence.

“Jace!” she shrieked in fury.

“I am not Matt or one of your little lap dogs,” he hissed. “I’m also not an idiot, no matter how I look. I am your brother and that means I know when you are fake crying or real crying. I know when you’re full of shit and I know when you’re up to something, so let’s just pretend for a moment you respect me enough to be upfront with me.”
All games and pretenses ripped away, Maia sighed deeply. “Believe it or not I’m trying to help.”

“Help? By flirting with the new kid so your boyfriend has an anxiety attack? Pushing the girl I like towards another guy? Making it super awkward for everyone? I mean, I know I’m a pretty shitty brother but Jesus, Maia, couldn’t you have just dipped my hand in water while I’m sleeping? This is a bit extreme.”
Maia’s eyebrows flew up after his little rant. “First off, wow. Secondly, Matt is my whole heart and I would never leave him and, third and most importantly, I’m doing you a favour. You’re just too dumb to see that.”
He pulled her over to a bench for further privacy. “Explain to me then, since I’m too dumb to understand on my own.”

“Look, I don’t know if you’ve realised this but Tate is one hundred percent in love with Isabelle. And not in the ‘you’re hot, I want you to be my girl’ but in the ‘you are the heart beating in my chest and I would die for you,’ kind of way, and she is completely oblivious to that.”

“You’re not telling me anything I don’t know, Maia,” he replied tightly.

“My point is that because she doesn’t know how he truly feels, it means she doesn’t know how
she
truly feels. I’m trying to pull everything to the surface so you can tell if you’re just heading straight for heart ache or if you really do have a chance.”
She spoke to him like she would a wounded animal and he hated her for knowing how vulnerable and weak he really was.

“I don’t need your help,
I’m
older and can handle myself,” he told her harshly. “Butt out for once.”

“You’re older by twenty minutes which, in case you didn’t know, isn’t a lot of time to gain the life experience required to fuel an ego that big.”

“Stop playing your games and let me handle it, ok?”

“Whatever,” she muttered, stalking away so briskly Jace had to jog to catch up.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m not spending two hours of my life I will never get back with an ungrateful, oblivious idiot!

“Maia stop, we’re wasting time.”

She spun around and shoved him away from her. “Go home, I can do this myself.”

“Just let me help you,” he said in exasperation.

“Why? You never let anyone.”

Bam. That went right to the heart.

She was right of course, but that didn’t make the truth any easier to hear.

“How am I meant to get home then?” he asked when what he really meant to say was
I’m sorry for everything.

“I’m sure you’ll handle it,” she sneered, moving swiftly again until she was just another body blending into a crowd of strangers.

Jace let out a deep breath and turned away, trying to work out his next move. Feeling around in his pockets, he realised with dread that he’d left his wallet and phone in the car.

A laugh bubbled out of his lips.

He couldn’t even muster the energy to be angry and he wasn’t even the least bit surprised.

“Guess I’m walking,” he muttered to himself. “Should just make it to the party if I start now.”

“You do know talking to yourself is a sign you’re crazy, right?”

He whirled around to see Maia watching him with amusement in her eyes.

Now
he was surprised.

His crazy, annoying, beautiful sister had come back for him.

“I thought you were leaving me to walk home,” he said carefully, not wanting to set her off again.

She eyed him shrewdly for a few moments then brushed past him. “You really are an idiot. Hurry up. The decorations aren’t going to buy themselves.”

Despite her small stature she was off like a shot. Jace had to run briskly to catch up to her once he’d stopped staring dumbly.

“Hey, Maia,” he called out once they had reached the store.

She didn’t stop but her pace slowed significantly so he knew she had heard him.

He sighed deeply. He hated apologising, it felt like ripping teeth out… but if anyone deserved a rare apology from him, it would be his sister.

“Listen,” he began, as he walked pace for pace with her. “I’m an arsehole. It’s in my nature and I’m-”

“What do you think about this?” she asked, completely ignoring his attempted apology as she held up a bright pink, feather boa.

“Maia, I know you just try and look out for me, even when I don’t deserve it and what I really want is to just…”

“Do you think if I picked a theme without checking with Ben he’d be mad?”

Jace grabbed her arm, but gently this time. “Maia, just stop, OK? I’m trying to…”

Maia shoved him off her impatiently. “I know what you’re trying to do, Jace. I’m not stupid. And as much as I would love to watch you choke out an apology, I’m not interested in receiving one. What I
am
interested in, however, is getting these decorations so I can go home and get dolled up, OK?”

Jace stared at her for a moment trying to process it all. He was mean to her, had grabbed her in a way which would most likely bruise and she was giving him a free pass.
Without another word he pulled her in for a hug, squeezing her slightly, hoping that this unexpected show of affection told her everything he was too emotionally shut off to express.

Slim arms wrapped around him and squeezed him back.

“You’re such a douche,” she told him playfully, ruffling his hair before turning back to the decorations.

“And the answer is yes,” he said over her shoulder. “Anything pink or themed will definitely get you in trouble.”

“Kill joys, the whole lot of you.”
Jace hid a smile as he followed her dutifully around the store, putting away some of the more outrageous things she tossed into his basket, and enjoying the complete normalcy of the afternoon together.

He honestly couldn’t even remember the last time it was just the two of them, spending time together freely without an air of doom or drama surrounding them. For years, things had been tense between them. Jace had done everything in his power to shield his Mum, his Sister, from the monster hiding inside his Father. It made normal day to day activities difficult.

He bore every shameful secret he discovered, every beating, every emotional scar as a sort of pride, because if he was hurting it meant that they weren’t. Being Daddy’s little girl, Maia spent years battling against Jace. Seeing only the hostility running one way, and not understanding the cause, believing the honeyed lies their father told to isolate Jace from his family. It was only when Maia witnessed their father in one of his drunken rages, almost beating Jace to death that the brutal, life changing truth was forced upon her.
Jace winced, still feeling the wounds as fresh as if it were yesterday.

Maia had reported it, hysterical, begging them to protect Jace at all costs. Their Mum sat next to him whilst he was recovering in the hospital, more bruises than boy, the same dead look in her eyes.
The police came, there was drama, and promises were made. Jace was released from the hospital, things were better… for a little while. Conditions had been set. Their Dad stopped drinking. They began to rebuild their family, bit by bit, until one night…it just all fell apart.