Home is Where the Heart Is (Home #1) (27 page)

“By everyone do you mean just you searching for an hour?”

Isabelle smiled. “No, Mum wouldn’t let me out until we’d had dinner. It took me thirty minutes tops to find you.”

Surprise filtered through him. “Thirty minutes, huh? That easy?”

Isabelle shrugged. “It helps when you know where to look.”

“And you knew I’d come to the school roof top?” he asked, his curiosity peaking.

“Wasn’t too hard to figure out you’d come to the quietest, highest place since every time you’ve been upset about something you sit on your roof and watch the stars.”

Jace stared openly at her. Who the hell was this girl? How did someone who’d known him less than two months understand him better than people he’d known his whole life?

“My Dad called me today.”

Jace snapped his mouth shut. What. The.
Fuck
.

Where the hell had
that
confession come from?

He glanced at Isabelle who was still watching the stars.

No curiosity. No judgement. Just patience and warmth.

He shrugged to himself. What the hell, may as well finish what he started.

“He was an alcoholic and a mean drunk. I never wanted Mum or Maia to deal with it, so when he’d get in a rage I took it all and kept my mouth shut. For years they thought I was the problem and a trouble maker. My own Father turned my family against me because he was too much of a coward to ask for help.”

He took a steadying breath, trying to beat back the anger.

“He nearly killed me one night, that’s when things changed. It woke Maia up and forced my Dad to acknowledge his actions. Things were good for a while, almost normal but then…”

Isabelle squeezed his hand, giving him the courage to continue.

“Then he got drunk again, tried to attack Maia and I snapped. I put him in the hospital for days, and once he was discharged he stuck around long enough to sign divorce papers and get his shit. We didn’t hear from him again…until now.”

“Do you think you could ever forgive him?” Isabelle murmured.

Jace hesitated for a moment, knowing if he was honest with her, she’d see who he truly was and leave.

“I don’t think so,” he finally whispered the truth anyway.

Isabelle nodded. “I understand - bruises may fade, but the pain and scars never do. It’s hard to find it within yourself to forgive someone when they broke all the good parts of you that would make that possible.”

“Yeah,” Jace muttered.

“You’re not broken, Jace.”

“What?”

“You’re not broken, though it’s written all over you that you think you are.”

“Isabelle,” he sighed softly. “You wouldn’t know.”

“I understand broken and I understand damaged - you’re neither.” Her tone was absolute.

“And what am I then?”

“You’re really beautiful.”

Jace turned to find Isabelle staring at him.

He half smirked. “Isn’t that my line?”

She shuffled a little closer. “I’m serious.”

He watched her, gauging the situation. He did not want to screw this up because he was too high to notice a red flag when he saw one.

She stared at his lips then licked her own and that’s all the sign he needed.

Moving the remaining inches between them, he cupped her jaw tenderly before pressing his lips to hers.

Isabelle’s trembling hands fisted in his shirt and pulled him closer, so Jace hesitantly deepened the kiss, coaxing her mouth open, then pulling her bottom lip with his teeth.

She gasped and then tentatively slid one hand under his shirt to clutch his back as the other hand tangled in his hair.

Shit, she was hot and damn sweet too. He’d kissed a fair few girls in his time but nothing even came close to what he was feeling right now.

He needed more of her, had to be closer, so Jace rolled so that he was on top of her and released her lips to press kisses to her cheek, her ears, her neck. When he sucked a small line down her neck towards her shoulder he felt the moment her passion gave way to terror, her whole body stiff and shuddering.

“Not like this,” she sobbed quietly.

Jace sprung off immediately, his breathing heavy and heart pounding. She was crying and her eyes were crazed and unfocused.

“Angel?”

Jace reached out to touch her arm softly.

“No!” she shrieked, and hit him so hard in the face his nose began to bleed.

“Shit!” Jace reared back, clutching his nose as Isabelle seemed to snap out of it.

“Jace? Oh my god!”

She scrambled over to him, looking equally haunted and horrified.

“Oh my god, what have I done? I am so sorry, are you OK? Please be OK, I’m so sorry!”

Jace tried to smile, earning himself a mouthful of blood which he had to cough up, only creating more hysteria in Isabelle.

“Here, use this!”

In true testament to how panicked she must be Isabelle ripped off her shirt, leaving her in only a sexy lace tank and bra, pressing her shirt to his face as she cradled him in her arms.

“Jace, I- I don’t know what happened. I wasn’t here for a second and…”

She broke off as tears choked her and Jace’s heart fractured a little more.

“Hey, it’s OK, really. I grew up with Maia, so I’m no stranger to blood noses, and it’s actually kind of a relief to know that you’ve got a mean right hook to help me out with if I’m ever in trouble.”

Isabelle choked on a half sob, half laugh and threw herself into his arms so firmly that he fell backwards and they landed in a heap of limbs.

“I’m so messed up Jace, I’m sorry. That was a really great kiss and I ruined it, I’m so sorry.”

Jace cupped her face with one hand, his other holding her shirt firmly to his nose.

“If you apologise for kissing me one more time, I’m going to get a complex.”

She pulled a face at him but stopped crying. Point one for Jace.

“I feel like there’s so much I need to explain to you, but I just don’t…” she trailed off and looked down, her cheeks heated in shame.

“Isabelle, look at me,” Jace said softly.

She lowered her head further.

“Isabelle, come on. Look at me, babe.”

Her head snapped up with the term of endearment, and Jace filed that little fun fact away for later.

“You don’t have to explain anything to me - you don’t have to tell me anything, OK? I’ll still be here.”

Her eyes filled with tears again and then she buried her face in his chest so he couldn’t see her at all.

“I’m a virgin,” she whispered to him.

Jace fought the urge to stiffen at the revelation and remained still, not wanting to spook her.

“There’s no shame in that, Isabelle.”

“No…I...” she took a deep breath to collect herself. “What I’m trying to say is that I’m still a virgin but…but it was almost taken away from me…violently and it’s…it’s sort of ruined me.”

Jace had guessed that she’d been hurt, thought he’d come to terms with it, but nothing prepared him for hearing it from her lips. Not for the image of her helpless, crying and hurt as some lowlife tried to force himself on her - tried to rape her.

His high was completely gone now and instead all he could feel was rage, blinding encompassing rage. He was going to kill Jason, that much was for certain. He would break him down piece by piece and then he would obliterate him.

First though, he needed to take care of Isabelle.

“You’re not ruined, Angel,” he told her firmly. “You are so…you’re just everything beautiful and real to me. I will never hurt you, I promise.”

He’d meant to soothe her, relax her nerves a bit but she stiffened further in his arms and then pulled away from him completely.

“Jace…I…I can’t be what you need me to be. I can’t be anyone’s
anything
because I don’t have anything to give. The right thing to do would be to walk away from you completely but… but I’m so selfish and I need you in my life, you make me feel better, feel happy and I do really care about you, I just can’t give you more than that.”

Jace felt split in two. On one hand she’d told him she cared and admitted that she needed him, but she’d also basically rejected him and said it was never going to go anywhere, at least not to where he wanted it to go.

He struggled with his emotions, fighting the demons inside that screamed he was never going to be good enough.

“So, just friends then?” he croaked.

Isabelle looked crestfallen which made no fucking sense. Isn’t that exactly what she wanted?

“I…I don’t know if we can be just friends, Jace.”

A thought struck him then and he smirked to himself at his own brilliance.

“What about no labels?” he suggested.

Her eyes widened with interest. “What does that mean?”

He shrugged. “Whatever we want it to mean. No labels, no expectations, no dramas. We hang out, we confide in each other, whatever we want to do.”

“Won’t everyone think it’s weird?” she implored.

“Fuck everyone else, this is between us.”

Isabelle gave him a genuine smile then. “Screw everyone one else, I like that.”

Jace pulled her closer to him again and reveled in the feel of her warmth.

“I guess we better head back,” Isabelle said grudgingly. “I think there’s been enough excitement for one day.”

Jace looked away, feeling shame. “I’m sorry, babe.”

She raised her eyebrows. “It wasn’t anything
you
did. I entered a poetry contest a couple weeks ago and so did Kimberley. Turns out we both won.”

“Babe, that’s awesome!”

Isabelle rolled her eyes. “I haven’t finished. Since they were concerned about our subject matter and we refused to see the counsellor, our
reward
for laying ourselves on the line is “team building” every Friday after school for an hour with each other.”

Jace grinned at her. “You didn’t think the counsellor would be less painful?”

Isabelle sighed dramatically. “Hindsight, right? Come on, let’s head home, Mum made schnitzel and I saved you a plate.”

Jace’s stomach grumbled in response and he hurried to obey. Okay, so she couldn’t commit to him and their first kiss had ended in a bloody nose, but she seemed just as excited about the concept of friends as he was, so hope wasn’t completely lost.

He would be everything she needed. He would be patient and then eventually she would have to realise - he was hers.

CHAPTER 11
ISABELLE
“Can’t you write me a note or something?” Isabelle begged.

Her Mum’s gaze sharpened on her. “And why would I do that?”

“Because I’m being punished for nothing!” Isabelle said heatedly.

Her Mum pulled a piece of paper from her pocket.

“You’re not being punished. They’re trying to help you and you’re being stubborn. Why haven’t you come to me or your father about this?”

She pushed the piece of paper towards Isabelle.

Isabelle glanced down and froze. It was her poem from the stupid poetry contest she shouldn’t have even entered.

“It’s a poem, Mum,” she said flatly. “Not a diary entry.”

“The theme was raw and real, something personal to you and you wrote this,” she countered.

“So? Harry Potter is dark and raw but that doesn’t mean we have to cower from Voldemort.”

“You’re getting awfully defensive,” her Mum responded calmly.

“I’m not being defensive - I’m just
defending
myself from false accusations.”

“I don’t believe anyone has accused you of anything.”

Damnit! The woman was maddening. She should have been a lawyer.

“Are you going to write me a note or not?” Isabelle asked impatiently.

Her Mum’s eyes narrowed but the rest of her face remained impassive. “Are you going to go to the counsellor?”

“I don’t need help! It’s a complete waste of time!”

“Then no. Besides, even if
you
don’t think you need help, the other girl might.” There was definitely something final to her Mum’s words.

“Trust me Mum, she needs the kind of help that I’m not qualified to give.”

“Isabelle Mason!”

“What? Kimberley is a bitch!”

“Language, young lady! Go wait in the car for me, I’ll finish my tea and then take you to school.”

“Don’t bother,” Isabelle snapped. “Jace will take me.”

Grabbing her bag from the floor she strode out of the house, ignoring her Mum’s angry protests.

She was about to knock on Jace’s front door when it abruptly opened and she tumbled forward into warm arms.

“I thought we agreed - no falling for each other?” Jace teased, stroking her hair briefly before setting her back on her feet.