Pepped Up and Ready (Pepper Jones #3) (22 page)

“Pepper Jones is my hero!!” Zoe screams and swings me around. “Two-time National Champion, baby. Right here in this room!” We’re at Wes’s house a week after Nationals, and the entire cross team is there, along with Jace and a few of his friends on the football team. Most of my teammates have now had enough to drink that they are no longer staring in shock at Jace and his enormous friends.

“Seriously, I worship you,” Zoe tells me before putting me down. “You too, peanut.” Zoe pats Jenny on the head. Jenny placed tenth, which was well above her expectations. She’s only a sophomore, and I have a feeling another Brockton Public student might be taking the national scene by storm soon enough.

Jace has remained by my side as I let loose for the first time in far too long. Somehow, things between us are more intimate than ever. We haven’t gotten enough of each other this week. His team didn’t win the Championship, but it was a very successful season. We’ve both taken the week off from workouts and instead spent a lot of time together. It’s mostly been on Shadow Lane, at his dad’s or at my apartment. I know I need to be tough and get over it, but I’m not ready to return to Jace’s dorm room yet.

Frankie offered to switch rooms with Jace, but I’m determined to get over my emotional issues. Still in training on that, for now. Soon it will be winter break, and the dorms will be closed for a couple weeks, so I’ll have a good excuse to keep holding off on going back there.

Jace leads me away from the crowded living room and into the kitchen. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you all day,” he tells me after I hop up on the counter.

“Oh?”

He places his hands on either side of me. Sometimes, when he looks at me like he is right now, I think he might be falling in love all over again. Or maybe that’s just me. God, he’s beautiful.

“She’s expelled from UC, and lost her scholarship. So she’s not coming back.” He doesn’t need to say her name.

“What about the legal charges?” After making my statement to the detective on the case, I wanted nothing to do with it. Or at least, as little as possible. I’m relying on Jace to tell me what I need to know.

“The prosecutor expects she’ll probably plead guilty and get some jail time. It’s unlikely she’ll be found legally crazy, but at the very least, the judge will require some sort of mental treatment as part of her sentence.”

I nod, unsure how I feel about this news. It’s disturbing that the girl’s life is ruined, but she’s definitely got some issues. It’s just hard to grasp that someone who seemed relatively normal and had so much going for her could be totally unhinged.

“I have something I’ve been meaning to tell you as well,” I say, unable to hide my smugness.

“What would that be?”

“I signed a very important paper this afternoon.”

He leans in closer, his lips brushing mine. “What paper?”

“The one that signs me up for four more years in Brockton.”

I feel him smile.

It wasn’t as easy to make the decision as it would have been years, months or even weeks ago. Love is a powerful thing, but self-preservation is as well. It’s not always easy getting what you want, and sometimes it means taking risks. Sometimes it takes patience. And sometimes, I think, as I kiss Jace for the hundredth time that night, it all pays off. Sometimes we get exactly what we want.

Thank you, readers, for your enthusiasm for the Pepper Jones series! The fourth book in the series will be out on July 30, 2015. And no, I don’t know how many books will be in this series yet, sorry!

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