Three to Tango (12 page)

And they were kissing.

What. The. Hell
? Sharp, cold pain lanced his temples, and the air in his lungs

froze.

They stopped, and Mel"s mouth was moving. Jace couldn"t hear what she was

saying over the frenzied buzzing in his ears and the stabbing needles in his head.

He focused on pushing past the buzz to hear the tail end of whatever Alec was

saying, but all he caught was “was amazing.”

“More amazing than me?” Mel asked, her voice seductively playful.

Alec nipped at her lower lip. “A gentleman doesn"t kiss and tell, sweetheart.”

Sweetheart
? Jace dug his fingers into the back the chair, keeping him upright.

“Dog,” Mel groused, and then she stretched up and kissed him soundly.

Flashes of her lips against his, and of his on Alec"s bombed Jace"s mind. Was it

just yesterday that he"d kissed the both of them? A sudden wave of lust rushed

through Jace"s body to battle with the hurt, startling him with its intensity. And

right on the heels of that unexpected hunger came the crushing weight of betrayal.

The conflicting emotions were too much to bear. Pain pinched deep in his chest as a

cold fist squeezed the life from him. It might not be so horrific if he didn"t love the

both of them so much.

“I didn"t get a chance to talk to him yet, but I"m sure it"s going to work.”

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“Didn"t talk? What kind of games were you boys up to?”

What the hell? Mel
knew
? He had just spent the most incredible night of his

life with Alec, and Mel knew, and there she was kissing him. The both of them

laughing about it. Big joke on Jace.

Anger welled up from his belly, scalding, burning his throat and his eyes.

“Yeah, just what kind of games were you up to, Alec?” Jace asked flatly as he

stepped through the patio doors.

Startled, Mel and Alec broke apart, each with a vivid mix of shock and guilt on

their faces.

“Jace…” Melody gasped. “It…it"s not what you think.”

“I"m not an idiot, Melody,” he spat. “Spare me your lame denials of the

obvious.”

“No, Jace. We wanted to talk to you about this. About something Alec and I

think will be perfect for us all.”

“You and Alec?” he mocked. “So what, he sleeps with both of us to decide who

he wants? After…after…” The fist squeezing his heart twisted, tearing it fiber by

fiber. The pain burrowed deeper. Wouldn"t stop, wouldn"t let him breathe. How

could Alec do that to him? Jace had thought last night meant something more than

just a cheap fuck, that it was the start of something amazing. But Alec wasn"t

playing for keeps after all.

“What was it? Give Jace a thrill before pulling the rug out from under him? A

pity fuck?” Mel recoiled as if he"d actually slapped her, then stumbled back a step.

Regret slammed into him, but he couldn"t stop. Anger and pain and humiliation had

pushed him beyond caring that words could cut deeper than any physical weapon.

They"d used him.

“And then you gave me open court yesterday. After you kissed me. What the

fuck, Mel?” His voice cracked on her name.

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“Jace…” Alec stepped forward, moving his body slightly in front of Mel,

protecting her from…
him?

“And you…” Jace clenched his hands into fists, holding his arms rigidly at his

sides. “What the fuck are you playing at? Taking us for a fucking test drive?”

“Jace, don"t. I know this looks bad, but it—”

“Fuck you!” Jace roared as hurt and loss scraped his throat raw. His vision

blurred and narrowed. He had to get off this emotional roller coaster. Had to get

away from here, away from them. “Just fuck you,” he whispered, the wind sucked

from his sails. He turned on his heel and charged out of the house.

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79

Chapter Ten

“Shit,” Alec muttered.

Mel stared at the door Jace had just slammed. She resisted the urge to chase

him. He wasn"t ready to listen to anything she had to say. Panic lapped at her as

she contemplated the possibility that he might never really come back.

To be fair, his accusations weren"t so off the mark. She had kept her

relationship with Alec a secret from him. And rather than just going to him and

talking about the three of them together, she conspired behind his back.

She closed her eyes, but the image of his face, stark with pain, was burned into

her lids. She"d seen him hurt before but never like this. And never by her. When the

chips were down, she was supposed to be the person he ran
to
, not
from.

Dimly, she realized that Alec had moved to stand in front of her.

“Hey, it"s going to be okay. He just needs some time.”

Melody"s pain welled and overflowed, morphing into a volcano of molten fury,

ready to consume anyone in its path. “Don"t tell me what he fucking needs. I
know

what he needs. Jesus, don"t you get it? Everything was fine until you came here,”

she shouted.

Alec jerked back, his face paling.

The anger seeped out of her, and suddenly she was exhausted, like someone

had drained her battery. She wrung her hands in front of her.

“I"m sorry, Alec. I"m sorry. But a week ago I had my best friend, and we were

fine. We didn"t have a worry in the world. And then you put all these ideas in my

head, fantasies of something that could never happen, and I started to believe in

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them.” Tears pricked her eyes, and she tried to swallow past the lump of regret

wedged in her throat.

Alec pulled her stiff body into his arms, rubbing her back and making soft

noises in her ear until she found herself hugging him in return. The tears that had

threatened broke free, and Alec held her tight as she cried.

“I know you"re hurt. And maybe you aren"t giving me enough credit here,

because I am too.”

Melody pulled back and looked up into his wounded face. Those captivating

green eyes were stormy and reflected the pain she felt. There was no denying he

spoke the truth.

“I love Jace, and I love you. I know you"re afraid right now, but his reaction

was the result of a misunderstanding. Yes, we hurt him, and yes, he"s angry, but it

wasn"t a rejection. He hasn"t even been given the choice yet. Once we explain, once

we tell him how much we care, I think we still have a chance.” Alec cupped her face

tenderly in his hands and pressed his lips to hers in a gentle kiss.

An ember of hope began to burn within her. She gave Alec a tight squeeze

before breaking their kiss. This wasn"t his fault; she"d been a willing participant.

She couldn"t remember why they"d thought this was a good plan. It wasn"t supposed

to happen this way. And now, they had to try to fix what they"d broken.

Straightening her spine, she pushed her fear to the side, focusing only on her

goal and what she needed to do to get there. “Okay. So let"s show him how we feel.

He"s got to come back sometime tonight. He has a competition tomorrow, and all of

his stuff is here. And when he does, we"ll blow his mind.”

It was almost dark out as Jace walked into his studio, soaked to the bone and

shaking. A mild sixty degrees, but the unseasonably chilly rain had leached the last

of his warmth.

He didn"t bother with the lights, making his way to the CD player in the

shadowed room. By the glow of the stereo, he made out the cover of the disc he

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81

wanted, popped it in, then hit Play. Danny O"Donoghue sang the words Jace"s heart

couldn"t speak.

What am I going to do

When the best part of me was always you?

What am I supposed to say

When I’m all choked up and you’re okay?

I’m falling to pieces

He pressed his head against the mirror and banged it one time.

“What the fuck?” he shouted to no one. His heart sat in his chest like a shard

of glass, cutting deeper with every beat.

Jace had been in love before. At least, he thought he had. But this…this was

unlike any pain he"d ever felt, and he didn"t know if he"d ever recover.

He peeled off the shirt the rain had almost glued to his body and kicked his

sopping shoes onto the mat in the corner of the room as the music seeped into his

bones, drowning out his thoughts. He closed his eyes and sank into the vocals and

haunting accompaniment that filled the studio until his body found the rhythm and

began to sway.

Then he started to dance, pouring all of his sadness and anger into the

movement.

The thump of the bass drum vibrated the floor. “He"s back. I"m going to get

him,” Melody told Alec.

“I"ll come with you.”

She took his hand in hers and held it to her cheek. “Please, Alec. If this works

out, I"ll never ask you to step aside again. But I need to do this myself. No matter

what happens here, things are going to be different between him and me, and we

need to talk about it. I"m sorry if that hurts you.”

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He nodded, his face grim. “Okay. Hurry, though. It"s killing me that he thinks

last night was just some game to me. Can you at least tell him how sorry I am and

that I love him?”

“Of course I will. I"ll—
we’ll
be back up soon.”

“You have twenty minutes, and then I"m coming down. That"s more than fair,

Mel. I can"t be in the dark much longer than that. I"ll lose my mind.”

“That"s fair. Twenty minutes.” Melody pressed a hard kiss to his mouth, then

headed down the stairs to the studio, her pulse pounding in time with the

music. Stopping just outside the door, she tamped down the nausea that threatened.

This was Jace,
her
Jace. Everything would be okay. It had to be.

She opened the door and saw him dancing in the near dark, a man possessed.

This was no polished ballroom routine, but a lyrical free-form expression of

heartbreak.

The tears that had been locked and loaded since he walked out finally broke

free and streamed down her face. Salt stung her lips where she"d nibbled them raw.

She pressed a hand over her mouth to keep from sobbing out loud. She"d done this

to him.

When the music finally ended, so did he, on his knees, arms at his side, bare

chest heaving. The room was silent but for the tapping of rain on the windows and

Jace"s labored breathing.

“I know you"re there. I can smell you, Melody.” His voice barely a whisper.

“I—It"s not what you think.” She cleared her throat and tried again. “I should

have told you. I know that now. But I love you. We love you.”

“
We
. Who the fuck is we? You and your boyfriend?” He let loose a bitter laugh

and stood, tense and guarded. “Is this the part where you tell me that neither of you

meant to hurt me and that you hope we can all stay friends? God, Mel, I slept with

him! And somehow, between last night when he had his dick in my mouth and

today when the two of you were sucking face, something changed, and I didn"t get

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83

the memo. So great for you. You win. Send your clothes to a professional laundry

service and send me the bill.”

The pain in his voice shattered her soul. If she didn"t convince him right now,

she"d lose him forever.

She walked toward him slowly, tears still flowing. “I didn"t win. Either we both

win or we both lose.”

“I don"t even know what that"s supposed to mean, and I"m not in the mood for

word games. I"m going upstairs to take a hot shower and get some clothes. I"m going

to stay at my sister"s until I figure out what to do from here.”

“Dammit, listen to me!”

He met her gaze with a challenging stare.

This was it, her one chance to make him understand.

“I knew you and Alec were going to hook up. In fact, he and I talked about it

for a couple of days beforehand. He overheard us talking about our bet last

weekend, and we…had a moment. We ended up sleeping together. I was going to

tell you, but I wanted to make sure it wasn"t just a onetime thing, because I knew

you"d be hurt. Then, we got to talking the next day. Alec told me he really cared

about me, loved me in fact.”

Jace"s indrawn breath made her rush to finish. “But that he loved you too. He

said that he wanted to be with both of us.” This next part was going to be the hard

part. The „Melody is raw and vulnerable, soft underbelly exposed" part.

Rip it off, like a Band-Aid
. “He said he knows how much I love you too, and he

could tell by our kiss that we wanted each other. See, he doesn"t want to take turns

or toy with us. He wants us all to be together. An exclusive threesome.” She

swallowed hard and added. “And I want that too.”

The silence was louder than the music had been, and endless moments passed.