Chapter 25

Selene:

I couldnt tell what was going on in his head. He was nice, and the next moment like a wicked he-witch. I would've completely diagnosed him with split personality disorder if I hadn't known the man since childhood. The dance after our little moment was smooth and cold.

He played me like I was an accessory on his arm. Twirling me, dropping me, planting kisses on my cheeks. It was a magical dance but I guess all was faked through. Sometimes his arms would come around my body and I would go into an euphoric phase. He would always take advantage of that and ruin it with that smug smile.

Asshole.

During dinner we barely talked and every now and then, Jace gave me stares that would make any woman fall in love with him. I knew, those were just to show Allan and Bethany how in love we were. Sometimes, he fed me risotto and I was shocked at how nice he was. Whereas I was scared that he would stab the fork in my mouth.

When we reached home, Allan took Bethany to their room on the main floor that was through the lounge. Jace and I headed to my room and the whole time we walked, I debated whether to let him sleep on my bed and sneak in by the morning from Sydney's room, so as to not raise caution for the family. He was awfully quiet and I wondered if I had done something to heighten his anger further than needed. The last thing we needed was a war in the house when everyone was asleep.

When we finally reached my bedroom, Jace shrugged off his sweater and hung it on the hook behind my door. His eyes didnt look for me and I felt wonderment at that. I did the same with my white wrap.

"Uhm, you can sleep here. I'll go to Sydney's room." I announced, walking to the small table behind the mirror and unhooking my earrings. I didn't wait for his response and walked into my closet. Shrugging off my dress, I thought about whether to wear the one shirt I had of him to bed. That white shirt I sometimes wore to sleep was his. It was one of the many he'd lent to me and I had a couple of more back in my apartment.

"Eh, It's not like I'm sleeping with him." I pulled up my shorts and looked for a tank top to wear. My clothes were so messy in the closet that I could barely find anything in that mountain of piling garments. I groaned and pulled out the white button up shirt. He wouldn't ask. I'll just tell him it's someone else's.

When the shirt was back on me, I tapped its breast pocket and smiled at the necklace tucked in there. Wearing it around my neck, I headed out only to find Jace snoring on my bed. I felt a warm feeling rising in my chest. He looked peaceful.

I chuckled when his shoes were still on, so I headed over to pull them off. One shoe came right off because it seemed as through he had already been struggling to take it off. The other one took my some strength and when that finally came off, my heart stopped.

Jace's eyes were open and staring at me. He had a smug smile on his face and arm under his head. I quickly dropped the shoe on the floor and moved away.

"Look at you, being so good to me." He slurred and I whined a silent cry. He'd had too much to drink. And then I recalled that he finished the whole bottle while saying that he was too tired from the drive out here.

"You're drunk. Get some sleep." I breathed but he didn't care. He sat up and pulled me to him on the bed. I could feel my shoulder hurting when I landed on his lap. He took my legs by one hand under my knees and dropped me back on bed, soon hovering himself over me.

"Jace, let me go. You are drunk." I placed both my palms carefully on his chest, to push some force there and throw him off of me. Before any action could come out of me, he dipped his head and released a small breath on my neck. I moaned, just at that.

He took the opportunity to kiss my jaw and trail many more down to my neck. I was enjoying every second of it, feeling a tingle rising in me.

"Jace..." I whispered, arching my chest to touch his, and pulled my fingers from his shoulder to his hair. I clutched onto them as he bit into my neck, softly but with a kick that had me wrapping my legs around him.

He pressed a strong kiss on my throat before moving up and locking eyes with me. I felt a blush creep up my neck when he licked his lips, looking at mine. Very gradually, he came down and stopped when his lips felt a brush of mine. I wanted more.

"You're mine, Selene." He whispered and I could barely register that because he was capturing me in the next second.

I felt like his soul, a part of him. The way he pressed our bodies together and didn't allow me to lose my grip on him, confirmed that he needed me just as bad as I wanted him.

The passion was ignited and the world collided into oblivion, it was us and nothing else there. We were one and that seemed fair.

Jace:

The room was darker than what I was used to waking up into. A fresh feminine smell, blessed my nostrils and I felt a calm collect my aching head.

I hummed at the feel of a warm head under my cheek. I found my arm around the small body and the girl was curled up around me. Her legs were tangled with mine and head rested on my chest. It took me a while to figure out why she was in a white shirt and on my bare chest.

"Oh." I muttered to myself, looking at her sleeping form. I grazed some strands off her cheek and that revealed her cute little face. She looked so peaceful. I couldnt help but stare. I trying to not breathe too strongly so as to not wake her up.

When she finally started shifting, I shut my eyes and pretended to be dead more than asleep. Her hair tickled my chest as they found my face. I had a small slit open under an eyelid where I could see her in a darkened sight.

Her face widened and she jumped off. I took that strong jerk to myself as a wake up call and pretended to gain cinciousness for the first time. I was being pathetic.

"What?" I grumbled. She had the white sheets to her chest, even though she was clothed. I raised my brows at her, sitting up and resting my body weight on flat palms against the mattress.

"N-nothing." It seemed as if she was hiding the fact that she wearing a male shirt all in all. In a second, she slipped out of the bed and ran to the bathroom. I dropped my feet on the warm carpet and felt something odd under my feet. My head snapped back to where Selene had disappeared when I found my white shirt on the floor.

"What?" I whispered, scratching my head. Anger fueled me and if that was Aaron's shirt she wore...

Fuck!

I marched over to the bathroom, thinking of knocking but then I slowly twisted the knob and felt relief at her confusing fear helping her with no better judgement of escape. When I opened the door, I found her sitting on the edge of her bathtub, just moving back and forth.

"Whose is that?" Was all I could muster instead of some care to her panicked state.

"Uh, um..." she stood in a snap and that ought to have given her a head rush because she stopped talking and blinked her eyes hard. I wanted to hold her but not without knowing who was the bastard that shirt belonged to.

"Its nobody's. I bought it myself." She mumbled, twisting the material of the shirt in her fingers.

"For the las-" I was about to snap when I saw what settled on her neck. A rose gold pendant just shimmering under the white light. That infinity... that rose...

"What?" She looked up at me and her face fell at my sight falling from her face.

"Why do you still have that?" My breathing laboured and her shoulders dropped.

"Jace, you should calm down." She held my shoulder and I snapped. Taking her hand on me, I twisted it around her back and held her close to me. I was about to ask whose shirt it was but my eyes landed on the tag sticking to her neck. I gulped loudly at a the J written in faint black marker on it. It couldn't have been mine. She must've written herself. I pushed her away and she played the same move, stabbing the heels of her palms in my shoulder and kicking me away.

"This isn't fair." She cried, shaking her head as tears spilled from her big eyes. Those eyes broke like crystals, "I left you for your betterment. So when you wanted to treat me like crap, I took it but now you are done! You can't take me in bed and make me feel like the only girl in the world and then pretend like I'm trash of the street! I don't deserve this!" She cried pushing at my chest again.

"You played with me-"

"Oh boo hoo, I played with your feelings!" She interrupted, "If you want to play the pain card, I was the one going through chemotherapy! I was the one who waited for a donor to save my life! I was the one who hated what she found in the mirror everyday for six years! I was in pain too! But I fought through it!" She was going crazy but so was I. I had no damn idea what she was talking about.

Chemotherapy?

Donor?

What?

Suddenly, she pushed me out of the bathroom and slammed the door shut. I heard loud sobs come to me and felt a stab of horror pierce my heart.

"Selene." I tapped on the door, "Let me in." I asked nicely. All my rage was draining out of me. I couldn't help but feel some remorse in my actions. The way we'd woken up, showed the possibility of what could've happened the night before. I mean, I was half naked and I didn't even remember how.

"I'm sorry, Jace." She cried like a plea. I felt it this time. The pain hit me. It felt like I let it in and it hurt.

"Please, just let me in." I knocked and she slowly opened the door. Her eyes met mine and she stood still. Her fingers came to the lapels of her shirt and one by one she started unbuttoning.

One button down. The valley between her breasts came visible.

Two buttons down. A small straight line like pale scar became visible and I felt my chest tighten.

Third button down.

Fourth button down and her belly started becoming visible.

When she finally unbuttoned the last two buttons, I watched the shirt revealing her bare body, except that it was just a straight line of nakedness. Her breast and waist were covered by the shirt. She was beautiful. Her head bowed and then she looked up at me.

"That day..." she inhaled a deep breath, "...was when they did a blood transfusion." She pointed at the scar on her chest. They must've put a catheter there. I gulped loudly.

"Dad said things would get risky and the process would be long." Her chest heaved as she looked up and down, "I just..." her lips wavered, "...wanted to give you your best chance." She shrugged and finally the tears ran down her cheeks again. I walked towards her but she backed off.

"I didnt mean to hurt you, Jace." She wiped the tear off with her thumb.

"Selene..."

"You're you, Jace." She chuckled sadly, "You're the love of my life." She shook her head and closed the bathroom door.

I stood frozen.

Speechless.