Chapter 14: Chapter Fourteen.

Jace's POV:

My throat worked. The joint I had between my lips was burning, smoke puffing, and dancing in the air, but do you know what's amusing?

It didn't burn as much as my eyes did. It had no idea what it meant to be the excluded.

The one who was always told not to do this, not to do that. Jace, stay away from her. Jace, don't fuck up, Jace! Jace! Jace!

Yet, there he was, his hands all over her skin, kissing her lips, consuming her all up like that was the only thing keeping him alive.

And you know who. It's Damon.

The same one who told me to keep off. Who told Kian to stay away? Not to talk to her. Not to touch her. Not to do any fucked up thing or else there would be implications.

But, here he was going back on his words, playing on his rules. Doing things to her that I only had the chance to do just once.

And guess what he did after I kissed her on that prom night? He forced me to wipe off her memory. Because well, that's the only way we could put things back in order, or maybe...it didn't fucking sit well with him.

A scoff left my lips.

It hurts more than ever to see that my Fox Eyes was actually into it too. She didn't push him off. Instead she tugged on his leather jacket, pulling him closer.

My eyes shut down.

Fuck. I couldn't even look. It makes my heart tremble, aching whenever I see her with someone who isn't me.

My eyes was closed, smoking on my joint quietly in the shadows of the street where light was never seen until I heard the hum of his bike in a far away distance.

He's gone. But what I saw made my heartache worsen.

Jhelani.

In the next couple of seconds, I was already few feet close to her but she didn't know yet.

She was lost, her eyes unfocused, breathlessly blaming herself for everything. Calling herself trouble like she was trying to make believe of it.

And I knew Damon well enough to know that that man is crazier than he looks. He made her believe that nuisance.

"Damon is so fucked up. He didn't mind saying all this bullshit to you after that heated kiss y'all had there just now," I said forcing a laugh. I felt my heart squeeze. Fucking dammit.

She jumped at the sound of my voice, surprise etched on her face.

"W-what are you doing here?" Her breathing was rough. Ragged and not yet balanced.

"What? Can't I come by to check on you after all that hectic work you had back then," a playful grin formed on my lips.

"Why do you care to check up on me? I don't need your care. I can do without it. Without y'all. Everyone of you can fuck off out of my life!" She screamed at me then began storming off. .

Not again. I muttered, almost rolling my eyes. She's always so damn quick to think with her emotions rather than her brains. I don't mean it in the wrong way, but yeah, it's king of frustrating.

"Hey, hey, hey. Fox eyes!" I went after her then grabbed her hand.

Her body jerked at my touch, but I didn’t let go. Not this time.

“Let go of me, Jace,” she snapped, yanking at her wrist. Her voice cracked, betraying the strength she tried so hard to hold on to.

I tightened my grip, not enough to hurt her, just enough to keep her here with me. “No. You don’t get to run every time someone gives a damn about you.”

Her green fox-like eyes snapped up at me, glassy with unshed tears. “And what? Stay here so you can look at me like I’m some lost kid looking for her mama? I don't need your pity, Jace. Stay away!"

The words cut right through my heart, her broken voice made my heart clench and my throat work, but I forced a crooked grin anyway. My best shot at defense was always a grin, a tease, a laugh. Anything but the truth.

“Pity? That’s funny,” I muttered, leaning closer, letting the smoke from my half-burnt joint curl between us. “Because the way I see it… Damon’s the one who can’t keep his hands off you. He makes rules, breaks them, and you still fall right into him like gravity.” I don't know how or why I brought that up but yeah, I guess my heart was still full of aches and jealousy.

I don't want to share her with anyone else. She's mine. Only fucking mine! But the moon goddess is a bitch. A cunt. A whore. Cursing us all together. Putting her as our destruction and reason for our downfall.

Her lips parted, trembling, but no sound came out.

I let go of her hand slowly, dragging my fingers across her skin before they slipped away. “But me? I had one kiss with you, one fucking night, and I’ve been choking on it ever since because I couldn't tell you. I was forced to keep it away and seal the mouth of others who saw it. I was the one who had to erase it from your memory. You think that was easy?”

Then there it was. The silence. Her eyes staring at me as she struggled to comprehend what I said, to understand it.

Finally, she whispered, “Y-you kissed me?”

My chest tightened. Her voice was fragile. In disbelief.

I blew out a bitter laugh. “Yeah, Fox Eyes. Prom night. When you looked at me like I was the only one in the room. But Damon...your precious Damon couldn’t let that stand. So he made sure you forgot.”

Her eyes widened, shock freezing her in place.

I took a step back, shoving my hands into my jacket pockets. “You know... I can’t fucking stand watching him touch you. Because every second he does, it feels like he’s stealing something that was mine first...my heart burns with this jealousy and heartache I've grown way too familiar with.”

Her lips parted as though she wanted to speak, but nothing came out. Just a shaky breath.

I stepped closer, closing the space between us until she had to tilt her chin up to keep her eyes on me.

“You kissed me…” she murmured again almost like she was testing the words. Trying to believe it.

“Yeah,” I breathed, my voice low, rough. “And I’ve been starving for that taste ever since.”

Her breath shivered and I caught the way her fingers curled at her sides like she wanted to push me away.

“Jace…are you lying?” she whispered, warning in her tone, but it was weak.

I tilted my head, my smirk just barely hiding the ache in my chest. “Don’t say my name like that, Fox Eyes. You have no idea what it does to me.”

Her pulse jumped in her throat, and my hand moved before I could stop it, sliding from her wrist up to her arm, slow, deliberate, until my palm was cupping the side of her neck.

She stiffened, but didn’t move away. I felt my heart racing to finally have her this way. It's been so long since I got the chance to touch her like this.

And having her this close...I couldn't have possibly missed that sweet essence. Choco Vanilla mixed with alcohol. Is that really just her scent or it's something that had to do with her shampoo or lotion. I was curious to know because it's fucking driving me nuts.

“You shouldn’t be doing this, Jace,” she whispered.

“I shouldn’t?” I leaned in, my mouth brushing the shell of her ear, just close enough to feel my words against her skin. “Neither should Damon. But he still kissed you. And you let him.”

Her eyes flicked down to my mouth, and damn it, I felt my restraint snap thread by thread.

“You want to know the difference between me and him?” I murmured, my thumb brushing her jaw. “He takes because he thinks he owns the rules and gets to bend them the way he wants. And I…” My voice broke into a low growl. “I take because I can’t help myself around you.”

Before she could protest, my lips hovered an inch from hers, waiting for her to either close that space or shove me back.

Her breath fanned across my lips, shaky, uneven, and it was all the permission I needed.

I closed the distance, crashing my mouth against hers. No hesitation, no warning. just raw hunger that had been bottled up for too damn long finally breaking free.

She gasped against me, but I didn’t let her pull away. My hand slid deeper into her hair, angling her face as I kissed her harder, deeper, like I could finally breathe again after drowning for years in my own pathetic feelings.

Her fists balled against my chest, and for a heartbeat I thought she was going to shove me off. But then—fuck—she clutched my shirt, dragging me closer, answering me with a fire that burned hotter than anything I’d ever known.

The world blurred out. Damon, the rules, the lies that were prophesied, none of it mattered.

All I felt was her lips moving against mine, frantic and needy, the taste of her lips crashing against mine and our tongue intertwining undoing me piece by piece.

I tore my mouth from hers only long enough to mutter against her lips, “You feel that, Fox Eyes? Tell me this doesn’t wreck you the way it wrecks me.”

Her breath hitched, her forehead falling against mine, lips still trembling, swollen from the kiss.

“Jace…why didn't you tell me? Why did...akk three of you shut me out like that? What did I do to earn so much hate, Jace?” she whispered, voice wrecked, torn between fury and want.

That sound...dammit, it undid me.

I caught her mouth again, slower this time, deeper, my tongue sliding past her lips when she let me in. My knees went weak at the taste I’d been starving for, and I knew there was no coming back from this.