Chapter 88: Chapter Eighty-Nine

“If you’re looking for your boyfriend,” Regina lifted her fingers, making air quotes with a sneer, “then he’s not going to be back in time to save you.”

I forgot that I was supposed to be on guard for a second, my mind snapping at the thought that she might’ve hurt Jace. I don’t think about the fact that she would have to go through the store attendants—

“What did you do to him?” I demanded, storming up to her. “Where is Jace?”

She tipped both shoulders, smacking a gum loudly. “Why should I tell you? You should be worried about what I can do to you, Grace Thompson.” Her eyes narrowed to slits as she grinned. Evily.

Like the Grinch that stole Christmas.

Somehow, the comparison made it harder for me to take her seriously.

I crossed my arms, pursing my lips. “Okay. What can you do? Are you going to pin me to the wall? Threaten me? Tell me I’m poor and wretched and I don’t deserve to breathe the same air as you do?” I sighed, more disappointed than afraid. “You’ve overused those tactics, Regina Michaels.”

“Also,” I blinked slowly, “how did you know I was here? You didn’t stalk me, did you? Oh my god—” I snorted when her lips flattened into a revealing scowl. “You know what they call that, right? Obsession.”

“Stalk you?” She hissed, but her eyes darted away to recover from getting caught. “You’re not worth a second of my attention,” she snapped.

“Then why are you here?” I asked.

She reached into the tiny bag in her pocket, bringing out a small can. I recognized it immediately, my eyes flashing with fear. I staggered back as she pointed it in my direction, covering my face with my hands…

Only to hear a loud, piercing scream.

That wasn’t coming from me.

The bottle dropped to the ground as Regina clawed at her face and swiped at her eyes. “Oh my god! Get it off me! Get it off me.”

I brought my arms down slowly, my mouth dropping as I watched her face turn bright red. Like, inflamed red. Two attendants rushed in, pausing in confusion. One of them, the woman who met us at the entrance, turned to me.

“W-hat happened, Miss Thompson?”

“Grace,” I gently corrected her. Wrong timing to remind her, but the entire thing was comical, to be fair.

“She was going to pepper spray me,” I explained, shaking my head at the absurdity of the situation. “But I guess she didn’t know which direction it was supposed to face, because she ended up spraying herself. That’s what happened.”

“It’s a lie!” Regina screeched. She jabbed her finger at me, stumbling as she tried to make her way to me. “She—she.” She stopped to swipe at her eyes again. Bad idea. Her face had swollen to twice its size at this point.

I turned to the attendant, and we shared the same expression. She cleared her throat. “Miss, we’re going to call an ambulance—”

“Don’t you dare!” Regina hissed, her eyes bloodshot as she glared at the woman. “I’m telling you that she sprayed me with bear mace!” She whirled on me, her nostrils flaring and her chest heaving. “She’s always been jealous of me because I have everything and she has nothing!”

Uhm…

I was stuck between worrying that she was having a serious allergic reaction and wanting to slap the lie out of her mouth.

“Ask her,” she demanded, turning to the other attendant. “She found me here, and she got jealous, so she maced me. Call the cops,” she insisted. “She should be—should be—” she clutched her throat, croaking and sputtering.

I rushed back to the dressing room to grab my bag, ripping through it for my phone. I dialed the emergency line immediately, giving them the address and a quick rundown.

I’d worry about fixing her words later.

Ten minutes later, a yelling Regina was taken out of the building, kicking and punching the paramedics. The store attendant turned to me. “I’m sorry,” she apologized profusely. “We had no idea she was…” she trailed off, looking lost for words.

“Problematic?” I filled in for her with a laugh. “Yeah. It’s fine. I’ve dealt with worse from her.” I still had flashes of daymares from the time she almost doused me with industrial cleaning chemicals.

She smiled awkwardly. “Could we—”

Jace rushed in then, his uneven breathing filling the room, his eyes darting around wildly for a split second before landing on me, and his entire face just…collapsed.

He crossed the room in seconds, wrapped his arms around me so tightly my feet actually left the floor, and hugged me as if he let go I’d disappear. “You’re okay,” he whispered hoarsely, over and over again. “You’re okay. You’re okay.”

“Why wouldn’t I be okay?” I asked, my brows pulling together before realization hit. “Oh. Ohhh. You saw the ambulance?”

He pulled back just enough to look me over, his eyes scanning every inch of me.

“I thought something happened to you. My dad…” He dragged a hand through his hair. “He called me. I didn’t want you to overhear, didn’t want to make you feel…” His jaw clenched. “Fuck.” He scrubbed both hands over his face before running one through his hair again.

“It was Regina,” I explained, saving him from having to explain. I knew his parents were a touchy subject.

His expression went blank. “Regina?”

“I thought I was a familiar car pulling up as I walked away,” he murmured. “But I didn’t stop to check. I should’ve…” he sighed. “It’s my fault.”

It wasn’t.

But I wasn’t about to tell him that Regina had been stalking us for a while. He would insist that we march down to the police station.

And maybe that was the right thing to do, because if she was able to get this far, then I shuddered to think of all the other things she was capable of.

“It’s not,” I assured him. “Also, I had it all under control. Well—” I clicked my tongue, pretending to think it over. “I think I was luckier because all I did was cover my face. She tried to spray me in the face with bear mace.”

His face darkened.

“…and accidentally maced herself instead because she was holding the can backwards,” I finished.

Jace stared at me.

He didn’t blink.

I waved a hand in front of his face. “Hello? Earth to boyfriend. Penny for your thoughts?”

He slowly tilted his head to one side, then to the other. “I’m trying to picture it.”

I pursed my lips. “Fair. I still have a hard time believing it happened, either. But I could give you a live reenactment.”

He blinked several times. “Okay.”

I cleared my throat dramatically. “So there I was,” I began, stepping out of the dressing room like I was accepting an Oscar. I puffed my chest out and dropped my voice an octave. “‘Well, well, well.’”

Jace immediately snorted.

“Oh, don’t laugh. I’m committed now.”

I switched into my Regina impression, doing my best imitation of her dramatic voice, then became myself again, backing up in exaggerated terror, complete with wide eyes and a horrified gasp.

“‘Wait, is that bear mace?’”

I spun around, pretending to be Regina again. “‘That’s right!’”

Then I mimed her proudly, aiming the can the wrong way. I pressed an imaginary button.

“FSSSSHHHH!” I threw my head back, clawed at my own face, and staggered blindly around the room. “‘MY EYES! WHY ARE MY EYES SPICY?!

By now, Jace was bent over laughing, one hand gripping his stomach while the other covered his mouth.

“And then,” I announced grandly, striking a heroic pose. “Justice was served.” I spread my arms wide and bowed. “The end.”

The room erupted into applause.

I blinked and looked up—the second assistant was enthusiastically clapping, a huge smile on her face. The second she realized everyone was looking at her, especially the head assistant, her hands froze awkwardly in the air.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, slowly lowering them.

I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from laughing.

“I’m sorry again, Miss Thompson,” the head assistant said, looking mortified. “To make up for our mistake, we’d like to give you any dresses you choose.”

I blinked. “For free?”

She nodded immediately. “For free.”

“Well…” I could actually feel the smile stretching across my face until I probably looked like the villain in a Disney movie.

Jace gave me a wary look.

“Oh no,” he muttered.

I rubbed my hands together once. I had spotted a dress when we walked in, but I knew the price tag would probably send me into depression.

“Hmm.” I stroked my chin for a moment. Then the smile vanished as quickly as it had appeared. “Nope.”

The assistants looked confused.

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” I said honestly. “I’m pretty sure she convinced you she was a normal person.” I shrugged sympathetically. “She’s frighteningly good at that. Honestly, I should commend you for not believing her. Most people do.”

“You came with Mr. Hunter,” she told me. “We wouldn’t treat any of Mr. Hunter’s guests like that, especially his girlfriend.”

It kind of sucked that I was only believed because I was with Jace, but I wasn’t going to dwell on that. “I think I’m ready to pick a dress,” I told her.

“Okay,” she nodded. “Where would you like to begin?”

“Oh,” I chuckled, wriggling my brows. “Everywhere. I’m in a surprisingly good mood because I’m not the one who has to deal with spicy eyes.”

“Oh…”

I felt a little shy, walking out of the dressing room, with the first dress on. It was a burgundy dress with a flowing lace material that had flowery patterns woven into the lace. I ran my fingers over it, my stomach doing little flips.

“What do you think?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I think…I think you look stunning. No.” He was quiet for a moment. “You are stunning, Grace Thompson. And I’m glad my grandfather gave me his card, because if the first one looks this good on you, then we might end up buying everything.”

I rolled my eyes, feeling giddy inside. “That’s impossible. They have a lot of clothes here. Like,” I held my arms far apart, “—a whole lot. Also, where would I put them? It’s not like I have a big house like you do. And I would have to convert the living room in my apartment back home just to fit half of my home.”

“Plus…” I trailed off, my thoughts conjuring a very tempting image of a large closet filled with clothes. I sighed. “Don’t make me greedy, Jace Hunter.”

He stood up as he chuckled, walking over. “We should live together,” he said.

“Together?” I frowned, tucking my lower lip between my teeth.

He takes my hand, tracing my knuckles with his thumb. “College. I know you’ve made your choice and I bet you’ve started applications, but I was thinking…”

He leaned closer, a sneaky smile curling against his cheeks.

Whatever he was doing, it was definitely working. “I was thinking that we could pick one in common? And then we’ll stay together, and you won’t have to worry about closet space.”

“Now, now, Jace Hunter,” I tutted. “Are you asking me to consider the possibility of us attending the same college just so I have enough space to put all the clothes you intend to buy with your grandad’s money?”

He nodded. “Yup.”

“You’re honest.”

“Is that enough to change your mind?”

I made a sound under my breath, tilting my head. “Mm. I don’t know. I’m halfway swayed.”

Jace’s hand traveled from my knuckles to my waist, his lips inches away from mine. “I’m good at the art of persuasion, Thompson…”

“Persuade me then,” I whispered.

His gaze lowered to my mouth, and a warm flush ran down my throat. He leaned in, closer and closer, his lips brushing and my lips parting.

“You know what? I just might.”