“Oh, um….” My whole body began to tremble with nervous energy as he moved into my room and took a seat on the edge of my bed. Suddenly remembering what I’d been doing before he interrupted, I slapped my journal shut and shoved it beneath my pillow.
“How come you aren’t at the party, darlin’? We boring you?”
Was he joking? “No!” I cried, sitting up and folding my legs under me. “No, I just… I didn’t… you aren’t—”
“Relax, Ly,” he said with a chuckle, bringing his hand down to rest on my knee. The touch made my skin crackle and burn, and I couldn’t drag my eyes away from those long, callused fingers until he finally pulled them away. “I was just teasin’ you.”
“Oh.” I somehow managed a weak laugh that sounded more awkward than anything. “Well, um… you’re kinda missing your party.” I pointed out the window where the crowd sounded like it was beginning to swell.
“Yeah, but I wanted a chance to talk to you.” In the past months, Mace had started acting like another brother to me. All the guys did, really, but it was more with him. Every time they practiced in our garage, he made an effort to take time out to visit with me. We shared our own private jokes, and he was the only one who’d given me a nickname, but there wasn’t anything romantic lingering beneath the surface. It felt more like a familial bond than anything, which only made the ache in my chest hurt that much more. “I got you something, Goldie.”
“A present?” I chirped excitedly, sitting up straighter.
“Always so damn greedy,” he chuckled. And he was right. It wasn’t the first time he’d given me a present. He had a tendency to show up to hang with Will with a gift in hand for me. Sometimes it was something as small as a candy bar he got in the vending machine at the high school and kept in his backpack for me, and sometimes it was more, like the time he brought me a little pewter picture frame with flowers etched into the design. But no matter what it was, I got excited, and I loved it more than all my Christmas and birthday presents combined. I’d never let him know, but I still had every candy bar and bag of chips he’d given me stashed in my nightstand drawer, all of them unopened.
“What is it?” I asked, my voice going high-pitched as I bounced in place. “Gimme, gimme!”
Mace’s laugh grew more prominent as he reached around his back and pulled something from the waistband of his jeans. “It’s nothin’ big or anything,” he explained, handing over a crinkled plastic shopping bag. “I just saw it at the mall the other day and thought of you.”
I snatched it out of his hands and ripped the bag open. All the air whooshed from my lungs the second I reached in and pulled out the thick, gorgeous journal. The leather binding was stamped with a beautiful fleur-de-lis pattern, and a leather cord wrapped around the middle keeping it closed.
“Mace…,” I breathed, looking up at him with wide eyes.
“It’s not a big deal. I just noticed you’re always scribblin’ in a journal, so I thought you might like this one. It’s pretty big, so you shouldn’t have to replace it for a while.”
I’d been keeping a diary since I learned to write. I’d gone through countless little spiral-bound notebooks, most of which my mom would buy in packs from the drugstore. But I’d never had one this nice. I had to bite my lip to keep the tears at bay. It was the most thoughtful gift I’d ever received, and it made me fall in love with him even more.
“This is….” I couldn’t find the right words to express how much his gift meant to me. “I love it,” I whispered, hugging the journal to my chest as my eyes grew misty. “This is just….” I swallowed down the lump in my throat. “It’s just… I can’t even….” I let loose a sniffle just as a lone tear broke loose and slid down my cheek.
His face stretched into a gorgeous smile. “So I take it you like the present?”
“I l-love it,” I answered brokenly, the floodgates on my emotions bursting open. I couldn’t hold it back any longer, and the words started pouring out with barely a breath in between while tears trailed down my cheeks. “I love it so much. And it sucks that you guys are leaving. I’m so happy for you, and I want you to be super successful, but I hate that you’re leaving. I’m gonna miss you. I wish I could go, and I’m just… I’ll miss you guys. I’m excited for you, but I’m sad. I don’t want to be sad, but I am. That’s why I wasn’t down at the party.”
Mace pulled his bottom lip between his teeth and bit down, drawing my attention in that direction as he examined my face. “Ah, Goldie. Come here, darlin’.” He pulled me into a hug—our very first hug—and the subtle smell of his cologne wrapped around me, settling like a warm, comfortable blanket. I never wanted him to let me go.
“I’ll miss you too. We all will. But it’s not like you’ll never see us again. This is our home. Always will be. You’re a part of our family, sweetheart. And that’s never gonna change.”
I managed to get my tears under control, pulling in a heavy sigh as I turned to press my cheek against his chest. As I held tight to the hug all I could do was hope with all my heart that he was right.
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Discover Other Books by Jessica
WHISKEY DOLLS SERIES
Bombshell
HOPE VALLEY SERIES:
Out of My League
Come Back Home Again
The Best of Me
Wrong Side of the Tracks
Stay With Me
Out of the Darkness
The Second Time Around
Waiting for Forever
Love to Hate You
Playing for Keeps
REDEMPTION SERIES
Bad Alibi
Crazy Beautiful
Bittersweet
Guilty Pleasure
Wallflower
THE PICKING UP THE PIECES SERIES:
Picking up the Pieces
Rising from the Ashes
Pushing the Boundaries
Worth the Wait
THE COLORS NOVELS:
Scattered Colors
Shrinking Violet
Love Hate Relationship
Wildflower
THE LOCKLAINE BOYS (a LOVE HATE RELATIONSHIP spinoff):
Fire & Ice
Opposites Attract
Almost Perfect
The Locklaine Boys: The Complete Series Boxset
THE PEMBROOKE SERIES (a WILDFLOWER spinoff):
Sweet Sunshine
Coming Full Circle
A Broken Soul
Welcome to Pembrooke: The Complete Pembrooke Series
CIVIL CORRUPTION SERIES
Corrupt
Defile
Consume
Ravage
GIRL TALK SERIES:
Seducing Lola
Tempting Sophia
Enticing Daphne
Charming Fiona
STANDALONE TITLES:
One Knight Stand
Chance Encounters
Nightmares from Within
DEADLY LOVE SERIES:
Destructive
Addictive