AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He was always thinking of me, of how to take care of me. All the more reason I needed to protect him now. "Thanks," I said.
"You okay?" He asked, those dark eyes watching me closely as I moved to the counter, refilled my wine glass and sighed.
"Yeah," I said. I couldn't look at him. I knew my resolve would shatter and I’d throw myself at him again. "Everything okay with your mom?"
He didn't answer and I risked a glance at him. The worry I saw written across his face was almost more than I could take.
"Jace?" I moved toward him, forgetting my resolve. He needed me.
He snapped back to himself, the easy smile crossing his lips again. "Yeah. I just ... I need to figure out how to get her moved. To a better neighborhood, somewhere safer."
"She's okay?" Every horrible scenario I'd ever heard about flitted through my mind.
"Just scared. Some guys came looking for my brother. Broke into the house. Threatened Mom. I guess Jarred owes them money." Anger and sadness shot through his eyes, and my heart ached.
I held the wine glass out to him, and he shook his head lightly. "Can I help?"
He shook his head again.
"Have you found your brother?"
"Not yet," Jace said, and it was more like a sigh. "And if those guys find him first, I probably never will," he said.
I couldn't imagine how I’d feel if Tess was missing, in trouble. He must be terrified, but like always, he stood there strong and stoic. "What can I do?"
"Nothing, Juliet. This isn't your problem." His voice was tired, and his eyes were sad.
“I could pay an investigator, or—”
“No.” Jace cut me off before I could even finish, his voice hard. “We’re okay. We don’t need charity.”
That hurt a bit, I hadn’t thought of it as charity. I wanted to help, but Jace was too proud to accept anything I could give him. I also wanted to wrap myself around him, to comfort him, to take comfort myself, but Jace looked tired. "I'm gonna do the perimeter check and then go to bed."
"Of course," I said, disappointment flooding me even though I'd just decided today that it would be for the best if we didn't get any more involved than we already were. I watched as Jace locked the kitchen door, and then moved into the dining room. I turned, heading back for the television. I knew I wouldn't sleep again, so I did my best to lose myself inYounger,my latest TV addiction.
Despite my resolve tostay uninvolved, an hour later I found myself with Jace's file and the telephone at my ear, giving Jace's mother’s address to the man on the other end.
"Okay, Ms. Manchester. So we'll monitor the place, and I've got a couple other guys out looking for the brother."
"Thank you," I told Paul, the proprietor of the other security firm I'd been referred to when I'd hired the company Jace worked for. I couldn't call Austin, Jace’s boss. So I did the only thing I could think of. "Call me if you find anything?"
"Will do. How long till they move, you think?"
I stared at the open laptop, at the picture of the little Brentwood cottage I'd bought last year as a getaway when I'd needed to escape Zac for a night. "I'm not sure. Soon, I think."
"All right. We'll be in touch."
"Thanks." I put the phone down and sighed. Maybe inserting myself wasn't the right thing to do, but I couldn't be to Jace what I wanted to be, couldn't have him be anything for me. So I could be a friend, I figured. My money could help ease the situation that had creased his face with worry and brought sadness into those dark kind eyes.
Maybe, if I knew everything was okay with him, I'd be able to keep myself away from him.
Maybe.
Chapter Fourteen
Jace
Seeing the fear in my mother's eyes had drained me, and hearing her refuse to use my money to get a hotel room, at least for the night, had possibly broken my heart. By the time I left the little house, having filed the police report, installed a new lock on the busted front door and reinforced the windows, Mom looked exhausted. I'd sent her to bed and waited up, watching the news at a low volume until I was sure she was all right. If Jarred did come back, he wouldn't have the new key. But I was beginning to lose hope he might come back at all, and anger was replacing worry. How could he do this to us?
