Page 85 of Wanna Bet?

He looked away, embarrassed. The couch suddenly seemed fascinating. "Nevermind."

"No." She sat up, forcing him to meet her eyes. "Look at me."

He did and her gaze held his. Steady. Certain. "Do you really not know?"

Jace shrugged. Which was answer enough.

The smile she gave him was heartbreakingly soft. "Oh." The single word carried so much affection it almost hurt. "My sweet idiot."

"Heyyyy," Jace almost whined.

She poked his chest. "You are kind." Another poke. "You are patient." Another. "You actually listen to me." Another. "You remember things." Another. "You make people feel safe."

Jace swallowed. "Myah—"

"You love people carefully." The words hit harder than everything else. Because nobody had ever described him that way. Nobody.

Myah smiled. "And you're funny."

"Funny?" He cocked a brow, “Really?”

"Well, not as funny as me. But yeah!"

Jace rolled his eyes but she ignored him. "Seriously, Jace. You care about people." Her voice softened further. "Really care."

The room suddenly felt smaller and more intimate. "And when things got hard..." Her fingers found his hand and wrapped around them, "You stayed." Her thumb brushed across his knuckles. "You had every reason to leave, but you didn’t. You’re the first person in my life to see all the bad parts of me and stay."

He stared at their joined hands and then at her. "You stayed too."

Something vulnerable flickered across her face. Because they both knew that mattered. Maybe more than anything.

She smiled, a small, real smile. "I was always going to."

The words settled deep inside him. Finding places that still hurt. Places he rarely acknowledged. Places that had spent years convinced nobody would ever choose him. Yet here she was. Choosing him. Again, every day. The woman who had crashed into his life like a hurricane and somehow taught him what home felt like.

"You know what your problem is?" Myah asked.

Jace groaned. "Here we go."

"You think you're harder to love than you are, and you aren't."

Jace stared at her. At the pink hair. The bright eyes. The ridiculous confidence. The endless affection. Everything. And for maybe the first time in his life, he allowed himself to consider the possibility that she was right.

Maybe he wasn't difficult to love. Maybe he'd just never met someone determined enough to stay. Until now.

Myah leaned forward and pressed a kiss against his mouth. Quick and sweet. Then another. And another.

Jace laughed. "What was all that for?"

She grinned. "Just reminding you that I chose you too." Her smile softened.

The words settled somewhere deep and permanent inside Jace’s chest. And as she curled back into his side, stealing his blanket for the thousandth time, Jace wrapped an arm around her and held her close.

The movie continued playing. The evening stretched comfortably around them. And for the first time in a very long time, the future didn't feel frightening. It felt hopeful. Because whatever came next, he wouldn't be facing it alone. Myah had chosen him. And somehow, impossibly, she kept choosing him every day.

Chapter Twenty

From: Issaky the guy