Chapter 024
HANNAH
I finally recovered my powers of speech in time to murmur a 'thank you' to Jace, but he was already far in front of me, holding the car door open so he didn't hear me. Before I could try again, I was hugged around the middle by Willa.
"I told you I would get you out," she said.
"Thanks Willa," I said, my heart metaphorically bursting with gratitude. "I owe you one."
"Ladies," Jace said, drawing our eyes to him. He tapped on the open car door. "Shall we leave this place? We're going out for lunch," he added as he drove out of the parking lot. His eyes met mine in the rearview mirror. "I hope you are hungry."
I nodded. It would be great to have some food inside me. The scene with the security guards had left me still feeling quite lightheaded and shaken up.
"Good," he said and concentrated on driving.
"Jace," I said when he had been driving for quite a while. "Thank you so much for what you did there and... I'm sorry you had to leave whatever you were doing to sort that out. I'm sorry for the embarrassment and-"
"Oh don't apologize, Hannah. It was nothing. It wasn't a bother. Really."
Willa squeezed my hand. "You're with us now and that means no one gets to mess with you while I'm around."
"I thought I was the one who handled the situation, not you little sister," Jace teased.
Willa made a face at him and then her expression turned serious. "While I was waiting for Jace to show up, I was thinking... that necklace found on you was obviously a plant. First I know you can't do something like that. Secondly, I barely left your side and I didn't see you even go near the necklace. I think Julia has a hand in this."
"That was the exact same thought I had when I saw her recording. I think she planted the necklace on me when she spat on my face."
"She spat on you?" Jace growled.
Willa nodded in agreement to what I had said and said before I could answer Jace, "Yes. Yes. It had to be at that moment when we are still shocked and trying to process what she had done. She was very close to us then."
"What I can't still wrap my head around is how she could be so cruel," I said. "I mean, I was just shopping. I wasn't hurting anybody. So why?"
"Assholes don't need reasons to be assholes," Jace pointed out, his clenched hands on the steering wheel and clipped tones the only indication there was of how angry he was over what had happened. "They are just born or bred that way."
"I agree," Willa piped up. "I'm sure she had her cameras out waiting to record you when you got punished. Well, she didn't get what she wanted and that's the important thing."
She leaned back against the plush car seat, satisfied that Julia had been thwarted. But I still couldn't help wondering for how long we were going to play this game of hers and Asher's. It didn't seem as if they were going to ease up on me anytime soon.
"We're here," Jace said quietly about five minutes later.
He was driving into the restaurant. With the ease with which he- and even his brothers- did everything, he pulled smoothly into the parking space another car was just vacating.
Inside the restaurant, I immediately placed my order which was held up a bit as Willa spent a little time deciding what she wanted to have. Finally, our food arrived and I dug in. Halfway into meal, I raised my head to observe what was going on around me. My eyes immediately locked in on Jace conveying a scoop of ice-cream into his mouth. My heart skipped a bit when his tongue darted out to lick the tiny glob of ice-cream on the back of his spoon. How badly I wanted to be in place of that spoon at that moment. To feel Jace's lips on me, on any part of my body... The thought made me shiver in delight.
Jace was so intent in what he was doing that he didn't notice me staring. I liked it that way. I could watch him forever. My food was forgotten now. Beside me, Willa was chatting happily about some pretty pretty clothes she had seen on the website of a popular boutique, but try as hard as I could, I could not concentrate on what she was saying.
Almost as if he wanted to torture me, Jace dipped the spoon into the cup of ice-cream really slowly, started to convey it into his mouth and stopped. Some sixth sense must have told him he was being watched because his eyes snapped up to mine before I could look away.
Blushing, I refocused on my meal. I was was pushing the food around on my plate when my phone buzzed.
Willa stopped in her chatter to say, "A call?"
"No. A text," I replied.
She continued talking. I unlocked the phone to see I had a message. From Jace. Who was sitting right in front of me!
He was pointedly looking away when I glanced at him. My heart pounded with excitement as I read the message. 'Meet me in the restroom in five minutes.'
The next moment, Jace smoothly announced he was going to use the restroom. It was all I could do to sit still when he left. If Willa had not been there, I would most likely have run after him. I watched the hands on my wristwatch crawl past.
Four minutes in and I couldn't hold out anymore.
"I have to use the toilet," I mumbled to Willa.
Jace, looking all hot with his hair disarranged in a sexy way was waiting.
"Four minutes, twenty seconds," he drawled. "My. My. You were impatient. I thought I said five minutes."
"I wanted to find out why you wanted me here," I said, my words barely above a sigh.
In the closed space of the bathroom, I could only see Jace, only smell Jace, only feel him. His aura and the attraction to him was so strong it was a wonder I was still able to stand on my own two feet.
"I'm sure you know what I want," he teased. "And I'm sure you want it too. Or am I wrong?"
As he shut the door of the restroom behind us, I shook my head. When he was once more standing in front of me, I threw my arms around his neck, pressed my lips to his. I couldn't help myself. I was crazed with the need to taste him. My tongue swirled over and over his lips like it had in my imagination of a few minutes ago.
Not satisfied with that, I thrust it's tip into his mouth. Jace welcomed me in. His hands slid down my back, gripped my bottom and pressed me to him. Against my stomach, I could feel him beginning to stir in his pants.
"You taste so good," I groaned when his lips left mine to trace a path over my collarbone.
He lifted me off my feet. I gasped. He set on the platform between sinks. That way my sex, still covered by my panties, were in contact with his hardness. I squeezed his length through his jeans. His response was kissing me so hard I was breathless. His hands slid under my gown. Slowly, his fingers inched my already soaked panties down. I attempted to help him get them off faster, but his other hand gripped both of mine, held them off to the side.
"Impatient again, I see," he murmured with a smile.
I pouted. He resumed his kisses, continued inching the panties down my laps, then my knees. Any moment now and they would come off. And then my phone began to ring from somewhere within the depths of my handbag.
I ignored it, focused on the feel of Jace's lips but it was hard not to get distracted by a persistently ringing phone.
With a frustrated sigh, I pulled away.
"I have to get that," I said.
"Yeah," said Jace, handing the bag over to me.
"Mum?" I said, putting the phone to my ear.
"Hannah." Just one word and I knew she was on the verge of panic. "You have to come home now. There is something I have to show you."
"Mum! Wait. What's going on? What happened? Is-"
"Come home," she said.
The next thing I heard was the sound of a broken connection.
Something about how frightened she had sounded struck a chill to my heart. Jace was frowning, already on edge.
"Hannah. Talk to me. Is there a problem?"
I quickly yanked my underwear back in place, slid off the platform to my feet. "Take me home now. I think my mother is in danger."
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