Golden Boy

T H I R T Y - O N E

We managed to get Jace in his bedroom upstairs. It was a decent size, a lot bigger than his room in Ardsley. Two of the walls were lined with bookcases, a nice wooden desk in the corner, and a piano by the window. He settled into his bed, pulling his grey covers over his body. Dayna walked in with a tray of snacks and drinks for Jace, leaving it on his bedside table. 

"Honey, I'm sure you're exhausted. I can make up my bed with fresh sheets for you?" 

I hesitated, looking over at the side of Jace's bed that was empty. I had set my eyes on it the second he sunk into the sheets. It looked inviting and comfy. 

"That'd be great, Dayna," I said, dragging my eyes away from the bed. 

She smiled. "Okay, wait here. I'll pull some fresh sheets on for you in just a moment." She hurried out of the room. 

I wandered over to the bookshelves taking note of the middle-grade and mostly fantasy novels in his collection. I could feel Jace's gaze burning a hole on the back of my neck. I finished skimming the bookshelves, passing a finger on the keys of the piano, and finally doubling back to where his bed stood in the middle of the room. I sat on the edge of the bed, my back to Jace. 

He cleared his throat. "You can lay down here for now. It might take Dayna a moment to locate fresh sheets. She's not really the organized type."

Without letting myself think too much about it, I laid down next to Jace, digging my cold feet into the covers and breathing in the fresh scent of spring flowers on the pillowcase. I looked over to Jace watching me in amusement. "What?" I asked. 

"Nothing, you were just really quick to get comfortable in my bed. If I had known it was that easy—"

"Put a sock in it," I said, shutting my eyes to block out his smirk. I figured I could take a couple of moments to myself, eyes closed, steady breaths. Before I knew it, I was out cold. 

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I woke up hours later, the sun hanging low in the sky. I flipped over to find Jace sleeping peacefully next to me, his body turned in my direction, his arm outstretched having just been laying on my back. I could still feel the warmth of it lingering on my back as I pulled away.

I sat up, doing my best to not move the bed incase he would wake up. Dayna walked through the open door moments later, carrying a tray with fresh gauzes and salves. She perked up from her crouch once she saw me awake in bed. 

"I was going to try and do it while you two were sleeping, but I'm glad to see you up," she whispered, setting the tray on the bedside table. "How did you sleep? I came to get you earlier once my bed was made but you were snoring so I thought better than to wake you."

My cheeks warmed, embarrassed that I fell asleep in Jace's bed and that Dayna saw, but she thankfully didn't comment too much on it. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to, I guess I hadn't realized how tired I was."

"It's okay honey, I thought it was cute," she winked. She started working on undoing the gauzes around my wrists and cleaning away the old salve she had put on before. She worked quickly to wrap my wrists tightly with a fresh set of gauze. "I'm sorry," she said out of nowhere. 

I rose my eyebrow in question. "It's not too tight if that's what you mean?"

"No, that's not it. I'm sorry for everything. The whole point of any of this was to get Jace on a straighter path, but I should have known he'd be too stubborn to listen to me. This," she gestured to my bandaged wrists, "is all of my fault. You shouldn't know what this kind of pain feels like. It wasn't a part of your journey, yet here you are suffering in a battle you weren't even aware existed."