An Ace Of Hearts (Book #1) (Completed)

Chapter 31: A Crumpling Bond

AHVI TAKEDA

My palm stung from the slap even as Eman pulled out of the parking lot and sped down the road. I didn't dare to glance over my shoulder. I had regretted the slap the moment my palm connected with Jace's cheek but it was too late to take it back now.

I was angry, angry at him for showing up every time I seemed to be losing feelings for him. Angry because he looked worried for me, as if he cared if I was hurt or not. If he did, he wouldn't have made me feel as if he was interested in me when he liked Kiara, when he was planning to get back with her.

Eman remained quiet in the driver's seat but every now and then, she would glance at me. I ignored her, too. She was surprised by my outburst. I had seen it in the wide-eyed stare she had given me when I stepped into the car. I paid her no heed even then.

I was going to my hometown and I was freaking out as it was. I didn't need Jace to add to the stress. Sheriff Davis had called me the night I was talking to Ren but I had let it go to voicemail because I didn't want my brother to get suspicious. I have never had a problem talking on the phone in front of him but the sheriff was not someone I felt comfortable talking to in front of him, so I had decided to silent my phone and make up a lie about a spam call.

I had forgotten about the call the next day and it was only when I was going to bed last night that I remembered to reach back to the sheriff. When I did, he let me know that there was a stalker in London, who was after me. And the stalker belonged to Polo's gang. It was enough to scare me and make me wish I had never reached out to him in the first place.

I only agreed to his plan of me going to New Mulliton to help catch the gang because I thought maybe it would help me redeem myself. Maybe I could finally move on, could let go of a past I no longer wanted to haunt me.

"Vi." Eman's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked at her, raising my eyebrows, a little startled.

"Hmm?" It was all I could get out, my mind still on the plane ticket I had booked and Jace's worried expression in the parking lot. Sheriff Davis had told me that he had talked to Jace about the plan. He had also mentioned that he had been furious.

"I asked if you wanted to eat something before heading home." My best friend glanced at me briefly before focusing on the road.

"Don't you have a lunch planned with your literature class friends already?" I frowned, shooting her a glance. Unlike me, Eman was not a loner with one friend. She drew people in, and could talk to them effortlessly and charm them. She was a lot like Jace, just a more halal version. I had always wondered how they could make friends so effortlessly, something I had never learned.

"I can cancel." She responded before shaking her head. "I will cancel. I want to spend the rest of the afternoon with you. You need me more than they do right now." She shot me a smile that had me wanting to reach over the console and hug her.

"You don't have to." I answered. I meant it. I could go back to the apartment and sulk and worry. I would be fine...Alright, I wouldn't be fine on my own right now. There, I admitted it.

"Have you got another best friend I don't know about?" Eman asked, shooting me a look. Her expression was so exaggerated, it had me letting out a cackle.

"No, I don't have another best friend." Some of the tension left my shoulders and I slumped in my seat. I hadn't known how stiff my body had been until now.

"Then, I have to." She winked at me as she veered left. I knew where she was going. I recognized the street and the movie theatre we had been to a month ago was right around the corner. The day we had run into Jace at the cafe seemed ages ago.