Tattoos: COMPLETED ✔

Chapter 69

I wake way too hot, and it takes me a moment to realize why.

Jace.

Our arms are wrapped around each other, my head lays against his t-shirt covered chest, and one of his legs is thrown over both of mine; how am I so drawn to him even when I'm mad at him?

Somehow I manage to twist out of his arms without waking him and roll over to the other side of the bed.

"Jas."

My body freezes, and I turn my head slowly but find he's still asleep; a small frown lingers on his face. I relax slightly; that's what Tobias used to call me. I hated it.

I face away from him and just when my eyes start to close, a hand clamps down on my wrist under the covers. This time when I look over at him, he's wide awake; his eyes look troubled.

"Hey," he says softly, his voice husky from sleep.

Ignoring him, I pull my arm away and squeeze my eyes shut, mostly to keep from crying. Sometimes I swear I hate him, but I know that's not true because when we make up, I go right back to-

"Jasmine," he says, his voice just as soft as the first time. When he places a hand on my hip, I push it off.

"Just stop," I tell him. I don't feel like talking to him right now, especially if he's going to try to use his touch to get me to forgive him.

He sighs. "Don't be like that. Look at me," he demands, but it's more of a plead.

Jace wraps an arm around my waist and attempts to turn me around. "I said stop! I don't want to talk to you right now." His arm falls away.

My heart beats rapidly as my anger starts to boil. The silence in the room is thick with unresolved tension. I'm about to get out of bed when his words stop me.

"I'm sorry, okay? I'm so fucking sorry." His voice cracks at the end of his sentence. Is he-?

I turn to face him and my breath hitches in my throat when I see him staring up at the celing, his eyes are blood shot red; they're wet.

I don't know how to handle this situation. I've never seen him cry before, and my first instinct is to comfort him. I want to wrap my arms around him and tell him it's okay and that I forgive him, but I don't.

Instead, I stay frozen as I watch him, and when he turns his head towards me, I see so much guilt and regret blazing behind those blue eyes that it makes me look away.

I know I messed up, and I know he said hurtful things in return, but why does he look so sorry and most importantly, why does he look so guilty?

"Where were you last night?" I ask in a low voice.

And just like that, he know longer looks sad and vulnerable, in fact, he looks emotionless. "Out," he says.

"That's not an answer," I tell him, my voice raising. "Where were you?" I ask again.

"Getting drunk." I'm finally able to look at him; I'm starting to think his red eyes aren't from crying, but from drinking.

"And that's all you did last night? You got drunk?"

"Yes," he says, but won't look at me. My heart sinks and my eyes burn.

"Why don't I believe you?"

This time he looks right at me, his eyes bore so deeply into mine, I know he's not lying. I could never look him in the eyes and lie to him. "Are you accusing me of lying? What else would I have been doing?"

I shrug. "I don't know, but-"

"And where were you last night?" he interrupts and throws me a glare.

"Maybe if you would have answered your damn phone last night, you would know."

He frowns. "Is that code for 'I didn't tell Asher'?"

"It's not code for anything," I yell, exasperated. "It's means exactly what I said. If you would've picked up my calls, you would know, but since you couldn't even read my freaking texts, I'm guessing you didn't really care all that much."

He doesn't say anything for a while, but when he does, his voice is back to soft and apologetic; I can't deal with his mood swings.

"My phone is broken. That's why I didn't answer."

"What?"

"I threw it against a wall. It shattered and wouldn't turn on," he explains.

Oh.

That makes me a little less angry.

"I went and saw Asher," I admit. "I told him I moved out."

"Good." Jace sighs and moves slightly closer to me; I don't move away this time. "Did he take it well?"

"What do you think?" I ask, and Jace looks like he's waging some internal war.

"I-I know you feel bad for leaving him with no way to pay his rent," he starts to say, his words stumbled and hesitant, "but I can help him find a roommate. If you want me to," he adds hastily.

"Really?" A small smile breaks out across my face. I know how strongly Jace dislikes Asher, and it's a huge step for him to offer to help him, even if he's just doing it for me.

"Of course," he says, and when he wraps an arm around my waist, I bury my face into his neck. He doesn't smell like his usual self, but he still smells like home. "I don't want you feeling any sort of regret while living together."

I tilt my head up, so I can look at him. "Is that what you think? That I regret moving in with you? Because I don't."

His hold around me tightens almost painfully; he doesn't say anything.

We stay like this for a while, neither of saying anything, until I know I can't push off class any longer.

"I need to get ready. I have to get to class." My fingers comb through his tangled hair as I talk to him.

Jace grabs the back of my thigh and pulls it over his waist. "Skip," he mumbles. "Stay here with me."

"I can't, I have a test today." He groans. "Besides, don't you have work?"

Smirking, he says, "One of the perks of being the owner."

"Well not all of us are that lucky," I tell him and give him a short kiss on lips before rolling out of bed.

After I get out of the bathroom, I find Jace already sleeping again.

In marketing, a pang of guilt washes over me when Asher doesn't show up.

Hopefully, Jace meant it when he said he would help him out because I don't really want to get invovled, but I will if I have to.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Please comment and vote if you liked this chapter, I will be updating soon.