The Hollows In Our Freedom | 'Hollows' Book Ⅲ

Chapter Sixty-Eight

_________________________________

T h e   H o l l o w s   I n
O U R  F R E E D O M
_________________________________

A L E X I

I stood by the door watching him for a few moments—like a creep. I saw as he pushed back the curtains to reveal the night sky. Stars hung by strings of gold, connected to the half moon, which clung onto the sapphire clouds.

He turned, shaking his jacket off. When he saw me, he started. "Jesus, Lex." He exhaled, pressing his hand to his chest.

I smiled, entering the room and shutting the door behind me. "You like the stars?" I asked, nodding in the direction of the window.

Jace appeared puzzled as he glanced between me and the window. When he understood what I meant, he ducked his head. "Yes, though it's a small obsession, I promise."

I bit my lip, walking over to him. Instead of stopping before him, I brushed past him to stand by the window, pulling the curtains back to gaze at the aforementioned view up close.

"No, I get it. The night sky is beautiful—I like it too." I turned to see Jace beaming over at me, and then he joined my side to observe the night sky.

"You know what else I like?" I asked, blinking for longer than I needed to before turning around to face him. I watched him raise an eyebrow at me.

I inhaled. Shit. "You."

I watched him stare at me. No, really—shit.

"I like you too." He said, smiling.

I shook my head. "No, I like you." I watched as Jace watched me, not showing any signs of agreement or disagreement. "Like, sometimes I kinda wanna get into bed with you."

Jace stared at me.

"Sometimes I want to get into bed with you, too."

Well shit.

"That is a very vulgar notion, Jackson Clarke, you'll need to be purified." He laughed, and it was loud and vibrant.

Once he had sobered, he simply watched me. For a moment, I thought I saw his eyes flicker down to my lips, but perhaps it was a trick of the light.

"What?" I asked him after he continued to stare at me for a few more moments. "What is it, Jace?" I questioned again, feeling my heart begin to race in my chest.

Suddenly, he reached out, placed his palms to either side of my face, and pressed his lips against mine.

Holy–

That was about as far as my thought process went when he held me like this, kissed me like this. When people say they danced, and they danced, and they danced all night—well, we kissed, and we kissed, and we kissed. All night. At least, that's how time passed in my head as he was kissing me.

In reality, we broke away after half an hour, and I was only somewhat disoriented when I found us on top of the bed.

He consumed me wholly, so much so that I forgot about anything and everything else that was happening.

I pulled away abruptly, surprising Jace. "Toby gave me some leads on some loose ends earlier," I said, eyes floating around the room until I found the pack of papers.

"Why are you choosing to think about Toby during our moment?" Jace asked, and I turned to see him mocking hurt.

"Fun fact," I said, leaning over to reach for the papers, "I love you, not him," I watched Jace stare at me, the ice freezing over me in sudden shock. "Oh, too soon for those three words?"