The Bad Boy's Princess

Ch. 37 - Releasing the Beast

To say I was grounded was a huge understatement. Not only did my mom take my car away, she also placed a curfew on my ass. To top it all off, she even got the idea from my dad and suspended my every single one of my cards. Now Ali was the one who had the cards, while I was cut off. This was fucking new. But I knew I fucking deserved it.

Not only was my mom disappointed in me, Avery was also worried sick about me. For the past few days, she has came by every day after school to visit me and bring me her cookies and chicken noodle soup. As mad as she was at me, I knew it stemmed from how worried she was. And I adored her for it. But I also felt like a piece of shit.

Today was Valentine's Day and I was torn to have to cancel our reservation I had previously made. Given that I was still mostly bedridden, my mom wouldn't have let me go. So even if my cards weren't suspended, I would still have to cancel. Which all made everything even worse for me.

"Wow, if this is a new look you're trying out for a date night, I felt bad for Avery." Ali waltzed her way into my room as usual without knocking and flopped onto my bed next to me. "How are you feeling?"

"Horrible." I groaned. "All my plans for Valentine's Day are ruined."

"You know you can always use my cards, since you always let me use yours when I'm in these bans." She handed me her favorite cards to choose from.

"I'm not going to take my sister's card on my date okay." I sighed. "I'm just going to have to make do. Can you do me a huge favor?"

She raised her eyebrow suspiciously.

As much as I didn't want to admit it, I needed Ali's help, physically and financially. Here was me putting down my pride and integrity as an older brother, in order to make do with my Valentine's Day plans.

When Avery came over, she was awfully confused as I opened my room's door. She looked me up and down and frowned. She knew I was up to no good.

"As handsome as you look right now, why am I a tad bit concerned?" She raised her brow suspiciously. "You know we're not going out right?"

"I know, we don't have to. I brought the date here." I smirked, and she frowned.

"Jace, you should be in bed resting. Our date can wait until after you get better, crazy." She pinched my nose lightly. I took her hand and walked her out to my balcony, where I had everything set up. "Jace...."

"Oh, our date I had planned previously will definitely be rescheduled after I'm off bed rest and my financial ban, but for now, happy first valentine, Princess."

The look on her face and the watery eyes made everything worth it. I adored how Avery would get so emotional over the smallest things, no matter what.

"Jace... this is...." I pulled out the chair for her as we sat down on the table I had set up out on my balcony. There were candles, a big bouquet of white daisies because my girl of course didn't like roses, menus from mine and Avery's favorite diner because I figured she would appreciate that more than some basic fine dining. I really did have a thing for an extraordinary lady.

"The least I can do given my current conditions." I kissed the top of her head before walking over to take a seat in my chair. "I also made sure they included our favorite shake and your fries."

"This is way too much, Jace. You didn't have to do all of this..." She was definitely tearing up now. She was just looking at me, but it was an expression I've never seen before. The look in her eyes was different. I couldn't explain it even if I tried.

She got up and walked over to me, before I could even react, she kissed me. I felt numb and tingly all at once if that even made any sense. But Avery made me feel so many emotions all at once. And this time was no different.