I looked down at my hands and started picking at my nails. "No, I guess I can't say I've felt that with anyone," I whispered. "I mean, I guess that I just learned long ago that people will always hurt you even when they love you. Therefore, I decided that if I don’t let myself love anyone then they can never hurt me. No one has made me change my mind...yet."

He smiled at me before he stood up and walked toward the door. He paused and looked back at me. "Well I hope one day we both find what we're looking for," he yawned. "I'm a little tired. I think I'll go get some sleep." He opened the door and placed his hand on the doorframe. "Goodnight, Avery," he whispered with a smile.

I took a deep breath and watched him as he walked inside. "Goodnight, Jace," I whispered.

Chapter 7

"Avery."

I looked up to see Jace's head poking inside my slightly opened door, his messy hair falling over his eyes as he smiled. He waved his arm and motioned for me to follow him. "Let's go." He grinned.

I shook my head giving Jace a confused look. "Go where," I questioned. "We don't have to work for another hour." My eyes studied his body as he rubbed his chest and then stretched.  It made me blush unwantedly. I turned my head away and coughed. “Were we supposed to go in early today?”

Jace bit his lip ring and leaned against the door, shoving it completely open. "We're calling in today," he said playfully. "I'm sure that the boss won't mind."  He turned around and waited for me to follow. When I didn't get up, he tilted his head back. "Well..."

I felt a twinge of excitement as I pushed myself to my feet and followed him to the living room. He tossed me my leather jacket and then reached for his own. My mind raced as I watched him slip it on and I really wanted to know what we were doing.

A week had passed since our conversation on the porch and we hadn't spent much time talking since then. It made me nervous.

I looked up at Jace as he reached for his keys and opened the front door. The sunlight that leaked through the door was bright, making me eyes sting. I threw my hand over my face. "Where are we going? Shouldn't we be working?" I questioned, again.

"Nah." He nodded his head toward the door and waited for me to walk out first. "Stacy and Maple have it covered. Maple wanted to come in today to keep her eye on Winston. He's been a bad boy lately." He shrugged his shoulders and followed me to the car. "Don't ask."

I went to reach for the door handle but Jace bumped me out of the way. He opened the door and placed his hand on my lower back. "This is going to be much better than working." He gave me a light shove to help me into the car. Then he shut the door and ran over to get in himself.

The car ride was silent as I stared out the window trying to figure out where we were going. I had been living in Westville for over a year and hadn't even taken the time to discover the place. All I ever did was work, eat and go home. I felt lost looking out the window at my unfamiliar surroundings.

We pulled into a parking lot and the brick building read ‘Bowling’ in green neon lights. I felt panic set in as I watched him stop the car and shift it into park. I had no clue how to bowl. I had never been bowling in my whole life. "Umm…maybe we should just go for a walk. You know-"

"Don't worry. I won't beat you too bad." He smiled and jumped out of the car. He studied me as I got out and closed the door behind me. His eyes set on mine and his smile faded. "Is something wrong, Avery?"

I nervously brushed my hair behind my ear and shook my head. "It's just that…" I paused to take a deep breath. It would be pointless to lie. "I've never been bowling before," I breathed embarrassed.

He stared at me for a second as if he wanted to know more. When I didn't say anything else, he reached over and grabbed my hand, making my skin tingle. "I'm a great bowler. I'm sure that I can teach you some moves."

I pulled my hand away slightly, but he pulled it closer to him so that our hands rested at his side. "I promise not to bite your hand off," he teased.

I felt my whole body get hot as my heart raced. Something inside me screamed to push his hand away, but the bigger part of me, the louder part screamed to never let go. It confused me so I just kept my hand still as it stiffly held his. "You have to promise me something," I said.

He looked over and smiled as he held the door open for us. He stopped and looked me in the eye. "Anything," he whispered.

I averted my eyes away from Jace's distractive lips and walked inside. "Don't laugh at how bad I am." I looked up as he smiled at me.

"I would never laugh at you, Avery," he said firmly. "Then I wouldn't be such a nice guy. My mother raised me in hopes that I would be a better man than my father was. It would be a shame to say that she failed." He pulled me over to the counter and let go of my hand to grab for his wallet. He laid a twenty on the counter and pointed between the two of us. "Two please."

I stared at him in a moment of weakness before looking up at the worker standing behind the desk.

The young woman blushed as she watched Jace chew on his lip ring. That damn thing. Her brown curls cascaded around her freckled face as she tilted her head and reached for the money. "That will be $18.50 for two games." She threw the money inside the register and handed him back his change. "What size?" she asked, her eyes never straying from Jace.

Jace looked over at me and crossed his arms across his chest. "Ladies first."

I nervously smiled at the young woman as she stared me down waiting for a response. "A size seven," I replied.

Jace looked pleased as the girl reached for the hideous red and blue shoes and set them on the counter. He pushed them in front of me and leaned in close to the counter. "A size twelve, please," he whispered.

The girl gave him a grin and raised an eyebrow. "Nice," she said with a slightly red face. She grabbed for Jace's shoes and placed them in front of him. Then she looked at me and smiled. "Have fun." She looked back at Jace and winked.

Jace just smiled and reached for his shoes. They were worse than mine were. They were a shitty color brown and green. "What lane?" he questioned, clearly not too amused with her flirting.

The girl shook her head embarrassed and pointed directly in front of her. The lane was lit up with a blue and red lighting. "Lane five." She smiled.