Jace was hot on my heels.
And I was out of breath.
But I wasn't sure if it was from excitement or embarrassment.
My past was coming back to haunt me. But it's not that it was a hard past where I'd done drugs or suffered from anorexia or anything like that. It had everything to do with insecurities, ones I'd never faced. And that was the crappy thing about insecurities: they never actually went away until you dealt with them. And I'd never dealt with mine. Ever.
And Brett? He'd just resurfaced every last one of them…
"Boring Beth, Boring Breath, Boring Breasts!" Some of Brett's friends chanted and then high fived one another.
They all walked off. Every last once, except JP.
"So, Beth." He smirked, and a piece of dark hair fell across part of his face. "Now that you know Brett wants nothing to do with you, considering you freaking plastered yourself all over the star of a rival football team, like a total and complete slut," he took a deep breath, "I figured you'd go out with me."
"Go out with you?" I said in a small voice. "Like on a date?"
JP smirked and then burst out laughing. "I'm sorry I can't do this. The guys paid me ten bucks to ask you out, but the look on your face was priceless. I have a girlfriend, she puts out, why would I go for a virgin nerd with glasses who makes guys run away screaming?"
My body crumpled against the floor. The cold tile helped alleviate the massive heat stroke that had attacked my body. I tried breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth, when I felt strong arms wrap around me and pick me up.
I snuggled into Jace's embrace and closed my eyes, angry at myself for allowing a bad high-school memory to render me completely helpless.
Within seconds we were outside, and Jace held me as he walked into the plunge pool and sat. I was in his lap, arms wrapped around his neck.
"Thanks," I said in a small voice.
Jace's face was still, angry, tight. His jaw clenched as he looked away from me and swore, slapping the water with one of his free hands. "What the hell did that guy do to you?"
"Nothing." I tried to squirm out of his lap, but his arms tightened, just trapping me all the more against him.
"Beth."
"It's so stupid." My voice caught. "I don't think I've ever been so embarrassed. I'm sorry I freaked out. I just—"
"Beth," Jace's hand traced my face, "you have no reason to be embarrassed, but if you don't tell me wha
t happened within the next ten minutes, I'm going to get charged with murder, and US senators don't do well in federal prison."
I gave him a weak smile. "It's a boring story."
"I happen to like boring," he whispered.
If any other guy would have said that, I would have taken it as a slam to my personality. But the way Jace had said it? Well, he'd made it feel real, as if he'd been saying that he liked me, had seen beyond what others had.
"Me and a few other nerds were his pity-date at prom. I danced with him. He was really nice and then basically told me I was cool for a nerd. I refused to kiss him goodnight, and for some reason, it pissed him off that I wouldn't put out." I didn't want to tell him the truth, but there really wasn't any other way. "A few of his friends saw you and me kiss, and he was angry that I'd kissed you, a lowly sophomore from another school, and not him. He started a rumor that I'd hit on him, he'd rejected me but felt sorry for me, and that I'd asked him to take my virginity."
"Asshole," Jace hissed, rocking me back and forth in his arms. "I never thought…" he sighed against my neck, "I never thought my kiss would cause so many problems."
If he only truly knew how it had wrecked me.
"The rest of the year was absolute hell." I shrugged, ignoring the tiny voice inside that said I should tell him exactly how much that kiss had affected me, how much it had altered my view of dating and waiting for the right one. "Notes in my locker from random people calling me a slut, whore, bitch, goody-two shoes. It was like I couldn't win. I suddenly didn't fit in anywhere. My smart friends were afraid it was true because Brett was so popular. And the popular people just thought it was pathetic. My freedom came when I graduated and went to college."
"Beth," Jace's thumb grazed my lower lip, "tell me what you want."
"Huh?"
"One," Jace continued tracing my lips, "I could go kill him and go to jail, but I think we've established that as only a last resort."