Fighting for Love (Second Chances #4)(32)

To calm my nerves, Jace poured me a shot of vodka and another once I downed the first; it didn’t take long for it to work. Jace offered me another one, but I declined with a shake of my head. I could already feel my muscles relaxing and the fuzziness spreading to my brain.

“I don’t think I should take another one. I didn’t eat much for dinner and I don’t think I need to be drunk when Matt gets here,” I told him.

Jace grinned and put the vodka back in the refrigerator. When he shut the door and turned around, he had a white and pink box in his hands. “I actually might be able to help with that. After you left I went out and bought you something. An apology only goes so far, but I knew of something that would go further with you.”

He handed me the box, and I didn’t have to open it to know what was in it. I didn’t indulge often, but when I did it was with one specific thing that had been my favorite since I was a little girl … chocolate covered strawberries. I never wanted a box of chocolate for Valentine’s Day or a cake for my birthday; it was always the strawberries I wanted.

“Thank you,” I cried, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek. “I haven’t had any in so long.”

As soon as I opened the box to take a look at them, he reached in and stole one. “Oh, I know you haven’t, but neither have I,” he admitted.

There were eleven of them now, since Jace took one, but there were some covered in dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white along with tiny chocolate chip morsels on top of that drizzled in swirling lines of more chocolate.

Closing his eyes, Jace took a bite and moaned, chewing slowly. “You know, if you tempt Matt with these you might be able to take his mind off of Kyle. These things are awesome.”

“In all honesty, Matt has every right to go after him, but I’ll make sure he doesn’t leave. All it takes is a little persuasion,” I noted, flashing him a wink.

Jace rolled his eyes and groaned. “Ugh … I’ll make sure to sleep with ear plugs in tonight.” We both laughed, but quickly looked straight toward the door when the roaring sound of a motor stopped just outside the front of our house. “Is that him? It sounded like a motorcycle,” he pointed out.

I shrugged, having no clue because I never looked in Matt’s garage when I went to his house. When I tried to stand up, I almost fell over from trying to balance on my four inch heels. Before Jace could get to the door, I kicked off my shoes and followed on his heels. As soon as he opened it, Matt was coming up the front steps with a helmet in his hands.

“Nice bike,” Jace offered. “Is that a Ducati?” Over his shoulder I saw a nice, shiny red and black motorcycle parked on the side of the street.

Dressed in a sporty, black and red protective coat and gloves, Matt nodded and threw Jace the keys. I waited for him to tell Jace to f*ck off—especially after the way he was treated by him—but he didn’t. “Take her for a ride if you want. I don’t mind. If you need to wear my gear you can,” he insisted, taking off his jacket and gloves. “Just be careful with her. She has a lot of power.”

Jace’s eyes lit up when he accepted Matt’s gear. “No worries, man. I used to race dirt bikes when I was younger, but you know, I think I’ll take you up on that offer. It might be a good thing if I leave for a while anyway.” With the helmet and keys in one hand, he extended his other to Matt. “Thanks, man. I’m sorry for the other day. I’m sure you understand why I did it.”

Nodding, Matt shook his hand. “I understand. I’m glad she has you to help her. By the way, thank you for picking her up. I told her I would’ve done it.”

Jace bit his lip and laughed. “Yeah, well, it’s a good thing I did. Okay, on that note I’m going to go.” Then to me, he leaned in and whispered in my ear, “I’ll be back later. You can do this.” Jumping down the steps, Jace bounced the whole way to Matt’s bike. I hadn’t seen him that excited in a very long time.

Furrowing his brows, Matt watched Jace climb on his bike and get settled before revving the engine and taking off. “I didn’t know you had a motorcycle,” I announced nervously.

Shrugging, he grinned and turned his emerald gaze to mine. “I don’t ride that much anymore, but from your text I got the impression that you needed me here as fast as I could. That’s why I rode the bike. I honestly didn’t expect you to get back so early.”

I scoffed and hooked my arm through his, his skin a little damp from wearing the leather jacket. At least he wasn’t like some of the people out there who didn’t wear any protective gear because they wanted to look cool on their bikes.

Leading him up the stairs, I sighed and said, “Yeah, well, I didn’t expect to be home so early either.”

Once inside, I shut the door and grabbed my box of strawberries before leading Matt to my room. It actually worked out perfectly that Jace took Matt’s bike for a ride; this way, once he found out what had happened he wouldn’t be able to leave. Matt took off his shoes and shirt, settling on my bed with his hands behind his head; his heated gaze sweeping up and down my body.

“You look so amazingly hot right now,” he murmured. His gaze slowly drifted down to the box in my hands and he grinned. “I take it there are chocolate strawberries in there?”

“How did you know that’s what was in here?” I asked.