The buzz started as soon as we pulled into the lot on Monday morning. I never knew what all the fuss was about, having your boyfriend drive you to school, when you had your own car. And I never understood girls who got miffed when the guy didn't offer.Now I totally see the appeal, it makes a statement I think, sends a clear message. Or I could just be reading more into it than is necessary.Whatever the case maybe, it felt amazing to have him come pick me up this morning after breakfast.He'd blown his horn and waited outside like the kids in one of those after school specials from the early eighties, that mom hides and watches.I hadn't even known that he was going to do this and of course practical me had questioned the necessity of him driving me here when I had a perfectly working car of my own.In typical Jace fashion he'd ignored my questions and just ordered me to go get my stuff."You ready?" he held the door open for me and I stepped out to the surprised faces of some o

"What's with all the weird stares and giggles behind the hands? Have I suddenly sprouted another head?"When neither Belle nor Tammy answered right away, but instead turned their faces, I knew something was very wrong."What?" I looked from one to the other, before Belle finally turned her phone to me.There was a message there that I didn't quite get at first. It didn't compute for a lot of reasons. First, because it was sent to Belle's phone, and second because the words didn't make any sense, or I didn't want them to.'I told you it was all a farce, did you really think he would leave me for her?' there was a picture of what looked like Jace in bed with Mandy in our cottage.Subconsciously I knew it couldn't be right. I mean, Jace is always telling me about the many ways people try to shake down other people as he calls it. He even explained the fine art of photo shopping to me.And what about yesterday? We'd made love all evening until he took me home. The guy that held me an

I think I might've bitten off just a tiny bit more than I can chew here. I've seen Jace upset before, but this was a whole new level of crazy for him.Granted, everything he said was true, he has been telling me to stay out of the conflict with Mandy and let him handle it, but that was easier said than done.He didn't have to share a classroom with her, or put his life in her hands doing jumps and flies off her damn shoulders.I wasn't half as mad as I had been anymore, since my anger now paled in comparison to his."She's been texting a picture around school, I don't know how many people have seen it by now, but it's embarrassing and humiliating and the kind of thing that makes people do stupid things.""Obviously, because she got you to put your life in danger. She got you to make an ass of you and me. I guess that means that she's the stronger of you two.Looks like she came out the winner in this little skirmish, since she's probably somewhere right now gloating at the fact t

I pulled up the pics I'd snuck and taken earlier and showed them around the room. "If you'd notice the pattern is just a little different. Oh and the guy in the pic is also missing a little something."There were a few snickers at that one and I passed around a bland glare. "My Jace has a tat on his arm right about...here."Mandy was red as a lobster and not very happy when she stormed out of the room, or at least tried to. I wasn't about to let her skinny ass just walk away like that though.Jace was no doubt going to hear about this and there was probably going to be another pounding in my future, but I was just going to have to deal with it.I stopped her in her tracks, just before she reached the door. "I've had about enough of you, you might get away with bullying everyone else around here, but I'm not that girl. I don't need to get all pedantic and warn you off of my man, because I know there's not a snowball's chance in hell that he'd ever touch you with a ten foot pole.Oh

The others soon left and it was just Cass and I waiting for her dad to come get her. I thought it was a great time to talk, but she beat me to it. "How did you handle it when Maggie was born?""Um, well, at first I wasn't too happy, I was only about eight or nine and Jared and I were only a year apart, so we'd always been close. But this new person was going to be a stranger; at least that's how I thought of it at first.I tried to get mom to send her back, I don't know how many times when she was still in her tummy." We both had a good laugh at that one."Then mom brought her home from the hospital. I'd heard horror stories from some of the other kids about being neglected and stuff like that, and I was ready to run away if that happened, I was gonna go to grandma's.""But it was nothing like that, mom and dad took care of the baby of course, but they let Jared and me help with her, and they still spent a lot of time with us. Why? Are you having a little brother or sister?" could