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AUDREY - Present day…

"Audrey, if you pick up one more damn box, I swear I’ll lock your ass inthis truck!" Lane yells at e boxes through our front door

"Lane, I’h, while darting around him Chuck weaves in and out between the two of us, excited about his new surroundings

"You weigh basically nothing I’ these," Lane says Once I set the box down, I reach out and pinch the tiny bit of extra skin on his lower back I’ht and toned he’s beco, I’ll unload"

"I can help--" I insist, while trying to mess up his sandy brown hair

He cuts me off with a ridiculous pouty lip "Please, it’ll uy his size should have such a look He knows that he’s won because I can’t resist his begging

I was more than hesitant about this move, and I wouldn’t have done it for anyone other than Lane The fact that ere both accepted into the saram doesn’t hurt either Last year, I was shocked when both of our acceptance letters arrived in theI had never even applied Apparently, Lane took the liberty to apply forwithoutAnd besides my cousin, Kennedy, Lane is my only friend so, to be honest, I would follow hi thatup here was that I knew I’d now be on the sao, which isn’t too far from LA, for the past three years, but now I run the risk of actually bu into him on a daily basis If I see hiain and I can’t chance that I’ve eo…

Afterabout Jace, Lane has finally convincedbullets as he drivesschool I hate that he has to leave and get back to class because this could backfire in my face and I won’t have a place to stay I realize how bold this is ofthat can be done over the phone, and if I prepare him at all for my arrival, he’ll just shoot e outside the apartht place Lane wishessafely in his front seat As I’ my way up the stairs, Jaxon seesroo a word Well, this is going fantastic

I can see by the daggers he’s glaring at me that I’s that he never cared to find out the truth about, and I don’t see the need to fill him in just to make him feel better Plus, it wouldn’t make him feel better He just wouldn’t hatehere, Audrey? I don’t need this shit right now Why the hell would you fly all the way out to California? Isn’t this so you could have picked up a dain to tune him out at this point because he’s on a roll that he apparently needs to get out He has no idea that I only live two hours away and that I sure as hell didn’t coood part about this little tantrurown up now and I can only iine that Jace has done the same Typically, a voice like his wouldn’t bother, the first clue that I should have grabbed onto and shook until I discovered he wasn’t Jace As I sit here, taking in his large shoulders and long, lean legs, I tune back in to hear hi me If he knewout harsh words After dealing with it for eighteen and a half years, they just roll offif I’ him or not

He freezes for a second and frowns athi I’ood ti her back"

I don’t knoho Eirl Jax and I "dated" for threeJax is wild and just too ot on my nerves He could never make a decision to save his life Every ti to choose where we should eat, we’d go back and forth, telling the other to just pick so Meanwhile, all I could think about was that I bet Jace would’ve just taken charge and we’d already be eating by now

"I don’t need to be here when Emerson co busy!" he yells "He’s out thereout of hi care of your child and screwing physics teachers?" I know he’s upset, andelse has to be going on in his life because Jax was neverwent sour between us, he had never been intentionally cruel the way he’s being now

"You don’t know a da about my life," I state in a hard tone and stand to make my way toward his door I may be able to let cruel words roll off ed that I don’t have to listen to the to talk about Lane is the only person on this planet who knohat really happened Lane is the only person who ever cared to ask No one asked Not h to even ask

As I make my way out of Jax’s bedroom, I find myself face-to-face with the one person that hauntshim and I want to hit him I hate that I still think about him I mean, we met, we had coffee once, and we kissed twice Why after three years do I still feel a connection with him? Have I just built him up in my head? Maybe it’s because he was the first person, outside of Mrs Thomas and Nico, to show me real kindness Or maybe it’s the fact that every time I saw hi I swear I could feel it in ives me that look, and I can immediately tell he still feels it Maybe it’s purely just an attraction, but the electricity buzzing withinbetween us

Behind nore her, Jace Get back in here, Audrey," he says, pullingso close to Jace, and once again not being able to do anything about it

This is icy territory that I’m still not sure how to approach I could just blurt out the truth to Jaxon I want to, God, do I want to I want to tell hi I want to tell him how I’ve only wanted Jace since the moment I met him In a way, I know Jaxon won’t care that I had only been with hiht me back hoirlfriend Right away, I refused But then he explained that he thought I was a cool chick and we could have soet his mo wild lately He claiirlfriend, maybe they would lay off him and not worry so much Stupidly, I actually considered his crazy idea

When I later realized that Jace was a lost cause, I explained to Jax that I cared about someone I couldn’t have, and that the only way I would "date" hi anywhere I also wanted to get away fro he really only needed a buffer to keep his mom at bay I didn’t have nor about

We crafted this strange sort of relationship and friendship between us I won’t lie, we had a good ti for both of us If I could go back in ti and stupid and just trying to find an escape frouy I came across to Jace, and they always came up short That’s when Lane decided I needed to try and do so about it I hadn’t seen Jaxon in years and I hoped the fact that we had never been in love would help to sway Jace’s opinion on the matter Maybe Jace just needed to see that I never reallyto his brother and that it had always been him for me

Nevertheless, when Jaxon pulled me away from Jace and back into his room, I realized it wasn’tabout here If Jace didn’t want hi Jaxon I spent the entire week trying to get Jace alone, but he slipped in and out of the apartet hih the week, he stopped coether