14. JACE

“Oh…wow,” Isabelle sighed.

Jace nodded as he pulled up to the house. “Bit excessive, right?”

As they exited the car and Jace locked up, he turned to see Isabelle staring open mouthed at the three storey mansion.

“This is your friend’s house?” she breathed.

“Well, it’s his parents house, but he lives here too.”

Isabelle just stared.

Not that Jace could blame her. The house was awesome.

White house with lots of glass windows everywhere, a perfect green polished front yard, lawn complete with a bridge and fish pond. Inside, it was pristine with white walls, black tiles and expensive pretty much everything. It boasted six bedrooms, four bathrooms, a movie theatre and, of course, a pool with water feature and slide.

“I’ll get Ben to give you the grand tour once we’re inside,” he said, as he took her hand and pulled her forward.

“Wait! I have stage fright!” she whispered, as they paused by the back gate.

Jace snorted. “Are you kidding me?”

The warmth in her smile practically melted him.

“I’ll be there the whole time, OK? And if you hate it after an hour, we can leave.”

She stumbled back like he’d hit her.

“Whoa, are you OK?”

She nodded, but her hands were shaking. “Yeah, it’s just a bit of déjà vu.”

“Give it twenty minutes,” he amended. “You still hate it, come grab me and we’ll go.”

She nodded and Jace once again joined their hands, took a deep breath, and then pushed through the gate.

As soon as they walked through, Jace’s confidence wavered. Every single eye was trained on Isabelle and every single male eye, apart from Matt, glittered with lust gazing at her.

He knew she was going to attract attention, but this was goddamn ridiculous. Scowling at any of them who made the mistake of catching his eye, Jace tried to make it clear with his glare, that she was off limits.

While concentrating on the reaction of the other partygoers, Jace had temporarily forgotten Isabelle, and missed her silent panic attack. He gave her his full attention now, and noticed how wide and panicked her eyes were as she started backing towards the gate.

Keeping his hand wrapped around hers firmly, he backed up so he was right near her ear.

“It’s OK,” he murmured.

“Everyone is staring at me,” she whispered, her voice filled with worry.

“They’ve never seen an angel before. Allow for adjustment.”

She rolled her eyes at him, but gave a small smile and stopped trying to back away.

“Do you want a drink?” he asked, hoping to distract her.

“Or ten,” she muttered.

Jace smiled. “Come on, I’ll give you the tour.”

He fought hard to conceal his surprise, as Isabelle tightened her hand in his, looking up at him expectantly.

With a small nod, he led her into the extravagant house, first stopping in the massive kitchen.

“It’s like something out of a movie,” she whispered, as her eyes took in the marble counter tops, three fridges, two walk in pantries and a huge chandelier hanging over the bench.

Jace just grinned at her, enjoying the innocent wonder in her eyes.

“Cruiser?” he asked, offering her the bottle of pink alcohol.

With a grateful smile, she took the drink from him, pulled the top off, and took a tentative swig.

“It’s yum,” she said, taking another sip.

“You’ve never had that flavour before?” he asked, leaning against the counter.

She shrugged. “I don’t really drink, and when I did it was usually nothing girly or sweet.”

His eyes perked up in interest. “Are you a dark angel then?”

Isabelle snorted. “Yep that’s me - biggest bad ass out.”

“Should I be locking my doors at night then? I mean, you do know where I live.”

She leant in close enough that his breath hitched when her scent consumed him.

“That wouldn’t keep me out if I wanted to get in.”

They stayed in that moment, close enough to kiss, but not quite touching, until the screen door opened and they both jumped apart with their faces flushed.

“Jace! What’s up, man?”

His jaw clenched as he prayed for the strength not to punch Ben in his perfect f*****g face.

Riding out the violent urge, he plastered a tight smile on his face.

“Hey man, when are your parents back?”

Ben shrugged. “Didn’t say.”

Isabelle’s mouth dropped. “Aren’t you worried you’ll get busted?”

Ben turned his dark eyes to her and gave his most charming smile. “They aren’t stupid, but neither am I. Everything they care about is locked up, I pretty much keep everyone outside, and the house is always cleaner than when they left it, so there’s really no problem.”

Isabelle nodded and took another sip, shifting closer to Jace.

“My name’s Ben,” he offered his hand. “Your party host, which means anything you need, it’s my job to get for you.”

“I’m Isabelle. Does everyone get this treatment?”

Ben winked. “Only the pretty ones.”

“Well, since I’m the prettiest, what do I get?” Jace interjected, moving to stand behind Isabelle with an overbearing need to stake his claim.

Ben looked between the two of them for a few moments, and then smiled brightly again.

“An ego check, my friend,” he said finally, but his tone was friendly and he’d eased away from Isabelle.