There's No Price On Love

I hesitated numerous times as my eyes traced the numbers of the caller I.D. across the small, flashing screen of the phone. Sam’s name was there and the numbers matched those of his cell phone but yet, I didn’t want to believe it really was him. This was the moment that might just change everything between the two of us, either destroying our relationship or maybe even drawing us closer.

I almost let it ring too long but then somehow managed to press the answer button before it hit the voicemail.

“Sam,” I managed to breathe, his name escaping my lips in a whisper. I could feel my heart beating loudly through my chest, this was it. I had to keep my part of the deal.

William hadn’t even tried to get in contact with me, almost as if he would know exactly when I would tell Sam. The whole idea seemed so surreal that I almost couldn’t believe this was really what had to happen. I mean, repaying Jace and getting him bailed out seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but now I wasn’t so sure.

Jace wanted to go to jail.

As stupid and idiotic as it seemed, he wanted to go to jail because of the fact that he wouldn’t being living in the prison of the streets. He’d have a decent shelter, food, clothing... He wouldn’t need to worry about his next meal or what the weather would be like. He’d just have to go, serve his time and then move on, never having to look back until he actually left the place.

But somehow for Jace, I didn’t think that his life was as bad as it played off to be. His clothes were beaten and worn while his skin before he came to my home was dirty and ragged but yet, there was still a kept appearance about him that made me feel uneasy. Beneath the dirt and grime, there almost seemed to be something too clean. It was eerie to see the whiteness of his teeth and the smell wasn’t that of too many unshowered weeks. The whole idea unsettled me and I wasn’t quite sure what Jace was hiding but I’d make sure to find out once I got through this ordeal.

Sam was breathing heavy on the other side of the phone, something he did only when he was extremely nervous about something. The fact that he was worried instantly sent a pang of fear through my gut, maybe I wouldn’t have to tell him because William already did. It would certainly explain why William hadn’t bothered to see if I had done anything about my side of the bargain yet.

“Sam, you sound like you just ran the Boston marathon or something. It’s kind of making me nervous.” I said while clenching the fabric of my hoodie. Sam sighed on the other side of the phone and I could imagine him running a golden hand through his tousled dark locks.

“There’s a reason why I phoned you.” He began, his words sounding as uncertain as I felt. “I mean, I should have probably told you this in person but-“

“Sam, it’s not like it sounds.” I blurted.

There was a long and silent pause. I could still here Sam breathing on the other end and I waited for his response.

“What isn’t like it sounds?” He asked curiously. “I called you because... I need to tell you something. It’s... Serious.”

Jace came strolling into the room, twirling an article of clothing around on his index finger. It wasn’t until I looked closely that I seen it was a pair of my underwear, the lacy and sexy kind that I hid at the back of my drawer. My eyes widened and I almost dropped the phone.

Jace stopped and grinned wickedly, holding the pair up in front of him while striking a pose. I clenched my teeth and got to my feet, trying to keep my composure.

“Sam, hold on a sec okay?” I managed to say in a choked voice. Jace raised an eyebrow and I placed my hand over the mouthpiece of the phone, my face turning as red as the underwear Jace was holding in his hand. “Jace Fox, give me those RIGHT NOW.”

Jace rubbed his chin thoughtfully and then sighed.

“All this time I thought these were mine. You know, I’ve been missing a pair. I guess your mom stole them from me last time we-“

“I’m being serious here! GIVE ME THOSE!” I screeched and stomped my foot on his toes, watching him yelp and toss the garment up into the air.

I bolted over to the underwear, picking them up and shoving them down the front of my pants while cradling the phone between my neck and shoulder. I scowled and adjusted my jeans, suddenly feeling the phone slip from the place I had it in. I gasped and spun around, only to see Jace place it to his ear with an evil grin.

“Uh is this Sam?” Jace asked in a low voice, waggling his eyebrows at me.

There was a muttering and then Jace chuckled.

“This is Emma’s hired ‘escort’, she just wanted me to tell you-“Jace shut up when I tackled him to the floor, sending the phone swirling across the floor. I slapped him and jumped across the floor, grabbing the phone in my hand while wrestling Jace away from me.

He shoved me onto the floor and got on top of me, straddling my hips and pinning down my one free hand. I squirmed beneath his weight and failed, using the one hand I had to clench down the phone.

“Sorry Sam, my cousin is here from Australia and he happens to have been dropped on his head as a baby. No manners what-so-ever!” I growled into the phone and tried to bring my knee up to knock Jace off of me. The attempt failed miserably and then Jace brought his face close to mine, examining my eyes.

I couldn’t breathe.

“Cousin? I didn’t know your cousin was down or that you had one in Australia.” Sam said softly and I turned my face away from Jace. He chuckled lowly in my ear and I almost shivered but instead darted a mean look in his direction.

“Yes, so what were you going to tell me?” I could feel his lips near my ear and I wiggled violently, knocking him off balance and onto the floor with a heavy thud. Jace scowled at me viciously, his face red and one hand rubbing his hip repetitively. I stuck my tongue out at him.

“Look, I’ve never wanted anything to come between us Emma but every once in awhile things... happen when you least expect them and I certainly never expected things to happen the way they did but somehow... It did.” Jace pounced on me and I grunted upon impact, trying to muffle his laughter with my hand. “It was an accident and I never, ever thought things would happen this way or anything but sometimes things are out of our control and you do things you wouldn’t normally do because you’re drunk. I haven’t got that excuse because I was completely sober but still, lately you’ve seemed distant and after that one fight we had, I got upset and-“

Jace’s hands slithered across my waist and tickled me, making me giggle into my arm while kicking at him. A foot connected with his shoulder successfully and knocked him over, his eyes widening as he fell.

“Sam, can you please just get to the point?” I questioned and got to my feet, running around the corner and stopping.

“Emma ... I cheated on you.”

There was a heavy silence and an empty feeling in the air. I chuckled softly and shook my head, placing a hand on my forehead while closing my eyes.

“What?” I whispered, not sure if I had heard him correctly. Jace came rounding around the corner, sliding to a stop beside me and lowering his eyes to meet my face. I glanced up at him and motioned for him to leave, which he did to my amazement without a single word of sarcasm.

“I cheated on you with Whitney Barron.” Sam murmured, his voice low and rough. “The night that we got into a fight about the formal party.”

I squeezed my eyes, the blackness almost seeming welcoming.

I knew I shouldn’t be upset because that’d make me a hypocrite but the fact that he cheated on me without any excuse was just unreal. I had cheated on him while I was drunk, if I was sober, the whole ordeal wouldn’t even be replaying itself in my mind over and over like it was now. It would have just been another good night, one without any bad memories or any regrets.

Unfortunately, I am a hypocrite.

“You... You cheated on me?” I repeated, my voice wobbling slightly. “S-Sam... That’s just... Why...?”

“I’m so sorry Emma. I didn’t mean to-“

“Well obviously you fucking did because you were completely sober while you FUCKED her!” I shouted into the phone. Okay, so I shouldn’t be pissed because I cheated on him. Like I said though, I was too drunk to have any recollection of what happened and I wouldn’t have picked the biggest sleaze ball in the whole school either. My God, if I ever have sex with him again, I’m at serious risk for herpes and gonorrhoea now.

“That’s not fair Emma!” He exclaimed back, his voice slightly angry now. “I said I’m sorry and what happened, happened. There’s nothing I can do to take that back.”

“Right, so now I’m supposed to just feel like everything is okay. If you were drunk Sam, I think I could understand but the fact that you had every brain cell working properly doesn’t really make any excuses for you, does it?” My eyes were now filling with tears.

“Oh like you’ve never cheated on me Emma? Myranda told me about your little stunt with William at the formal party, you couldn’t tell me that could you?”

“I was DRUNK Sam and William even made time to come to my birthday party which you, by the way, couldn’t do because you were busy with Whitney!”

Sam didn’t respond but I heard him swear angrily under his breath and growl lightly. I wiped the tears from my eyes with my hoodie sleeve and sniffled. It wouldn’t matter now if I told Sam about the other incident, he already knew one of them and this was bound to break us up which was sure to make William happy.

“I’m sorry.” He said again, his voice low and quiet. “I... I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

I wiped my eyes again and inhaled deeply, closing my eyes yet again and trying to maintain composure despite the fact that it was rather low for me right now.

“I think that we need to break up.” I said firmly even though my voice was shaking. “We’re both cheating on each other which means that maybe we just aren’t working right now. I need a break for awhile and I’m sure you need one too.”

“Emma, I don’t think that we need to break up!” Sam hollered; I had to move the phone away from my ear to keep my eardrum from bursting.

“You have your scholarships to work on and I’ve got my own... issues,” I glanced back over to where Jace was sitting. He had Brett’s Rubik cube in hand, twisting it and rearranging the colors. “To deal with right now. I just think this is the best thing for both of us right now. I love you Sam, I love you a lot more than it seems but I guess it’s just not enough to keep us faithful to each other. I’m sorry.”

Sam took in a deep breath and I could imagine him nodding, his big eyes looking up at the ceiling as if the answers to everything were written across there in the scroll he needed.

“Look, I’ve got to go.” He said. “I’ll see you around.”

With that, he hung up without another word.

I clenched the phone in my hand for a few seconds, my knuckles turning white as the blood moved out of them. I finally brought myself to hit the ‘end’ button, the phone dropping out of my hand as I did. I took another shaky breath and bent over, scooping the phone up into my hand. I placed it on the table beside me and left the room I was in, moving quickly past Jace and toward the stairs.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa captain! What’s going on here?” Jace appeared in front of me, his hands grasping my arms to stop me mid-step.

“Look, I don’t want to talk right now.” I mumbled, turning my face away from his prying gaze. He lowered his eyes and turned my face back toward him.

“What happened?”

For the first time, I actually felt like Jace cared about what happened. A real and sympathetic feeling that I didn’t expect from him seemed to emerge and embrace me, making me want to tell him everything. My lip trembled and before I knew it, I flung myself toward Jace and wrapped my arms around him, sobbing loudly and uncontrollably.

Jace let out a noise of surprise and stood there calmly before bringing his arms up and placing them around me. I buried my face into his chest and completely ignored the fact that I barely knew him and that he stole my underwear along with any other stupid and idiotic thing. All that mattered was he was here now and was a shoulder to cry on.

“So are you just gonna bawl your eyes out or are you actually going to tell me what happened?” Jace asked and lightly pulled me away. He glanced down at the tears on his shirt and rolled his eyes. I sniffled and scowled.

“Can’t you just not know the answer to something for once!?” I screeched at him and then shoved past.

“What, did your boyfriend dump you or something?”

I stopped in my tracks and glanced back over my shoulder, letting venom seep through my gaze. I spun on my heel and slapped him across the cheek as hard as I could, the sound echoing throughout the house loudly. Jace’s eyes widened in surprise and he reached up a hand to touch his reddened flesh.

“Looks like I hit the nail right on the head.” He murmured with a crooked smile.

I take back everything I thought five minutes ago.

“No, as a matter of fact you didn’t. You’re close though, he cheated on me so I dumped him. Happy?” I retorted angrily.

“Ouch, that sucks but on the bright side, now we can mess around and you won’t feel guilty.” He replied with a wicked smile.

I glared at him angrily.

“Fuck you, Jace. You’re lucky I don’t kick you out of here right now.”

Jace pursed his lips but didn’t say anything; instead he just turned around and went down the stairs. The wet spot on his shirt was still vivid against the white and for a second, I felt angry for being so harsh. At the same time though, he wasn’t exactly being Mr. Supportive like I thought he would be.

What could I expect though? It was Jace after all.

I slammed the door to my room and flopped onto my bed, knocking my cell phone on the floor along with a few extra pillows. I chewed on my lip angrily and rolled onto my back, staring up at the ceiling with blank eyes and an empty heart.

At least now I could lie to William about telling Sam. For all William would know, I told Sam everything except for the incident that involved Jace. If I mentioned that incident, it would lead to everything else up to now, including the deal and Jace himself. At least this way, William got what he wanted and I got out of my suffocating relationship with Sam.

One thing’s for sure, the parents weren’t going to be too happy about the whole situation but there was nothing that I could do. They already knew about incident number one with William and my mother was suspecting that something happened the night of my party. Worse yet, Myranda had told Sam the incident with William, meaning she was bound to tell Sam about Jace sooner or later.

Not that it mattered now considering Sam and I were over.

I groaned and shoved myself beneath the blankets.

Maybe I could just disappear forever and then I’d never have to deal with life ever again.