There's No Price On Love

I was pacing back and forth in the kitchen, holding the sealed envelope in my hands tightly. I didn’t open it because it was the reason why I had to tell Sam what went on between William and me, something that I just wasn’t ready to do just yet. Regardless of what I could say or do, there was no way out of the deal. I had to go through with it whether I liked it or not. Obviously, I didn’t like it.

Sam never called me or showed up to my house anyway, a good reason for me to once again be ticked off at him. It was scary knowing that he had something important to tell me but couldn’t bring himself to do it. The different things it could be was eating through me like a bad virus and my mind was only becoming centered by that instead of what it should have been: Bailing out Jace.

I got tired of squeezing the envelope and opened it, not surprised to see the wad of 100 dollar bills wedged in tightly. I pulled them out and thumbed through them quickly, checking each one for counterfeit signs before letting out a small noise of satisfaction. 2 grand was now present meaning Myranda and I could leave to the station to bail Jace out. Or better yet, it’d just be simpler for me to bail Jace out considering his rudeness was almost intolerable.

It’s hard to believe that once upon a time he lived a life like mine.

John Fox’s son, the golden boy, Jace . . . The words didn’t seem to fit together to me no matter how hard I tried to press them together. I still didn’t know why Jace was kicked out of his home in the first place and I wasn’t quite sure if I wanted to know. Part of me was buzzing with curiosity because it might explain his bad attitude and the other half wanted to just leave it be.

I shoved the envelope in my pocket along with Myranda’s share and my own before slipping on some shoes. I strolled casually toward the door, my hand resting on the doorknob then I heard footsteps behind me.

“Where are you going?”

I held in the small groan of annoyance building in my throat as I spun around to face my mother.

Her face was stern and harsh, not that I blamed her for it because I called her a bitch and a whore but still. I needed to get somewhere, now.

“I need to go pick up a few things for school.” I fibbed and mentally stabbed myself in the brain. My mother’s face didn’t soften an inch and her posture still remained rigid.

“Fine. Just so you know, Charlie and I are flying out to Boston this evening for a week. He’s got an important business meeting to attend to so I expect you to watch over Brett while we’re gone.” The bitterness in her voice was almost enough to make me feel sorry for what I had said. Too bad that she was my mother and I resented her every move since dad died.

“Alright, see you when you get back.” I mumbled before leaving the house and shutting the door.

I strolled out outside and hopped into the back of the limo, reaching into my purse to grab my cell phone. I frowned when I seen it was dead and told Michael where to take me before spending most of the ride to the station staring out the window.

I wasn’t surprised to see it was raining again today despite the fact that L.A. normally had decent weather. I was grateful for the hoodie I decided to wear today and zipped it up higher, closing my eyes and leaning back in my seat as the vehicle moved down the busy streets, the hum of cars loud enough to almost put me asleep.

Thoughts of Jace strolled through my mind and I couldn’t wait to see his reaction when I bailed him out of there. Truth was, once I got him out of there, I would thank him again and offer to give him a ride back to his ‘home’ before getting back to mine.

Well . . . No. The rain was getting worse when I looked out the window again. Maybe, I’d offer to pay for a hotel room or something. I’d figure it out once I got there then I’d go and finish my part of William’s deal: Telling Sam about what happened the night of both parties.

“Here you are Ms. Taylor. Would you like me to wait for you?” Michael asked as he opened my door. I stepped out and covered my head with my hood, slipping my purse over my shoulder with a small grin.

“Definitely, I don’t want to hail a cab in this weather.” I replied with lightness in my voice despite the rock forming in my stomach. Michael smiled in return and returned to the driver’s seat, leaving me staring up at the Police Station’s sign and wondering what the hell I was doing.

I sighed in irritation and pulled the door open; hearing the annoying buzzer signifying that a new visitor has arrived. I yanked down my hood and glanced around, looking for the officer that had assisted me yesterday.

Across the room, he was sitting in his chair and sipping from a mug of coffee while his eyes scrolled across today’s paper. He glanced up and placed the mug down along with the paper, a friendly smile forming on his face.

I walked over to him and sat down, pulling out the wad of cash. His expression was slightly surprised and he picked up the bills, counting each one carefully.

“Bail for Mr. Fox I presume?” He asked and began to get out of his chair.

“Who else would it be for?” I responded and followed his action.

“Nope, you’ll have to wait here while I get Mr. Fox. Sorry but rules are rules.”

I sat back down in the seat and crossed my arms over my chest as the officer left. Phones were ringing, people scurrying here and there, papers flying, to be honest it was a disaster in this place. I picked up the paper lying beneath the coffee mug and began to flip through it, humming to myself and stopped on an article about this week’s latest fashion trends.

To be honest, trends are stupid and I don’t even know why I bother following them.

I sighed heavily and flipped to the cartoons, laughing silently to myself at ‘Garfield’ who reminded me much of the cat my dad owned before he died. The dumb animal even looked like the famous fat cat, eventually dying of diabetes. At the time, I was little and didn’t even know that cats could get diabetes.

I placed the paper back on the desk and tapped my foot impatiently on the tiled floor. God, it shouldn’t take so long just to get-

“What are you doing here!?”

I craned my head around and yelped when I realized that Jace was right in my face, his green eyes sparkling slightly with annoyance. I scowled and got to my feet, nearly tripping over his leg as he stuck it out.

“Well what does it look like genius? I’m bailing you out. You save me, I save you.” I bit back and placed my hands on my hips to try and look more threatening than I felt. Jace snorted and adjusted the ratty backpack hanging on his shoulder, looking cleaner than when I had first met him.

“I told you that I was fine here.” He mumbled while keeping his tone sharp, avoiding my gaze. “I don’t need your sympathy.”

“Nobody said it was sympathy.” I answered although sympathy was really what I felt. I paused for a moment then ran a hand through my mess of hair.

“Whatever.” Jace responded with the roll of his eyes.

We both said our goodbyes to the officer before heading out, Jace about to make his way back to wherever in the rain. I paused for a second before grabbing the sleeve of his jacket, stopping him mid-step.

“What the hell!?” He barked and glared at me. Suddenly I felt stupid for stopping him but I couldn’t help it, I almost felt bad for the SOB.

“You can’t stay out here when the weather’s like this, you’ll get sick you idiot.” I replied and dragged him toward the car waiting for me. He resisted and tried to pull away, going as far to try and bite me. I cuffed him over the head and shoved him into the limo, ignoring his random curses of protests.

“Why are you so keen on saving me now!?” He exclaimed angrily and crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at me. I ignored him and turned to face out the window, wondering why on earth I was even bothering.

Maybe it was because he saved me from making the worst mistake of my life?

“Ignoring me isn’t going to work, I’ll just talk LOUDER!” He shouted, his cheeks beginning to redden. I glanced at him over my shoulder and narrowed my eyes.

“Right because that’s the mature way to handle things.” I snapped and adjusted my position on the seat. Jace stuck his tongue out and scowled.

“It’s better than getting someone arrested and then kidnapping them.” He retorted with a snort.

“Well maybe you wouldn’t have been arrested if you had just let me go!”

“If you would have just answered my questions then there wouldn’t have been a problem!”

“Oh whatever! It’s not my fault that you had nothing better to do because your father kicked you out of the house!” Jace’s face paled significantly, his green eyes widening.

“How do you-?”

“I know your father, John Fox. I don’t need to tell you how I know or why, I don’t know what you did to make him do that and I don’t need to. Jace, it’s freezing out there,” I gestured outside and watched him peer out his own window. “My parents are gone for a week; let me repay you back for what you did.”

“Don’t you think wasting 10 grand on a bail is good enough?”

I gave him half a smile then shook my head.

“Not when you saved a girl from making the biggest mistake of her life.” I replied softly and watched Jace lean back in his seat smugly.

“Whatever, I just think it’s ‘cause you secretly want me.”

*

We made it back to my place, the rain pouring down harder than ever. I knew that it was extremely stupid of me to let this idiot into my house considering I barely knew him but still, I didn’t want him sitting out in the rain alone. Plus, Jace’s attitude seemed to deteriorate slightly after I mentioned his father meaning I had stuck a nerve and possibly won an argument. Either way, Jace was here now and settling in nicely.

He tossed his bag on the floor and let out a whistle while slipping off his shoes. I followed his example and slipped my wet coat off of my shoulders, hanging on the coat rack before heading into the kitchen for something to eat.

Jace followed me, eying everything he could before stopping in the doorway of the kitchen. He paused before entering, snatching an apple from the fruit basket and taking a huge bite. He chewed and watched me search the fridge myself, wanting something more filling than just an apple. I finally settled with last night’s carbonara and pork roast, garlic bread, and Caesar salad while peeking at Jace from the corner of my eye.

He tossed the apple core into the garbage and reached for another, biting into it sloppily. I dished out my own food and stuck it into the microwave, leaning against the counter as I waited for the timer to count down.

“Aren’t you going to have something more filling?” I asked as he reached for yet another apple. He shook his head and tossed the second core into the garbage then frowned at the red fruit.

“You have peanut butter here right?” He asked and began twirling the stem of the apple.

“Obviously.”

“And cinnamon?”

“Why?” I asked while digging through the cupboards. I re-emerged with peanut butter in one hand and cinnamon in the other. Jace had gotten himself a knife and cleanly sliced the fruit into two pieces, cleaning out the seeds before snatching the peanut butter and cinnamon out of my hands.

“I’d like to say ‘thank you’ but that’d be polite. I’m only polite to people I like.” He said as he slathered peanut butter on one side and shook cinnamon on the other. He took a bite out of each and chewed in contentment, a beaming smile on his face.

“Are you just going to eat apples the whole time or are you going to have something else?” The microwave dinged and I pulled my plate of food out while pouring myself a glass of juice, jamming a fork into it before sitting down. Jace shrugged, munching on his weird combination of apples.

“I’ve eaten gourmet food for 16 years of my life so I’ve had my fill.” He raised an apple at me and grinned. “Besides, apples are my favourite.”

“I didn’t notice.” I muttered and took a bite of my own food.

“Is that a problem?” He asked while chomping on the last bit, his eyes challenging. I shook my head, not wanting to get into another fight while I was eating.

“If you don’t want gourmet, there’s chicken in the fridge. You can make yourself a sandwich or something.” I suggested after swallowing a hefty bite of carnonnara.

“Nope. I’m good.”

He stole my glass and downed the rest of my juice, giving me a grin after placing the empty item back onto the table. He raised an eyebrow and I chewed angrily, vowing that I wouldn’t say anything to let him know that he just majorly pissed me off.

“Want more juice?” I asked as politely as possible.

“Only if you’re having more.” He replied and then strolled out of the kitchen, chuckling to himself.

I growled and placed my empty plate into the sink, following after him to make sure he wouldn’t pull anything.

He was back in the porch, picking up his bag then turned back to me.

“So Princess, where’s my room at?” I dug into my purse for my dead cell phone before heading upstairs; ignoring the tidal wave of questions he tossed at me.

“You don’t like your stepfather right? Why don’t you just go and live with your dad? Or better yet, why not move into your own place? It looks like you have more than enough money to keep yourself off the streets.”

I didn’t respond as I took the last step of the spiral staircase, contemplating on which room I’d put him in. I’d probably put him in the guestroom next to my bedroom just to be sure that he wouldn’t try to snoop around the rest of the house but then thoughts of what could happen because of that flooded my brain. I gotta face the facts, I don’t trust Jace.

I sighed and ended up leading him to the bedroom next to mine anyway, opening the door slowly to make sure one of the stay-in maids wasn’t occupying it. Sure enough, the room was empty and I let Jace move past.

“You know that you’re secrets are safe with me.” He said seriously but his grin revealed that he probably wouldn’t care anyway. I glared at him and watched as he examined every picture with a questioning stare. He settled on one and picked it up, peering closely at it before turning back to me.

He pointed to the dark haired man in the picture.

“That’s your dad isn’t it?” He said and then pointed to the blonde haired woman. “Sooo… That must be your mom.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and rolled my eyes.

Jace raised his eyebrows and ‘hmm’d’ to himself before saying:

“Well you must be adopted because you didn’t inherit your parent’s good looks.”

I gritted my teeth and took the picture, placing it back into its spot. Jace glanced at his empty hand before belly-flopping onto his bed. He curled up into his pillow like a cat, squeezing his eyes shut and sighing deeply.

“Why are you so rude?” I asked while trying to keep my voice from rising into an angry tone. Jace’s head jerked up to look back at me and he rolled his eyes.

“Oh was I supposed to be nice to you or something?” He sat up and dangled his long legs over the edge of the bed, his lips curving into a glower.

“I guess not.” I retorted and Jace got up, glancing around.

“So where’s the bathroom in this place?” My response went ignored. I sighed and gave him the directions before sitting on his bed, my dead cell phone still in hand.

Jace’s bag lay on the bed mockingly and for a second, I nearly opened it to look at what he had in it. Luckily, I was smarter than that and left it alone, merely fiddling with the hem of my jeans while I waited for Jace to return.

Minutes passed and I still sat on the guest bed, my head placed firmly on one hand while I watched the clock change digital numbers. Twenty minutes elapsed and finally I got up and strolled in the direction of the bathroom, only to find that there was nobody in it anyway.

I frowned deeply and backed out of the empty room, worry hitting me like a ton of bricks. Stupid of me to believe that the homeless guy wouldn’t pull something, he probably robbed half of my house already.

I bolted downstairs and stopped, my eyes scanning the room to see if anything was missing. Amazingly enough, everything was still in place and Jace’s battered shoes were still in the porch which meant either he left without his stuff or he was still somewhere in the house.

I poked my head out the door in case, grateful that most of the staff had today off with the exception of Michael. Even Gerard was out on vacation, leaving Brett and I by ourselves until Chad came back from a road trip on Friday. The outside was empty and there was no sign of a golden haired boy to be seen.

I let out a noise of frustration and slammed the door, trying to figure out where on earth he could have gone.

I made my way toward the kitchen, nearly tripping over the Persian rug lying on the floor. I kicked the stupid thing and entered the kitchen, not surprised to see that Jace wasn’t present in there either.

By then, I was pretty much beyond ticked off at that boy. I stomped up the stairs, muttering obscenities to myself because of my own stupidity. Just as I was about to head back to Jace’s room, I heard a noise: The sound of a bed being jumped on. I stopped, tilting my head slightly to hear better and followed the sound which sure enough lead to my room.

I pushed the door open quietly and sure enough, Jace was jumping on my bed with a mischievous grin on his face. He didn’t even bother to stop when he glanced up at me; he just simply spread his arms wide.

“I want this room!” He exclaimed and then let himself fall back onto my mattress with a loud spring coil. My eye nearly twitched.

“You’re not having it Jace, this is my room!” I shouted and grasped his arm but jerked my hand back when tingles rushed through my skin. Jace stared at my hand then moved his eyes up to my face, raising an eyebrow. He then sat up and brushed his bangs from his eyes.

“Exactly why I want it.” He stated simply. “Look, it’s just perfect. Pretty designs, posters even if they are of boys, underwear drawers…”

“You’re a pervert!” I snapped and resisted the urge to look at my underwear drawer just to be sure he didn’t find it.

Jace smiled wickedly.

“You LOVE it.” He stated confidently and I tried yanking him off my bed again. He didn’t budge an inch and finally, I gave up and sank to the floor.

“You’re not staying in my room.” I grumbled and scowled at him.

“Says who?”

“Says me.”

Jace laughed and placed his arms behind his head, making himself comfortable.

“Not sorry to say but you’re not exactly the best figure of authority.” He replied with a lopsided grin.

“Well I’ll . . . I-I’ll call your father!” I threatened and Jace’s eyes narrowed immediately.

“Oh right, go and aim low.” He snapped. “Not that it’ll matter because we both know what he’ll say to that.”

I twirled a strand of hair around my finger and grinned, finally happy that I had been able to hit one of his soft spots.

“Well I’m not exactly sure so maybe I should find out.” I answered coyly.

“I’ll save you the time then: What son?” With that he got up and stormed out of my room after giving me a death glare.

Score 1 for Emma.
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