by Saxon James
“You can bet your ass I am.”
I tune back into what Tayla is saying. It sounds like a running list of all the good qualities the winners possess. “… worked hard and it shows with this amazing property they’ve produced. The winner today will walk away with one hundred thousand dollars, with second place taking home fifty.” She turns to Lea and Russ. “If you won, what would you spend the money on?”
“A holiday—”
“The mortgage,” they both an answer at the same time.
Lea grins and her and Russ seemingly have a silent conversation. “A little holiday with the kids, then the rest on the mortgage,” she says.
They high five and then it’s our turn.
“Jace? Blake?”
I look at Jace, cutely rumpling his brow as he thinks. But to me, the answer seems obvious. “College for Jace. The less he ends up with in student loans, the better.”
“What?” He spins to me, clearly shocked. “We’re not doing that.”
“Too late I already decided.”
“Blake—”
“Jason.” My tone leaves no room for argument and it seems Tayla agrees with me.
“I take it that’s settled then,” she says, raising her eyebrows at the camera. Kiara is trying to disguise her smirk behind the bright lights shining at us. I pull Jace closer, and nothing’s ever felt more right than him next to me.
“So without any more delays, the winner of this year’s Total Fabrication is …” She looks up from the tablet and smiles warmly at the camera. “Lea and Russ.”
Lea screams and launches into Russ’s arms. Confetti explodes, bursting a kaleidoscope of colored paper into the room. Jace starts to laugh and catcall as he claps for them, genuinely happy, and I loop an arm around his waist, pulling him back against my chest as second place sinks in.
Fifty thousand dollars.
With that amount of money, how the hell am I supposed to be disappointed? A smile splits my face and I bring my hands together down near Jace’s hip, while Lea and Russ are presented with a fuck off sized novelty cheque. Lea starts to sob and Russ pulls her in tight, and as much as it would have been nice to win, looking at them calms everything inside me.
They deserve this.
Tayla starts to wrap up the finale, talking to the camera as Jace breaks free of me and jumps on Lea, squeezing her in a hug as he trades a high five with Russ. Chloe hesitantly joins them, wishing her congratulations, and Jace scoops her up in a hug too.
The happiness is fricken contagious.
We end up staying there, drinking long into the night. Jace passes out around two and I’m not far behind him. Neither of us wakes up until midday and by that time Chloe and Tiffany are long gone. I’m a bit torn, because after all this time, it seems like a waste to carry around that kind of bad attitude.
By the time we eat our body weight in greasy foods and hit the road, it’s already one, so we don’t get back to our apartment until close to midnight. With Jace’s clothes back in the wardrobe, it makes me not want to leave again, but then he flops back on the bed, rumpled after a long day and night, and the melancholy leaves me.
I crawl across the bed to hover over him. “Two months.”
He pouts out his bottom lip. “I don’t wanna leave again.”
“I know, sweetheart, but you’re not doing it alone this time.” I lean down and gently brush his lips with mine.
“I still can’t believe how stupid we were.” His soft smile makes me weak.
“How stupid you were, you mean. I’m known for doing dumb shit, you’re supposed to be the smart one.”
“So you’re saying, if you ever try to break up with me again, I shouldn’t let you?”
“Ever. If you need to use handcuffs, I’ll support that decision.”
Jace cocks an eyebrow. “Well, now you’re just giving me ideas.”
I snigger and lean down further to press a kiss to his neck. I stop and breathe him in. “I love you. So much.”
“I love you too.” He smirks. “Babe.”
I pinch his side and Jace squirms beneath me. “You know how much I hate that label.”
“And yet I had to listen to you call me it for weeks.”
“It was the only way.”
“Only way to …” Jace prompts.
“Keep my distance. Keep things impersonal.”
“Hate to tell you this.” He threads his fingers through my hair. “Didn’t work.”
“And thank fuck for that.”
Jace’s beautiful smile warms me from the inside out. He’s addictive, the only person in the world I’d do anything for. I reach over to grab my phone.
“I did a thing,” I say, scrolling to the right email.
Jace takes the phone, lips pursued in concentration. The exact moment he realizes what he’s seeing, his hazel eyes spark to life and his attention shifts from the phone to me.
“You bought a house?”
I nod. “For us. It’s a shithole, but look what we just did. It might take us the entire time you’re studying, but for once, I don’t want to buy and flip. This time, I want to make it specifically for us, knowing we’re going to live there together for a long time.”
“A long time?”
I rub my nose along his. “For as long as you’ll have me.”
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ALSO BY SAXON JAMES
Love's a Gamble Series
Good Times and Tan Lines - Coming Nov 2019
Bet On Me - coming Jan 2020
Calling Your Bluff coming - 2020
Doubling Up - coming 2020
For all the sweet without the smut, check out the #Lovehim series by S. M. James HERE.
