Home is Where the Heart Is (Home #1)

by Cheynee Filkov

  She was wearing short denim shorts that hugged her hips and showed off those legs of hers, with a loose button up, v neck shirt that had her neon pink bikini showing through. Her blonde hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun with strands falling out around her face.

  Mine. He thought possessively, catching himself off guard.

  “What was the question again?” he asked, trying to shake some sense back into himself.

  Isabelle blushed, but her smile was bright. “Well, I’m going for ‘pretty girl that no one wants to punch.’’’

  Jace ignored the stab of guilt, and just looked her over again, inch by inch. “I was going to say you look more like a dream I once had, but your version works too.”

  Isabelle’s smile was radiant. “Great! Thank you. Is that what you’re wearing?”

  He looked down at himself for the first time and noticed he hadn’t bothered to change out of the boxer briefs he’d thrown on after his shower. He felt suddenly exposed standing here, half naked in front of this vision of a girl, but being self-conscious wasn’t going to get him anywhere with her. So instead, he moved into a ridiculously provocative pose.

  “You don’t think I’m wearing it well?”

  She blushed a deep scarlet, but instead of looking away shyly like he expected her too, she made a show of looking him up and down like he had done to her.

  “No, I think you wear it too well, which is only going to lose you friends at the party,” she said finally, with a flirty smile.

  “Who needs them? As long as I have you as my friend, I’ll be fine.”

  She rolled her eyes as she laughed. “You’re such a goof sometimes. Anyway, do you need a ride tonight?”

  “You’re not drinking?”

  “Yeah, right, like Maia would ever let that happen. No, my Dad offered to drive us – he has the big van, so we can all fit.”

  “That’s nice of him,” he said, as he moved to sit back on his couch.

  “Nice?” Isabelle scoffed. “He’s only doing it so he knows the address and can come back later for a drive by and pull me out if he feels it’s not going well.”

  Must be nice to have a Dad care so much, he thought.

  “I’m sorry,” she said sincerely.

  Shit, had he said that out loud? Super smooth Jace, bring up your ‘daddy issues’ to the girl you like - nothing more romantic than that.

  “Don’t worry about it,” he told her casually, eager to move past his little slip up. “And thanks for the lift. What time should I be ready?”

  She raised one perfect eyebrow. “Aren’t you already?”

  He sighed dramatically. “Alas, I fear you are right and this is too much hotness for everyone to handle. I will cover myself appropriately so I don’t burn everyone’s eyes with my beauty.”

  She giggled quietly. “Must be such a hard cross to bear, being so inhumanely beautiful.”

  He nodded gravely. “It is, but then again, you’d know all about that.”

  With a wave and a wink he left her beaming on the balcony as he headed inside and closed his door and curtains behind him.

  He let out a deep breath and flopped onto his bed.

  He made a quick recovery on that one, but he needed to do better. He needed a plan that was guaranteed to succeed and he needed to stop making an idiot of himself if he didn’t want to lose her before she even had a chance to be his.

  It killed him to admit it, but what he really needed was Maia.

  He groaned to himself.

  No good could ever come from this.

  CHAPTER 7

  ISABELLE

  Isabelle had never been drunk before, had never really been interested in anything other than a few social drinks with friends to maintain the appearance of being normal. But after shots with Maia, and a fresh drink pressed into her palm every time her previous glass was empty, she was certainly feeling something.

  “Game time!” Maia crowed gleefully, motioning everyone over to her.

  Isabelle took a step forward but her feet were so unsteady she almost fell over.

  “Whoa there,” Jace said with a small smile as he held her steady. “How you doing, Miss Drunky?”

  “I’m not drunk,” she tried to protest, but her words came out garbled.

  Jace smiled indulgently as he led her over to the back of the garden where Maia, Matt, Ben, Kandi, Tate, Tyler and Giselle were gathered.

  Tate pulled Isabelle away from Jace with a look of disdain, and settled her next to him. Isabelle drew her eyebrows in as she watched him. Tate was being so weird today, she had honestly never seen him like this…except with Jason, but that was a bit different.

  Maia clicked her fingers in Isabelle’s face. “Pay attention! We’re going to be playing Truth or Dare.”

  Next to her, Jace paled. “We should leave, now,” he whispered urgently.

  “Leave?” Isabelle repeated, a little too loudly.

  Maia’s eyes flashed. “Nobody leaves, ever, so sit down and shut up.”

  Isabelle shrugged and settled herself onto the grass as Jace groaned softly behind her.

  “Don’t say I didn’t try to warn you.”

  “I’ll go first,” Maia said brightly, which only made Jace groan louder.

  “Tate, Truth or Dare?”

  Tate looked nervous. "Uh, truth?"

  Maia smirked. "Have you ever thought about Isabelle naked?"

  "Maia!" Isabelle cried out, mortified. "Don't answer that, Tate."

  "If he won't answer, it goes default to dare," Maia told them, ignoring Jace’s firm pressure on her ankle.

  "Fine, dare." Tate conceded.

  Maia looked positively evil. "I dare you to kiss the prettiest girl here."

  Isabelle relaxed, well that was easy enough. Pretty much every girl in this circle was that annoying mix of beautiful and nice; all Tate had to do was just pick one.

  "What if I refuse?" Tate asked quietly.

  Maia sighed deeply, like he'd already disappointed her. "Then you have to take off an item of clothing."

  Tate was only wearing board shorts so refusal pretty much meant he would be naked for the remainder of the game. He glanced Isabelle’s way for a moment, before slowly getting to his feet and undoing his draw string.

  As nearly every girl at the party stopped what they were doing and lasered in on Tate about to get incredibly close to naked, Isabelle turned her face away. It wasn’t like Tate was unpleasant to look at - he worked hard with his dad on their family construction business so his body was nicely sculpted and no one could deny he was beautiful. It was just that Isabelle felt uncomfortable with him being so close, and so nearly naked, when he was practically family.

  “Pick a girl, Tate,” Isabelle said, still not looking at him. “Just get it over with and then we can move on.”

  “Not just any girl,” Maia reminded. “Who you think is the prettiest.”

  Isabelle turned her nose up at Maia. Why was she even pushing this? And why was Tate being so difficult? It wasn’t even a hard question.

  "Maia, ease up," Jace finally said firmly, as Tate started to pull his shorts off, revealing the waist band of white Calvin Klein’s before hastily yanking his shorts down the rest of the way.

  "I don't make the rules," she replied lightly.

  "No, you play by your own," Jace replied darkly before turning to Tate. "Pull up your pants Romeo - that was just a test run."

  "Just kiss a girl, Tate," Giselle purred.

  "Keep your pants on and mouth shut." Jace instructed. "We're going to start again and this time Maia, and everyone else for that matter, is going to tone it down, we clear?" He glared so fiercely at Maia she actually had the grace to duck her head. "Matt, you start."

  Isabelle smiled at Jace brightly. She had no idea why Tate had even needed saving when it should have been so simple, but it was nice of Jace to step in even after Tate had spent the better part of the day freezing him out.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

>   Jace winked. “No need, I’m just too sober for a half-naked dude to be this close to me.”

  Isabelle giggled softly and turned her attention back to the game which was apparently ‘ask Tate’ night.

  “Truth or dare, Tate?” Matt asked innocently.

  “Truth.”

  “Have you ever been in love?”

  Tate’s jaw tensed and he glared at Matt. “There are other people here you know, it’s not just me playing.”

  “Oh I know, Rookie,” Matt told him with a smirk. “But I already know all their secrets.”

  Tate grunted in annoyance. “I’m sure. Fine, yes.”

  Isabelle’s head snapped over to Tate. Yes? Had she missed something? She had never seen Tate with a serious girlfriend in their whole lives. He never had any shortage of girls fawning all over him, and she knew for a fact that he wasn’t a virgin, but love?

  “Ooh,” Maia crooned. “Who?”

  “I believe I answered your question,” Tate replied lightly. “Is it my shot now?”

  Maia nodded, gesturing for him to continue.

  “Jace, truth or dare?”

  Isabelle gulped down more of her double black cruiser. Crap. This was not going to go well.

  Jace watched Tate mildly. “Truth.”

  “How many girls have you had sex with?” Tate asked and there was a cruel curve to his lip unfamiliar to Isabelle.

  Jace paled, his eyes flicking to Isabelle briefly before coming back to Tate’s.

  “You hoping I don’t answer so you can see me naked?” Jace asked casually, but his eyes were hard.

  Tate didn’t reply, just gestured for Jace to continue.

  Isabelle glanced around and saw Maia exchanging weary looks with Giselle as Matt death stared Tate.

  She was just about to open her mouth to tell Jace he didn’t have to answer when he cut across her.

  “Four,” he ground out through his teeth.

  Isabelle didn’t know how to feel about that information. She knew at seventeen there was no way he could have been a virgin, and four was actually less than Tate, but there was a burn in her chest when she imagined other girls touching him. She didn’t like it.

  “Jace,” Maia said softly. “It’s your turn.”

  Isabelle was sure he was going to go on the offensive and lash out at Tate, but instead he surprised her by turning to Kandi and asking her a question.

  After watching Kandi perform a lap dance for Ben who definitely did not seem as enthralled as he should have been, Isabelle knew by the gleam in Kandi’s eye that she would be next.

  "Truth or dare, Isabelle?" Kandi asked, as if on cue.

  “Dare,” she replied thoughtlessly, distracted by Jace pulling his wife beater up to wipe his face.

  “Hang on.” Kandi fumbled with her iPhone for a few moments before a sneaky grin spread across her face as she read something. “OK got it, your dare is… to kiss a member of the opposite sex on the lips.”

  Isabelle wanted to crawl into a pit and die. Why did she ever think shots were a good idea? They had completely lowered her inhibitions and now she was bright red with a group of people staring at her expectantly.

  She sighed deeply, very aware by the knowing grins between Kandi and Maia that they had planned this. Clearly her choice was between Jace and Tate because Ben and Matt were both spoken for and Tyler was as creepy as it got.

  “Are you puckering up or getting naked?” Maia prodded with a smirk.

  Isabelle rolled her eyes at Maia and turned to Jace. Maybe it was the liquid courage in her stomach or Maia’s taunting that had the nerves slip away from her but as she looked into those bright blue eyes she actually felt confident and sure that this was right.

  Placing her hands gently on either side of his face Isabelle moved slowly until her lips pressed against Jace’s slightly opened and very surprised ones.

  A peck was really all she had planned for, all that was technically required, but as their lips fused together a raw need over took her and she found it was her hands pulling Jace closer as she deepened the kiss. She had expected that he would push forward into their kiss, grab her or maybe even try and ease his body over hers but instead he was hesitant, almost guarded as his lips only moved against hers with the most tentative of movements.

  It was too soon and reckless and probably incredibly stupid but she liked him and he made her happy. She didn’t care that tomorrow she would be mortified, she didn’t care that she could feel Tate’s eyes burning into her, or that she was meant to be keeping her distance. All she really cared about was living in this moment of careless abandon.

  After Tate’s exaggerated cleared throat, Isabelle pulled herself away from Jace, smiling at his completely stunned expression.

  “My turn?” she asked ignoring everyone’s gaze on her. “Maia, truth or dare?”

  Maia grinned at her. “Obviously I’m choosing dare. Hit me with your best shot, newbie.”

  Isabelle smiled slyly. “I dare you to be silent for one hour.”

  Maia’s face pulled into a scowl as Jace grinned brilliantly.

  “That’s the dumbest dare ever,” Maia told her with a pout.

  Isabelle leant in close to her. “Guess you’re getting naked then.”

  Maia’s eyes widened for a moment as she took Isabelle in, silent as she watched her intently, but after a few tense moments Maia smiled softly.

  “Touché,” she said with a salute. “Start the clock then.”

  As Matt set a timer on his phone and the turn moved onto Ben, Jace leaned in closer.

  “You might possibly be my favourite person,” he whispered in her ear.

  “Only possibly?” she asked with a flirtatious smile.

  “I’ll never tell.”

  Isabelle felt warm all over as she leaned back against Tate, accepting his arm around her waist, although she kept flicking her gaze back to Jace and smiling to herself.

  “You need to be more careful,” Tate murmured into her ear. “I think you’ve had enough to drink for tonight.”

  Isabelle rolled her eyes. “I already have a father, Tate.”

  “I’m just trying to stop you from getting hurt.”

  “I’m not going to get hurt.”

  “I’m just saying you should be careful around him. Don’t get mad, I’m just trying to help you stay safe.”

  “I don’t need your help,” Isabelle retorted angrily, the alcohol in her system amplifying her emotions. “Mind your own business.”

  “Really?” he whispered back furiously, grabbing her arm. “Because if you’d listened to me the first time, maybe you could have saved yourself some self-loathing and bruises!”

  Isabelle snapped back like he’d smacked her and regret immediately flew across his face.

  “Belle, I’m so sorry; I’ve been drinking, I didn’t mean-”

  Tate’s frantic apology and remorseful face did nothing to soothe her anger, and once again drawing everyone’s attention with her drama had her yanking her arm away from him and swiftly stalking out of the party.

  She really had to stop making it a habit of storming off at parties if she was going to keep any friends in this town, but Tate had gone too far. He wasn’t wrong insinuating that what had happened was her fault, she had ignored everyone’s warnings, her best friends’ pleas and her own damn gut, but how dare he bring Jason up in front of everyone.

  And she wasn’t repeating the same mistakes with Jace. She had thought in her inexperience that Jason was as perfect and beautiful as you could get, but in these short weeks with Jace she had learnt that it was the flaws that made someone beautiful; that if someone appeared to be perfect they were hiding something.

  She stopped walking aimlessly when she realised she had absolutely no idea where she was, and her head was starting to spin.

  Whoa.

  Weaving on her feet a little she saw a swing out of the corner of her eye.

  A swing? Was she in a park?

  She looked around to try a
nd get her bearings.

  It was the fanciest looking park she had ever seen. There was a clear see-saw with bright crystals inside, a swing set with a sturdy wooden seat and silver chain holding it up, the same crystal encrusted slide and hammocks strewn about, giving it a really tranquil feeling.

  Isabelle hung her head as she stumbled over and collapsed into a hammock. She was so lost.

  She didn’t even have any idea what time it was because, as usual, she had left her phone behind - because clearly she was an idiot.

  As tears filled her eyes she was reminded why she didn’t drink very often. Turned out she was one of those annoying drunk criers who everybody hated.

  She swiped at her tears, impatiently forcing breaths in and out in preparation for the panic attack she could feel coming.

  Breathe Isabelle, let your heart slow down.

  She could hear Jace’s voice in her head and, funnily enough, it did help her drag in an exaggerated breath and slowly get her heart rate back down to normal.

  Her mind was such a mess of thoughts and emotions but she was in the wrong state to try and figure anything out. She was honestly too exhausted to even try, so instead she resigned herself to the fact that she was going nowhere until she sobered up.

  She tilted her heavy head up to notice that the clouds were concealing all the stars and it was pitch darkness above her. The absence of the glittering lights pulled at her heart in such a ridiculously deep way that Isabelle closed her eyes so she wouldn’t burst into tears.

  “You OK down there?”

  Isabelle clenched her eyes shut even further. Just great! Of course he would be the one to find her.

  “You do know that just because you’re refusing to look at me doesn’t mean I can’t see you?” Amusement filled Jace’s tone.

  Tears began to stream down Isabelle’s face so she threw her arms up to cover herself from his view.

  Jace said nothing but a moment later she felt his weight join hers on the hammock.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked gently.

  Isabelle swallowed a sob and shook her head.

  “Do you want me to punch Tate for you?”

  Isabelle shook her head more firmly, horrified at the thought.