Page 89 of This I Promise You
“Oh shit, Hux. I’m sorry!” I say.
“It’s okay. I promise I’m okay. It’s for the best.”
“Okay. If you say so.” I move to pull her in for a hug. “But you know you can always talk to me.”
“Yeah, I know—”
“Paul?”
I snap my head around as I let Huxley go to see who just called me. The only other people who know me in Kansas City are…
“Holy shit, Jace!” I can’t believe we ran into him. I thought he was still at his place, last I checked. But I guess it’s been a minute since I did, andwhoahe’s changed. He’s still his skinny self, but it looks like he has more of a runner's body now. He’s wearing running clothes, so he obviously is…well, on a run. His hair is grown out and he has it up in a bun, doesn’t have his beard anymore, and he’s really tan. We used to look almost exactly alike. Not anymore since I’ve beefed up. Same eyes though. We’ve always had the same eyes.
“What the flying fuck are you doing here, Paul? I thought you left!” Jace takes out his AirPods and puts them away.
“Well, shit. Good to see you too, asshole.”
“Oh,I’mthe asshole? Fuck you very much, shithead. Go back to wherever the hell you came from,” Jace says with a dismissive wave of his hand, then puts his AirPods back in his ear. He’s not running away from this shit even if I wasn’t planning on doing this today. I thought I’d have more time, but whatever. Let’s get into it, I’m feeling like Petty Betty.
“Technically, I’m from here.” I chase after him.
“Fuck you,” Jace yells back.
“What the fuck is your problem, dude?” I put my hand on his shoulder and pull him around to face me. He scowls at me, takes out his AirPods again and pockets them. “Look,” I continue, “I’m sorry I left, but I had to get out of here. You don’t know whatreallyhappened.”
He looks taken aback. I know that look in his eye and whatever he’s about to say is gonna be some shit. I brace myself.
“He started drinking again. Only it was worse because he…he hit them. He hit Dani and Felix during his worst moments. But if we’retruth-telling, you wouldn’t have known even if you were here because you left long before leaving Missouri, you selfish-ass bitch.” Jace’s voice goes softer, but the hurt pours out. “And you weren’t here to help me get them out of that shit. A lot has happened in the past eight months, Paul. Fuck you for thinking you were special enough to—”
No, no, no. This can’t be happening. I wasn’t expecting all that. I had no idea. I’ve done nothing but text him constantly, trying to get him to talk to me. He could have told me!
“I left because I confronted Mom about what Dad did to me. He didn’t just molest me, dude. It was so much worse than you know. So yeah, I was dealing with my own shit, bro! I texted you so many times, butyounever respond! So how thehellwas I supposed to—”
“YOU FUCKING WOULDN’T BECAUSE YOU LEFT!”
“Okay, okay. I think we need to take this somewhere else. People are looking,” Huxley says, stepping between us and holding up a placating hand. I didn’t realize how close we were until that moment. We’re literally screaming in each other’s faces.
“Who the fuck are you?” Jace swipes her hand away a little too violently.
I step forward into his space again and grunt through gritted teeth, “Touch her again and I’ll fuck you up, I swear on my life, dude.”
We stare each other down for what feels like an hour before Jace finally relents. He rounds on Huxley as his attitude deflates, and smiles weakly. “My apologies, ma’am.”
“Ew,” is all Huxley says.
I snap my fingers in his face, getting his attention. “By the way, I’m not done with you yet, Jace.”
“You wanna do this now?” His focus returns to me. “Fine. We can do this now. I don’t live far and I don’t have to get Felix and Dani until three.”
“Wait, why…why are you picking them up?”
He just stares at me.
“Do they live with you?”
“Yeah, dipshit. I couldn’t leave them with Mom and Dad, so I brought them to live with me. I literally just goddamn said I got them out. Good to know you still don’t listen to shit I say.”
Jace checks his Apple Watch and I spare a glance at Huxley. Huxley's eyes go wide as she shrugs.
