“Well, I’ll tell you this, if we keep up the wango tango, my life should be fixed in a few weeks at the latest.” She grinned, biting her bottom lip.

God, she was breathtaking, and she didn’t even know it.

“I’ll wango your tango for the next week straight to help you out.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” she warned.

“Trust me, princess,” I whispered, leaning in close, “I always keep my promises.”

I loved the way her body reacted when I moved in closer. Then I remembered where we were, and I knew that touching her, even if ever so lightly, was a no-go.

She bit her bottom lip and looked up toward a few people staring our way. It was as if we were everyone’s favorite reality show. “I bet you they’re having a field day with us just talking right now.”

“I can go,” I said quickly, not wanting to add to her torture.

“No, no. I mean, we’re already sleeping together, right? Plus, I’m tired of always changing my life to try to fit into others’ expectations.”

“Another Grace discovery?” I asked.

“Turns out it’s kind of fun learning who you are. If they want to gossip, they can, but I’m not going to stop talking to you or be ashamed when I know we’re just two grown-ups doing grown-up things. Might as well give the people more of a story to make up.”

“Careful,” I warned, “once you start hanging out with the black sheep of the town, your wool starts shifting to a darker shade.”

“My wool has already been changing. I’ll take my chances talking to you. Is this what it’s been like for you, though? Do you always get their harsh looks?”

“Yeah, but you get used to it. It only truly bothers me a few times.”

“When’s that?”

“When they talk about my father, or even worse, my mother.”

She gave me those gentle eyes, and I had to fight to keep from losing myself in them.

“I think I owe you an apology,” she said, looking right at me. “Before we even met, I had these ideas of the person you were. I was afraid of you because of the rumors people around town spread. I heard these horror stories about you and your father, and I just feel awful that I believed them.”

“It’s not a big deal,” I told her. “No apologies needed. I’m sure some of the stuff you’ve heard is true. Plus, I’m sure you remember our first few meetings—I can be an asshole.”

“Yes, but a nice asshole,” she remarked.

“That’s not a thing.”

“It’s definitely a thing.”

“I judged you, too. I had this awful idea of who you were before I knew you.”

“Why did you hate me so much?” she asked.

That was easy enough to answer. “Because I was taught to do exactly that.”

“Well, do you still hate me?”

“No,” I said. “Are you still afraid of me?”

“No,” she replied.

“Well, that’s unfortunate. I was really hoping to keep up my monster persona around these parts.”

“Don’t worry,” she said, gesturing to the left where a group of girls were whispering. “I’m sure there are plenty who still think you’re the spawn of Satan.”

“Good. I can’t lose my street cred,” I remarked, and she laughed.

I liked it most when she laughed.

“Well, if you want to maintain your street cred, you should stop doing that.”

“Doing what?”

“Smiling.”

I turned my lips down into a dramatic frown. Before I could say anything else, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a grown man recording my interaction with Grace on his cell phone, and I listened to him call her a “church girl whore”.

She heard it, too, and must’ve seen me tense up. “Let it go, Jackson,” she whispered.

Apparently she’d forgotten our roles in this town.

She was the town’s good girl.

Me?

I was the monster.

Without second thought, I walked over to him, snatched the phone out of his hands, and snapped it in half. Then I dropped the pieces into his cart and stared him dead in the eyes. “Do something,” I threatened, crossing my arms. “I dare you.”

His eyes widened with fear, and he swiftly pushed his cart away.

I walked back over to Grace, and she stood there stunned. “I didn’t know phones could snap in half.”

“Yeah, me either,” I replied honestly.

“I know I should scold you for what you just did, but truthfully, that made me feel really good inside.”

It made me feel good inside, too.

“It’s a strange thing, though,” she told me.

“What is?”

“When my Prince Charming is the rest of the world’s Beast.”

23

Grace

Each day that passed felt like a dream intermixed with nightmares. I saw both Autumn and Finn almost every time I left the house, and when I didn’t see them, they still crossed my mind. My thoughts were trying their best to destroy me, but novels and Jackson both served as great distractions.

Even when the world was dark, words in books existed. Therefore, I knew there would always be light around me even on the darkest of days. I often wondered if that was why Jackson read, too—for a few moments of light.