Until then, a high-end shopping platform aimed at millennials was paying me six figures to exclusively endorse some featured jewelry. It wasn’t so bad. The pieces were cool. And, I got to keep them.
Around my neck, I wore a stunning sterling silver necklace of moons, stars, and planets encrusted with tiny diamonds. Angling my phone like a pro, I took several shots and then uploaded the best one to Instagram, tagging the designer and adding in a fun description and some hashtags.
One down, fifty more posts to go.
When the plane began its descent, my nerves began to fire. LTZ was headlining the third night of the festival. I was expected to be backstage and at all of the parties to post pictures of the jewelry and make sure that celebrities would see the pieces. It meant I’d likely run into Jace, and it had been nearly two years since we’d had any contact.
Sadly, I was on my own for the entire lonely weekend.
A car service picked me up and took me to the JW Marriott, an enormous luxury resort in the desert where talent who weren’t put up in private mansions often stayed. My room was basic but had a nice view of the pool and their resort’s flamingo pond. With a couple of hours to spare, I decided to get some Vitamin D. After donning my American flag bikini, a white, gauzy cover-up, a floppy hat, and sunglasses, I was ready and headed for the pool.
Luckily, I found a great spot right at the edge of the adult area, sprayed myself down with sunscreen, and lay back to soak up the sun. The winters and spring in Seattle were not warm, so feeling the rays permeate my body with heat and Vitamin D was relaxing.
I dozed off.
Vaguely, I heard someone get settled in the chair to my right, but I was enjoying my peaceful afternoon, so I didn’t even open my eyes. Soon, I began to drift off again.
“Alex.” I heard my name spoken softly; the familiar raspy voice made all the hairs on my arm stand up.
Sitting up suddenly caused my boob to pop out of my bikini top. Quickly, I adjusted myself and looked over.
“Jace.” My heart began beating a million miles a minute.
“I like how you say hello.” Jace sat upright on the lounge chair in all his shirtless glory, wearing the same black-and-white board shorts he wore in Italy. His dark-blond hair was shorter—almost a long bob, which accentuated his cleft chin.
The man was ridiculous.
He lowered his mirrored aviator shades, and his piercing green eyes assessed my cleavage. His grin spread across his face, causing his goddamn lickable dimples to sink into irresistible craters.
“Well, it’s nothing you haven’t seen before.” I shrugged, trying to act nonchalant while adjusting my top to make sure that things were where they were supposed to be.
“Alex, you are fucking stunning.” Jace leaned back on his muscled arms, regarding me. I couldn’t help but stare at the striking poppy art on his shoulder, the bright reds seemed to burst from the Viking compass winding around his biceps and shoulder. My heart raced. Somehow, I’d forgotten all about the tattoo. Blocked it from my mind, more likely.
“You surprised me; I didn’t know the band would be staying here.” I tried to keep my voice even, unaffected. He seemed so confident ogling me when I was completely discombobulated. “I figured you’d be put up in a mansion.”
“Nope. After Coachella we’re heading to Europe to do some shows on the festival circuit before we’re back in the States for a couple of iHeart Radio events. We’re actually all staying and rehearsing at Ty’s house in LA,” Jace rambled, now it seemed almost like he was nervous. “The guys are driving in tomorrow for the show. Since I planned to catch some music this weekend, I booked into the hotel to make a weekend of it.”
Jace gulped and then shifted his position so he was lying down in the lawn chair next to me after his word vomit.
“Okay.” I relaxed back into my lounger, but I was still indecisive about whether I should stay or make an excuse to head up to my room.
“Um.” Jace looked at me sideways behind the mirrored lenses. “It’s really good to see you. For the record, I don’t like that we’ve lost touch.”
“Hmm.” I remained non-committal. I didn’t like it either, but I also didn’t know how we even could start this conversation. Almost two years was a long time to go without speaking.
Although, we’d done it before.
“I’ve missed you.” His voice was barely audible. “I kept thinking you would show up somewhere.”
“No. That wasn’t going to happen.” I shook my head. “I’m not that girl, anymore.”
“Oh. Right.” He looked dejected. “So, are you here with someone?”
“No. I’m just here to work.”
We sat in silence for a few minutes.
“Um. Did you not show up again because of what, um, happened?” He looked down at a loose piece of the rattan on the lawn chair and began fiddling with it.
“It wasn’t the only reason, but it made things very clear,” I said truthfully.
“That you didn’t want to be with me?” His voice caught.
I crossed my arms over my body, almost protectively. “I did want to be with you. I did not want to chase after you like a groupie and give up my own goals.”
Jace sighed and lay silent for a long time. After ten minutes, I thought he might have fallen asleep and was listening for his breath to even out so I could sneak away and go back up to my room. I hadn’t been prepared to see him, let alone in this sneak-attack situation. Gawd. I wasn’t over him, not by any stretch of the imagination.
I hadn’t cried in two years and now after seeing Jace, all I wanted to do was escape to have a good cry. By myself.
I was
