A Kiss at Midnight (Delilah and Caelum) novel Chapter 23

Chapter 23

For a second, neither of us said anything.

Then Jace rubbed a hand behind his neck, looking weirdly nervous. “Can we just talk?”

Can we just talk?

Talk? Really, he was clearly pulling a prank on me right now, because what in the hell.

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My gaze rested on him blankly, mainly because I did not have the patience what so ever for this, and whatever microscopic amount of social energy I had left for talking had been packed up into a bag and left for the night.

Right now, my mood was hanging by a thread and I wasn’t about to come to a fucking ass party just to play feelings therapist.

I was here to unwind, and by unwind, I meant to be fucked, hard and whimpering, not to talk.

Again, the hell.

I narrowed my gaze at him, watching him stand there all nervous and now I was suppose to what…care.

Bad timing

Very, very bad timing

Staring at him for another second before letting out a sigh, mainly because I couldn’t stand this pitiful act in front of me.

“As much as that statement sounded so horrifying, I’m going to need another bottle of alcohol if I’m going to get through what ever the hell this is.” I said flatly, and he didn’t seem to mind as a small smile pulled at his mouth.

It wasn’t the regular cocky smile he had on or his usual irritating smirk, this was something softer, which made my brow furrow wondering what he was up to.

“Wait here.” He said before disappearing deeper into his room, while I leaned against the wall still trying to process the absolute personality crisis Jace seemed to be having right now. Because how exactly did he go from kissing like he had personally declared war to my sanity, then to suddenly wanting to talk.

Talk about tonight going down the shit hole

A minute later he returns holding a bottle of wine. “I had this stashed away months ago.”

My eyes narrows at him. “You secretly hide alcohol in your room. What are you, a divorced father of six?”

He laughed quietly at this before handing it to me, and I gave him a look before taking it anyway.

“Cute,” I muttered, “now where’s the emotional support cigarette.”

“You don’t smoke, Deil.”

“Neither do emotionally stable people and yet here we are.” That made him snort, then before I could say anything else, he grabs a hold of my hand.

“Come on.”

My gaze drifted down to our hands, then back up at him. “You aren’t technically giving me a choices since you’re practically dragging me to whenever it is you are taking me to.” My brows furrowed.

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Chapter 23

“You could easily say no.”

I scoff at this. “I’m only going only because I’m curious. Do not flatter yourself.”

“Yeah sure…”

“Don’t piss me off, Moreno, I can still leave.”

“Scared, are you?”

1 scoffed again, a little bit louder this time. “Oh please, I have nothing to be scared about.”

“Good” he says as he laughs, while leading me through the hallway.

A few seconds later he pushed open the rooftop door and the cool air immediately brushes against my skin.

and damn, the view here was insane

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The light from the city stretches endlessly beneath us, glowing gold against the darkness, as the music from the party downstairs echoed faintly in the distance.

Everything up here felt quieter and slower, and for the first time all night, my brain actually shut up.

Jace was the first it sit down before tapping on a spot beside him, making my gaze drifted from the skyline to him, then back to the skyline again before letting out a sigh and taking a seat beside him.

“You are officially the second most confusing person I’ve ever met.”

He leaned back a bit, his lips raised up slightly. “Who’s the first?”

Caelum immediately popped into my head

Stupid quiet Caelum with his stupid glasses and stupidly pretty eyes.

Looking away from him. I let out a small shrug. “Just someone.”

Jace studied me for a second before taking the bottle when I handed it over, the both of us sat there drinking quietly, no fighting or fake flirting. There was no pretending, just silence, comfortable silence.

Okay, as much as I would hate, absolutely gut wrenching hate to say it. If I was being a a bit, just a tiny bit fair, maybe this wasn’t the worst idea in the world after all.

“It’s been a while since we hung out like this,” he said after a while, and I turned to look at him, taking another gulp from the bottle.

“Yeah, ancient history.” I gave a crooked smirk, “we used to be weirdly attached to each other, which was honestly kinda embarrassing for us.”

“We were kids.” He smiled softly.

My chest tightened unexpectedly, thing back to when it had always been the three of us. Me, him and her.

Summer afternoons in his backyard, movie marathons that always somehow ended up with one of us falling asleep on the couch.

Her laughing so hard she snorted while Jace got playfully gets offended every time we made fun of him. For a second, the memory hit so hard I could almost hear her voice again.

I looked down at the bottle in my hands. “Yeah. Back when we were younger and had questionable taste in friendships.”

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Chapter 23

Before life decided to become a bitch

Silence stretches between us again asi take another sip before glancing sideways at him. “How’s your mom?”

i Jace smirked slightly. “You still remember my mom.”

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“Please, that woman used to force feed me cookies every time I came over, I think I practically owe her child support.”

That earned a quiet laugh from him but it didn’t last long as his expression dimmed. “She’s in hospice now.”

The words hit me almost instantly, my brows pulled together. “Jesus, Jace.” I sat up straighter. “The last time I saw her, she looked like she was getting better.”

“Yeah.” He nodded once. “We thought she was too, then she relapsed.”

“God, that’s seriously messed up,” the breeze suddenly felt colder as I stared down at the wine bottle before muttering quieter, “I’m sorry.”

And I meant it

He looked over at me carefully, “you don’t have to apologize.”

“Still sucks.”

He nodded slightly before looking back at the skyline. “She asks about you sometimes, and about..” his words trailed off, his jaw tightened.

“Well that’s concerning,” I passed the drink over to him before adding. “Your mom clearly has terrible judgment because I definitely stole one of her mugs once.” This made him laugh softly again but once again fading just as quick as it came.

“You were going through stuff too back then,” he said quietly, and I knew exactly what he meant.

My sister

Even now, just thinking about her felt like pressing bruises that never healed properly.

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