CHAPTER 147

Jace took a deep breath. Everything was a joke with this guy. Jace pushed forward with what he had to say, even though he knew Eric would use it to make fun of him in the future. “You are the reason I am who I am today. You, Eric. You turned my life around. So if you think you don’t matter to anyone, you’re wrong. You matter to me.”

Jace pushed off the side of the bus and walked back to the entrance. He blew into his hands and clenched them into fists for warmth. The tips of his ears tingled, and his butt was numb from the cold. There was a warm and willing woman waiting for him inside. He wondered why he’d stayed in the chill for this long.

“Wait. Jace?” Eric called after him. “What do you mean I turned your life around?”

Jace had already said too much. He lifted a hand in farewell and climbed the steps to enter the bus. He was looking forward to crawling into bed with Aggie. Or he had been, until he saw Jon sitting on the floor outside her bunk with his back pressed against the wall