Three to Tango by Chloe Cole, L. C. Chase Page A

rubbing her back and making soft
    noises in her ear until she found herself hugging him in return. The tears that had
    threatened broke free, and Alec held her tight as she cried.
    “I know you"re hurt. And maybe you aren"t giving me enough credit here,
    because I am too.”
    Melody pulled back and looked up into his wounded face. Those captivating
    green eyes were stormy and reflected the pain she felt. There was no denying he
    spoke the truth.
    “I love Jace, and I love you. I know you"re afraid right now, but his reaction
    was the result of a misunderstanding. Yes, we hurt him, and yes, he"s angry, but it
    wasn"t a rejection. He hasn"t even been given the choice yet. Once we explain, once
    we tell him how much we care, I think we still have a chance.” Alec cupped her face
    tenderly in his hands and pressed his lips to hers in a gentle kiss.
    An ember of hope began to burn within her. She gave Alec a tight squeeze
    before breaking their kiss. This wasn"t his fault; she"d been a willing participant.
    She couldn"t remember why they"d thought this was a good plan. It wasn"t supposed
    to happen this way. And now, they had to try to fix what they"d broken.
    Straightening her spine, she pushed her fear to the side, focusing only on her
    goal and what she needed to do to get there. “Okay. So let"s show him how we feel.
    He"s got to come back sometime tonight. He has a competition tomorrow, and all of
    his stuff is here. And when he does, we"ll blow his mind.”

    It was almost dark out as Jace walked into his studio, soaked to the bone and
    shaking. A mild sixty degrees, but the unseasonably chilly rain had leached the last
    of his warmth.
    He didn"t bother with the lights, making his way to the CD player in the
    shadowed room. By the glow of the stereo, he made out the cover of the disc he

    Three to Tango
    81

    wanted, popped it in, then hit Play. Danny O"Donoghue sang the words Jace"s heart
    couldn"t speak.
    What am I going to do
    When the best part of me was always you?
    What am I supposed to say
    When I’m all choked up and you’re okay?
    I’m falling to pieces
    He pressed his head against the mirror and banged it one time.
    “What the fuck?” he shouted to no one. His heart sat in his chest like a shard
    of glass, cutting deeper with every beat.
    Jace had been in love before. At least, he thought he had. But this…this was
    unlike any pain he"d ever felt, and he didn"t know if he"d ever recover.
    He peeled off the shirt the rain had almost glued to his body and kicked his
    sopping shoes onto the mat in the corner of the room as the music seeped into his
    bones, drowning out his thoughts. He closed his eyes and sank into the vocals and
    haunting accompaniment that filled the studio until his body found the rhythm and
    began to sway.
    Then he started to dance, pouring all of his sadness and anger into the
    movement.

    The thump of the bass drum vibrated the floor. “He"s back. I"m going to get
    him,” Melody told Alec.
    “I"ll come with you.”
    She took his hand in hers and held it to her cheek. “Please, Alec. If this works
    out, I"ll never ask you to step aside again. But I need to do this myself. No matter
    what happens here, things are going to be different between him and me, and we
    need to talk about it. I"m sorry if that hurts you.”

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    Chloe Cole & L. C. Chase

    He nodded, his face grim. “Okay. Hurry, though. It"s killing me that he thinks
    last night was just some game to me. Can you at least tell him how sorry I am and
    that I love him?”
    “Of course I will. I"ll— we’ll be back up soon.”
    “You have twenty minutes, and then I"m coming down. That"s more than fair,
    Mel. I can"t be in the dark much longer than that. I"ll lose my mind.”
    “That"s fair. Twenty minutes.” Melody pressed a hard kiss to his mouth, then
    headed down the stairs to the studio, her pulse pounding in time with the
    music. Stopping just outside the door, she tamped down the nausea that threatened.
    This was