Jace loved me. He loved me. He loved me.

And he whispered it against my lips, over and over again. I love you, Elle, and I gasped his name in return. Jace Hartley loved me. I was the mystery girl, the one who he had been holding a steady, long-burning candle for. The girl who'd haunted his thoughts for over a decade.

"Did you really not know?" he pulled back to say. He was smiling that devastating smile, and I knew I was returning it. I was breathless and breathtaken, which wasn't a word but somehow encapsulated how I felt. Jace Hartley was breathtakingly beautiful, and he was mine. "How could you not know?"

"Because you hated me!" I exclaimed.

"And I was very bad at that," said Jace, laughing. "I fooled literally no one, except for you. I only pretended to hate you, and only because I knew you wanted me to. I didn't think you'd have any time for me if I played nice, because you liked to have someone to argue with. But you definitely should've known, still. I mean, you would fight with me and yell at me, and I would just find it adorable and laugh."

"My anger is not adorable," I muttered with a small pout. "It's fearsome and terrifying." He tapped the end of my nose. "Besides, I thought you were laughing to try to rile me up. I thought it was a strategy."

"Because you thought everything was a strategy," said Jace mildly, dropping a quick kiss to my forehead. "Which I love about you. You're so stubborn and defiant and a little bit violent. And always so very dedicated to the cause."

I pushed him back against the bed and lined my body up with his, peering down at him through a curtain of dark curls. "You could say some nice things about me, too. You know, if we're just naming attributes out there. I have plenty of good ones. Unbelievably sexy, for one. Like, you could start with that."

His hands came to the back of my neck where his fingers laced through my hair. He pulled me into him for a slow kiss. "Fine," he said, when he pulled away, looking a little bit dazed. "You're beautiful." A featherlight kiss to my jaw. "You're funny." A brush of lips against my cheekbone. "And you're the best thing that ever happened to me." A gentle kiss.

Something in me stirred, and it felt as if someone were fiddling with my heart strings as if they were playing the harp. "Well, now you just sound soppy and totally lame," I said, but my cheeks hurt from smiling. "Do you watch a lot of romantic comedies?"

"Daria is my best friend," Jace pointed out. "So, yes."

I just bent down to kiss him again, to kiss that stupid little smile that I'd both hated and loved, but had always managed to draw from him. I loved making him smile. I wanted to make him smile forever. Jace laughed into the kiss, his arms winding around me to pull me closer and closer and closer, and my heart had never been so full.

His lips on mine were endlessly soft, and the sound of his gasp as I pressed open-mouthed kisses against the line of his throat made me feel as if I was burning all over again, heat flaring my gut. Kissing Jace Hartley always felt like I was burning or flying, and I welcomed it, basked in it. It felt a little bit like love and a little bit like hate. But as it turned out, hating Jace Hartley wasn't even half as good as loving him. But, as it turned out, he'd never even hated me. Not even for a second.

"Did you really love me?" I asked him softly. "All that time?"

"Forever," said Jace. "As long as I can remember. Elle, we were in kindergarten and I thought you hung the moon. You were funny even then, you know? Everyone wanted to be your friend, because you wanted to be friends with everyone."

"Well, except for you."

"Yeah, no, that part sucked."

"You shouldn't have peed in my sandbox," I sung, with a small giggle as Jace rolled his eyes.

Jace pushed me off him and rolled us over, so that he was looking down at me. "How many times do I have to insist that it was Ryan who peed in your sandbox?"

"How many times do I have to remind you that I don't believe you?"

He just laughed and gently brushed a strand of hair away from my face. "Did you not realise it when you came back to school and I had been so, so terrified for you that I hugged you?"

I winced. "Thought that was espionage."

"And when I kept finding reasons to hang out with you?"

"Uh, espionage."

"And when I kissed you?"

"Oh, well, for that I just thought you were a horny teenage boy," I said with a shrug. "With the added bonus of, uh, espionage."

It was true. Anything that Jace Hartley did, I would always assume the worst of intentions. Until Austin had forced me to be nice to him; challenged me to see beyond the petty squabbles and vicious taunts. To see beyond Jace's façade of hatred to the boy beneath; the one who had always loved me.

Jace grinned. "I could've asked you out, and you probably would've thought it was espionage."

"I am still at least 30% convinced that this declaration of love is part of some grand espionage scheme."

"That's because you're an idiot, and a little bit stupid," said Jace, and then he kissed me again before I could protest. "But I'm stupid in love with you."

Jace, standing in the kitchen with moonlight filtering through his dark hair; It wasn't a mistake. Knight in a park, telling Callie, not that one, he plays for the Lena Montez team. Daria, laughing at the thought of kissing Jace; I never could have. Hundreds of moments, hundreds of clues; I'd been blind to all of them.

I stared at him for a moment, and then blinked. "Wow, I really am an idiot."

"Yeah, I know."

"Because there is no way anyone would proclaim anything that embarrassing on the account of espionage," I continued, looking up at him with a lopsided grin. "Which means this is no trick, you've really been in love with me this whole time, and like, oh god. I'm totally fucking stupid for not noticing."

"It's okay," said Jace, kissing me gently. "Everyone has thought that about you for years."

Before I could argue with him—once again—he kissed me. I got the feeling I would never get tired of Jace Hartley's lips on mine. I also got the feeling I would never get tired of arguing with him. But since Jace loved me, and 90% of my personality was fighting with him, I didn't think he'd mind.

"Oh, thank god," said Knight.

Hartley and I extricated ourselves from one another with a sigh to face Knight, standing with a grin in the doorway. Of course, he was. He was looking characteristically gleeful. Jace rolled off me slightly, but his hand came to rest on my leg, and I could still feel his warmth beside me. I didn't want to ever stop feeling that warmth. Knight bounced giddily on the balls of his feet and clapped his hands together.

"Hi, Knight," I said. "Want to kindly fuck off?"

Knight didn't listen, instead moving to jump on the couch in the room, making himself comfortable and indicating he had no intention of going anywhere. Despite his role in my current situation with Jace, the crowbar uniting with his face was definitely still an option. One that became even more attractive when he said, "So, did our girl finally extricate her head from her asshole? Impressive surgery, doctor Hartley. I thought it was impossible to remove."

"It was hard," said Jace solemnly. I hated him too.

"As were you for Lena, for like, fifteen years." I definitely hated Knight more. Then he grinned and shook his head at me, laughing. "I can't believe you didn't know."

"It wasn't super obvious!"

Knight didn't seem impressed. "Elly Belly, I knew he was super into you from the first time I met him, and I was literally eavesdropping from under a table. That's how obvious it was."

Jace frowned, looking between me and Knight with obvious concern. "You were what? How many of our conversations have you listened to or walked in on."

"Most of them," said Knight dismissively, which was actually kind of true, before turning back to me. "He literally looks at you like you hung the moon."

Jace shifted uncomfortably. And to think I'd thought his presence today would mean he would bear witness to my embarrassment and his victory. I was totally the winner today. I mean, a secret love for your enemy? That was so embarrassing for him.

"And everyone at your school knows," Knight continued. "They also all think you want to bang him too. It's kind of everyone's favourite sordid love story. I have a weekly blog that I write about your relationship. Most of your year level follows it."

"You what?" I demanded.

"Well, why do you think I'm always eavesdropping?" Knight said impatiently. "Your fans want to know the gossip. The drama club is sponsoring me."

"You don't even go to our school!" I exclaimed.

Knight waved that comment off. He was a dead man, so I decided to let him enjoy his last few moments as a member of the living.

Jace looked pensive. "So, that's why everyone kept congratulating me at school. After Philip Island, I mean. I got a bunch of texts from our classmates saying they were super psyched to hear the news."

"Congratulating you?" I echoed.

"Well, yeah," said Knight. "Everyone loves Jace, and they're rooting for him to finally get the girl."

Jace looked over at me, and his smile reached his eyes. I smiled back at him, tentatively. "Well, you got her."

"Oh, barf," said Knight. "That's going to be my whole next blog post. Just, barf. You two are sickening. I feel like I need to shower now, I feel icky."

"How are you going to post on your blog when I put you back on the streets?" I said sweetly. "I hear the internet isn't quite so good out there."

"The drama club would make sure I can continue to operate," Knight shot back. "Besides, I wrote my last blog post when I was up in the tree. Had to make use of my mourning time to update my fans on the Lena and Jace situation. It's called multitasking."

"I hate him," I said, to nobody in particular.

Knight snorted. "Yeah, okay. I'm the one who booked you in for this head-out-of-asshole surgery, and you should thank me for that."

"McKenna was the real facilitator, actually," I said with a shrug. "I mean, she was the one who made me jealous enough to really go through with the conversation."

"You were jealous?" Jace asked.

"Oh, uh, nope," I said quickly. But Jace was already grinning. "Not at all. But it was still definitely more McKenna than Knight."

Knight looked outraged. "Don't give away my credit. I did this."

Jace looked at me, thoughtfully, the corner of his lips quirked up where Knight couldn't see. "Honestly, it was kind of Daria who was mostly responsible, when you really think about it. I mean, you were only inspired to be nice to me because you wanted to make her happy, and I feel like that's where this all started. So, in reality, credit should probably go to her."

Knight was opening and closing his mouth like a fish, aghast.

"No, actually, that was Austin who made me be nice to you. He blackmailed me," I told Jace. "I can't believe you never knew that, actually."

Jace raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really?"

Knight pointed at me. "And Austin only blackmailed you because of me. Credit returned. This whole romance happened because of me. In exchange, all I want is your firstborn child."

And for the hundredth time in our friendship, I threw a pillow at his face.

***

This is the second last chapter of the story. Thank you so much for joining me on this crazy journey, I'm so excited the share the end in a few hours.

xx