His blue gaze searches my face. "I might have done some research."

My heart slams against my chest. "For what?"

He shrugs. "Just in case you needed help."

"You did that for me?"

Jase's face turns hard. "I did that because I don't need a dead girl in my house. I've been accused of enough things in my life. Anyway, now that I see you don't need my help, I'll go to work."

Reeling from his change in attitude, I watch in silence as he walks away, tossing the inhaler on the bed.

"And Piper?" He stops at the door and pins me with an icy look.

"What?"

"Stay the hell out of that passageway, or I promise you won't like the consequences." Finally, he leaves the room while I keep staring, silent as a doll in a toy store.

Chapter 3.

Piper

Good girls are quiet.

Good girls don't borrow trouble.

My mother's admonishments ring in my head, keeping my mouth tightly closed.

The slam of the door makes me jump. I stifle a scream and press my hand to my chest.

Get a grip, Piper. Jase would never hurt you.

But he shot a man.

I take a shallow breath. He might have shot a man, but that man had started the fight and had been the one to bring the gun in the first place. At least, according to Rowan, that had been what happened seven years ago. But Rowan is as biased as I am, perhaps more so, since Jase is her big brother and the one who raised her until she was sixteen.

The fact also remains that he had gotten my inhaler to me in time. Dangerous men didn't care about their little sister's best friend's asthma. Dangerous men didn't do research on how to help an asthmatic, either.

However, dangerous men did threaten their little sister's best friend with consequences. Is it bad that I find his warning to be a complete turn-on? That I want to know what my punishment would be?

While my experience with men is very limited, I'd have to be completely nave not to realize Jase is attracted to me. I can see the lust blazing in his eyes when he looks at me, but that doesn't really mean anything. He's rather indiscriminate when it comes to dating. If he actually dates...though to be fair, he and Giselle were together for a long time. The entire time he was in prison, in fact-well, if you don't count the times she cheated on him, which was every chance she had.

She even cheated on him with a man my mother wants me to date. Mark Williams-the mayor's son-who tried to pick a fight with Jase at Jase's own homecoming party.

Mark is always nice to me, but then again, most people are. It's hard to be mean to someone who never rocks the boat, never voices an opinion...only nods and smiles. Most days, I feel like wallpaper-there for only decoration. There to look pretty and inoffensive.

Unlike Jase.

He's vibrant, from his golden hair, dark blue eyes, and multicolored tattoos. You can't help but notice him. I can't help but notice him. I'm drawn to him, to the vibrancy that surrounds him. The way he talks and moves. He's so animated. The opposite of wallpaper. He's the painting in the room. The piece that everyone comes to see and marvel over.

Maybe that screams puppy love to some, but to me, it doesn't matter that I fell in love with Jase Simmons at the age of fourteen. I was an overweight, shy teenager with a slight stutter and a bad case of asthma, and I wore thick-framed glasses, yet he never pretended not to see me, the way my father did. Never said unkind things like the boys I knew in high school, the way my mother did.

Jase always took the time to talk to me, asked me how things were going...gave me a special nickname. Quite simply, for the first time in my life, I felt special. Important.

When he went to prison, I didn't have that anymore, and the only person who came close to giving me that same feeling of importance was his sister, Rowan.

Don't misunderstand me, I love Rowan. Over the years, she became the sister I never had. When Jase and Seth went to prison, we became inseparable. In fact, I didn't go away to the private women's college in New Hampshire like Mother had planned. Instead, I stayed here and went to UNC Charlotte.

After becoming friends with Rowan, that was my second and last act of rebellion.

Until I moved out of my parents' home, that is. And now, I've gone from the frying pan and into the fire by moving in with Jase.

Be bold, I remind myself. Jase likes bold women. Women who know what they want and aren't afraid of going after it. Women who are the complete opposite of me...Ugh. I'm doomed to fail.

My phone rings. I move to the bed, searching my upended purse for it. In Jase's hurry to help me, he'd scattered my things everywhere. Finally, I find it halfway under the pillow and grab it.

Glancing at the screen, I frown. My mother is calling, for what I don't know. I haven't spoken to her or my father in months.

Actually, I do have somewhat of a clue. Before I moved out of my house, I had signed up for a dating site that catered to the rich and famous. Which brings me back to Mark Williams. According to my mother and the woman who owns the company, Leslie, Mark is my perfect match. Therefore, in their eyes, I should accept the inevitable and date him. Get engaged and then marry. Have two kids and a perfect house in The Oaks.

I'll transform from wallpaper into a trophy wife.

My stomach flips.

I let the phone ring again and again, until guilt squeezes at my heart and my thumb hovers over the answer button.

What if something happened and I never got the chance to talk to my parents again? What if they thought I hated them?

Be strong, I remind myself. If it were an emergency, a police car driven by a new recruit would be parked outside.

My parents, my mother especially, is a master manipulator. A character flaw that is good for fundraisers, charity functions, and making your only child do your every bidding.

I shake my head and ignore the call, slipping my phone inside my purse before grabbing my keys off the top of the dresser. Gazing at the banister that I want to slide down one day, I force myself to walk down the stairs and outside to my car. In less than an hour, I have an appointment with a financial aid counselor to go over my obligations for the upcoming semester.

The day of Rowan and Seth's surprise engagement party had been a win and a loss for me. A win because Jase had not only agreed to allow me to move in with him but had given me a job as well. A loss because later that afternoon I had received my tuition bill.

If I can't find a way to pay for classes, then I'll have to postpone my first year of graduate school. But if that's what I have to do in order to become independent from my parents, then that's what I'll do.

The irony of driving a car that they gave me as a twenty-first-birthday present doesn't escape my notice. But until they either ask or take it back, I'll keep driving it. I doubt my parents even notice the bills-their accountant pays everything for them.

Besides, a car is nothing in comparison to housing and tuition, or credit card payments. Yes, they had canceled those as well. Plus, image is everything. I can't be seen driving something other than this BMW without people asking questions. The only time my parents like questions is when they are the ones doing the asking.

My phone rings for the second time that day and I press the Bluetooth button on my steering wheel.

"Piper, it's me. Don't hang up," Rowan orders.

"Why would I hang up on you?" I ask, bewildered at her sharp tone. Normally, my best friend is the easiest-going person in the world.

"Because you haven't answered your phone all day."

"I've been busy moving."

"Are you sure that's all you've been doing?" she asks, her voice laced with accusation.

I purse my lips for a minute. "No, I've been doing your brother and he finally let me out of bed so he could go to work."

Silence greets me.

"Holy shit, Piper. You had me going for a minute," she says with a laugh.

"I'm so glad."

"Don't be that way. I was concerned for you."

"Despite what you think, I'm not your brother's type. He's not interested in me," I say.

"You don't actually believe that, do you?"

Only with Rowan could I ever be so bold to say, "He had the perfect opportunity to kiss me and didn't take it."

Rowan makes a strangled sound. "Girl, you could do so much better than Jase. Yeah, he's my brother and you know I love him, but the company he keeps-you can't want that for yourself."

"Are you trying to say that I'm not good enough for your brother?" I ask lightly, knowing full well she means the opposite.

"I'm saying you're not bad enough for him. Baby girl, while I fully support this newfound independence and badassery you've displayed for the past seven months, this will not end well. You're too soft and sweet for Jase."

"Maybe he needs soft and sweet," I counter.

"I actually agree with you, but I'm not the one you'd have to convince."

"Are you saying that I need to convince your brother of that?"

"Yes. No." She sighs. "I don't want you to get hurt and then never speak to me again. I don't want our friendship ruined over some stupid boy, even if he's my brother."

My heart flips a little at her admission. "I won't let that happen."

"Promise?"

"I promise...as long as you agree to help me convince Jase to take a chance on me."

"Sweetie, when it comes to you, Jase is halfway there. I don't think it would take much for him to fall the rest of the way. But that's easy...when we fall...we don't know how hard until we hit the ground."

Hope blooms in my chest even as I choose to ignore the bit about hitting the ground. "Then help me give him a little push. That's all I'm asking. If he doesn't go for me, I'll back off. Move out. Find another job. No big deal," I say. I'm lying. It's a very big deal. Maybe the biggest deal of my life at this point.

"Fine," she says. "Seth said Jase likes how girly you dress, but you cannot tell him I told you."

"He does?" My mind whirls even as I brake for a red light. "I thought he liked how Gis-"

"Fantasy. You're the fantasy, Piper, not his reality." She mutters something under her breath about not believing what she's getting ready to say. "Give him the fantasy. Give him what he's never had from a woman-kindness, sweetness, and love."

I wrinkle my nose. "You make me sound like a greeting card."

"Everyone loves greeting cards."

I wrinkle my nose. "And everyone throws them away after reading them, too."

"Piper Whitley Ross," she says in a low tone.

"Fine. Anything else?" Like should I flash him when he comes home tonight? Wait, will he come home tonight? Or worse, will he come home with a female friend?

I almost give voice to my silent questions, then think the better of it and keep my mouth shut. The light changes to green and I'm off again, merging onto the outer loop that will take me to the exit for the main campus.

"Nope, that's my advice-take it or leave it," she chirps. "Anyway, I have to go. Overhaul in thirty."

Rowan is part owner of a mechanic shop and can fix cars like nobody's business. I'm in awe of her, and not just because of her skills. She's so capable. So independent. I don't think she knows how much I admire her.

"Don't forget to moisturize after you get all that grease off," I remind her.

"I will, Mother."

"Ugh," I say with a grimace. "Don't call me that."

"Sorry. I was teasing."

"I know," I say softly.

With a quick glance into my rearview and side mirrors, I change lanes and exit off the loop, making sure to use my turn signal.

Once the daughter of a cop, always the daughter of a cop.

I make a right onto the main road of the campus. Taking a left, I enter the small parking lot by the financial services building.

"Talk to you later?" she asks.

"Yes, I'll text you later."

Ending our call, I concentrate on finding a place to park. Since school hasn't started and it's early afternoon, the place isn't too crowded. Once the semester begins, however, you can forget about finding a parking spot within a mile of here.