AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ace rears back, standing up. His eyes are narrowed, but his expression is clouded with something… indecision… regret, I don’t know, because all I can focus on is the pain coiled around my heart.
I sit up, pulling the sheet back around my naked body. “I guess Conner didn’t tell you yet, but I told James to keep his check. I never wanted his money.” Sadness coats my words. “If I go to college it’ll be on my terms and because I worked my ass off to get there.”
“Bullshit. You‘d be a fool not to take it.”
“Not if it costs me you,” I admit quietly. He doesn’t deserve the words, but I say them anyway. Because I’m tired of pretending. I’m tired of always holding in how I feel, and what I’ve been through.
“You were right about my mom’s ex-boyfriend,” I say around a sad smile. “He tried to touch me. It started off as harmless hugs, stroking my hair, telling me what a good girl I was. But then he’d corner me whenever Mom was out of the room. His hands would dig into my hip a little too hard and he’d press up against me, whispering in my ear how much he liked my outfit. How much he’d like to see what was underneath.”
Ace’s jaw clenches, anger radiating off him. But I don’t stop. I need to tell him this.
I need to finally tell someone this.
“One night, they came home drunk. Mom passed out on the couch, and I hid out in the bedroom to avoid him. It was too late by the time I realized he was in my room. I’ve never been so scared in my entire life. I can still remember his fingers slipping under my pajamas and stroking my skin.” Bile rushes up my throat, and I take a deep breath. “He was going to rape me, I saw it right there in his eyes. Thankfully, Mom woke up and started causing a fuss. It scared him enough to leave me alone. I started sleeping over at Bexley’s a lot after that.”
“That fucker tried to rape you?” Ace’s eyes are as dark as night, his fist curled at his sides.
I nod. “I closed off after that. The few friends I did have at school started backing off, and I shrank into the shadows. Bexley hit puberty and got hormones and started wanting things I couldn’t give him. And then you came along.” Bitterness clings to my words.
Clutching the sheet to my body, I stand so that I’m face to face with him. “You’re not wrong. Part of me did use you at the start, but not in the way you think.” My voice trembles. I want to know what he’s thinking. How he sees me now he knows the truth. “You didn’t give me time to get in my head about stuff, you just took it. It’s messed up, but I think, in a way, I needed that. I needed someone else to be in control.”
“Shit, Remi, that is fucking messed up. You make me sound like a woman beater.”
I flinch at the severity in his tone. I hate that he calls me Remi, as if the future is already decided between us. But it could be worse, he could already be long gone.
“That’s not what I mean.” I release a weary sigh. “I always knew I could say no to you and you wouldn’t push me. But I didn’t want to say no, and that’s because, whether you want to admit it or not, Ace, there is something real between us. I know you feel it.”
He has to. Because I’m not sure what I’ll do if he doesn’t.
A beat passes, the weight of my secret heavy above us. Ace is as white as a sheet, his body vibrating with rage. “You should have told me,” he grinds out.
“Would it have changed anything?”
“Shit, Remi, the things I did to you—“
“I didn’t tell you so you’d feel guilty, I told you because I want you to understand that this isn’t a game to me. It’s the most real thing I’ve felt in a long time.”
He searches my eyes for something, and for a split second, I think I’ve reached him. But when he takes a step back, his stone mask sliding into place, I know I’ve lost him.
“You were just a toy to me,” he says coldly. “A means to an end with a little fun in between.”
“I don’t believe you. You took me to your home, introduced me to your friends.”
“Who, Cruz and D? Nah.” He brushes a finger over his jaw, letting it linger on his bottom lip. “They’re not my real crew. My real crew would eat a pretty thing like you alive.”
“So that’s it then?” Disappointment rolls through me. “You’re going to throw away a shot at something real because you’re too chickenshit to prove people wrong?”
He takes a big step forward until he’s looming over me. “Begging looks good on you, Remi. Maybe I should rethink my—”
Crack.
The sting of palm against his face has adrenaline pumping through me. “Get out.”
“Is that it? You’re done? I’ve got to say I’m disappointed. I thought you had a little more fight left in you.”
“What’s the point in fighting for something you already lost?” I press my lips together, tipping my chin in defiance. I’m one step away from falling apart, but I refuse to give him the satisfaction. “You should go.”
“Isn’t that my line?” he taunts. My Ace is gone. I realize that now. This imposter is cruel and cold and callous. His words cut, but his cowardice cuts deeper.
