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I dig my cell phone out of my purse and call him. It rings out, so I text instead.
Remi: We need to talk about this, please.
I stand there, waiting for his reply. Desperate for a sign he’s okay. He’d been so angry when the check slid out of my birthday card. Betrayal. Resentment. Hatred. It all swirled in his eyes, radiated from him, but I saw through it. I saw the young boy trying to be a man in a world that only ever taught him disappointment.
A world that had repeatedly told him he wasn’t good enough.
Remi: I’ll be here waiting, when you’re ready.
I hit send and inhale a deep breath. Hopefully, Ace will realize that it’s not our differences that define us but how we feel and love and live.
Ace says he doesn’t care about anything, but I know he does.
He cares too much.
Ace didn’t come back. He didn’t call. He didn’t text. It’s like he’s disappeared off the face of the Earth. But Conner didn’t need to tell me where his brother had gone off too. I knew there was only one place Ace would escape to when things got too hard.
The Heights.
Part of me wants to go after him, to borrow Mom’s car and go down there and demand he talk to me, but I don’t. Because I realized something else after the shitshow that was my birthday dinner last night.
I can’t be the only one fighting for us.
“Hey, almost birthday girl.” Hadley sits down and nudges my shoulder. “Why the frown?”
“Don’t ask.”
“Wouldn’t happen to do with a certain brooding bad boy causing a scene at The Blue Bay last night, would it?”
“News sure travels fast.”
“I heard Mr Triskin telling Mrs Gomez.”
“Triskin was there? Great, that’s just—“
“Relax.” She chuckles. “Who gives a shit what Triskin or anyone else thinks? I’m more worried if you’re okay.”
“He’s gone, Hads.” Sadness coils around my heart.
“What do you mean, gone?”
“He didn’t return to his uncle’s. He isn’t in school today. He won’t answer my calls or reply to my messages.”
“That’s rough.”
I nod around a weak smile. “Some birthday, huh?”
“He’ll come back. I saw the two of you in the hall the other day. He’s just as smitten as you.”
“And if he doesn’t?” I want to believe Ace will be back once he’s cooled off, but part of me worries things will be different now.
“You should have seen him, Hads. He was so angry. I could kill James for doing that.”
“What did he do?”
“He bought me a car. A freakin’ car. And then as if that wasn’t enough, he gave me a check for college.”
“Wow, okay, that’s huge.”
