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“About me?”
“Always.”
“Even when you hated me?”
I tip my head to meet his eyes. “Especially when I hated you. When I woke up in the hospital, the first person I wanted was you. But I knew what you’d done. I knew you’d hurt me. I tried not to care... I tried so fucking hard...”
He cups my face in his hands, his eyes brimming with guilt. “Never again, Princess, I promise.”
“I know.”
“I came to see you... I’d bribe the nurses to let me into your room. There was this one—“
“Delores,” I say around a smile.
“How did you know?”
“Oh, she’s a fully-fledged member of the Ace Jagger fan club.”
“Is that so?”
“We still need to figure out how the tape got out. It’s the only way anyone will understand this.”
His eyes darken. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means, I don’t care what people think, but my mom, James, even my dad, they’re not going to take it easy o
n you, unless—”
“I fix my mess.”
I nod. “I believe you. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t. But someone set you up, Ace. Someone wanted to humiliate me at my party and destroy our relationship.”
He goes eerily quiet, as if he’s replaying that night over in his head. After a beat, he lets out a frustrated breath. “You don’t think I haven’t racked my brain for an answer?” Shame clings to every word. “There was no way for anyone to even know about the camera let alone... fuck.”
“Ace, what is it?” Dread pools in my stomach.
“After we...” He grinds his teeth. “And I left, I thought I heard something outside the pool house, but I was too pissed to stick around.”
“You think someone was... spying on us?”
“It would make sense. If they heard everything go down...”
“Michaela.” The word falls from my mouth before I can even consider the consequences.
“Your sister?”
“Stepsister,” I grit out. “I saw her the day of my party. She said some things.”
“What things?”
I press my lips together, unsure whether to tell him. Everything from that day is still hazy, but I can still remember her cruel smile as she looked over me in La Dolce Vita.
“She said you’d told her we were done. Said she’d helped to comfort you.”
“What the fuck?” Ace rears back, startling the server as she brings our food.
“Is everything okay?” Her concerned gaze flicks to mine, and I nod. I know what people see when they look at us. The big bad tattooed guy with the prep school princess. And I suppose they’re not all wrong. But they don’t know Ace like I do.
