Chapter 14

I didn't  know what Ace and I were. I was still playing his fake girlfriend but now that I knew we both had some sort of "feelings" for each other, I didn't know where we stood. We hadn't kissed since the first time three days ago and neither of us had brought it up since our talk. 

It was now Friday, aka two days before most of Ace's family went back home. The goodbye barbeque was the next day but Ace planned on hanging out with just me tonight. 

At lunch, Raze talked about how he was going on a "semi-date" with a girl from his economics class that night and Loki rolled his eyes. "You've talked to her twice dude."

Ace and Raze frowned at him and Raze slapped his arm. "She's hot."

"That's no way to talk about your date Park," Ace told him, messing around.

Then it was Raze's turn to roll his eyes. "Ace, we get it bro, you're all romantic and shit. But not all of us are angels." I laughed too loud when he implied Ace was an angel and he gave me a warning, but playful look. 

"Well, I'm sorry that I talk about girls in a less demeaning way," he pouted, bottom lip sticking out and everything. 

I leaned forward on the table toward Ace's friends. "Oh yeah he's totally right. Just yesterday he walked up to me and asked, "'what's up hot stuff?"' I mimicked his deep voice.

"That's different!"

Raze grinned at his best friend. "You're a hypocrite Ace James Craige."

"Oh god, why did you have to go there with the middle name and everything?" Ace complained, placing his head on the table. He covered himself up with his arms until only parts of his brown hair showed through. 

Loki's face remained pretty expressionless but his fingers danced on the table. I figured by now that he hated me. I didn't know what I had done to piss him off so badly but Ace refused to see it. 

Once the laughter calmed down from Raze I asked Loki, "Ace and I are hanging out tonight, do you want to come with us?"

I told myself I was doing the right thing by trying to be friends with Ace's best friends; now that I knew he'd stick around after this weekend was over. But Loki's eyes only widened slightly.

I looked over at Ace and he gave me an encouraging smile, urging me to go on. "We don't know what we're doing yet. We might just go bowling or something and get ice cream afterward. Unless you don't like ice cream; because if not we can totally-"

But before I could say anything else, Loki stood from the table and walked out of the cafeteria. This time when I looked over at Ace, he looked just as confused as I was. Raze was silent and started taking massive bites out of his pizza.

I was disappointed that no matter what I did, I couldn't get anything right with Loki. I was still looking at Ace but his frown turned back into his half smile and he threw an arm around my shoulders. And I relaxed a bit. 

After lunch, I texted Kimmy about what had happened. She had been back at school since Wednesday but she was making up a math quiz during lunch. 

She told me not to worry about it too much. She figured that he was just shy and awkward around new people and just needed time to get to know me. But I seriously doubted a 17 year old boy who had probably been to juvie was just shy.

I sighed and let the whole thing with Loki go, knowing there was nothing I could do about it. I started to put my phone away but I felt it vibrate in my hands, signaling a text. It was from Ace.

Sorry about Loki. I don't know why he's being such a dick to you. I'll beat him up if I have to:p

I laughed quietly at the text, knowing he was kidding but happy he had known it was bothering me.

No need. I can do that myself if I have to:)

And then a few seconds later, he sent, 

Cute.

We texted back and forth for a few minutes until my teacher started her lesson plan for the day. 

Ace ended up deciding that we would go hang out with Raze and his date at the bowling alley. Loki had been right when he said Raze had barely spoken to the girl. He didn't even really want to be all alone with her yet. He was like a child.

Ace and I arrived first, renting the lane and our shoes. I was wearing a light blue pair of skinny jean and a dark blue sweater. I had finally taken off my wrist brace and it felt better now. It wasn't 100% there yet but I could carry most things without any pain. I hoped a bowling ball wasn't the exception.

Ace wore dark blue jeans that were rolled up slightly at the bottom and a black button up shirt, the top two buttons undone. He was sure a sight to be seen. The girl who rented our shoes to us, kept staring too, not that I blamed her.

The boy was hot.

Raze arrived with the girl almost ten minutes later. He rushed through the door, pulling her alongside him until he found us, already putting our names into the computer system. His hair was all messed up, sticking up every which way. And the girl beside him was flushed.

"Were you guys making out or something?" Ace asked, his amusement clearly on display.

Ah, so that's why they both look very out of breath.

Raze glared at my date and the girl only blushed harder. She was cute; with her red tinted hair and freckles. She was pretty tall compared to me but still much shorter than Raze. Her skin was very pale, making her blush much more apparent. 

Raze mumbled in response to Ace but didn't say anything else. "Daniela, meet my best friend Ace and his girlfriend, Maddie."

For a second I almost asked who Maddie was but then I remembered it was me. I had definitely gotten too used to Ace calling me Mad. "Nice to meet you," I smiled at her, which she returned.

"You too," she turned her gaze onto Ace and her smile drooped just a little. He looked slightly uncomfortable himself, which confused me. But he still nodded to her as a hello.

If Raze noticed their weird behavior, he didn't say anything. He just pulled her over to rent their shoes and she followed him, obviously. "What's up with you?" I asked Ace, curious.

He scoffed. "What makes you think something's wrong?" He asked me, his voice a higher pitch than usual.

"Uh, I don't know. You just looked majorly uncomfortable when Raze introduced you to Daniela," I shrugged, not really understanding why he was acting so odd.

He shook his head, "nothing, I'm just nervous for Raze. I think he really likes her."

But Raze has barely even spoken to her.

Raze ended up beating all of us twice; which made Ace very grumpy. He was pretty terrible at bowling, even though he claimed his family went often. Ace kept whispering to me that he was losing on purpose, to make Raze look better for his date but I didn't believe him. Ace used every chance he got to show off.

After bowling, we headed down the street a little to get some ice cream. The ice cream there didn't compare to Ida's but ice cream was ice cream after all. Ace tried to sit next to me but I moved out of his way and sat next to Daniela. 

She smiled shyly and looked over at Raze, who just took that as his cue to sit next to his best friend instead. 

"What flavor did you get?" I asked her.

"Double chocolate fudge," she answered. She looked over at my ice cream. "What about you?"

I smiled and took another bite. "Cotton candy; it's my favorite." I set down my spoon and turned my body to angle toward Daniela. "Are you a senior too?"

"Yeah, I'm new this year."

That explains why I hadn't seen her much before. I looked out of the corner of my eye and saw Ace reaching over to my ice cream. Before I could stop him, he had my spoon in his mouth, taking a huge bite of my ice cream. "Hey! Get your own!"

"Sharing is caring baby," he teased, the spoon still in his mouth. But I just glared at him. He smiled sheepishly, handing me back my spoon. "Okay, I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you."

I waited.

"You can have two bites of mine," he was trying to charm me but it wasn't working. You don't mess with a girl's ice cream. 

I crossed my arms over my chest. "I don't want your ice cream. I wanted mine." He smirked at me. "And besides, I don't want your nasty boy cooties."

I could see Raze and Daniela watching us with amusement. Raze was trying not to laugh at our childish banter and his date was smiling sadly. I wasn't sure why she was doing that. 

"Hate to break it to you sweetheart, but you already have my cooties." He paused, letting me digest his words. "All over that pretty mouth of yours."

I blushed profusely, uncomfortable with the fact that now Ace's best friend and possible future girlfriend knew that I had been kissed by Ace Craige. Of course, none of this was news to Raze since we had apparently been dating for a few weeks now. Little did he know.

I leaned forward, across the table between us, and smacked him a few times on the shoulder and his chest; whatever I could reach. He chuckled at me and held my hand on the table when I had sat back down. 

At this point, Raze and Daniela were no longer paying any attention to us. They were in the middle of a conversation about, horses? Ace and I had obviously missed a lot. I kept glaring at Ace while biting into my cotton candy heaven, making him smirk.

After we had all finished our ice cream, we walked around a little, passing by the stores. Ace and I both witnessed Raze attempt to hold Daniela's hand but only to get rejected. She stuffed her hands in her pockets and looked around awkwardly. 

Neither of us were sure if it was a sign of her not feeling anything for Raze or if she was just embarrassed. My guess was the latter. And just to make Raze feel even worse about the situation, Ace pulled me until we were in front of them and then made a big gesture about holding my hand.

I wanted to yank it out of his grip, feeling bad for Raze, but I liked the way his hand felt in mine. So I kept it there, squeezing his fingers around my own.

After Raze decided to call it a night and take Daniela home, Ace and I were in his car. Raze's date and I had exchanged numbers, after a bit of convincing on my end. I didn't get it. I wasn't really that bad. Or was I?

The radio played, as always; and we sat, bobbing our heads, in comfortable silence. I had had a really fun night but I was slightly nervous to go home. I didn't want to know what Harry would say about me being out so late again.

I was so caught up in my thoughts, I didn't notice how close to my apartment we were until Ace's melodic voice brought me back. "So, you were right."

"Aren't I always?" I smiled. I didn't know what he was referring to.

His lips lifted slightly and he glanced at me quickly. "Tonight, you said I was acting weird."

I nodded, "yeah, you were acting a little off."

"I slept with Daniela."

I blinked.

"Like in past tense. I've slept with Daniela."

I said nothing.

"Mad?"

What the shit?

"Say something please?" He begged.

I let out a long breath. "Whoa."

Ace laughed nervously. "You okay sweetheart?"

"Way to just put it all out there," I admitted, my eyes still blown wide. I could see Ace's tensed hands loosen their grip on the steering wheel. 

He coughed in response. "Sorry; I should have eased you into that."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

I played with the hem of my sweater. "Why did you sleep with her?"

"That's what I did Mad," he whispered.

I sighed, "can you elaborate?"

"I slept with girls. Come on, you knew that. Everyone knew that."

He was right but over the last few weeks it was almost like I had forgotten that side of Ace Craige. "But Daniela doesn't seem like the type of girl who just sleeps with a guy for fun." I had already categorized her as someone like me; shy around new people and reserved when it came to things like sex.

"And she isn't like that. At least I don't think so. It was over a month ago. I don't know; I took her out on a date. She probably thought I meant it, her being new and all. But I only had one thing on my mind. I'm not sure why she let me kiss her that night. I'm not sure why she let me do other things either. But she did," Ace finished.

I had a feeling that Ace could be pretty damn convincing when he wanted something.

"I didn't talk to her after that. I left right afterward; I never stay. I haven't even seen her around campus since then. I didn't expect Raze to be into her and take her out."

I clenched my jaw. "Raze isn't trying to do the same thing you did, right?"

"Nah. Raze acts like he good with the ladies but he's a softie," he laughed a little.

"Hey! You are too Ace Craige Underneath your I-don't-give-a-fuck attitude, you have a good heart," I told him, looking up and smiling.

He smirked and pulled into the driveway. "Don't go around telling people that sweetheart. You'll ruin my reputation."

"Oh whatever," I teased him and leaned forward to kiss him on his cheek.

He seemed stunned by the small movement and he awarded me with a genuine smile and leaned back in his seat. "Do you want me to walk you up?"

"No, it's okay," I told him, thinking of what Harry might do to him if he walked me up to the door.

He ran his fingertips over my cheek. "Alright. I'll come pick you up tomorrow, yeah?"

I nodded, "see you then. Text me when you get home so I know you're safe."

"And you say I'm the softie."

I rolled my eyes, kissed his cheek again before I thought anything of it and bounded up the stairs to the apartment.

Abuse warning.

Harry was waiting there. He wasn't drunk and he wasn't watching TV. He just stood there, right in front of the entryway when I walked in. The smile that had been placed there by Ace was torn away by the terrifying feeling Harry put in my stomach.

"This is the last straw Madison Grey. I've told you to stay away from that boy and yet, you don't listen to me. You never listen to me. I am your father and I deserve some fucking respect," he told me, his voice clear of any slurring.

But I just ignored him, hoping to walk passed him to head to my room for the rest of the night. But Harry grabbed ahold of my sweater and yanked me back. "I'm going to sleep," I told him in a small but firm voice.

"You can sleep when I'm done with you."

I did not like the way his words made me feel. They created a slimy feeling in my gut and my entire body cringed. So I pulled myself away from his grip and started to make my way down the hall, a little faster this time.

But Harry wasn't drunk. He had no problem going after me and using his full strength to push me to the ground. I yelped and landed on my back, all sprawled out weird. He stood above me with a determined look in his eyes and he crouched to be level with me. 

He kneeled on the carpet and pulled my body up until I was sitting instead of lying on the floor awkwardly. The fact that he didn't reek of alcohol made him even scarier than he was when he was drunk.

Now, his breath smelled of mint gum instead of beer but it still made me feel sick. He leaned forward and sneered in my face. "Are you going to listen to me now Maddie?"

He wasn't drunk so I knew he wouldn't make the mistake of hurting me. He wouldn't have an excuse to why he had done it. "Ace makes me happy Harry. I can't just stop seeing him."

He slapped me across the cheek. "You little bitch. I give you everything Maddie." He gestured around the dirty, almost empty apartment. As if it was something grand to show off. "And you still disrespect me."

He slapped me again and my cheek burned with a stinging pain. I closed my eyes to stop the tears that were forming from the pain. "Stop," I pleaded.

"This is for not doing what I asked of you," he whispered and then, slapped me again, creating a bruise I'd bet. "And that was for calling me Harry."

He stood up and walked over to his bedroom and went in, without another word. I sat there, wordlessly for minutes or hours. He had just hit me enough times for me to almost lose count. I couldn't recall a time he had ever done that before. 

The doorbell rang and I did nothing. It rang again and then I heard knocks. I waited for Harry to come out, but he didn't. I still sat on the floor, a hand now covering my cheek. 

When the doorbell kept ringing, Harry finally came out from his room and he glared at me. " useless, I swear." And then he answered the door.

And Ace was standing there with a scared expression.