Chapter 17

I was making small talk with some of Ace's older cousins when I saw Anna make her way over to me. She was smiling, but it seemed a bit forced. I then remembered that Ace had probably told her and Austin everything.

She didn't make a move to pull me aside; instead, she merely joined the conversation. We were talking about Ace's and my "first date." I had thought it would have been difficult to come up with something on the spot but instead, I just ended up changing around the first time he took me to Ida's to get ice cream.

"How long have you two been going out?" Ace's older cousin, Grace, asked me.

For a second, I hadn't  known what to say. We hadn't really discussed the supposed time frame of our relationship before. I went with the safest answer. "A few weeks I think," I muttered the last part to myself.

"You think?" Anna laughed.

I flushed a little, "I'm not quite sure when it became official," I saved. Luckily, it seemed to work because she smiled at me. 

"It's amazing; seeing him care so much about someone besides the family or himself," her eyes seemed to glaze over with happiness. 

I squinted in confusion. Was she talking about me? If so, Ace must have been a damn good actor. But it didn't stop me from telling her, "I care about him a lot too."

She gives me another smile and looks over to Grace. "Do you mind if I steal Mad for a second?"

Grace shakes her head and gives me a small wave. Uh-oh. I already knew what this conversation would be about and I definitely was not ready for it. 

"We can go up to Ace's room. No one can hear us up there." I said nothing as she led me up to her son's room. I sat on his bed the moment I made it into the room. "Alright honey, first of all, are you okay? Hurting at all?"

I nodded. "Just a little bit. I have some bruises on my face but Katie covered them with concealer."

"Has your father always been like this?" Anna got right into it. 

I took a deep breath. "Not really. He's never hit me until last night. That's why I was so shocked. He started drinking heavily when I was 14 because my mom left."

She nodded. "Are in contact with her?" 

I shook my head, no, unless once a year counted. "I see. Was that your choice or hers?"

"She disconnected her phone number and she isn't in the phone book. I don't know where she ran off to," I told her sadly. She called from different numbers every year.

Anna had sat down on the bed next to me and began rubbing circles on my back reassuringly. "So your father, he used to be normal?"

"He was up until I was 11. He lost his job and started acting different. He was mean to everyone around him, not just my mom and me," I shivered. "But I never thought-" I couldn't finish my sentence. A weird emotion gripped my throat. 

Anna continued to comfort me. "Alright. Well, I don't want you going back there for awhile Mad. You're welcome to stay as long as you need."

"Thank you Anna. I hate relying on people like this though. I wish I didn't have to put this on you and your family," I put my head down, looking at my hands. 

She shook her head. "You aren't putting anything on us. Austin and I want to do this for you. Even if you weren't Ace's girlfriend, we'd still want to help."

I felt my eyes prickle a little, unbelieving anyone could be so kind to me. "What if he tries to find me?"

"Don't you worry about it honey. We're gonna figure everything out. Austin's sister is a lawyer, you know."

I looked back up at her. "What are you gonna do to him?" I wasn't asking because I was scared for him; I asked because I wanted them to do their worst. 

"Well, you're going to be 18 in a few months right?" She prompted. 

I nodded, "in January."

"Until then, we'll figure out, living wise. We'll try to take him to court; file a case. We've already called child protective services and their going to be sending someone out to come see you sometime soon. They'll help us figure out the next step," Anna explained as if it was common sense. No one had ever cared for me like this. 

Samantha had been a pretty good mother, just as Harry had been an okay dad. There had been no need for her motherly instincts to kick in when she was living with us because Harry wasn't drinking much.

"Last night, when Harry hit me, he wasn't drunk, at all." I didn't know why I was telling her this. It's not like it was really relevant. I just hadn't had the time to explain it to anyone really. I hadn't even told Ace. "He's always drunk when he threatens me. But I noticed it as soon as I walked in. He wasn't stumbling when he walked, his voice didn't slur and his breath didn't smell like alcohol."

She sighed sadly. "Make sure you tell that child protective services that, okay? That might help your case even more."

"Really?" I asked, my eyes going wide. She nodded. And then, for some reason, I started to cry. I wasn't entirely sure why. I was upset, of course, because of yesterday, but I was also happy. There were finally people who knew about Harry and his terrible ways. And they wanted to help me. 

Anna pulled me into a hug and continued to rub my back as she held me. I sobbed into her blouse and placed my fingers over her shoulder blades. I couldn't stop crying and I didn't even know why. 

It was a few minutes later when the bedroom door creaked open. I heard footsteps run over to the bed and gently pull me from Anna's grasp. My eyes were closed but I knew it was Ace. Then his arms were around me and I sobbed into his chest. My fingers curled into the front of his tee-shirt, bunching the fabric. 

He didn't say anything as he held me; and he didn't know, but that was exactly what I needed. I just wanted him to sit there and let me cry until I couldn't anymore. Anna didn't leave either. She just sat next to us, rubbing my arm softly. 

My tears began to dissipate and my cries hushed. I started sniffling against the material of Ace's shirt and wiped my eyes with my hand. I didn't want to look up at him because I was embarrassed that I had just cried so hard in front of him and his mom. It wasn't that I hadn't cried in front of him before, because I had. It was more because I didn't know why I was doing it in the first place and his mother had been the one to comfort me first. 

His mother, who thought we were dating. She thought she had been comforting the girl her son was with. But that was all a lie; we weren't together. She had been comforting a lie. 

I looked down at my hands, refusing to look up. But the back of Ace's hand pushed my chin up, making me look up to him. "It's okay to cry Mad. You're allowed to be sad. Please don't hold back from me."

I sniffled again, giving him a flicker of a smile but it didn't reach my eyes. He moved aside a strand of hair with his thumb and brought his head closer, giving me a kiss on the forehead. I leaned into the small kiss and closed my eyes, savoring in the moment that wouldn't last as long as I wanted it to.

Eventually, I pulled away, hoping I didn't seem too needy and emotional. Anna went back downstairs after one last hug and left Ace and me alone. I needed a few minutes to collect myself and thoughts before going downstairs to make conversation with my fake boyfriend's family.

Ace sat with me as I calmed my breath and wiped my tears. Thankfully, I hadn't been wearing any makeup, minus the concealer to cover the bruises. Katie had left the tube of it up here just in case I needed to re-apply. So Ace helped me apply it to the places needed and I blended it out with my fingers.

Katie had also left some powder up here to set the oily concealer so I applied it with the brush next to it and was ready. My under eyes had been puffy from crying so I had put concealer there too.

Back downstairs, after I had pulled my shit together, we sat around the bonfire, a usual occurrence with Ace's family. The night always seemed to end around the fire with a guitar and music. 

Austin sat in the chair next to the couch Ace was sitting on, said guitar in his lap. I had yet to sit down because I had gotten myself of plate of food to eat before sitting with everyone since I had missed dinner. Ace motioned for me to sit next to him and I complied. 

He tucked me against his side, wrapping a warm arm around my body. I snuggled into his chest and resting my folded knees on his thigh. Ace had given me one of his hoodies to wear even though I had packed jackets of my own. I was totally okay with it, seeing as it was warm and smelled just like him.

His whole family began to sing quietly and harmonically to Austin's soft strumming. I could feel Ace's chest vibrate from his singing and it was surprisingly comforting. His voice was still beautiful; I could listen to him sing for the rest of my life and never get bored of the rasp in his voice. 

The night ended too quick for my liking and soon we were hugging everybody goodbye. Ace genuinely seemed upset about most of his family leaving already and he hugged each and everyone of them tight. 

They all said sweet things to me about how adorable Ace and I were together and how much they enjoyed my company the last two weeks. It almost felt as if my own family was leaving. And that sucked. They had all been so kind to me and I wished one day I would get to spend time with them all again.