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“Ace?” I asked. “What is it?”
He looked back at me and snarled. “Your father is here. You should get dressed.”
Ace left me to dress myself while he went to deal with my father, whom he’d said was at his front door.
I almost didn’t believe him—no one has such incredible hearing—but then I heard my dad practically explode into the house, screaming my name.
Of course my dad had come looking for me. I never came home after school the previous day and, after all the commotion, I had forgotten to text him and my mom to let them know where I was.
“Don’t give me that look,” I heard my dad yell at Ace from downstairs while I rushed to pull my dress over my head.
“My daughter goes missing, and you expect me to just sit back and wait for her to come home after I know she’s been found? Not happening. I gave you the night and most of the morning.
“Her mother and I have been worried sick. I would like to see Dorothy now.”
Ace’s response was calm, but his voice was so deep, it resonated through the floorboards anyway. “You don’t get to make demands of me.”
I rolled my eyes. “Ace, don’t be such a butthole!” I called out.
It’s time to face the music.
I stopped at the top of the stairs. “I’m up here, Dad.”
Both men whirled around to look at me, and I quickly made my way down the steps.
My dad’s hands immediately fell on my shoulders, his eyes searching my body for signs of damage. “Oh, thank god. We were so worried. Are you okay? Are you hurt
—?”
His gaze zeroed in on a very specific spot on my neck. “What is that?”
My hand flew up to cover where Ace had bitten. It was still bruised from his blunt teeth and on full display due to my spaghetti-strap dress.
“Oh, it’s nothing—”
The next thing I knew, my dad was across the room, pinning Ace against the wall with an arm at his throat.
“You forced my daughter to submit to you against her fucking will?” he roared.
“Dad!” I screamed. I raced over and grabbed my father’s arm, trying to pull him away. “What are you doing? Let him go!”
Ace was surprisingly calm during the exchange, although there was a dark glint in his eyes. “I suggest you release me before this gets out of hand. You’re scaring Doe, and I will not allow that.”
“Oh, yeah?” my dad challenged. “Well, I won’t allow you to take advantage of my daughter. I don’t care who the fuck you are.”
“He wasn’t taking advantage—” I tried to intervene.
“Doe,” Ace said, his voice deadly calm. My dad’s arm was still at his throat, but Ace made no moves to remove it. “Why don’t you go upstairs to my room while your father and I talk. Lock the door.”
My jaw dropped. “You can’t just dismiss me like I’m your servant! Especially when all of this is about me! I’m not going anywhere.”
“I’m not trying to dismiss you—” Ace cut himself short with a frustrated sigh. “Fine.
Stay.”
He looked back at my dad.
“The only reason I’m allowing this blatant display of disrespect, in front of my mate, no less”—his jaw hardened as he glanced at my neck—“is because I am just as disgusted with my behavior as you are.
“I lost control. I hurt Doe. It should have never happened. I made sure she knew how sorry I was when she woke up this morning, and I’ll continue apologizing for it for the rest of my life.”
That made my dad pause. His grip loosened a bit.
“You’re scaring Doe,” Ace continued, speaking slowly, calmly. “Release me.”
My dad finally removed his arm from Ace’s neck. My lungs filled back up with air.
“Are you okay?” my father asked me.
I nodded.
“He apologized?”
I thought back to this morning when Ace begged for my forgiveness, nearly looking sick with regret. “He apologized.”
My father huffed and turned to glare at Ace once more. I’d never seen him look so dangerous.
“This is your one slipup. You do anything like that to her again and you’re done. I’ll make sure you never come near my daughter ever again. Understood?”
Ace’s cheek flexed. Something dark licked at the edges of his gaze. My father was playing a risky game by threatening to keep me from him. There wasn’t much else a person could say to make Ace angrier.
Somehow, though, Ace managed to keep his cool. Slowly, he nodded. “Understood.”
My father’s attention swung back to me. “Come on, Dorothy. I’m taking you home.”
Without waiting for me to respond, he turned and marched out the door.
I watched him go. I couldn’t make my feet follow him. “What the hell just happened?” I whispered to no one in particular.
“Come here,” Ace murmured. He closed the distance between us and pulled me to him.
I melted into his embrace like butter in a pan. “Are you all right?” I skimmed my fingers over the red marks on his neck. “I-I don’t understand why my dad did that.”
He put his hand over mine and kissed my palm. “I’m fine. He had every right to react that way. I shouldn’t have hurt you. I’m sorry if his response scared you though.”
“But—”
Ace pressed his lips to mine, effectively silencing me. I wasn’t even angry.
Wow.
We could do this whenever we wanted now.
Someone cleared their throat behind us. I squeaked and detached myself from Ace only to find that my father had returned and was glaring at us from his spot in the doorway.
“So, the two of you…?” he asked, looking between Ace and me.
I nodded as Ace tightened his hold on me.
“Well, isn’t that just perfect?” His voice was jagged. “Doe, we’re leaving.” He gestured for me to come to him.
“Go ahead,” Ace told me, kissing my forehead once before gently pushing me toward my father. “I’ll stop by your house a little later.”
A strange growling noise came out of my father’s mouth.
Ace met my father’s stare with a glare of his own. “I dare you to try to keep me from her.”
The news that Ace and I were finally together spread like wildfire.