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Ace did not look good. His clothes were all wrinkly, and his hair was messy from running his hand through it nonstop.
He pushed himself off his car to stand in front of them. “Thank you.” Ace took the plate of tinfoil-wrapped food from my mom. His smile was kind but tense. “That’s very kind of you.”
He sounded tired. He looked tired. It made my chest tight.
Thomas grabbed his hand and tugged on it, using all his body weight to try to pull him toward the house. “Why don’t you come inside? Come and eat breakfast with us.”
Ace neither pulled his hand from Thomas’s grip nor let him move him. “I wish I could, but I can’t.”
Thomas huffed and released his hold. “Why not?”
Ace ran both his hands through his hair, his arm muscles taut. “Because I did something pretty awful to your sister. I hurt her. And now I need to keep my distance and give her time to heal.”
Thomas glanced at Ace’s car. “If you need to keep your distance, why are you here?”
An amazing question, Thomas. ?I was wondering the same thing. I pressed closer to the door to hear Ace’s response.
“Just in case she needs me,” Ace explained to him in a gentle tone. “So she knows she can come to me if she needs it.”
“She said you broke up and that you’re dumb for sitting out here.”
Ace’s head snapped up so fast, I was surprised his neck didn’t break. Then his eyes narrowed on the crack of the doorway I was staring through.
“Did she now?” he asked. His tone took on a dangerous edge.
I gasped and hid behind the door. There was no way he saw me, right?
“But you can’t actually break up, right?” Thomas continued, sounding worried.
I held my breath, not daring to look again.
“Doe and I will always have a connection, yes.” Even with the door between us, I could still hear Ace’s deep voice. “I will always love her. That will never change, no matter what happens between us.”
“But—”
“We should get going,” my mom said before Thomas could ask another of his incessant questions. “You’re going to be late for school if we don’t head out soon.”
As slowly and carefully as I could, I peeked again.
My mom looked down at the plate of food in Ace’s hands. “Dorothy had the entire morning planned out for you, by the way. Too bad you’re not going to get to see it.
Happy birthday, Ace.”
Despite my brother’s complaints, my mom dragged him and Wes back to the house without saying another word to Ace.
And he watched them go.
***
It was nearly time to leave for school, and Ace was still standing at the edge of my lawn.
And I was still peering at him through the crack in my front door.
He had gone back to his familiar position: leaning on his car, his arms crossed over his chest, and staring up at my bedroom window.
I wondered if he had a kink in his neck from the uncomfortable angle.
Although I didn’t necessarily want to, I knew I wouldn’t be able to think of anything else today if I didn’t go deal with him.
Better to do this now instead of continuing to avoid him and risk him confronting me in front of everyone at school.
So, after taking a deep breath, I walked outside. He straightened when he saw me coming and started looking me over, no doubt searching for signs of damage from my encounter with his father.
I was wearing his favorite dress of mine: the same pink one I had worn the day I admitted my feelings for him.
I wanted him to see what he was missing out on, what he had given up by being such an asshole.
And his reaction was exactly as I’d hoped it would be. His jaw tightened, his nostrils flared, and he flexed his hands at his sides.
I stopped a couple of feet away from him and tried not to pay too close attention to the large bags under his eyes. “Here. This is for you.” I shoved the large bag of presents at him.
After a moment’s hesitation, he took it from me.
“It’s eighteen presents for your eighteenth birthday. I was planning on spreading them out and giving them to you throughout the day but, um, yeah.”
I kept my gaze down, needing to look anywhere other than into his heartbroken eyes. “My mom is going to drive me to school so you can go. Happy birthday.”
I turned and started walking back to my house. My knees were shaking so hard, it was a miracle I didn’t trip and fall.
“Doe, wait,” Ace called after me. “Please.”
It was the desperation in the please that made me pause. I turned to look at him.
Ace took a step forward. “I need you to know how sorry I am about everything that happened yesterday. I hate, hate myself for what I did to you. Can we please talk?”
“No, I don’t think so. I asked for space, remember? I only came out here to give you your presents.”
“Please, Doe.” He took another step toward me. “I need to make sure you’re okay. I need to make sure that my…father”—his lip curled with disgust as he spoke the word—“didn’t hurt you.”
“I’m fine.” I eyed how he was attempting to inch closer to me, thinking I wouldn’t notice. I took two steps back. Even that little space between us made my heart scream in agony. “No thanks to you.”
That comment got to him. His face fell, and he closed his eyes for a moment, taking in a deep breath.
“Just tell me how your shoulder is. Are you in pain?” His eyes slid down to take in the way I was holding my shoulder.
The truth was, I was in pain. Any sort of movement felt like a knife was being drilled into my muscle, and there was a huge bruise on my back.
I didn’t think it was serious, but it was definitely going to be a while before it felt normal again.
“It hurts, Ace,” I replied stiffly. “But what else would you expect when two men twice your size slam you into a wall?”
I started walking back to my house, but Ace stopped me once again.
“Hold on. I have something for you.”
He reached through his open car window and grabbed something from the passenger seat. He approached me with careful steps.
“Here. I already put my number in it.” He handed me a new iPhone and tucked his hands in his pockets.
I’d never seen him look so guilty before.
“Maybe if I hadn’t broken your old one, you would have been able to get a hold of me when you needed me. I’m sorry.” He swallowed. “For everything.”
My eyes fell on the phone in my hands. When I pressed the button on the side, I saw that he had made the screen saver a photo of us.
Ace had his arms wrapped around me from behind and was kissing my cheek while I beamed at the camera. I looked so happy.
I was suddenly blinking furiously, desperately trying to stop the tears from coming.