My body trembles as a memory crashes over me. It isn’t a vivid image but a harsh sound.
My name.
A scream so full of pain and fear it makes my blood run cold.
Ace.
Mom had explained that after Bexley had accidentally hit me instead of Ace and I’d fallen, I’d plummeted into the pool. But she never got to the part about who had pulled me out.
“Ace saved me,” I choke out, my heart breaking all over again, “didn’t he?”
Hadley’s smile falls as says the three little words that mean far more than they should. “Yeah, he did.”
Chapter Two
Ace
“It’s me,” Conner shouts through the motel room door—the one I’ve locked myself behind since being forced to walk away from the hospital that night.
No one wanted me there. I didn’t need their words to tell me that; it was in their eyes. It didn’t matter that it was Bexley’s fis
t that started the chain of events that led to me diving in the pool to save Remi. To them, I was the guilty one. It may as well have been my punch she was on the receiving end of.
I let out a frustrated sigh.
Who am I kidding?
All of this was my fault.
My fucked-up revenge plan.
My fucking games.
I wanted to hurt James for manipulating our lives and trying to act like the innocent man trying to do right by us. Well, doing right by us would have meant we grew up with two parents instead of a mom who cared more about her next fix than her three sons. Instead, he took all of that away from us and ultimately landed us here.
All of this is his fault.
We never belonged here. If he’d just left us alone, we could have continued with our lives perfectly fine without him.
But you wouldn’t have met her. I force that thought down. She didn’t deserve to meet me. All I’ve done is make her already difficult life worse.
I pull the door open and let my brother in.
“She’s awake again. Hadley is with her,” he says, slipping inside. I look out at the parking lot beyond, but there’s no sign of anyone. Exactly as I like it.
I know James is looking for me. I wouldn’t expect anything less. I almost killed his precious Remi. I have no doubt he’s going to have something to say about that.
Maybe he’s already put a hit on me, just like he did our father. I guess I can only hope that they’re still as shit as they were back then, because it seems they did a stellar job of getting rid of him.
“That’s good.” I fall back down on the bed when the spinning gets a little too much.
Conner paces about, pulling the curtains open; I hide under my arm to block out the light. “You need to get a fucking grip, man.” The empty bottles of vodka littering the place start clanking as he tidies up after me.
“Fucking leave it,” I bark.
“Ace. You can’t keep this up. She’ll be coming home soon. What are you going to do then? Camp out in her fucking garden so you can continue stalking her?”
“Fuck. Off.”