“Ace, put him down,” Remi begs, but other than a flicker of emotion across his face, he shows no other sign that he’s heard her.
“Tell me you haven’t gotten involved with Donny?”
“Ace,” I say on a sigh, trying to look bored by all of this, when in reality all I want to do is scream the truth at him.
“Tell me.”
I tilt my chin up, defying his order, and he sees red.
His fist collides with my jaw, snapping my head to the side.
I stretch my neck, waiting a beat for the pain to subside before I fly at him.
“Fucking hell,” Conner barks over the sounds of our grunts and groans as we fight.
His fist connects with my nose, spraying blood over both of us, and I retaliate by driving my knee into ribs, forcing him to double over in pain so I can get the upper hand.
“Fucking stop it,” Remi squeals, coming to stand between the two of us.
“Move her out of the fucking way,” I bark at Conner, who’s standing and watching the show, knowing that it’s better to just let us fight it out than it is to intervene.
This isn’t the first time the two of us have gone at it, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.
“No, enough,” she tries again. “You win, all right? He’s down. Leave it there.”
I look at Ace, who’s managed to sit with his back resting against the cabinets as he clutches his ribs.
His eyes shine with challenge. He might look like he’s lost, but I know him better than that. He’s firing up for round two.
“This is nothing to do with you,” I spit at Remi, knowing that it’ll only fire him up more.
“Don’t fucking speak to her like that, asshole.”
“Fuck you, Ace. I’ll do what I like.”
He roars like a fucking wild animal before launching himself off the floor and colliding with me. My back hits the counter and I swear I hear some kind of crunch as we fall to the floor.
Not allowing it to stop me, I flip Ace over, sitting on his stomach and pinning him to the floor. I pull my arm back, ready to land a punch, when a voice makes me stop right at the last minute.
“Cole, stop. Please.” Her soft voice is like ice water over the raging fire that’s out of control within me.
I open my mouth to respond, but I don’t get a chance because her delicate hand lands on my shoulder and totally disarms me.
“Let’s go,” she whispers in my ear so only I can hear.
Brave girl.
Brave fucking girl.
Chapter Twenty-One
Hadley
“Is your dad home?”
Cole flinches at the word, and I immediately regret it. “James. I mean, is James home?”
“He’s away. He and Sarah are always fucking gone lately.” Part of me wonders if it's because they can’t stand the atmosphere since the truth came out.