Well, hell.
Chapter 18
Ace~
I stood in a perfectly decorated living room of opulence waiting for Delaney to bring Ava to me, and shit was uncomfortable as hell. Delaney had made quick introductions before she ran off to get Ava, but no one was here to make friends.
On the couch was a couple that Delaney had introduced as Liam and Roselyn. Roselyn was wrapped up in Liam’s lap, and they looked good together. Roselyn was very pretty with rainbow-colored hair, a pixie-like face with big blue eyes, and a dainty nose ring. Liam looked like an All-American with his dark blonde hair and sky-colored eyes. I couldn’t really tell because he was sitting down and Roselyn was curled up in his lap, but I gauged him to be about as tall as Deke and Ramsey.
Where Deke had green eyes and black hair, Ramsey had dark brown hair and brown eyes with a scar that sliced across his eye. It started at his brow and ran down towards the edge of his nose. He also had a fucking wedding ring on, but he had to look about my age.
He also looked lethal.
Separately, I could probably hold my own against each one of them, but if they decided to defend Ava’s honor at the same time, I doubt I’d survive a fight with them. But something told me they didn’t get down like that. These guys were too confident to have to jump anyone. My bet would be Ramsey coming after me. Something about the guy was just…sinister.
My head turned when I heard footsteps coming from behind the staircase. I watched as a stunning brunette came walking out. She had long brown hair and silver fucking eyes. Her clothes couldn’t disguise her curves, but there was more to her than that.
She was hypnotizing.
She was also wearing a wedding set that probably weighed more than she did.
Behind her was Delaney, and behind her I saw a glimpse of blonde. I didn’t say anything as the brunette walked over to stand next to Ramsey and, boy, did that ever make sense. Looking at them together, I recalled how Ava had taunted me when I had called the people of Sands Cove pampered pussies.
I was wrong.
Fuck, I was wrong about a lot of shit.
Delaney went to stand next to Deke, and he immediately wrapped her up in his arms. As Ava’s best friend, he had to know how invested Delaney was in with whatever was happening.
Ava came and stood in front of me, and I had to hand it to her, the girl had massive balls of steel. “What are you doing here, Ace?” she asked. “How’d you even know I was here?”
“I didn’t,” I answered. “I checked all the GPS addresses programmed in the cars and Delaney’s address was in every car. Last night at the party, a girl mentioned someone named Delaney being your best friend. I took a chance.” I glanced around the room. “Can we talk somewhere more private?”
Ava scoffed, and that wasn’t a good sign. “Why? The sex, the drugs, the booze, the fights…they can’t do what they’ve been doing anymore, Ace. It’s out there. You know, and because I could only handle that secret when it was a secret, I ran over here and blabbed that shit to everyone in the room.”
“Stop it, Ava,” I snapped as I stepped towards her. “This is serious.”
She planted her hands on her hips. “I’m not lying, Ace,” she spewed. “They all know.”
“Even so, is this an argument you want to have in front of ev-”
“What argument?” she scoffed, all attitude. “What do we have to possibly argue over? What? Because you had your fingers in my pussy, you think that gives you some right? Well, I got news for you, you’re not the only person in this room-” I had my hand wrapped around her neck, cutting off whatever she was about to say. I knew she was pissed, and I knew she was hurt, but airing everyone’s dirty laundry was something she’d regret forever.
“Let’s get something straight here, Ava,” I snarled, beyond caring that we had an audience. “I don’t care if you’ve fucked all six people in this room.” I tightened my hold around her neck, and the fact that no one was stopping me told me all I needed to know about this crowd and the roles in their relationships. “I don’t care if you slept with everyone on this fucking block just last week. That was before me. Before now. Before us.”
Ava was beautifully infuriated when she yelled, “And you’re telling me you don’t care that I was touched in all the wrong ways by a dirty, old man?!”
I let go of her neck. “No! I don’t care that you were touched by a dirty, old man, Ava! I care that a dirty, old man touched you! There’s a difference!”
“Not for me, there isn’t,” she choked out.
I heard a gasp, and when I looked over at the sound, I saw Delaney full on sobbing silently in Deke’s arms. The tension was beyond dark and depressing. Everyone in the room was on edge over how to handle this. You could tell from everyone’s demeanor that we were all damaged in some way, but I knew Ava’s torment outweighed the entire room’s put together.
I looked back down at Ava, and the misery on her face felt like a razor blades across my chest. “I’m not going anywhere, Ava,” I announced to her and everyone in the room. “I don’t give a fuck what you do. I’m not going to let you push me away.”
“Why?” she asked, tears leaking down her face. “Why do you care? You’ve only known me for two goddamn days!”
I did not want to do this in front of everyone, but I felt like I needed to. If these people knew something so precious about Ava, then I wanted her to see she wasn’t alone. “Because I’ve felt more with you in two days than I have with anyone else in my entire life, and I’m not going to ignore that,” I told her honestly.
Ava shook her head. “I’m tainted, Ace,” she whispered. “Can’t you see that?”
“No, you’re not!” Delaney yelled from where she broke away from Deke’s hold. She marched up to Ava and grabbed her by the shoulders. “You are not tainted, Ava,” she repeated. “You’re…you’re kind, and giving, and brave, and beautiful. You’re my best friend. You…were my backbone when I wasn’t sure of myself. You’ve been my only friend for years. You…are so much, Ava. So, so much. You are not what those monsters did to you.”
My heart ached with every word out of Ava’s mouth. “Maybe not, Delaney,” Ava replied. “But I am everything I’ve done since it happened.”
This time, it was Roselyn who wrenched herself away from Liam, and was in Ava’s face. “That’s bullshit,” she hissed. “You have a reputation, so fucking what? This town has no parents. Everyone has been screwing everyone since puberty in this goddamn town, Ava. You act like everyone around you is a virgin. Newsflash, babe, we’re not.” Roselyn stole a quick glance back at Liam, and then Deke, and then focused her attentions back on Ava. “Sex is the last thing that makes up a person’s character.”
Ava’s head dropped, and her shoulders slumped, and we could all see the fight leave her body. When she looked up at Roselyn, she said, “I feel…so much regret, my back is broken with the weight of it, Roselyn. The shame is crippling, but the regret…the regret is a poison that feeds every emotion I feel.”
I couldn’t stand it any longer. I stepped to Ava and wrapped my arms around her from behind. I dropped my chin on her pretty blonde head and squeezed. “Let’s get out of here, baby,” I muttered, tired for her. Exhausted for all she’s had to cope with for all these years.
I felt her head nod, and it was the sweetest victory I’ve ever experienced. “Yeah, okay…”
Before I could gather her up in my arms and walk out with her, the brunette next to Ramsey spoke. “Ramsey,” she said.
Just one word; his name.
“What’s his name, Ava?” Ramsey asked, his voice cold and sharp as icicles.
“Wh…what?”
“What’s his name?” Ramsey repeated.
Ava took a deep breath, and it was like she was invoking the boogeyman by saying his name out loud. But she did. “Peter Scranton. His family was in robotics. At least, that’s what I remember him claiming. But you don’t have-”
“Yes, I do,” he said, interrupting her.
“Even if I didn’t care, which I do, I’d never deny Emerson anything, Ava. You know that. Everyone knows that.” So, the brunette’s name was Emerson.
Emerson addressed the elephant in the room, and knowing nothing else about this girl, I knew she was special. “I’ve already said this before, but I’m going to say it again, in front of everyone, so that there’s no confusion, Ava. Ramsey’s, Liam’s, and Deke’s pasts are no prettier than mine, Roselyn’s, or yours. Delaney…sure.” Everyone chuckled at that, even Ava. “I love Ramsey too much to hold anything he’s ever done against him. Even that day in the hallway at school.” I didn’t know what that meant, but by the clenching of Ramsey’s jaw, my guess was that it wasn’t a good memory. “I’m not going to let something that happened years before I came along stop me from doing the right thing.”
“And what’s that?”
“Give you closure and peace of mind,” she stated simply. “Maybe a chance to heal.”
Ava broke down in tears and I gathered her up in my arms. Delaney raced to open the front door for us, and I walked us out, realizing Ava had a whole team of people on her side.
Chapter 19
Ava~
I had been beyond exhausted.
When Ace had carried me out of Delaney’s, he had strapped me in the car, leaving mine at Delaney’s, drove us home, had carried me out of the car and up to my bedroom. He had laid me on the bed and sat down, rubbing my back, arms, thighs, whatever until I had fallen asleep.
Waking up, I didn’t know what time it was, but I did feel like I’d been hit by a truck. I felt wrung the hell out. I sat up, but didn’t see Ace anywhere, and if the dude fled to a hotel for the rest of the summer, I wouldn’t blame him. He said a lot of pretty things at Delaney’s, but I knew the responsibility of dating someone with my baggage.
I drug myself out of bed and headed towards the en suite. I needed another shower in familiar surroundings. I needed to regroup, and I needed to do it where I was comfortable and somewhat in control.
After brushing my teeth again, I turned on the shower and adjusted the water temperature before undressing and stepping inside. The shower had multiple massaging jets that shot out all over the place, and this was one of the few times I really appreciated the feature.
I let the water cascade down my body, and I stood there, eyes closed, wondering if I should just move away and start over somewhere. There weren’t any sex tapes floating around in the Universe of me, well…not that I knew of. So, starting over somewhere else wasn’t such a farfetched idea. Sure, I’d miss the hell out of Delaney, but she was going to college in the fall. Ramsey had made sure Emerson, Roselyn, and Delaney had been enrolled at Blaineview with him, Liam, and Deke. But even if she wasn’t enrolled to attend college with Deke, she was always destined to leave Sands Cove. Delaney was whip-smart, and she was always going to go on to do great things.
Sure, I’d be running away, but at least I’d be free to fix myself somewhere that was void of all my bad choices. Talking with Emerson and Roselyn, I knew they didn’t care about my past with their boyfriends, and I believed Emerson when she said Ramsey’s mind was blank of anything that didn’t have to do with her. But this was about more than just how I slept around with no regard to anyone but myself.
This was about how I didn’t know how to trust anyone at face value. I will always feel a little bit dirty. I will always feel like that girl who has nothing special to give the guy she finally falls in love with. I will always feel the threat of the male species lingering in the back of my subconscious.
My book wasn’t finished, but I didn’t know how to change the story from the way it had begun to how I’d love for it to end. I’d been writing the same chapters over, and over again for years. I didn’t know how to write a new one.
The sound of the shower door sliding open snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked up and Ace stood outside the shower door, naked, and looking better than any guy had the right to look.
“Care if I join you?”
I stared at him and wished I was strong enough to tell him to leave. I wanted to tell him I did mind, and I needed some space from…everything.
But I wasn’t and I didn’t.
Standing in this moment, I was probably at the weakest I’ve ever been. Even my breakdown at Delaney’s didn’t compare with how badly I wanted to matter to this boy standing in front of me. I wanted him to look at me like he’s been looking at me. I wanted him to forget everything he’s heard about me, good and bad, and just want me.
However, I didn’t want to just have sex with him. I’ve been just having sex all my life. I’ve never made love and I’ve never been fucked. I’ve had sex, always completely emotionless on my end. Every guy I’ve ever slept with, my mind was so consumed with making sure I was in control of the situation, it never gave way for complete pleasure. If a guy wanted to switch positions, my mind shut down all pleasure and made sure we didn’t. I was always on top, as was always my choice. And while I’ve had great sex before, sex without passion, without feelings, without a connection was just a mechanical release.
Making the decision, I stepped back and let him inside. However, he didn’t stop advancing until my back hit the wall. The jets were hitting me everywhere, but I had put them on low when I turned them on, so they weren’t painful up against my back.
“What are you doing?” I whispered, but he heard me over the water, anyway.
His hands reached out to cradle my face before he answered my question with a question. “What do you think I’m doing?”
“No, Ace,” I stated firmly. “No games. No more games.”
The corner of his lip lifted, and it was the sexiest smirk I’d ever seen on a person. “I’m going to fuck you until you can’t stand up anymore,” he purred. “I’m going to fuck you until you ache with every step afterwards. I’m going to fuck you until you beg me to stop.” My breaths came out short and choppy, but nothing prepared me for what he said next. His amber eyes bore into mine as he said, “You’re going to beg me to stop, but I’m not going to, Ava,” he warned. “I’m not going to stop. I’m going to make you take it-take me, and I’m never letting you escape me.”
Tears mixed with the water raining down over us. I was worried that any future with Ace would be comprised of guilt-ridden tenderness. I feared he was going to start treating me like delicate China, and all the fire, all the desire would be gone. I thought his craving for me would evaporate. But looking into his eyes, dark with desire and anticipation, told me I knew nothing about what made Ace McIntire tick.
“You’re going to take my choices away?” I knew that wasn’t what he was saying, but this was a delicate situation. If I had any hope of moving forward with this boy, there couldn’t be any confusion.
He shook his soaked head, and I gotta tell you, his dark lashes spiked with water around those golden orbs of his, was a mesmerizing sight. “No,” he replied. “I’m going to change everything you fear about being helpless into something you love. Something you crave. Something only I can give you. By the time I’m done with you, you’re going to beg me to do whatever the fuck I want to do to you.” And by begging that would mean he wouldn’t be taking my choices away from me at all.
I gave him a small nod, and that was all it took.
His lips crashed down on mine and my arms wrapped around his neck and I held on in a way that I’ve never latched on to anyone else in all my life. His hands left my face and the second they grabbed hold of my thighs, I was up and wrapped around Ace completely.
His dick was hot and hard up against my center and I almost started begging right then and there. Turns out I didn’t need to beg or even have time to beg. Ace’s desperation matched mine, and in one painful, forceful thrust, he was inside me, my back slamming up against the wall, the waters jets pulsing into my back. “Ace!”
“Fucking Christ,” he grunted, his breath tickling my ear. “You feel better than I could have ever imagined. You okay, baby?”
I’d a
lready known his equipment was sizable from the previous times he’d been hard against me, and from when I had gone down on him, but his invasion was so swift, it had been painful and the darkness that lived inside me wanted more. “More, Ace,” I panted honestly. “I need more.”
“Like this?” he asked before pulling out and slamming his full length back inside. “You need it hard, Kit? You need to get fucked?”
I tightened my arms around his neck and nodded. “Yes,” I begged.
Ace’s hand dug into the flesh of my thighs, and not caring that water jets were hitting us all around, he rammed into me over, and over again with his unbelievable thickness and length. There was still a slight sting, but I didn’t care. I wanted everything he promised. I wanted to finish weakened by his onslaught. I wanted him to take me to a place where thoughts no longer existed and all I felt was him. I wanted him to be my drug away from reality and I didn’t care about Emerson’s warning of how dangerous that kind of co-dependency was. I wanted Ace to be my sex, drugs, alcohol, anger, and peace.
“This,” he growled in my ear, “this, right here, is all I’m ever going to want, Ava. I’m going to spend every free moment I have buried in your hot, tight pussy. I’m going to know every inch of you and it’s never going to be enough.”
“Promise?” I didn’t care how desperate and pathetic I sounded. I didn’t care that my pride had left when Ace had kicked Elise out of my bedroom. I didn’t care about being strong anymore.
Ace pulled back to look down at me. It was hard to hold his gaze because the pleasure he was inflicting was making my eyes roll back into my head, but I did my best to keep hold it. “Baby, I’m going to be fucking you fifty years from now,” he vowed. “I’m never letting you go.”
I wanted to believe him, and in this moment, I did. But I knew once the high wore off I’d be doubting him again. I knew I’d want to push him to be with someone who wasn’t such hard work. But, right now, right now I was going to let his words wash over me and take me to a place I’ve never been.
Provoking the Enemy Page 10