Tame Him: Chapter 23

I bolt upright, my eyes flying to the window. “Ace?” I whisper-hiss, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. “What the hell?”

“I needed to see you.”

The clock reads after one and the pit in my stomach deepens. “What did you do?” I ask, my gaze narrowing.

Something’s wrong.

I know it is. If it weren’t for the dread snaking through me, I know Ace well enough by now to know all his facial expressions.

“Do you trust me?” His voice is cold. Another warning sign.

Pushing back the covers, I climb out of bed and go to him. His dark, sleeveless hoodie is pulled up over his head. Ominous and foreboding.

“I did… until you spent all day avoiding me and then climbed through my window in the middle of the night after failing to show up earlier.”

Guilt sparks in his eyes.

“This is about Michaela, isn’t it?” It’s the only explanation. Ever since he texted me two nights ago saying he had a plan, I’ve been on edge.

The avoidance tactics.

The middle of the night appearance.

It all points to her.

And honestly, I’m not sure I want to know the truth.

He drags a hand down his face, scrubbing his jaw, and I can practically see his brain working overtime. He’s trying to figure out how much to tell me.

He’s trying to weigh up whether to lie or tell me the truth.

“Well?” I snap, indignation sizzling in my veins.

“At Hayden’s the other night… he and Cole got into it. Cole was in a bad place…”

Ace isn’t telling me anything I don’t already know. Unlike his brother, Conner actually talked to me at school yesterday.

“Ace, just get to the point. I’m tired, and I have to get up in five hours.”

“I just needed to see you,” he says again, as if it fixes everything.

Without warning, Ace pulls me into his arms, locking them tight around my body. His face drops to my shoulder as he breathes me in.

“Ace, you’re scaring me,” I confess. It’s like having the old Ace back—the Ace who was so cold and cruel and played games like it was an Olympic sport.

“Just promise me, Remi. Promise me that it’s you and me…” His voice trails off and I jerk back, tearing from his hold.

“I swear to God, Ace. If you don’t tell me what the fuck you did, I will—“

“Just trust me.” His guilt-ridden expression softens. “You have to trust me.”

“You’re making that a little difficult when you’re talking in riddles. Did something happen with Michaela?” He stiffens at the mention of her name but doesn’t answer. My blood runs cold, trickling like ice down my spine.

“I told you I had a plan…” The pain etched in his expression twists something inside me.

“That’s all you told me, and now you’re here in the middle of the night acting like the world is about to end. Just tell me what happened.”

“I can’t. Not yet. You just need to trust me.” A stone wall slams down over his expression, and my mouth drops open with a sigh of disbelief.

“You’re seriously not going to tell me?”

“I didn’t come here to fight, Remi.”

Not Princess.

Remi.

The knot in my stomach tightens.

“So what did you come here for?”

“I just wanted to see you.” His shoulders sag.

“Well, you saw me. Now you can go.” My eyes flick to the window.

“Remi, baby, don’t do this. Please.”

“You keep asking me to trust you, Ace, but it goes both ways. I know something happened with Michaela, but you don’t trust me enough to tell me, and that doesn’t fly with me.”

“That’s not…” Jaw clenched, he presses his lips together, swallowing the words.

“You should probably go before my mom hears you.”

“You’re really going to kick me out?” Disappointment clings to his words.

“You’re really going to do this?” I throw back. “We can go round in circles all night, but it won’t change the fact that you’re choosing to shut me out.”

“I fucking love you.” He advances toward me, grabbing my shoulders. “Do you have any idea of how far I’d go to keep you safe? To protect you? To make sure fuckers like Bexley and Michaela can’t touch you anymore?” His eyes burn into mine, possessive and angry. I want to melt into his arms, but I don’t.

Because Ace has to realize I don’t need saving.

I don’t want a bodyguard to fight my battles. I want a partner. An equal. I want someone to stand at my side and fight with me.

He starts to lean in, his warm breath and close proximity disarming me, but I slam my hands into his chest, forcing him to back up.

“What the fuck?” he grumbles.

“We’re supposed to be a team, Ace. Me and you. Together.”

Silence lingers between us, but it might as well be a vast ocean. He’s already made up his mind. And I won’t back down either.

“I love you,” he says again, as if those three words are a Band-aid you can use to patch up open wounds.

“I love you too, but right now, I don’t like you very much.”

His head hangs low, pain vibrating off him. But Ace doesn’t argue this time. He goes to the window and climbs out, his eyes lingering on me one last time before he disappears into the shadows like a ghost in the night.

“Don’t you think you’re being a little bit harsh?” Hadley asks as we make our way to first period.

I didn’t ride with Conner and Cole. After Ace’s late-night visit, I needed space, and I didn’t want to be hounded by Conner, no matter how helpful he thinks his advice is.

“Ace has to realize he can’t always shut me out, Hadley. That’s not how relationships work. Besides, this is Michaela we’re talking about. Just the thought of him anywhere near her makes me stabby.”

“You don’t really think something happened between them, do you? Ace is crazy about you, he would never do something to jeopardize that. Not after what happened at your party.”

“But that’s the thing, Hads. Love makes you crazy.” And Ace said it himself—he’d do whatever it takes to protect me.

“Look,” I say, stopping at my locker. “I don’t think Ace would ever do anything to hurt me on purpose, but I won’t lie that how far he’s willing to push his moral compass in the name of revenge scares me.”

“Yeah, I guess.” She leans against the locker bank. “I mean, look at Cole the other night. I still can’t believe he did that.”

“Really?” I raise a brow. Hadley had told me all about Cole picking a fight with Hayden at the party, but we hadn’t really talked about it. Not since she wasn’t in class yesterday with a stomach flu. Although, I was starting to wonder if that was just a cover for whatever was happening between her and Cole.

“Cole doesn’t want me, Remi,” she says with an air of sadness. “I’m not even sure he likes me. Hayden was just an easy target.”

“What happened there?”

“Hayden got a little touchy feely. I told him to stop… Cole walked in right at that second and just lost it. He was wild, Remi. Completely unhinged.”

“He’s been through a lot.”

“I know,” she whispers, glancing down the hall to make sure no one is eavesdropping. “It was like nothing I’ve ever seen.”

A chill zips up my spine. Ace has said before that Cole harbors a darkness, but hearing about it and seeing it are two very different things.

“Maybe you should stay away from him,” I suggest. “Let the dust settle.”

She barks out a laugh. “Cole doesn’t let people get close, Remi. Trust me, whatever happened the other week at the pool house was just some weird twin thing.”

“Okay, whatever you say.”

Hadley rolls her eyes, sticking her tongue out at me, just as an announcement comes over the speaker.

Michaela’s saccharine sweet voice fills the hall. “Don’t forget, Homecoming is this Friday and tickets are selling fast…”

“Ugh,” I grumble. “Did I ever tell you I hate school spirit?”

“You’re really not going to come? I got you a ticket, just in case.”

“Hads… you know I don’t do school dances.”

“Maybe you should start. You have that gorgeous boyfriend of yours to suffer alongside you. Besides, it’s senior year, Homecoming is like a rite of passage or something.”

“I can hardly imagine Ace wanting to go.”

Her face lights up. “But if he wanted to, you’d think about it? Please… for me.”

“Hadley, it’s in three days. I have nothing to wear. And I’m not even talking to Ace right now.”

I’d ignored all his texts this morning. Granted, it isn’t even first period yet, but he’s sent enough.

“Playing hard to get, I like it.” Hadley grins and I groan, knowing she’s completely missing the point. “I’ve got to get to class. But I’ll see you at lunch. That’s if Ace doesn’t chase you down first.”

She takes off down the hall and I’m left with my stepsister droning on about Homecoming etiquette.

“And don’t forget, Seahawks,” she sings, “vote Michaela for Homecoming Queen and show your support and loyalty for your favorite student body president and cheer squad captain.”

My stomach churns at her words. She’s so fucking fake, it makes my skin crawl.

I’m halfway to class when Ace rounds the corner. His eyes collide with mine and I freeze, slowly backing up. “Princess,” he says with a glint in his eye.

It’s the same glint he gets whenever he’s about to play dirty.

Not today, Ace Jagger. I take a step back, ready to make a break for it.

“Don’t you dare run, Remi.” His voice washes over me, pulling the invisible thread between us taut.

I want to run to him, not from him, but I’m still pissed, and I refuse to be the girl constantly letting people walk all over her.

Even if one of those people is my boyfriend.

He takes another step forward. “We need to talk.”

The hall is empty now, and I’m late for class. Again.

“Ready to tell me the truth?” Indecision flickers in his eyes, but he remains silent, telling me all I need to know. I let out a heavy sigh and add, “Didn’t think so. I need to get to class. You should probably think about doing the same.”

He stalks closer, and I know that if he reaches me, I’ll break. Taking my chances, I dart around him, but Ace is quicker, snagging my wrist. “Remi, please…”

I yank my hand away and meet his defeated gaze. “See you around, Ace.”

I walk away. Maybe I’m being foolish. Maybe I should hear him out. But I didn’t come all this way just to have him undo all the trust we’ve built.

My cell vibrates the second I disappear around the corner, and I know without looking it’s him.

Dragging my bottom lip between my teeth, I text him back.

I shove my cell back in my pocket and slip into class. The teacher gives me a terse glare as I find an empty seat and try to pay attention.

It’s not easy.

Homecoming is in three days. Maybe that’s Ace’s master plan. He always said we had to hit Michaela where it hurt most, but every time I think about them in the same thought, I’m overcome with jealousy.

She’s manipulative and conniving and manages to dig her nails into everything she sets her sights on, poisoning it with her prep school princess bullshit.

Even if Ace’s scheme topples her off her throne, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to forgive him if he…

I push down the thoughts.

Ace wouldn’t touch Michaela. Hurt her, yes. But touch her, no way. Not after everything we’ve been through.

I’m worrying over nothing.

I’m letting my hatred for her cloud my judgement.

Until she walks into the room and her eyes land right on me. Her lips curl into a vicious smirk, a wicked glint in her eyes.

A knowing glint.

Fuck.

I’ve seen this look before. It’s the one she gave me when I walked into Surf’s all those years ago to find her sitting next to my dad like she belonged there.

Michaela thinks she’s won.

And I can’t help but wonder if, finally, she has.

The second the bell rings, I’m out of my seat. Michaela barely gives me a second glance as she saunters from the room in that godforsaken cheer outfit. Anger fuels me as I catch up to her, grabbing her arm and forcing her to look at me.

“Excuse me, psycho…” Her eyes drop to where my fingers are digging into her wrist. “Get your hands off me.”

“Not until you tell me what’s happening with you and Ace.”

Her eyes cloud with confusion, and for a second I feel nothing but relief. But then her lip twists with smug arrogance. “He told you?”

I stagger back, her words like tiny knives over my skin.

“Guess he didn’t want to keep it a secret after all.” She gives me a dismissive shrug.

“You… you and he…” I choke out the words over the pain splintering down my chest.

She’s lying.

There’s no way he would…

Yet her big blue eyes, eyes I’ve spent almost six years hating, sparkle with nothing but honesty.

“What can I say?” She shrugs, flicking one of her perfectly curled pigtails off her shoulder. “He wanted a taste of something classier.”

My stomach churns, and I almost puke right there in the hall.

Kids are watching. I feel their stares, hear their whispers. But I can’t take my eyes off the girl who was once someone I thought I could trust with my secrets.

“Why, Michaela? Why do you hate me so much?” Our messy history seeps into the space between us, but she isn’t the one bleeding out.

I am.

She’s taken everything from me. My dad, my life, and now she’s taken the one person I thought I could always count on.

Ace will tell me it’s part of his plan. He’ll feed me lies about it meaning nothing, about it being a means to an end.

But it doesn’t matter.

I’m done.

I’m so done.

“You’re weak, Remi. You’ve always been weak.” She snarls the words. “When we were kids you were like my shadow. It’s pathetic, really, when I look back. You know it was my mum who suggested I befriend you. I think she felt guilty she was screwing your dad.”

“Wh-what?” Blood roars between my ears as I desperately try not to cry.

“Oh, you didn’t know? They were seeing each other for years.”

“No,” I whimper. “That’s not true. It can’t be.”

“He didn’t want you, Remi. Just like Ace doesn’t really want you.”

“You fucking bitch.” I lunge for her just as strong arms grab me around the waist and pull me away.

“She’s not worth it.” Cole’s voice is a low growl in my ear. “Come on.” He wraps his arm around me, guiding me away.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if Remi the Slut is taking turns with them all,” Michaela calls, inciting raucous laughter. Cole tears away from me and gets right up in her face.

I stand there, trembling, as he glares at her. He doesn’t speak, he doesn’t move, he just stares as if he’s plotting out her slow and painful death in vivid technicolor in his head.

“Creeper, much?” She tries to brush off the tense atmosphere, and eventually Cole backs away, returning to my side.

“You good?” he asks.

I shake my head, wiping my eyes with the back of my blazer sleeve. “I need to get out of here.”

“Come on,” he says. “I’ll drive you home.”