Elle - Book 2

Chapter Three.

Ace

Thursday 17th June

         I was pulling bottles of liquor out of crates of alcohol and sliding them onto the shelves behind the bar, preparing for opening night which was just over a week away. The bar was pretty much ready for opening night other than deliveries which needed to be unpacked and staff being trained which began on Saturday. 

 I was moving onto the second crate of bottles when my phone rang from my pocket. I dug my hand in and pulled out the phone, sighing deeply when I saw my mother's name flash up on the screen. I wanted to hang up the phone and pretend I never saw her call, I was already buried in stress without being lectured by my mother. I knew I would be, it was the only reason she ever called me. However, I also knew there was a chance it was about Avery and so that was the only reason I accepted the call and brought the phone to my ear.

 "Good Afternoon mother," I said blandly, slotting the phone between my ear and shoulder as I continued packing bottles away. 

 Immediately I was bombarded by her questions. "Did you know he was doing it? Were you involved?" Her clipped voice rang through my ear and I paused my unpacking, taking a moment to massage my temples. The lecture had began.

 "I'm going to need a few more details than that, who was doing what?" I asked her, opening the small fridges under the counter behind the bar where I began slipping lemonade bottles onto the bottom shelf.

 "Theo! Were you involved as well?" She snapped. "Don't play dumb with me, Arthur, I do not have time for this," she said.

 "Ace, mom," I said through gritted teeth, she was tolerable when I was caring for Avery after dad died. She even caved and started calling me Ace, but whenever she got angry at me it was back to Arthur. "I haven't spoken to Theo in two years, he sort of ruined my life. I don't care what he's done or where he is, I wasn't involved I can assure you." 

 I was ready to end the call right there and then, I genuinely didn't want to talk about Theo when he had taken Elle from me. He had taken my only chance of happiness away, the only person who made me feel like me. I couldn't care less if he was dead in a ditch at this point, as long as he was nowhere near me.

 He had tried contacting me a few times after what had happened but I had ignored him, he got what he wanted from me, I was miserable and he had won. He didn't need the opportunity to basque in the glory. 

 I knew he kept an eye on me, I had just hoped he was leaving Elle alone, I assumed he had seeing as Delilah and Kit hadn't said anything about seeing him. I would occasionally see a black SUV with darkened windows hovering around me and I knew he was checking I wasn't with her, it was an obsession really. He should have known better that as soon as I agreed to the plan, I would never see her again. I loved her too much to even risk putting her back in danger.

"He's in prison for murder," she said and I fell silent. Those five words sent my brain spinning, the whole room went still and it felt like all the blood in my body had drained out. The only sound ringing in my ear was the sound of a shattering lemonade bottle as it hit the ground and smashed into pieces. "What was that Ace?" My mother's shrill voice asked. My eyes shifted to the glass on the floor surrounded by sticky clear liquid that was spreading into a large puddle on the floor.

 My mouth opened and closed as I tried to sort through my brain for something to say, I must have looked like a fish, like an idiot, but I couldn't piece words together to respond to her. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears and I had to blink several times before I was brought back into reality and could hear my mother continuously asking what the smashing sound was and why I was avoiding what she had just said as if she hadn't just dropped the bombshell that my brother had murdered someone.