Bodyguard: Ace Cain

|24| Do You Care?

|Do You Care?|

The next day was followed by more silence and awkwardness as Ace and I weren't speaking. Part of me wanted to apologize for what I said to him about his dad. That subject was sensitive and a boundary was crossed when my mouth opened. Everything said was out of anger for him not letting me go see my mother. Apologizing was the right thing to do, but that other side of me stubbornly refused. He still didn't want to come with me to prove it was my mom that texted. He doubted it and that's just something I couldn't bring myself to look over.

Regardless, we were back at school and class went by slowly. Listening to his voice was rather annoying since we weren't on good terms. The argument felt so much worse than others that I did something crazy. Unfortunately, what I did also needed Ace's approval, and knowing him he wouldn't abide. That didn't mean the request wouldn't be presented to him. His job can still be done efficiently with me out of his class.

Once the bell rang, Tana wanted to wait for me but I told her to go on. Jake had also been making an effort to befriend me instead of his usually forceful mannerisms. Though it was appreciated, I made him leave as well waiting for other students to clear the room. What I was going to do required the room to be empty. Our relationship was shaky at best, but it had also gone places where no student/teacher relationship would ever cross.

As they exited, my feet trudged up to his desk. His back was to me as he focused on cleaning the whiteboard. The minute he was done, he turned around shocked to see me standing there. I could sense the anger from my words lingering throughout his demeanor. He didn't know how to approach me and I felt the same. This had to be done though to create a healthy distance between us. The more proximity, the more complicated things become.

Ace licked his lips confused about what I was doing. "Is there something I can help you with?" His voice was calm but his eyes were anything but.

Pulling the paper from my sack, I handed it to him for his eyes to scan over. "Can you sign this?" My voice was also calm with a low timbre.

Immediately, he looked back up at me gripping the paper rather tight. "Are...are you trying to transfer classes?" He sounded distraught.

It's true though. I wanted out of this class to create more space between him and me. Whatever we had going on was not healthy. We saw each other day in and day out due to me being on house arrest. His job could be completed just fine with me in another class. He doesn't need to be my teacher while also being my bodyguard at home. After last night, my mind was made up. All he needed to do was sign the paper.

My head nodded, washing myself of any emotion. "I just need your signature," I reiterated. "You can give it to me later tonight. It'll be better if we have more space between us from now on."

My body turned to leave but I was stopped by Ace grabbing my hand. Much to my dismay, the butterflies were still present. The slightest touch filled my body with unspoken emotion. It was too much to bear, but I couldn't let my guard down. As much as it would be nice for us to forgive and forget, and start over like nothing was said; I couldn't. We couldn't keep getting wrapped up in each other. This arrangement was supposed to be temporary.

Ace wasn't accepting that though. This angered him more than my words last night. It took me by surprise that he'd get so worked up over something that should mean nothing. His transparency about how he felt was always so vague. It's like he felt the same way but in a discrete manner. The way he was private about everything else, it didn't come as a shock that he would be private about his feelings for me. Unfortunately, he chose the wrong time to open up.

Squeezing my hand, his voice trembled as he called out to me. "Reign, look at me," he said to my refusal. "Look at me dammit!" His voice rose causing me to jolt.