Ace (Book 1)

Chapter 10. Babysitting

Ace and I went upstairs to my bedroom. I had about a million questions, and he knew it. Ace closed the door behind us.

"I'm going to shower first," I told him.

"Go ahead," Ace said.

I grabbed some pajamas and started for the bathroom. What if he leaves? I paused to look back at Ace.

Ace sat on my bed with his back against the headboard and his ankles crossed. Ace raised his eyebrows at me. "Something wrong?"

"No, just..." I trailed off. "Stay."

Ace rolled his eyes. "Go shower. I'm not going anywhere."

I bit my lip to hide the smile. I loved the sound of that more than I should have. "Promise?"

"Cross my heart," Ace said. He crossed his arms over his chest.

"Okay."

Carlos was right about one thing; it was a lot to wrap my head around. It was a lot of information in a short amount of time. My head spun with questions. Some of the questions could only be answered by my mother. I knew I wouldn't be having that conversation anytime soon.

It was possibly the fastest shower that I ever took. I didn't bother to blow dry my hair because I knew I wasn't going to bed.

Ace was still on my bed. Ace was reading one of my books. His eyes followed the words on the page.

"I get it now," I said.

"Get what?" Ace asked. He closed the book. His gaze flickered to my eyes then swept over my body as I crawled onto the bed. His lips parted slightly.

"I get why you hate Kal so much," I muttered. I sat down on my bed beside him.

"It's too bad you didn't figure it out sooner. We probably wouldn't be in this situation," Ace said.

"Mm, I don't know about that. I'm glad I know the truth. Now there isn't like this giant elephant in the room with us," I argued.

Ace chuckled and shook his head. "It makes it easier not to hide things from you. You're difficult to lie to. You aren't very good at turning the other cheek."

"It's hard to believe the other girls can turn the other cheek," I said.

Ace bent his knees and rested his arms on them. "It's not that the boys like hiding things from their girlfriends. It's necessary, and it's the rule. The less they know, the safer they are. I'm not sure what the guys tell their girls, but they don't ask many questions, to my knowledge. That wasn't true for you. Perhaps, you attract bad things."

"Kal only had it out for me because of you." I mashed my lips in a straight line.

Ace sighed. "No, bebita. I think that Kal found out the truth about you. Maybe, it had to do with me too. You were sucked into this life because of who your family is. Things like that don't stay hidden."

"How could Kal find out before me?" I muttered.

Ace chuckled. "Criminals can always get intel. He probably didn't know for sure, but he probably believed what he heard. It's easy to see, as Carlos said. Look at him and look at you. You look a lot like him. I didn't see it before, but I see it now. I thought there was something about you that didn't add up, but I wasn't sure what."