The Bad Boy's Princess

Ch. 25 - Scottie

"Ave, you're not getting me... I don't have to choose. It's you. It has always and will always be you. Scottie was just a distraction from my darkest times. I didn't have you, but now I do. It's not a tough position when she was never even an option I considered."

"But you guys did things... You know..." I didn't want to say it. I didn't want an image of it, no that was too painful.

"Ave, it meant nothing to me." He sighed again. "I'm so sorry... At the time, I thought I was never going to find you so why bother. I gave up on my childhood crush that everyone seemed to think was stupid and made fun of me for it."

"I know..." I caressed his cheek with my hand, "It's alright, I don't hold it against you. I just wish I didn't have to see that."

"I'm so sorry... You would never have to see anything like that again. I only have eyes for you, Ave." He pulled me into his arms and kissed the top of my head. "I'll talk to Scottie, no matter who she was to me, I won't let it slide. You are fucking off limits."

We decided to go and meet up with our friends at the diner as planned. And in the car, Jace was holding my hand tightly, as if he was scared I was going to leave if he let go.

"Why did she leave school?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Scottie was the biggest trouble maker I have ever met." He shook his head. "Her parents finally decided to ship her off to boarding school in the U.K. to mitigate the publicity disaster their company went through when Scottie got caught underage drinking and smoking at a club."

"Wow... She must have been going through a lot at the time huh..." I felt for her. If it weren't for the West's, who knew how I might have ended up with all the darkness I had from my past.

"Yeah... Her dad had an affair with his secretary for years and when her mom finally found out, she was depressed and suicidal. Scottie had to take care of her mom and her younger sister. So she turned to substances and alcohol." Jace's eyes remained focus on the road, but I could tell he was taking a trip down memory lane. "I shouldn't have enabled her. I was going through the dark stage of self-loathing from all the pressure of being the Monrova-Vanderbilt heir and at the time, that was the only way I knew how to escape."

"I'm so sorry, Jace..."

"Ave, I should be the one apologetic. You don't have anything to apologize for, princess." He let out a soft laugh. "You should be so angry with me right now..."

"I am." I sighed. "For abusing your health and body that way back then. Not for what happened today, it wasn't your fault."

"I promise I'll talk to her. She has just always thought she could get away with anything with me since I never really said no to her, you know from seeing all the shit that she went through." He exhaled. "But I have you now, so it's different now. She needs to know that."

"I just don't want to be that girl you know... I don't have a problem with it, I promise."

"You should, Ave. You're my girlfriend, you have every right to feel upset and uncomfortable when something like that happened right in front of your face, my sweet girl." He kissed my knuckles. "I adore your heart, but I swear I will set her straight."

At the diner, all the guys could talk about was Scottie. They were all upset that she was back, from what I assumed, they did not liked her as much as Jace did.

"Who the hell in their right mind let the psycho out of her ward?" Harry shook his head as he devoured his burger. "I'm pretty damn sure she might murder someone."

"Jace, I swear to hell you better steer clear of her. Avery is too kind, but I'm not down to go through that whole way-too-goddamn degenerate Jace phase with you again." Charles shuddered. "It was terrifying."

Jace looked so guilty, like he knew his friends were right. I took his hand under a table and entangled mine with his, letting him know it was okay. And with a smile, I knew he got the message.

When Jace dropped me off, he smiled and kissed me before he went out to open my passenger door. He always did that, like the gentleman he was. We stood outside his car, hand in hand, in the cold winter night. But at that moment, I felt so warm and safe.

"Let's have a date night tomorrow night at your place. I will pick up your favorite deep dish pizza and we can watch all the romantic comedies you love so much." He softly pinched my nose with his two fingers. "Let me make it up to you, Ave."

"You don't have to, Jace. But that sounds really nice." I smiled. "Go home, it's getting late. I don't want you to miss school tomorrow again."

"Yes, m'am." He kissed me one more time. "I'll see you tomorrow, princess."

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Jace didn't show up at school today. Nor practice. Even the guys didn't know where he was. The guy probably slept through the day again. Him not showing up for practice was strange, but maybe he had some family business to attend to.

I texted him to see if our date was still on, and even though he didn't answer, I was still hopeful.

I took an extra long time to do homework, to kill time. And baked some cookies just in case Jace did show up. I also picked out the 5 movies we were going to watch.

It was 9 o'clock, so I decided to start on the movies and the cookies. But making sure I saved some just in case he did come.

10 o'clock, next movie and some more cookies.

11 o'clock, I tried calling him again. No answer. His phone was off.

Jace didn't show up.