Chapter 14
“What the hell did I tell you about not making a scene, Scarlett?!” Ace roars at me, spinning hot onto the highway.
“I’m sorry! He came in, what the hell did you want me to do!?” I snap back, shoving my gun back into the strap on my thigh.
“Not shoot at the guy! The whole damn ballroom heard it!”
“He was attacking me, I tried to seduce him at first, but he didn’t buy it. Shooting was my last option!”
He pauses, eyes darting to me, the whole pissed off demeanor gone. “What do you mean by ‘seduce’?”
I wave into the air, looking out the window. “Nothing. It didn’t work.”
It gets silent, and he sighs. Then he presses at the earpiece inside his ear. “Hey, Piers. Tell the others that we can’t go back to the house tonight, it’s not safe. We gotta go to another safe house I have. Just follow my car.”
“Copy that.”
I peer over at Ace. “What do you mean it’s not safe?”
“They’ll be looking for us, I mean, you. I have other safe houses. Even though that house I have now is deep in the forest, there’s a possibility they might find it tonight. It’s close by the mansion they had the party in.”
I keep staring. “What do you mean, me? They saw you there too.”
“They didn’t even I know I was your date, until they look at that picture. Lexi and Riker weren’t even near us, and I didn’t try shooting at any of them. They didn’t see me drive away. They only know you for right now. Barely. They don’t know your name, nothing.”
“Until they recognize my face as the number one ranker,” I mutter under my breath, sinking more into my seat.
He glances over at me, sighing. “I’m sorry for flipping out on you.”
“No, you were right. I caused a scene.”
“But if you didn’t fight back, you’d probably be dead right now. You did good, sweetheart.”
I bite my lip, choosing not to reply. I want to ask him about the file I saw. About him. The level that said dangerous. I want to know what it means. And why he excels in strength above all the others. I want answers, but not right now.
So, about an hour later, we show up at a house. It’s around midnight, and it’s too dark to even see where we are. All I know is that it’s a small house, and the cars aren’t really secluded. “Ace, if we leave the cars out, the Vinges will see them and know we’re here.”
He shakes his head, getting out of the car with me. “They won’t bother. We’re in Nevada.”
Before I can ask questions, Riker is strutting towards us, hands up in a ‘what the fuck’ motion. “The hell happened back there!?”
“Scar got some info, but Lex found her, so we had to get the hell out,” Ace explains, walking towards the house. “C’mon.”
We enter the house. It’s small and warm. There aren’t a lot of lights on. It smells like a welcoming house, a place where a family would live. But there’s no family in sight. Just a small, young woman with dark brown hair.
“Are you alright?” Are the first words out of her mouth. Not directed to me, but to Ace. She hurries over to him. Her arms wrap around him and he does the same, hand flying to her hair, beading through it. He presses his lips to her head.
I grip the open door hard so I can stop myself from ripping the girl’s heart out. Something in my chest is throbbing a dull pain. Its making me grit my teeth. I’ve never had a pain like that before, and I’ve experienced a lot of it. I should be familiar with it. But not this time.
Ace murmurs something into the girls ear, making my pain intensify, and then he steps away from her. When his eyes sweep to all of us, he stops momentarily on me. A smirk grows on his face, probably at my grip on the door. “Guys, this is my sister, Chelsea.”
And just like that, the pain is gone.
I release the grip on the door, blinking at my reaction. What the hell was that about? I wanted to murder this girl a second ago, and now I don’t. Ace sees my confusion because the smirk grows larger. “Are you alright, sweetheart?”
“No,” I breathe out, shaking my head. “I don’t know…that was weird…”
“What was?”
“Nothing,” I shake my head again, deciding to brush it off. Whatever it was, I hope it doesn’t come back, because I won’t hesitate in killing someone.
The timid girl looks at all of us. She’s definitely younger than all of us, but not by a lot. She has a young, clean, innocent face. Her eyes are wide, sharing the same color as Ace. A green; a light, clear, unmistakable green. She’s petite and short. Her hair is layered and thick; really pretty. She’s gorgeous, in her innocent way. “Hi.”
We chorus our hellos; she probably thinks we’re batshit insane. Entering her house, wearing these getups, with her brother. Unless she already knows where we were. Yeah, either way she’ll think we’re crazy.
“Um,” She hesitates for a second, “you can use my bed if you’d like…and there’s the couch, too…”
“No,” Ace’s voice powers over hers. She’s so fragile; like a flower. He’s like a rock. Her rock. “You use your bed, alright? We’ll use the couch.”
She nods, not defying her brother. “Okay. I have two sleeping bags, too.”
Ace nods. “Grab them. Set them near the couch.”
“There’s extra clothes upstairs for the girls, if they want to change…and I think you still have pajamas here Ace, for the guys…”
“Alright. Thanks, Chels.”
She smiles. “You’re welcome.”
She disappears into the kitchen, and I hear a door open. Probably a garage, or a basement. Ace turns to us, and I’m the first to say something. “Your sister is pretty.”
“Don’t get any ideas,” He growls, more to the boys. “C’mon. Lets go get changed.”
There’s two bathrooms. The boys go into the one in the hallway, and Lexi and I go to the one connected to her bedroom. She lives alone here, I guess. I rip my heels and dress off, sighing. “I’m exhausted.”
“Same,” Lexi sighs, prying her own dress off. “What happened back there?”
“You know where the Vinges came out of, that little room? Well, I went in there for information. I didn’t get much because Lex found me, we wrestled, I pulled my gun out. There were papers flying everywhere so I didn’t get a good shot, dunno if I hit him or not. Ran out, found Ace, and now we’re here.”
“Damn,” Lexi sighs. She’s pulling on a tank top and some basketball shorts. I have a v-neck grey shirt and some shorts. “Well, at least we got some info.”
I don’t answer. The information I got just leads to more questions that I have to ask.
We head back downstairs, bringing our clothing with us. We took off our makeup and the little fake fangs on our teeth. I feel like me again, finally. We place our clothes on the chair Chelsea instructs us to. The boys come down too, placing their clothing on ours.
Chelsea waves to the sleeping bags. “It’s not much, but it’s something…”
“It’s fine, Chels. Thank you,” Ace coaxes. “Go get some rest, okay?”
“Okay…” She heads towards the stairs, then pauses. “Night.”
We chorus our replies, and then she heads upstairs. I glance at our sleeping arrangements. Two people can fit on the couch, and then there’s two sleeping bags. There’s three of us left. “How is this going to work…”
Ace shrugs, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “Lexi and Riker on the couch…Piers gets his own sleeping bag…and you and me in the other…”
I snort just as Piers sends me the biggest, knowing smirk I’ve ever seen him muster. “How about Lexi and Riker in a sleeping bag?”
Lexi snorts louder than I did. “I had to deal with him all night, honey. No thank you.”
Riker smirks. “Fine. I’ll sleep with Scar.”
We all say it at the same exact time.
“No.”
“Fine,” He mumbles, grabbing a blanket and a pillow, hopping up on the couch.
Lexi grabs them too, laying down on the opposite side of the couch. She shoots me a mock guilty look, then tosses over to the side so I can’t see her anymore. Piers is left, whose slowly trying to inch into the sleeping bag with out me noticing.
“Oh, c’mon…Piers…” I give him a pleading look.
He’s already halfway into the bag. “Uh…if you think I’m sleeping in the same sleeping bag as him, you must be insane…”
I groan, turning around. Ace has his arms crossed, smirking, as if he knew that this was going to happen all along. “Fine.”
I climb in first, and then Ace, much more closer to me than I want. The bag is cold and he’s warm, so it evens out. I close my eyes, sighing. This is so ridiculous. I want to be asleep already so I don’t have to see Ace’s smirk.
About twenty minutes later, I already know there’s no way I’m going to be able to fall asleep anytime soon. So I open my eyes, staring up at the ceiling. “Hey, Scar?”
“What?” I whisper over to Ace. Dammit. I wish he was asleep.
“I don’t have any room…”
Yeah, well no shit, Sherlock. “Well, it’s a sleeping bag…”
“I’m going to put my arms around you…because then I’ll have more room…okay…?”
Before I can say no, his arms snake around my torso, bringing me closer into his chest. It’s hard, but warm. My head is buried in the crook of his neck. Okay…I think now I can fall asleep…
I sigh, shutting my eyes. “This wasn’t necessary.”
“I know.” I can here the grin in his voice. “But now I’m warm.”
It grows silent, and I know he’s not going to sleep. “How old is your sister?”
He pauses. “She’s 19.”
Damn. She seems like she’s 16. She’s the same age as me. “And how old are you?”
“22.”
My breathing stops for a second. I even remember in his file he was young, but it doesn’t make any sense. “But you’re part vampire…”
“But I’m also human. I age the same way you do. I don’t live till I’m 300.”
“Is your sister…you know…”
“No. She’s just human.”
“Oh.” Pause. “She’s really sweet.”
“I know.” I feel his hand playing with my hair. “Go to sleep, Scar. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
I sigh. “Fine, asshole.”
He chuckles. “Night, Scar.”
“Night.”
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I have homework that I don't want to do. Oh well.