I gasped as Ace stepped forward, lightning fast, and socked the hell out of Kevin. He struck him so hard, the older boy fell to the ground.
“Talk to your fucking girlfriend like that. But don’t ever do it to mine,” Ace growled as he stood over Kevin with his fists clenched.
I stood there, confused, trying to figure out what was happening. He would knock out Kevin without a second thought for talking to me crazy, but he ignored my calls for days and had told me to leave.
“What is wrong with you?” I asked, grabbing his arm and turning him to face me.
He stood there, lips pinched, still as a statue.
“Fine,” I said when he wouldn’t talk.
I spun on my heels and started for Kate’s car. “I don’t need this shit,” I said to myself angrily.
“Baby, wait.” Ace came up behind me, stopping me.
“Don’t touch me.” I pulled out of his hold. “You could’ve fucking killed yourself,” I screamed with all of the fear and emotion that welled up inside of me watching that damn race. “Why? Why would you do that to me?”
He knew more than anyone the pain losing my mother caused me. He was the one person who promised not to leave me. Now he was playing games with his life.
“I hate you.” I pushed at his chest. He barely moved. “You’re an asshole.” I shoved him again. He stumbled back a few steps but didn’t say anything. “You promised not to leave me.” I pushed him again, but this time when I went to move away, he caught both of my wrists in his hands.
“I…” He blew out a breath. “I’m sorry.”
“Save it. I don’t want your apology. I don’t want anything from you,” I declared, trying to yank my hands free, but Ace held firm.
I didn’t care that there were probably twenty to thirty other kids around, watching and whispering about us. All I knew was that the love of my life was out here taking risks with his own life. I couldn’t wrap my head around it.
“My mom’s dying,” Ace said tightly. His voice was so low, I had to strain to make out his words over the sounds of other engines and people milling about.
“What?”
His hold on my wrists tightened. It wasn’t painful, but it was more like he was holding on to garner strength.
“She’s dying. That’s what the call was about the other night,” he confessed.
I shook my head. “I-I thought the treatment was working.”
Ace’s mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer almost a year earlier. She’d endured rounds of chemo and radiation. At one point, it looked like her tumor was shrinking.
Ace shrugged. “Not anymore,” he stammered. “They said she’s only got a few months to live. She’s dying, Savannah.”
“Oh, Ace.” I pulled free from his hold and threw my arms around his shoulders.
He hesitated but soon, his arms went around my waist, and he pulled me in tight. He buried his face into the crook of my neck. His shoulders began shaking as he cried.
Knowing he wouldn’t want to be gawked at, I somehow guided us to the far side of the road, away from the crowd.
Ace continued to cry into my arms for I don’t know how long. But I held him the entire time. When he finally pulled back, I cupped his face.
“You can’t avoid this,” I said.
He balled his face up in defiance.
I shook his head in my hands. “Listen to me. I would’ve given anything to have known that I was going to lose my mom before I did.”
He knew the story of how my mom got the flu, and when it got worse, she went to a local health clinic. The doctor there dismissed her symptoms as I sat by and watched.
At sixteen, having grown up the daughter of a single parent who didn’t make much money, I was used to doctors at the free clinic talking down to us in one way or another. The male physician had told my mother to drink fluids and stay in bed for the next day or two, and she’d be fine.
