An Aces Christmas Page 7

  “No,” Charlie said, crossing her arms over her chest. “He was crying like a little bitch when we left him.”

  “The coach said he was going to report it,” I said, staring at the back of Draco’s seat. How the hell had things spun out of control so quickly? “Maybe he just meant the principal,” I said hopefully, looking up at the back of Draco’s head. “Maybe it’ll just be a suspension.”

  No one answered me, so I kept going.

  “I mean, it was just a fight, right?” I said. “Fights happen all the time. They don’t call the police. It was just a fight.”

  “That wasn’t a fight,” Charlie replied grimly, running her hand lightly up and down the bat. “Travis didn’t hit him back.”

  “But he—”

  “He hit him with a bat, Kara,” Charlie said, so quietly that I barely heard her. “Just stop, okay?”

  I could feel my heart beating at the base of my throat as her words sunk in.

  “I told you to let me handle it,” Curtis said angrily to Draco, his hands so tight on the steering wheel that his knuckles were white. “I could have fuckin’ handled it.”

  Draco didn’t respond.

  The rest of the short drive was silent and I fought the urge to cry. By the time we got to the boys’ house, my hands were shaking.

  “Mom’s home,” Curtis announced, pulling to a stop.

  “Good,” Draco replied. “Let the girls out on your side.” He was out of the car and striding for the front door before Curtis had even parked the car.

  “You guys okay?” Curtis asked as he pushed the front seat forward so we could climb out.

  “We’re fine,” Charlie said for both of us. “I really could’ve used your help back there.”

  “Well, if I’d known he was going to go after Travis himself, I woulda been there,” Curtis replied as we walked toward the house.

  “You really thought he’d leave it to you?” Charlie asked in disbelief. “Give me a break.”

  “I thought he’d make sure that Kara was okay,” Curtis replied, glancing at me. “I thought he was bringin’ you guys home.”

  “That was my fault,” I said quietly, regret making my limbs feel heavy. “I didn’t want to go home early and freak Rose out.”

  “It wasn’t your fault,” Charlie argued, shaking her head. “Even if he’d drove us to your house, he would’ve been back by the end of school anyway.”

  “What do you mean the cops are on their way?” the boys’ mom Trix was saying as we entered the house. “Why the hell are the cops coming here?”

  “Call Dad,” Draco ordered Curtis when he saw us. “Tell him to come home.”

  Curtis nodded and pulled out his phone as Trix looked at each one of us.

  “Someone tell me what the hell is going on.”

  My tongue felt swollen and stuck to the roof of my mouth. I didn’t even have enough spit in my mouth to swallow when her eyes met mine.

  “Long story, Ma,” Draco said. “Let’s just wait for Dad, alright?”

  Trix grabbed Draco’s face, her hand wrapped around the underside of his jaw as she turned it this way and that.

  “You’re okay?” she asked.

  “I’m fine,” he replied. He reached up and patted her shoulder, and I knew the exact moment that she saw the torn and bloody knuckles on his hands.

  Her eyes closed in understanding and she let out a long breath as her hand dropped away from his face.

  “He’s on his way,” Curtis said, walking back toward the group. “He said he’s bringing the boys.”

  “Great,” Draco said, walking over to drop into a chair.

  “You should call your parents,” Trix told me and Charlie. “Casper’s probably on his way, but Mack should come get you, Kara.”

  “Okay,” I said, nodding. I looked at Draco.

  I couldn’t imagine just leaving him. The whole reason he was in this mess was because of me. I was the catalyst. Shouldn’t I be there for the eventual fallout? What if they needed to ask me questions or something?

  As I pulled my phone out of my pocket, something else dawned on me and I froze.

  Everyone was going to know about the photos. Everyone would see them. My dad would see them.

  Before I could work up the courage to call, we heard the sound of motorcycles coming up the driveway.

  “Jesus, who did he bring?” Trix asked, striding toward the front door. She opened it and looked out, then turned to meet my eyes. “Your pop’s here.”

  Shit.

  “I see you brought the cavalry,” Trix called out as the men came stomping up the front porch stairs and into the house.

  “You know how it is,” the boys’ dad Cam replied, leaning down to give her a kiss. “You know what’s goin’ on?”

  “They wanted to wait for you,” she said.

  Cam looked over at me and Charlie, who were still standing awkwardly at the edge of the room. “You couldn’t even get those two to talk?”

  “I didn’t try,” Trix said dryly. “Charlie’s ready to hulk out and Kara has been on the verge of tears since they got here.”

  “Hey, kiddo,” my dad said as he caught sight of me. “Shoulda known you’d be mixed up in whatever this is.”

  “Hey, Dad,” I said, sagging against him as he came to hug me.

  “You feelin’ okay?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” I only partially lied.

  Charlie’s dad Casper threw his arm over her shoulder and said something quietly into her ear, but she didn’t respond. Cam sat down on the edge of the couch, facing his sons in the chairs. Grease stood, his back against the wall, quietly waiting.

  “Okay, someone tell me what the fuck happened,” Dragon ordered, crossing his arms over his chest. At that moment, he didn’t look like the boys’ grandpa. He was every inch the president of the motorcycle club that our families belonged to.

  Like someone had suddenly hit the play button, Curtis, Draco, and Charlie all started speaking at once. Charlie was defensive, her voice higher pitched than normal and her hands gesturing wildly. Curtis sounded angry; his voice was a little louder than the others. Draco, though, was almost monosyllabic. He didn’t rise from his seat, he barely looked up. His voice was the one I focused on, as he detailed how he’d beat up Travis and gotten caught by the coach.

  None of them, not a single one, mentioned the photos of me.

  “You dragged us over here because you got in a fight?” Grease asked in disbelief. “Hell, Tommy did that shit once a month his entire high school career.”

  “It wasn’t a fight,” Draco said, finally raising his head to look at the group crowded into the living room. Charlie and Curtis finally fell silent. “I beat the shit out of him. He didn’t get in a single swing.”

  “So the kid’s a pussy,” Grease said with a shrug.

  “I also hit him with a baseball bat,” Draco said, no emotion in his voice.

  Grease’s mouth twitched, but he didn’t reply.

  “So, we need to call the lawyer,” Dragon said. He nodded to Casper who then let go of his daughter and stepped out of the room. “You stand by it?” Dragon asked Draco.

  “Yeah,” Draco said firmly.

  “Alright,” Dragon said.

  “No,” Trix argued, her voice loud with disbelief. “No, not alright. What the hell were you thinking?”

  Draco didn’t respond.

  “Do you think that rules just don’t apply to you because you’re going to patch in eventually?” she asked. “You’re not a member yet. You’re a fucking kid! Your only responsibility is to stay out of trouble long enough to reach adulthood.”

  “Baby,” Cam said, reaching for her.

  “No,” Trix said, shaking her head. “I want to know what he was thinking. I want to know how he thought he could get away with this.”

  “He had it comin’,” Draco replied through his teeth.

  “He had it coming?” Trix repeated, her voice so low it was almost guttural. “Do you even hea
r yourself?”

  Charlie and Curtis both started back up again, their voices joining in on the back and forth.

  I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t listen to Draco downplay the whole thing, or Trix yell at him, or Charlie and Curtis pushing their own version of the events that were close to the truth, but not quite. The events of the last few hours were getting distorted, turning Draco into some out of control teenager that was stupid enough to get himself into really big trouble.

  “It’s my fault,” I said, raising my voice above the noise. “It’s my fault, okay?”

  The room went completely silent.

  “Jesus,” Trix said, looking at me and then at her son. “I should have fucking known.”

  “Kara,” Draco barked, jerking his head once from side to side.

  I snapped my mouth shut, but the words I wanted to say felt like the air inside a balloon, the pressure growing every second that I didn’t speak.

  “Cops are here,” Grease announced easily. “You want me to let them in?”

  Trix looked at Cam and something passed between them, a sort of silent communication that none of the rest of us understood.

  “We’ll meet them outside,” Trix answered.

  Draco stood as his dad moved toward him. As they hugged, Cam said something quietly in his ear. Then, with a kiss on the side of Draco’s head, Cam was on the move toward the front door. He and Dragon walked outside, closing the door behind them.

  Trix went to Draco.

  “Let’s give ’em a minute,” my dad said, pulling me toward the kitchen.

  Everything had felt kind of foggy and surreal until that moment, the whole day had been like a nightmare, but as the Aces moved into the kitchen to give Trix and Draco a minute alone, it all came into sharp focus. They weren’t going outside. They weren’t showing a united front to the police at the door. It was like they’d already given in to the inevitable.

  “You’re going to let them arrest him?” I asked, pulling away from my dad. “What the fuck?”

  “Quiet,” my dad ordered.

  “This is bullshit.” I looked at Charlie, but she wouldn’t meet my eyes.

  “You’re all just going to let them take him?” I asked, panic making my voice shrill.

  “Enough, Kara,” Casper ordered.

  “Fuck you,” I spat. The words weren’t fully out of my mouth before my dad’s hand came down on the back of my neck, squeezing in warning.

  I jerked, trying to pull away, but it was no use.

  Just then, Cam came back into the house. “They wanna talk to you,” he said to Draco. “You’re a minor, so I’ll be there with ya. Say nothin’ until the lawyer shows up, you hear me?”

  I couldn’t see Draco from my place in the kitchen, but he must have answered somehow, because Cam nodded.

  Pulling a trick I’d learned before I could even walk, I let my body fall like a limp noodle just far enough so that my dad lost his grip on me. I was practically running toward the living room before he knew what I was doing.

  “I’ll tell them what happened,” I told Draco, jerking to a stop a few feet from them. “You have your phone, right? I’ll just tell them what happened and it’ll be fine.”

  I was panicking. This couldn’t be happening.

  “You’ll keep your mouth shut,” Draco said softly. He squeezed his mom’s shoulder and came to me. “You stay out of this completely.”

  I shook my head. “No. That’s not fair.”

  Draco’s hands came up to my cheeks and gently wiped away the tears I hadn’t even realized were falling.

  “Since when did you start believin’ life is fair?” he joked gently. His hands came to rest on my cheeks as he looked at me. Leaning close, he held my gaze. “I’d do it again,” he whispered, so quiet there was barely any sound. “For you, I’d do it a hundred times.”

  “Idiot,” I whispered back.

  He moved, then, jerking me against his chest in a tight hug. “I’ll have a hearing tomorrow,” he said, his cheek resting against the top of my head. “I’ll be out on bail before you even notice I’m gone.”

  “We could just say you’re not here,” I argued, making him chuckle.

  “And have them get a warrant?” he asked, giving me a squeeze. “Not gonna happen.”

  He started to pull away but I refused to let go, my nails digging into the back of his shirt. If I just closed my eyes and held on for dear life, maybe I could change it. Maybe I could slow time down or stop it somehow.

  “Curt,” Draco said. I don’t know what passed between them, but suddenly, there was an arm around my waist, pulling me away.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Draco said, reaching up to run his thumb down my cheek as he took a step backward. He looked up at Curtis. “Hold her.”

  Curtis’ arm tightened around my waist as Draco strode away, his shoulders back and head straight.

  “Stop it,” I hissed, pulling at Curtis’ arm.

  Before I could move or call out or do anything to stop him, Draco was stepping out of the front door, his dad following closely behind him.

  Looking back later, I would realize that it wasn’t the topless photos of me or the fight afterwards that changed everything. It was the moment I watched Draco step outside, the light filtering in around his broad shoulders that twisted my life into something I no longer recognized.

  Chapter 9

  Charlie

  Present

  “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” I mumbled, staring at Kara’s empty room. The bed was made and everything was tidy like it usually was, but the suitcase she used as extra storage was gone and the purses she stored in it were neatly stacked in the corner.

  I should have expected her to act like a coward. I’d been watching her like a hawk for days, waiting to see how she was going to handle things, but between work and holiday shit, I hadn’t been around much.

  Pulling out my phone, I found her contact and hit send.

  “Hey,” she answered on the first ring. She’d probably been staring at her phone for hours—I would’ve if I was her.

  “Where are you?” I asked, walking back toward our tiny kitchen. The apartment we’d found was anything but big, but it was in our price range and wasn’t a dump, so I considered it a freaking palace.

  “Staying with my parents tonight,” she said, trying and failing to sound nonchalant. “I’m going to help with the boys tomorrow while Rose cooks.”

  “That’s your story, huh?” I asked dryly.

  “Don’t start,” she replied instantly.

  “You’re hiding,” I accused, dropping onto a kitchen stool. “You know that’s not gonna last long, right? You’ll have to face him at some point.”

  “I’m not hiding,” she argued. “I told Rose I’d stay tonight and tomorrow night for Christmas.”

  “You’re so full of shit and your parents are just playing into it.”

  “Whatever,” she shot back. “I’m sure you can fend for yourself for two nights.”

  “Fend for myself,” I repeated, sitting forward. “You’re joking, right?”

  “Did you seriously call just to fight with me?” Kara asked. “Because I could’ve done without it.”

  “No, I called to see where the hell you’d gone into hiding.”

  “I’m not fucking hiding,” she replied, enunciating each word. “I’m at my freaking parents’ house.”

  “Keep telling yourself that,” I muttered, shaking my head. God, she was only going to make this whole situation harder and we both knew it. Instead of seeing Draco, giving him a welcome home hug, and leaving it at that—she was going to dodge him. And if I knew my nephew, that was only going to make him hunt her down and force her to acknowledge him.

  “I’ll see you at the club tomorrow,” she said with a sigh. “Okay?”

  “I’m not the only one you’ll see at the club,” I reminded her.

  I wasn’t even surprised when she hung up on me.

  God, sometimes I w
anted to shake her. Where was the girl I’d grown up with—the one who took charge and made things happen? Who was this mousy person she’d turned into? It had been years, but I was still searching for my best friend.

  Grabbing a bag of chips and a soda, I made my way to the couch and dropped onto it. Out of all the furniture in our apartment, that couch was my favorite place to be. Most of our stuff had come from family and friends, hand-me-downs that we’d accepted gladly because we didn’t have to pay for them—but the couch had been our one luxury. We’d sat on bean bags for six months while we’d saved up for it. Plush, soft, green velvet with six throw pillows and two throws hung over the back at all times, it was a freaking oasis in the middle of our space.

  I’d just gotten comfortable and was reaching for the television remote when I heard someone knocking at my door.

  Only one person could get me off that couch at eleven o’clock at night. I knew exactly who was on the other side of that door. It only took me seconds before I was throwing it open.

  “Nice place,” Draco said, grinning. “You buy out a thrift store?”

  “You’re here!” I screamed, jumping into his arms.

  “Course I am,” he said as he carried me inside.

  “I’m here, too,” Curtis said dryly, following us in and closing the door.

  “How’d dinner with the parents go?” I asked as Draco set me on my feet.

  “About how you’d expect,” Curtis replied. “They came, they saw, they cried, we ate, they left.”

  “Jealousy is a stinky cologne,” Draco told his brother, his gaze scanning the apartment over my head.

  “She’s not here,” I told him.

  “Told you she wouldn’t be,” Curtis said, hopping over the back of the couch to plant himself in my spot.

  “Scoot over,” I ordered. I looked at Draco. “Want the tour?”

  “Sure,” he said, hiding his disappointment with a grin.

  I took two steps sideways and started pointing. “Living room, kitchen, bathroom, my room, Kara’s room.” I grinned. “There, tour over.”

  He laughed.

  “Why do you have a Christmas tree if you’re not going to turn it on?” Curtis asked, getting off the couch to plug the lights in.