Ace

I glared at Eyeball. "Jesus Christ man what the fuck are you thinking?" I pulled him out of the office and shut the door.

"Dude I don't know it just happened! She threw herself at me what was I supposed to do?"

"Not take her into the bathroom and fuck her!"

Eyeballs eyes grew big. "No man it didn't go that far...i mean I didn't-."

"The woman is clearly shitfaced and off her rocker and you think it's a good idea to take advantage?" Eyeball went white. "Man if you'd have seen her you'd know this was not on me. It was all her. She said some messed up stuff, man I didn't know what to do. I figure with someone that unstable you just follow their lead. Man I think she was really trying to end it…" his eyes were wide.

"Yeah I got that impression too."

Eyeball rubbed his face. "Heavy shit man, I just feel bad the prom queen has to deal with this."

My mind snapped back to Rory on the other side of the door. I wondered how the hell she was going to manage getting her mother and sisters all home in one piece. The look in her big brown eyes when she first arrived was etched in my mind and despite the completely fucked up timing I couldn't help but notice how hot she was. Maybe it was the lack of pussy I'd just been discussing with Eyeball, maybe it was the complete insanity of the situation with her mother and the car wreck, but something inside me started to soften and I realized that this situation would probably go easier if the Homecoming Queen wasn't handling this alone.

"Eye, go see if you can move her car around to one of the empty bays. It's on display for the whole town to see where it is. When you're done that, the sisters are in the shop. Go sit with them and give them whatever candy or soda they want, I'll figure out how we're gonna get them out of here."

"You want me to babysit the Scanlon sisters?"

"try not to tell them you just fucked their mother, alright?" Eye shot me a dirty look as he jogged over to Ashley's car. I went back toward the office and cracked the door open.

"Get your hands off me! Can't you just leave me be!" I heard Ashley's slurred voice. "We have to get you home, I'll pull my car around. You just need a shower and to get to bed." Rory's words were hollow. She knew her mother needed a lot more than that.

"Ace darling please talk some sense into my horrible disappointment of a daughter." Why do I keep getting dragged deeper and deeper into this? I wish I had the sense to just call the cops when she hit the barrel. This wouldn't be my problem then. Or maybe it would have. The Cops coming to Tommy's wouldn't be good for anyone, god knows what kind of weight he had stashed in the house.

"Ashley she's just trying to help. She wants to get you home alright." I stepped closer. Ashley laughed. "I'm not going home she can't make me go back there. I'm the adult and she's the child!" She rambled nonsensically.

Rory stood up. She looked like she'd just gone a dozen rounds in the ring against a prize fighter. She pulled me aside. "Listen I don't want to put you out anymore than I already have but-." She cut off before she finished her sentence. I gathered she stopped before she said "i need your help."

There was the look again. Same face that had been etched in my mind moments before. Fuck. I'm gonna get roped into some bullshit here. I locked eyes with her and tried to ignore a weird flutter in my stomach as I did. She took a deep breath and continued. "I can't let them see her like this...can I leave the girls here for a little bit so I can get my mom home? I know you aren't a babysitting service but everyone I can call is gone for the holidays and I…" she trailed off. I could see a million thoughts running through her mind.

"Deal with your mother. The girls can stay here or I can drive them home later if you want…"

Good going Merrill, get yourself in deeper. I don't think anyone would ever mistake me for being an overly compassionate kind of guy, I'd picked a hell of a day to start doing favors for my fellow man. I'd been in some fucked up situations in my day, but I'd always managed to turn the other cheek and look out for myself. Something about this was different. These goddamn Scanlon girls and the big brown eyes they'd stare up at you with made it near impossible to keep them hanging. My mind flashed back to Amanda telling me I'd gone soft, in this moment I had to admit she wasn't wrong.

Almost like clockwork, she stared at me with those chocolate brown eyes. "I can't ask you to do that." "You didn't ask. Your mother is a ticking time bomb and you need to diffuse it. You can't do that and cart around those kids." She bit her lip. "And don't thank me, figure this shit out. Do you want me to pull your car around?" She nodded, as if in a daze.

She reached into her bag and pulled out her keys.

"Alright mom, Ace is bringing the car around and then we'll get going." "I told you Lauren I'm not going anywhere." Ashley sat defiant on the couch. "Mom please, you just need to get home." "Is your father there?" "He wasn't when I left. I wont even tell him about the car, I'll tell him you got hit. We can cover it up it can be our secret." The desperation in her voice grew with every word she spoke.

Ashley's eyes narrowed. She looked tempted by the proposition but doubtful of Rory actually doing it. She sat in thought for a moment and I saw her face turn. A wicked grin painted her face.

"You're lying to me. Just like you lied about breaking up with Nick and how you lied about quitting cheerleading. You are the reason I'm like this. I gave you everything and you've done nothing but spit in my face for it. Your sisters suffer because of you." Rory took it on the chin, it was clear this wasn't the first time her mother had tried to cut her like this.

"You did this to yourself. Dont blame me." Rory stood up, staring coldly down at her mother. The comment agitated Ashley who popped up and stood with her face inches from her daughters. It was impossible not to notice how much the two women looked alike, especially with matching looks of defiance on their face.

"You're lucky i saw Ace when I did. I was headed right for that gas pump. Those idiot sisters of yours wouldn't have been missed. Seeing these lovely young men made me stop, would have been a shame to see them get hurt because of you." Ashley continued to push her daughter and fill her mind with thoughts that everything that was happening was her fault. I'd expect any other girl to be crying in the corner hearing their mother speak to them like that, but not Rory. She was cold as ice and barely flinched at her mother's harsh words.

"Well I'm glad sucking some high school boys dick was motivation enough to stop you." Ashley flew into a rage. I saw her wind up with an open hand to slap Rory across the face. I jumped toward them but I didn't need to. Rory had unexpectedly quick reflexes. She caught her mother's hand in her own before her palm hit her cheek and grabbed it tightly. I was impressed, I'd been in my fair share of fights and had gone toe to toe with guys who didn't have reflexes like that. "You hit me once and got away with it, it wasn't going to happen twice." Rory snapped.

Ashley moaned as Rory wrestled her down on the couch. "Get the car Ace!" She yelled as her mother thrashed beneath her. Shocked, I backed out of the room and headed over to the car. As I ran to Rory's car, I peeked into the shop and saw the girls giggling at Eyeball, who looked like he was midway through some crazy story. Luckily he distracted them enough that they didn't see me hop into Rory's car and drive it around back.

I headed back into the office where Rory continued to wrestle her mother on the couch. "Ace thank god you're back! Get this wild animal off me! I swear I didn't raise her to behave this way!" "time to go home Ashley, why don't you let me help you to the car?" I was desperate to diffuse this situation, the charm had worked on Ashley before I hoped it would work again. Ashley managed to push Her daughter off her and was still for a moment. She looked up at me and raised her hand to me, as if to ask me to help her up. I took her hand and helped steady her to her feet. I handed Rory her keys. She opened the door and ran outside to open the passenger door. I helped Ashley get in the car. "You're such a gentleman. Thank you for treating me like a lady, and not like a wild animal like my daughter does." She shot Rory a glare as she slammed the door.

I stood face to face with Rory. The image of her smiling up from the homecoming ballot flashed in my head. It was hard to believe in this moment that it was the same girl standing before me.

"Can you give me a half hour to get her home? I can get her cleaned up and give her something to sleep. Hopefully the girls won't have to see anything else…" she trailed off.

"Yeah they seem like they're having a great time with Eyeball, so I think they're ok considering everything."

"I don't know what I would have done if you weren't here." Fuck those big brown eyes again. Even in all of this insanity, there was no denying the girl was beautiful. "Don't worry about it. Might need you to back up this story to tommy when he wonders why we unexpectedly closed…"

"Shit I'm sorry. I'll do whatever I need to do to make this right by you, I swear."

I shook my head. "Just get her out of here." She mouthed thank you as she walked to the car. I watched her drive off and hoped she'd get home alright. I stood out back and lit a cigarette and started to process what happened. Ashley could have blown up the whole place, i could be dead right now. I slowly walked over to the shop, preparing myself to deal with the Scanlon sisters.

I unlocked the shop and the girls were giggling up a storm. An hour ago they'd almost been killed and now they're all hopped up on sugar and joking around with eyeball. "Ace is back!" Olivia bounced around.

"Eye, get the sign back on. We gotta open back up now that things are cleared out." He leaned over and flipped on the sign and I turned the "closed" sign back to "open." Explaining this to Tommy was going to be interesting.

"Where's Rory?" Kendall shot me a worried look.

"She took your mom home."

"Is she coming back for us?" Olivia's face fell.

"She asked me to take you home in a little bit. She wanted to get your mom to bed."

The girls exchanged looks. Kendall took a deep breath. "She's alone with mom?"

"Yeah until I take you home."

Kendall furrowed her brow. "We can't leave Rory alone with her we have to go now."

"We'll go soon, she just wanted to get your mom settled."

"You don't understand. I know you think I'm just a dumb kid but I know what's happening here. My mom is all messed up and if she almost just drove into a gas pump with us in the car there's no reason she wouldnt try to hurt Rory. You have to help us!"

This kid was truly terrified. The little one started crying again. Fuck! how did I get myself into this!?

Against my better judgement, I grabbed my keys. "Eye you good here? I'll be right back." Eyeball nodded, clearly dazed after the afternoons events.

Kendall sighed in relief. I walked out the door with the girls in tow. If anyone in castle rock saw the sweet little Scanlon kids getting in Ace Merrill's car, the cops would get a phone call. Little would they know the little ones were probably better off than her older sister right now.

The girls jumped in my car and we drove out of the lot. I took the turn up to Castle View as Kendall directed me to their house. I wasn't surprised to see a gigantic White House with a red coronet parked crookedly in the driveway. It was easily one of the biggest houses on the hill, complete with a backyard overlooking the country club. From the outside it looked perfect, but I knew the real situation on the inside was anything but.

I parked on the street in front of the house and turned to the backseat to look at the girls. They were pretty quiet on the ride, you could almost feel them mentally preparing themselves for what was ahead. We walked up to the unlocked front door and I took a deep breath. I hoped I'd given Rory enough time to calm her mother down.