Ace slowly got up from the ground, still holding one hand absent mindedly at his injured balls. His eyes had no panic in them. Ace never lost his cool. "Why don't you get your bitch under control, Rich." He said shortly and then began to walk past them both and back into the house.
Eyeball looked after him and then turned to Sadie. "What the hell did you do?" He asked, more bewildered than upset or angry.
Through her tears Sadie looked up at him, "He attacked me, Richie. He was ripping at my clothes and..and.." The rest was lost in a sob.
"What? No..Sadie you're just drunk. Ace wouldn't do that. We know him. It's probably a misunderstanding." He answered.
Sadie shook her head. "No! " She told him how Ace had approached her the first night and how Billy had unknowingly come to her rescue. How tonight's events had unfolded quickly followed. She could not read the look on her boyfriend's face and hoped with everything she had that he believed her.
Richard said nothing. He turned away from her and began to walk into the house. Sadie followed him, "Richie, please!" She begged. The she saw what he was doing and fear overtook her.
Ace was moodily leaned up against the kitchen counter smoking a cigarette. The smoke was drifting up and curling around his nostrils. Richard approached him slowly and with purpose. "You put that bitch in her place?" Ace asked hatefully.
Again, Richard said nothing. Ace opened his mouth to repeat his question when Richard's fist came flying at his face, breaking his nose and splattering blood all over his white t-shirt. "Fuck you!" Richard screamed.
Ace's hands flew to his face, and a scream of pain and rage came out, silencing the entire party. Everyone turned to look at what was happening, drinks still in hand. The usual adrenaline of the crowd was not present at this fight. No one spoke a word as Ace fired back and landed a punch on Richie's own face, busting his lip open. Both of the young men wore solemn expressions of hate on their faces. Richie never asked Ace any questions about what he had done to Sadie, and Ace never tried to explain himself. They just went on throwing punches until they were down on the ground wrestling. That was when Sadie first saw the gleam of a knife. She knew that she couldn't stop anything; she felt absolutely helpless and didn't know what to do.
By this time, Billy had taken place standing at her elbow. She turned to him and whispered "Ace has a knife. Billy can't you do something?" Billy only shook his head, unaware at why the two Cobras had turned on each other. Had he known, he would have joined in and perhaps the next few events could have been avoided, but perhaps you can't change that kind of fate.
A few gasps escaped the crowd, mostly from girls, that had also noticed the shining knife. Ace plunged it into Richie's side and he didn't move for a moment. It wasn't a fatal blow, it was only a switchblade and no major arteries had been hit, but it hurt fiercely and Richie tried to sit up, pulling away from the fight. Sadie ran towards him to help him, kneeling down and grabbing his arm. Ace was moving towards them both, reaching up with his knife again. Sadie screamed and jumped back. She hadn't expected him to use it again. When a knife was used in a fight, it was usually to end it. It would cause one of the boys to back off, and then things would dissolve. Ace didn't care about what usually happened though. He was going to show Eyeball and his broad what happened when you went against Ace Merrill.
He grabbed Sadie and held the knife at her throat. "Hey, Ace.." Billy started, unsure what to say next. His emotions were in a whirl seeing his sister in danger, but he hadn't any clue on how to diffuse the situation. "Anybody says a word and I slit her fucking throat. Everybody get out of here." Ace answered, his voice chilly and calm. His face was still covered in blood and the collar of his shirt had ripped. The teenagers quickly began to filter out, scrambling towards the door. None of them had ever seen Ace turn against one of his own.
"Sadie.." Billy said quietly. "Please, Billy. Please go find someone who can do something." Tears fell down Sadie's face as she pleaded with her older brother. He was filled with guilt for all the times he hadn't protected her, and for not being able to now. He ran his hands through his hair and then turned to walk out the door, in search of a phone, or his father.
"Get your fucking hands off of her, Ace. I'm not fucking around. Don't fucking touch her!" Eyeball screamed, furious in spite of his injuries. A dark spot of blood was forming in an oblong circle on his shirt under his armpit where he'd been stabbed. His hair which had been so perfectly styled at the beginning of the night hung in his face, damp with his own sweat.
"What're you gonna do, hero? Bleed on me?" Ace answered smugly. He began to draw the knife across Sadie's throat, a small trickle of blood falling down onto her blouse, when he heard a click that made him stop before he could do anything more than superficial damage to her delicate neck. When he looked up, he saw something so familiar, that for a moment he thought he had somehow traveled back in time.
Chris Chambers stood in the doorway of the kitchen, his father's gun in his hand. "Let her go." He said quietly.
The name and age of the boy had changed, but Ace knew that Chris was just as capable as Gordon LaChance had been of pulling the trigger of that damned gun. Maybe even more so. He threw down his knife disgusted. He wasn't going to lose his life for this dumb bitch.
"Fuckin' Chambers. He said. He gave Richie a final kick in the ribs before he walked out of the house, pretending he wasn't afraid, when he was praying to a God he didn't believe in that the little fuck wouldn't pull the trigger.
Billy had gotten to a phone by this time, and didn't take long for Castle Rock's finest to pick up Ace Merrill. He was handcuffed and put safely away in jail to await a court date. Richie was stitched up and Sadie's neck required no more than a gauze bandage. There wasn't much they could do for her broken cheek bone, but that would heal on its own in time. Chris had saved their lives.
Sadie did end up following her dream of becoming a teacher, and she and Chris both got out of Castle Rock. After that night, Richie has begun to appreciate and love her in a way he hadn't before. She and Richie eventually married, and while he was never really able to escape the alcoholic legacy of his father, they made it work and ended up with three kids.
Ace Merrill didn't serve too much time for his crimes and was back out on the streets. He never stayed out of trouble for long though and his rap sheet kept him from ever succeeding at anything more than securing an odd job here and there. He spent most of his days parked down at the Mellow Tiger, drinking away his paychecks and packing on some excess weight.
No one ever did find out why Ace and Eyeball had turned on each other that night. Rumors spread fast and ride, but none of them ever came within shouting distance of the truth. That fact was kept an unspoken secret between the three of them and Chris. It bound them together like a knitted afghan and Sadie could never quite get away from the fear he had awoken in her. She often woke up in the night, damp with perspiration, sure that he was standing at the foot of her bed. She would snuggle up next to her husband and lay there awake until the sun came up on those nights.
In a terrible bout of irony, Chris would eventually lose his life in a knife fight some years later. Sadie never really got over that either. Although she had left Castle Rock, she would never really escape it. It lived in her and was as much a part of her as her arm or leg was. The memories were the nightmares she could never awaken from.
A/N: Well I hope everyone enjoyed this story, and I've appreciated all the reviews and favorites. I'll be working on some new stuff now, hopefully. I kind of suck at endings so sorry if this is rambling/boring or just unsatisfying in general haha. I tried though, so hopefully it isn't too awful.