Chapter Four

I woke up with Ace's tattooed arm slung over my me.. His mattress was thin and his blankets smelt of stale smoke, but I nestled closer to him, feeling safe and warm.

The sunlight was filtering through his broken blind over the dusty one room apartment. There were only two doors in the whole place- one that led outside into a unevenly paved alley, and one that led to a bathroom the same size as my closet.

Ace's place wasn't as messy as I had thought it would be the first time he took me home. He didn't dust and the windows weren't clean but he picked up his empties and he didn't own a whole lot of personal stuff. He had a small kitchenette in the corner of the room with a sink and the world's loudest coffee machine but he ate out mostly and when he did make something like a sandwich, he rarely used a plate.

Ace's alarm clock started going off on the other side of the room. I'd strategically placed it there because Ace had a bad habit of switching it off and going back to sleep. He didn't work a steady job, instead he hustled to make his rent (I didn't want to know the details), but when he was short, Drake Desjardins, Vince's uncle, let him work it off with his haulage company. Those were the only mornings when Ace used his alarm clock and he hated them. He also hated it when I had to get up for school.

I was tryna drag myself up and he wasn't helping by tightening his arms around my waist. I hissed through my teeth as he squeezed my sore ribs and I felt his arms go slack about me. Using the opportunity to escape, I slid out of the bed in one of his oversized shirts and crossed the room to switch off the alarm clock.

"Morning already?" He mumbled from his pillow.

"Yup." I tried to say this cheerfully but the way I was feeling, the last thing I wanted to do was go to school. I couldn't stay home with Ace though. I was barely passing my classes as it was. I crossed the room and switched on the coffee machine. It started to rumble noisily and Ace pulled the pillow over his head.

"Christ, Nina. C'mon, get back here."

"Can't. And I need coffee."

"I need a new chick." He threw the pillow towards me but it was such a half assed attempt it barely made it off the mattress.

I'd draped my wet clothes over a wooden chair when I had turned up last night but as I squeezed them experimentally I realised they were still damp in places. Sighing, I left the coffee machine rattling and went into the bathroom to shower.

The coffee machine must have kept Ace up because when I got out of the shower he was sitting in the only armchair drinking coffee. His shirt was open but he was wearing jeans and shoes. I raised an eyebrow at him..

"You going somewhere?"

"No, but apparently you are. Thought I might as well take you as you sure as hell ain't letting my sleep."

I'd forgotten that the old shower made almost as much noise as the coffee machine. Still, Ace rarely dropped me to school. Usually, I had to take a long walk until I got to the bus route. He was making me uneasy looking at me the way he was, like he knew I hadn't been telling him the truth last night. Sure, I'd told him my Mom and Stan had been fighting but I hadn't told him Stan had hit me. He'd be round there to kick his ass before I could blink and I didn't want to have to deal with the repercussions.

Thankfully the ice Chris had given me last night had brought down the swelling of my face but I knew from my shower I had an almost perfectly boot shaped bruise across my ribs.

"I can get the bus," I told him, picking up my clothes and turning away from him as I slipped out of my towel. Ace slurped his coffee and once I had my shirt over my head I turned back to face his accusing blue eyes.

"You sure you told me everything last night?"

I tried to smile at him.

"Let me see…Stan and my Mom yelling, me walking to the diner with no coat. Fran taking pity on the fucked up kids of Castle Rock and driving me and Chris home-"

"Chris Chambers?"

Whoops. I hadn't mentioned that last night either.

"Uh-yeah. Guess he got into it with his old man. Fran took him home then brought me out here."

Ace's eyes narrowed the way they always did when he saw or spoke about Chris Chambers.

"And why the fuck is it you're only mentioning this now?"

I suddenly realised that I could use this to lead him off the scent of what had really happened to me. He knew I was hiding something but I'd much rather he thought I was hiding hitching a ride with Chris Chambers then taking a beating off Stan.

"Ah, come on, Ace," I slid onto his lap and took his coffee cup from him. "I know how you hate him, I just didn't want you to get all riled up."

"Good fucking plan. Gimme that back, get your own." He wrenched the almost empty cup from my hand, and pushed me away before standing up.

"Would you grab me a cup while I fix my hair?" I wandered towards the cracked mirror that was hung opposite his bed.

"I thought you were leaving?" He snapped, tossing his cup into the sink.

"Well, I was but since you're driving me, I got time for a cup of coffee, don't I?" I turned coyly towards him, using my hand to hold my hair off my neck. "You are still giving me a ride, right?"

He carried on glaring at me.

"You got five fucking minutes before I get back in bed."

I blew him a kiss then a smirk before I stared at him pointedly.

"What?" He barked.

I gave him a tiny smile.

"A cup of coffee? Please babe?"

I could have sworn I saw the smoke coming out of his ears.

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Ace was a fast driver. He barely said a word to me on the drive to the school, which wasn't unusual. He kept his eyes on the road and chewed on a toothpick as he cut in and out of lanes and overtook cars recklessly.

We must have been a couple of minutes from school when a kid on a bike shot across the road in front of us. Ace slammed on his brakes just in time, missing the kid by inches and throwing us both forward in our seats.

The seatbelt tightened painfully across my bruised ribs and I instinctively yelled out in pain. Ace was scarcely bothered by the near miss. He gave the kid the finger before he looked at me quizzically.

"What's your problem?"

I was biting my lip to keep from making any more noise but I shook my head.

"Nothing. Just scared me."

Ace gave me a strange look before he moved the car off again.

The parking lot was crowded on our arrival so he didn't bother looking for a space. Instead he pulled to a stop behind the school buses.

"Am I seeing you later?" I asked him, my hand on the door handle.

"Maybe. I got some things to do."

I nodded, leaned over real quick to plant a kiss on his cheek before I scrambled out of the car.

"Thanks for the ride." I was a few metres from the car when he honked the horn and motioned for me to come back.

Puzzled, I walked back to his window. He was reaching out with his hand when I drew near and I took it, thinking he was pulling me in for a last kiss. It wasn't a typical move for Ace, he was never one for public displays of affection so I guess I should have had my suspicions when his hand trailed out of the window, round my waist, before yanking my top up over my stomach.

"Ace, quit it!" I yanked my top back down irritably but it was too late. He'd seen the bruise and he knew just who was responsible.

"He's dead." His quiet purposeful voice stated. He let go of me before he ripped the car into reverse, spinning it crazily before exiting the parking lot with squealing tyres.

"Ace, don't!" I yelled after him but even though half of the student body heard me, clearly Ace didn't.

"What's up his ass?"

I turned around to see Gordie and Chris standing behind me. Gordie was smirking but Chris' face was expressionless.

"Oh, shit, Gordie. He's gonna kill Stan."

"Finally. Ace Merril might just serve a purpose."

Oh I didn't mention that if there was one person Gordie liked less than Ace, it was Stan.

"It's not funny. You know how much trouble this will cause?" I ran my hand through my hair frustratedly but Gordie just shrugged.

"Not a lot you can do about it now." Chris cut in.

"And what the hell do you know?" I snapped at him. I hoped that he didn't think after last night that we were friends or something.

"I know that you don't got a car and even if you did, you wouldn't be able to stop Ace anyhow."

I scowled at him, hating that he was speaking the truth. Gordie grabbed my arm and pulled me onto the sidewalk.

"Come on, Nina, we'll be late. Forget about Ace. Whatever happens, you can deal with it later."

Sighing, I fell into step with the two of them.

"Did you do your math homework?" Gordie asked me. I shot him a look.

"I don't even have my math book. I stayed at Ace's."

"On a school night?" Gordie smirked and I hit him in the arm. I did sneak a look at Chris though. The two of them had been on the school bus together but Chris clearly hadn't told Gordie about last night. No way Gordie would be making jokes about my staying out if he had.

"Can I copy yours?" I asked Gordie who shook his head sheepishly.

"I didn't do it. I was hoping to copy yours."

"Here. You can have mine." Chris passed Gordie a piece of paper as we reached the entrance to the school.

"Hey, you said you didn't do it." Gordie's eyes scanned over the neatly printed arithmetic in his hand, before looking back up at his friend.

"Did it on the bus while you were writing your story." Chris hitched his backpack up on his shoulder and clapped Gordie on the shoulder. "See you in Math." His blue eyes met mine ever so briefly before he said; "Bye."

I only nodded, but Gordie didn't miss a thing.

"What the hell was that about?"

"What?" My feet were already heading in the direction of our homeroom.

"You and Chris. Being civil."

I shrugged.

"Beats me. Maybe he feels bad for being such a grade A jerk over at your place."

Our argument yesterday morning felt like a lifetime ago but Gordie seemed to buy it.

"I did tell him he was out of line."

"No shit, Sherlock." I walked into the classroom and sat down in my seat in the back row.

Gordie's seat was in front of mine. He dropped into it and set his bag on the floor before pulling out his writing book and opening it up.

"So what are you writing?" I asked Gordie, leaning over my desk to peer over his shoulder. I wasn't much of a reader but sometimes Gordie read his stuff to me and I would lie on his bed with my eyes shut, pretending it was a movie.

"Huh?" Gordie glanced back at me.

"Chris said you were writing something on the bus?"

"Oh, yeah. It's for a competition. The winners get to go on a residential writing course in Portland."

"Cool." It wasn't my idea of fun but Gordie sounded stoked. I supposed it would do him good to hear someone say positive stuff about his writing. His parents thought writing was a waste of time.

My mind crept back to Ace and Stan and what could possibly be happening right now. I looked at the clock and wondered whether I should have tried to call one of the Cobra's for a ride back home. Stupid idea, really. All they would do was turn up as back up. None of them would attempt to stand in Ace's way when he was mad.

"Here, you want this first?" Gordie slid Chris' math homework onto my desk along with his notepad and a pen.

I absentmindedly began copying the answers into Gordie's notepad, while thinking about what Ace might be doing to Stan. I was at the bottom of the page before I knew it and without realising I'd reached the end of questions, I turned over the paper.

In Chris' neat handwriting was a short list. It read:

University of Phoenix, Utah

University of Sioux Falls, South Dakota

University of California, Los Angeles

Witchita State University, Kansas.

And then underneath the list, written in smudged ink, were the words:

'Anywhere but here.'

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