Chapter 22. Haley
Haley
FIVE YEARS AGO
“That was totally humiliating.” I stormed into the house, wobbling on a pair of heels that I’d taken from my mother’s closet.
I didn’t know how Matt had found me, but he’d not only shown up with Ace at my high school, he’d also dragged me and Paige home.
I’d been crushing hard on Ace for the past two years and to be shouted at and ordered home in front of him was just too much.
“What’s humiliating is finding your fifteen-year-old sister and her friend dressed like hookers and drinking in the field behind the high school with a couple of seniors, when they’re supposed to be inside at the dance where it’s safe,” Matt snapped, looking to Ace for support.
Ace gave him a curt nod before following him in and closing the door behind us.
My cheeks burned, and I smoothed down the white tube dress that I’d bought at the mall on the weekend.
Plunging, sleeveless and with side cutouts, it was the first piece of clothing I’d owned that made me feel like a woman.
Paige had styled my hair in long soft curls, and we’d done each other’s makeup using a YouTube video as a guide.
We’d taken dozens of pictures of ourselves in various sexy poses before we left. In our eyes, we’d never looked so good.
“If you hadn’t noticed, I’m not a child,” I spat out. “I don’t wear children’s clothing anymore. The dance was boring. The DJ sucked. Tom had stashed some wine coolers outside and offered to let us have some. You drank when you were my age, so why shouldn’t I?”
“Because I’m a guy,” he snapped. “And, as a guy, I can tell you those dudes didn’t take you and Paige out there to look at the fucking stars or out of the kindness of their hearts.
They wanted to get you drunk and…” He made a strangled sound, and his face turned red.
Ace, who had been silent the whole way home, put a hand on his shoulder.
“I’m not stupid,” I bit out. “No one will be taking advantage of me, because I’m saving myself for someone special…
” My voice trailed off when I noticed that the someone special was staring at me.
I didn’t know why Ace was at our house instead of out with one of the multitudes of girls who were desperate for his attention.
His dark, dangerous vibe and breathtaking good looks had made him one of the most highly desirable seniors in the school.
He had a different girl under his arm every time I saw him, and he and Matt were always going out on double dates together.
I also didn’t know why he was looking at me like he’d never seen me before.
He’d had that look on his face since he and Matt found us in the field.
Matt looked from me to Ace and back to me. His jaw tightened and he pointed to the stairs. “Go to bed.”
“I’ll load up the game.” Ace turned on the television and plonked himself down on the couch.
Emboldened by the attention I’d had from the seniors, I put my hands on my hips. “I don’t take orders from you. Maybe I want to stay up and game with you and Ace and have a few more drinks. You can’t stop me.”
Matt was apoplectic at my show of defiance. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he yelled. “You’re fifteen, and Mom’s never around. Someone has to protect you. Someone has to keep you safe.”
At the word “safe,” Ace looked up. My body burned beneath his scrutiny. Was it my imagination or was he looking at me the way the seniors had looked at me when they invited me and Paige outside? Was he finally seeing me as a woman and not as a little kid?
“It’s not just up to you,” I said, my gaze locked on Ace.
“We have a guest. Let’s ask him what he wants.
” I teetered my way over to the couch and sat beside Ace, so close our bodies touched.
He was all rock-hard muscle and blistering heat, and my blood pumped furiously through my veins, every sensation new and raw.
I turned ever so slightly to glare at Matt, and my breast brushed against Ace’s thick bicep, sending a bolt of white-hot heat through my veins that made me tingle all over.
Ace stiffened and shifted in his seat, putting a few inches between us.
His hands tightened on the controller; his fingers going rigid.
I didn’t know much about boys, but I imagined he wanted me.
Finally, in my grown-up clothes, I was worthy of his attention.
Monday morning it would be me hanging off his arm in the hallway.
Me kissing him behind the school during lunch break.
Empowered by what I took as interest, and the knowledge that I was no longer the child Matt thought I was, I leaned closer and whispered in his ear. “What do you want, Ace? Do you want me to stay?”
Ace stood so quickly, I almost fell over. “I’m gonna get a beer.”
“What the fuck?” Matt glared at me and then followed Ace into the kitchen. Curious, I slipped off my shoes and tiptoed into the dining room where I could hide behind the door and listen.
“What the hell?” Matt’s low, furious whisper was audible through the closed door. “She’s my little sister.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Ace growled. “I’m not interested in skinny little kids playing dress-up in big-girl clothes.
Hell, she couldn’t even fill out that dress or walk in those shoes.
To be honest, I felt embarrassed for her when we caught her and Paige outside, and even more embarrassed for her when she sat beside me on the couch.
I don’t see Haley that way. She’s like my little sister, and she’s not even my type.
She is the last girl I would ever want to be with.
Now Esme…” He said something I couldn’t hear, and Matt laughed out loud.
Bile rose in my throat, and I almost choked on my humiliation.
All those years. All those fantasies. I thought it was just a matter of time before Ace finally realized we were meant to be together.
It had never occurred to me that the time would never come, that he didn’t share my feelings, and worse, that he didn’t even find me attractive.
I wasn’t good enough for him, and I never would be.
Not only that, I’d never be able to look at him again without thinking about how utterly sick and devastated I felt in that moment.
A sob erupted from my throat, and I slapped my hand over my mouth, just as Ace walked into the living room. He didn’t look surprised to see me standing by the door, and I wondered if he’d known I was there all along.
“Did you get the beer…?” Matt trailed off when he saw me beside the door. “Shit. Haley. Did you hear us?”
My face flamed and I willed the ground to swallow me up. When that didn’t happen, I raced past them and ran upstairs to my room, turning the lock behind me after I slammed the door.
“Haley.” Matt came up behind me and thudded on the door. “Let me in. It’s not like that… He didn’t mean—”
But he did.
And it would be three long years before I was able to put him out of mind, only to have him come back and humiliate me all over again.