Page 32 of Hers To Keep

“Guess we’re both trying something new.” He smiles widely, his dimples making their rare appearance. “So, Scottie and Sally? They seem sweet.”

“They’re the best. Like the grandparents I never had. Well, I had them, still have some, but they’re nothing like Scottie and Sally.”

“I assume you used to come here often as a kid?”

“We all used to come when we were kids, actually with Stella’s mom, Denise. My mother would’ve never stepped foot in a place like this, and my father well, unless it was some high-profile event, he never ate with us. But Denise was kind, even with us who weren’t her precious Stella.”

“Must have been a lonely childhood—you and your sister all alone in that giant house.” I scoff, sounding more hateful than I had planned to. It’s wrong of me to judge him based on the little I actually know of him.

“I think that’s what made it lonelier. Which is why the guys and I got so close. Everyone believes our parents pushed us together, coerced us into being friends, but ever since we were kids, we have had so much in common. All three of us, a burden to our parents. Conceived and brought into this world to become loyal soldiers, valiant crooks, whichever way you’d rather look at it.” He fists his hands together, as he squirms nervously in his seat. It makes him uncomfortable to speak of his childhood, but he’s willing to share it with me. “But what we went through, we went through together. They became my brothers, and everything was slightly more bearable because we did it together.”

It’s the first time he’s truly shared anything with me, especially about what things were like for him growing up. It feels almost like an actual date, unloading childhood traumas and parental dramas, so I decide to pay back the deed unleashing some of my own demons.

“Things were similar for Jade and me. We were both about four years old when we met. We became easy friends at first, as most little girls do; we were friendly. Then as the years progressed, most days and nights we were left all alone at the house, and we had no other choice. Her brother Roman, who’s only like three years older than me, would make sure we were fed, but beyond that he was aghost who lived with us. He rarely spoke with Jade, and it was as if I was invisible. On rare occasions when he looked my way, it was as if he resented me, hated me. I can only assume it was because of my mother. She was such a bitch to him. Whenever she and Chaz would fight, he’d take it out on Roman, beat him incessantly. Over the years it amounted to a few broken bones, countless bloody noses, and a hell of a lot of black eyes.” I pause, just as Sally brings over the cheeseburgers and milkshakes, which smell amazing. Suddenly I’m salivating, my stomach grumbling and reminding me it’s been hours since I last ate.

“Here you two lovebirds are. I got you a side of ranch, just like you always asked for. Let me know if I can get you anything else,” Sally says, setting the plates in front of us. The cheeseburger looks incredible, the smell of bacon and grilled onions overwhelming my senses.

“Thank you,” we answer simultaneously, as she leaves heading off toward the other side of the diner. I reach over to grab the mustard bottle from the edge of the table just as Ace reaches for the ketchup.

“Mustard?” he questions me, obviously judging my choice of condiment.

“Ketchup?” I ask, doing just the same.

“I like to mix it in my ranch,” he explains, squirting the tomatoey concoction into the container of ranch dressing. I nearly gag as he mixes the two together with a fry, bringing the drenched potato to his mouth, just as I drizzle the mustard over my fries.

“I hate ketchup,” I answer, setting the bottle back on the edge of the table.

“I hate mustard,” he answers back, doing the same with the ketchup.

“See, already so much we don’t have in common,” I murmur quietly, but I know he heard me, his body stiffening across from me.

We sit in silence for a moment, both of us salivating at thesmell of the food before us. I open the cheeseburger, removing the tomato, before closing it and slowly biting into it. Damn if it isn’t the best thing I’ve ever eaten. I was right to assume it had bacon and grilled onions but am surprised to find it also has Swiss cheese, pickles, and avocado.

“This is the best damn thing I’ve ever tasted. I swear I can nearly orgasm just by eating this,” I murmur in between chews, burger juices shamelessly flowing out of my mouth.

“I can think of one thing that tastes slightly better, especially when it orgasms.” I look up at him nearly choking on my burger as I come across the lustful gaze in his eyes. “But I guess this makes it to my list of top three best things I’ve put in my mouth.” I throw a fry covered in mustard at him, rolling my eyes at his crude remark.

“You’re a dick,” I say, taking another fry and bringing it to my mouth. They’re equally delicious. Crisp, crunchy, and seasoned to perfection.

“My dick is at the top of your list. Why thank you, I’m humbled,” he mocks, and I roll my eyes at him, ignoring him as I continue to eat. “So you and Jade remained the best of friends?” he asks, taking a big slurp of his milkshake. “I swear she scares me, like she’s got this equally crazy and terrifying look in her eyes.”

“That’s Jade for you, actually a spot-on description of her. I’ll have to tell her you said that—I’m sure it will make her proud. But deep down, like really deep, where no one has ever gone, she’s harmless.” I join him, slurping up the deliciously sweet flavors of chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla. “But to answer your question, no. There was a time Jade and I couldn’t even fathom being in the same room.”

“That sounds nearly impossible. She’s practically your bodyguard.”

“My protective wolf. When Chaz got arrested, my mother was a mess. Angry, distraught, truly psychotic. She would take all her anger and frustration out on us, mainly Jade. She was always jealous of her. Jade looks so much like her mother, and Chaz wasenamored with Amelia. So because of my mother’s envy and heavy hand, Jade resented me. The worse things got, the more we realized we could only get through it if we had each other. Then we became inseparable. True sisters. We’d stand our ground, fight back and things got somewhat easier. Then Chaz came back and my mother all but forgot about us.”

“How did you end up at the foster house exactly?” I’m surprised he doesn’t already know, with his uncle being the culprit behind it all, and that he saw Elena and she all but confessed her part in it. But I realize it might just be an act, him not wanting to reveal to me how much he knows, regardless, I decide to play along.

“The morning of my fourteenth birthday, a group of Hillcrest Police Officers stormed into our house. They were looking for Chaz and my mother. Your uncle was there, claiming they’d robbed and murdered the Mayor of Hillcrest, and they were supposedly on the run. He questioned us, but Jade and I genuinely didn’t know what was going on. Then a lady from social services–who we now know to be Elena Masters–came and took us. Though not before your uncle could make his threats. It’s funny how we’ve come full circle, he and I.”

His body tenses as I speak of his uncle, rage clouding his silky blue eyes.

“So in the three years at the Grayson’s you heard nothing of Chaz or your mother?” he asks, relaxing slightly.

“No, I didn’t hear from her, or him for that matter. Till he and your father came to take us from the foster house and brought us here. That day is when he made the comment about knowing my mother, which was the first I’d heard of her in three years. I never spoke about her, nor Jade or her father. It was a past we both wished to forget. In his office on our first day here, your father and uncle assumed our parents would try to contact us now that we were at the academy. But the night he had you kidnap me?—”

“Hold you for questioning,” he jokes, winking at me.

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