Page 20 of Untouchable

I’ve lost track of how long I’ve been staring at the wall in Ace’s room. My phone died an hour ago, and there’s no clock or TV in here. The only sounds keeping me company are the voices in my head and the vibration of voices coming in and out of the clubhouse. I close my eyes every now and then and inhale the scent from Ace’s pillow to help calm me down if I start to feel anxious again. While he normally stays covered in car grease, and always has that smell of a working man, his pillow smells like his shampoo—mint with whatever other notes make his pillow smell so good. I slide my boots off, and my eyes grow heavy as I nestle into his bed further. I know I can’t leave, I wouldn’t dare even try after everything that’s happened in the last 24 hours, but my stomach is growling painfully and my head is starting to hurt from the lack of nutrition.

My eyes are burning and more than likely swollen from crying so much. I finally reach the point of no return when they close, unable to peel them back open even if I wanted to, when I hear Ace’s door open. He moves quietly through the room, but says nothing. I tell myself to open my eyes, or at the very least my mouth, to make sure it’s him, but I’m too exhausted to do either. I feel a dip in the bed, and my heart beats a little faster.

“Te mantendré segura, Katarina,”he whispers. The physical reaction I have to him is electric. Like a thousand volts of electricity just surged through my body and had nowhere to go. While still in my half-asleep-like state, I roll over to face him, my hand landing somewhere on his body.His arm, maybe?I feel his body jerk like he’s going to move, but he doesn’t. Then, a moment later, I feel his hand rest on mine, and the warmth from his touch is the thing that finally lulls me to sleep.

It feels like my eyes are shut for five minutes when the ringing of an alarm shocks me awake. Gasping, I shoot upright and look back to see Ace sleeping soundly straight through it. I also notice the way our bodies were just pieced together like a puzzle, and try not to think too much about it. I look around, finally realizing his phone, with said alarm going off, is in his pocket. I reach around him and begin to slide it out before his hand shoots out to stop me. When I look down, his eyes are glued to me. No blinking himself awake, just dark brown eyes boring into my soul at—he pulls his phone out and silences the alarm—5 AM?!Who willingly gets up that early?

“I was just going to turn your alarm off. You looked like you were sleeping pretty well.”

“I was.” He slides the phone back into his pocket and stands up from the bed, sliding his feet back into his riding boots. “Let’s go.”

“Where?” I start moving to get ready, running my fingers through my hair as I look around for my bandana. I look over to see Ace holding the black and white bandana out for me. It’s still rolled into a headband and tied into a knot like I had it yesterday. It must have slipped off while I was sleeping.

“I’m taking you to get breakfast before I drop you off at home.”

“Oh, that’s okay. I can just eat when I get there.”

He walks over and adjusts the flannel that’s hanging off my shoulder until it no longer exposes my skin. “I wasn’t asking.” Then he walks past me and stops right outside the door. I follow behind like a well-trained puppy, and when he closes the door behind us and throws his arm around my shoulder, I am not quite sure what to make of it. I look up at him, clearly confused, and I see him glance at me from the corner of his eyes.

“Forgive me if I seem a little more protective than necessary. It’s been a long fucking night and I’d rather not have you out of arms reach until I get you home.” An unprompted explanation from Ace…that’s new.

I shrug, subtly nestling myself closer to his side. “It’s fine.”

We ride through the nearest drive-thru and Ace buys me a couple of breakfast sandwiches, sans a drink since a motorcycle probably isn’t the best place to try and hold coffee—iced or otherwise. The cool morning air whips through my hair, and when we’re still a few minutes away from mine and Tabitha’s place, I rest my cheek on Ace’s back. That only seems to take all of the work the wind has done to wake me up, and reverse it. My eyes flutter closed, and I feel my body start to relax. I jerk myself awake when my hands fall from around Ace’s waist and onto his lap. His entire body goes rigid against mine, and I’m embarrassed to think about where exactly my hands landed.

God, I hope he fixes my car soon.

When we stop out front, I swing my leg around the back of his bike, taking his helmet off to give it to him, surprised to see him put it on.

“Wait, you only don’t wear your helmet when I ride with you because you give it to me?”

“Yes.”

“Ace!” I scold him, but his bored expression never changes.

“Yes?”

“Why would you do that?” He looks at me like the answer should be obvious.

“Your safety is far more important than mine, Katarina.”

I fold my arms over my chest. “I disagree.”

A small smirk appears on his lips, and it’s a sight to behold. “Well, I wasn’t asking.” I roll my eyes, and he sits up straighter on his bike. “Go inside. I’m not leaving until I know your door is locked.”

“And how will you know that?” He leans over and pulls my phone from my back pocket, causing my cheeks to flame instantly. “Ace!” He taps the screen first, then presses all of the buttons before looking at me with a frown. “It’s dead.”

He slides the phone back into my pocket, then begins searching the inside of his leather jacket until he pulls out a pen.

“Give me your arm.” I hesitate to do so, so he takes it upon himself to grab my arm, push my sleeve out of the way, and begin scrawling something on my skin. When he’s done, I look down to see his name and phone number written on my forearm.

“Was writing your name really necessary?” He shrugs and sits back on his bike,stillnot pulling away. “Are you seriously going to wait until my phone is charged and I tell you my door is locked before you leave?”

“Yes.” I sigh, rolling my eyes at him before turning to jog up the stairs to my apartment, locking the door once I’m inside. I plug my phone into the charger, but the thing is ancient, and there’s no telling how long it’ll take for it to come back on. So I get an idea and walk to the drawer we keep all of our stationery in, and grab a piece of paper and the fattest marker I can find. I run over to the window and knock a few times until Ace looks up at me. I hold up the piece of paper that readsthe door is locked,he crosses his arms over his chest and props his feet up on his bike.

Why isn’t he leaving?

I grab another piece of paper and begin writing, only this time, when I hold up theyou can leave nowpaper, he doesn’t even look in my direction. I finally give up after knocking on the window about ten times to get his attention and grab my breakfast from the brown bag. I scarf down one of the sandwiches before I glance out the window again.

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