Love, Hate and Hockey Skates

Seventeen

**WARNING - This chapter contains sexual scenes and talks of sexual abuse. Please read with caution.**

~*~

"What are you talking about? We met in high school, junior year I'm pretty sure," I said.

"You really don't remember?" he asked again, then sighed. "We actually met sophomore year, and it was this exact location that we met at, almost in the same situation as this. You were stuck in the window, and I was skateboarding by when I heard you struggling. I helped you out, you said your thanks and we introduced ourselves, then we didn't see each other again until junior year when we were put in the same class."

I tried to remember that, but I couldn't. It was around that year that my father had begun to become more berated with his drinking and beatings. I had become more reclused and probably shut out a lot of things.

Including the first official meeting between Ace and I.

"Why didn't you say anything to me?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I tried to approach you in the hall, but you always seemed off in your own world, I thought you didn't remember me. I tried to get your attention by picking on you, but you just ignored me, which only made me more angry, I guess."

"Why did that make you angry?"

He sighed. "Because I really liked you, Isla. From the moment I saw you stuck and struggling in that window of an abandoned building, I honestly thought you were a Godsend. I wanted you to remember me, to have felt the same, but when I saw you again and saw that you didn't, it made me realize that I was the only fool. My Dad raised me to never be the fool and let anyone make you look like one."

"So, you bullied me instead of just trying to be my friend again."

He nodded. "I never said I was the brightest student, I just wanted you to remember me."

"Well, I'm sorry I didn't. There were a lot of things going on at that time, and I repressed quite a few memories, but I guess some of them were involuntary. I never meant to hurt your feelings, and if you had just talked to me, I'm sure I would've remembered." I glared playfully at him.

"So, does that mean you forgive me?" He grinned.

"For what? You have a bit of a rap sheet at the moment."

He rolled his eyes with a smirk. "I have a lot to make up for, I know."

"Well, I know a good way to start. I've been feeling a little depraved lately." I winked and tugged on his hand.

We all but rushed back to his car, which was parked in an alley just around the corner. I looked around and noticed it was a pretty secure place and it was late enough now that no one should be walking about.

Ace went to open the door for me, but I opened the back door and pulled him in with me.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Scratching something off your bucket list," I muttered, then sealed my lips on his.

He got the memo right away and we started to strip instantly, despite how difficult it was to move around in the small back seat where Ace took up the majority of space.

He slid inside of me, and everything just felt right at that moment. All the angst and fear of what was to come didn't matter anymore. All that mattered was us and the driving force that seemed to keep us together.

The car rocked and the windows fogged with our heat as he continued to thrust deep inside of me, enticing noises I had never made before in my life. I could tell my body was uncomfortable, but I didn't feel it for the moment – it would hit me later when I would be reminded of this.

I felt him thicken inside me, close to his climax and I climbed higher myself and we reached our peak together, moaning and calling out each others' names.

"Holy shit, why does it keep getting better each time?" he huffed out.

I laughed and rolled over, so I was flat on top of him.

"We should get dressed before the windows defog and someone walks by," I said.

I felt him nod, but he didn't move. I slapped his chest and climbed off of him to locate my clothes all over the car. We awkwardly got changed and stepped out of the heated car into the cool, fresh night air.

"Come on, let's get back to the house and eat something," Ace said.

"As long as you're cooking." I had come to love his food over the bit of time we'd spent living together. I would've never thought he was that good of a cook.

We got back to the apartment and Ace disappeared into his room quickly before he came back out and asked if I wanted to take a shower with him first. We had worked up quite a sweat.

But as I watched him close his bedroom door and walk into my room, there was something that weighed heavy on my mind and had ever since I had spoken with Sylvia.

'Should I just ask him?' I wondered since it had been bothering me so much. At this rate, I was just going to explode, and it was going to be a lot worse than it needed to be.

I followed him into the bathroom and watched as he stripped to reveal his insanely muscular back and broad shoulders. I could melt under those muscles, and I usually did. But I really hated to think that he was hiding something in his room, like an old candle with a flame that had gone out long ago.

"Hey Ace, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, sweetheart, anything," he said without turning around.

"Who is Amber?"

His back tensed. "How do you know that name?"

"The same way I knew you were telling everyone about us, that girl, Sylvia."

He growled and whipped around. "Who the hell is this girl, and what has she been saying to you?" he asked angrily. I had never seen him get this angry, especially with me.

"What's the big deal? Was she that special to you?" I bit back.

He closed his eyes, as if I had wounded him. "The furthest thing from that. She is the devil to me, that's why I never want you to say that name again. She is dead to me."

This just made me even more curious. What did she do to him?

"I won't if you tell me what happened."

He scoffed. "Why does it matter?"

"Because I find it odd that you'll fuck me anywhere but your bedroom."

His eyes widened and he looked as if he didn't expect me to catch on to that, which just proved that there was indeed something in there that he didn't want me to see.

Ace suddenly stormed past me and into the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" I asked and trailed behind him.

"If you want me to relive this memory, I need a heavy drink." He grabbed a bottle of run from the cabinet and a bottle of coke from the fridge to make his drink, then downed it in one shot, despite it very much not being one.

"Is it really that bad?" I asked quietly.

He slammed the glass back down. "Yes, Isla, it is. But you're right, I figured you'd find out sooner or later. So, I might as well come clean while I can." He mixed himself another drink and repeated the same motion.

"She wasn't anything special to me, I never had any interest in her, but she chased me insistently. I had a party here one night, and without me noticing, she...mixed a ruffe drug into my drink and took me into my bedroom, locked the door, and raped me while I was unconscious. How, I have no fucking idea, I just woke up the next morning in utter horror of what happened."