Ivana

"Why is Aiden not coming with us?" I raised a brow as Ace walked in front of me while Aiden grinned at us, standing on the porch.

Just this morning, Aiden had told me about Ace's decision to take me back to Phoenix and true to his word, we were now heading towards his car. After chugging down a mug of the extremely sweet cold coffee, he'd disappeared into his room for a whole three hours claiming that he had a bad stomach ache and had only appeared a few minutes ago, citing that I needed to get ready for our return as soon as possible.

I didn't really mind the short notice, in fact, it was me who had been continuously pestering him to take me back for the last twenty four hours, even picking up fights just so I could get rid of him and his overbearing personality. But now, I was finding myself a tad bit hesitant to go back.

Maybe it was because I was unsure of what would happen once we got back. Ace still hadn't bothered to talk to me about the kisses, nor had his sour disposition undergone any major changes. He was continuously ignoring me like he always did. It was like he, or rather, whatever secrets he was keeping, never allowed him to be nice to me except for a few acts of kindness that had somehow slipped under the radar.

"You sure you want to go home?" Ace muttered drily while seeing to it that I got into the car safely.

I scowled.

What an impertinent asshole.

"While I appreciate you driving me back, you don't need to act like you're doing me a favour by doing this." I side-eyed him as he got in and slammed his door shut before nodding at Aiden and backing out of the driveway. "After all it was you—"

"Yeah yeah," Ace rolled his eyes and I resisted the urge to punch the living daylights out of him. How he could be so utterly unbothered and brazen was beyond me. "I'm taking you back now so do me a favour and shut up." He remarked coldly and I stared at him open-mouthed.

"Did you just—" I floundered angrily but then shook my head. It was useless talking to him. This boy couldn't even hold a proper conversation with me without riling me up. Trying to tell him that he was being rude was just going to make me angry to no end without having any effect on him. "You know what, forget it. I'm not dying to talk to you either." I glared at him and turned to my side, looking outside the window.

My brows furrowed in confusion as I noticed that we were driving opposite to the way that we had taken to come here. If there had been another way to go back, why had Ace not told me anything about it even after he'd driven all the way back to pick me up?

Determined not to initiate conversation with him, I grabbed my phone and turned on the maps and there it was, a much shorter one-way highway leading back into Phoenix and...my jaw hanging open as I stared at the small icon on the screen.

There was a freaking taxi rental not even a mile away from the hideaway house. If only I had walked this way instead of making myself undergo that pointless torture...

But then I wouldn't have gotten a kiss from Ace.

I shook my head, shuddering in disgust. How could I even think about that? I hated him with my entire being and that was the barebones truth.

But you loved the kiss.

I suppressed a groan before shutting off my phone and staring blankly into the distance. I could lie to anybody but it was no use lying to myself. My feelings for Ace, despite his standoffish nature, were anything but of hatred.

I didn't like him very much, but I was definitely and very obviously attracted to him. It was hard not to fall for him when his visual was so splendid.

And after hearing Aiden talk about him, sympathy for him had unequivocally birthed in my heart.

"Can I put on some music?" I blurted, looking at Ace who gave me a bored glance and just shrugged. I made a face. Why did he always have to be so...curt?

Pulling my hands back from the car's audio system, I crossed my arms. "Nevermind," I muttered, rolling my eyes. "I won't if you don't want me to."

"But I said you could," Ace looked at me confused.

"You didn't say anything. You just told me to shut up," I smiled forcefully, correcting him.

Ace's expression changed momentarily, almost as if he wanted to apologise but then he shut his mouth and simply jabbed a finger onto the play button. A soft, melodious voice that I didn't recognise flowed out of the speakers. There was a strange sense of comfort in the song and even though it wasn't in a language I knew, I felt something inside me growing warm.

"Who's the singer?" I asked curiously, biting my lip afraid that he would brush me off again but he simply shrugged.

"It's my mom. She has a beautiful voice, doesn't she?" 

I stared at him slightly surprised, not knowing what to say. "She does," I spoke finally. "I don't understand what she's saying but—"

"It's a lullaby." A ghost of a smile appeared on Ace's face and then disappeared just as quickly when he continued speaking, his hands tightly clutching the steering wheel.

"She's dead. This is all that I have left of her." He mumbled, avoiding my gaze as I gasped,

"I'm so sorry for your loss," I breathed, feeling guilty for even asking. I hated reminding people of the people and the things that they had lost.

As if on instinct, I looked at his calm side profile and an immense need to console him took over me. Maybe he was already over it, maybe it didn't even matter anymore, maybe it was just an old memory that inevitably brought in strong nostalgia whenever it kicked in even after many years, but in that moment I just wanted to give him whatever little comfort that I could.

Ace didn't as much as flinch when my hand moved to rest on his knee. I hoped it was a reassuring gesture because I could see that even though he was trying hard not to break down in front of me, his wounds were fresh.

"I know my words are not going to lessen your pain," I paused, letting the lilting calmness of the lullaby take over us. "But she has an angel's voice, Ace and you better believe that she's in the heavens—wherever they are." I whispered as Ace gulped visibly, nodding softly.

I felt my throat tightening. Ace looked heartbroken, miserable almost but I willed myself to continue. I was never very good at effectively expressing my emotions, but it seemed like they always got the best of me whenever I was with Ace. It was a struggle to keep my voice from cracking as I gave his knee one last gentle pat. "She's in a much better place than this world could ever be, Ace. I hope you know that."

"I do," He hummed quietly in response and I settled back into the seat, staring outside the window once again, pretending that I didn't notice his steady gaze on me as the sweet lullaby lulled me into a deep sleep.

~~~

"Thank you for the ride." I muttered, flashing him a small smile as I got out of the car and closed the door behind me.

My body felt stiff and I was still weary from the long travel. Nevertheless, I was still grateful he didn't drop me off from where we had started because one, I was too scared of ever going back to that dark alley again and two, even if it was daytime, I'd still be too tired and sleepy to walk back home,

"You can visit the cafe tomorrow," I leaned on his car, looking in from the rolled down window. "I'll give you a free drink."

Ace set his head back on the seat, turning to face me as a quiet, thoughtful look crossed his face. "Aiden will be here tomorrow. Should I send him instead?"

I shrugged, still oblivious. "Sure. If you don't want to come, you can always ask him to pick up your coffee. That's what best friends are for, right?"

Ace shook his head. "I mean that he can come instead of me." He paused to clear his throat. "This morning, the two of you seemed pretty...uhh close, so maybe you'd enjoy his company more."

I raised an eyebrow.

Now what the hell was this about?

Was this why he had his knickers in a twist all morning? Because he was freaking jealous?

I resisted the urge to laugh. I had way too many playboys in my life to be stupid enough to actually be interested in another. That would be like asking for trouble.

Although I wasn't sure if I wasn't already in it for getting involved with Ace.

"If Aiden and I are close, then I'm best friends with Beyoncé." I rolled my eyes. "I don't know what gave you that obviously false impression, but in my opinion, if there's an idiot bigger than you, it's Aiden."

"Oh."

"Yeah," I thumped the roof of his car in response and pointed my finger at him. "So you better show up tomorrow because I don't offer free coffee to just anybody."

"So I'm not just anybody to you now," He tilted his head mockingly, regarding me intensely as the glimmer in his eyes returned. It was this look that absolutely had butterflies exploding in my stomach, although I tried my best to maintain my composure.

"Whatever sails your boat, Hoodie Boy," I blurted as Ace shot me a full-blown grin.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Barista Girl."

A playful wink and he was off, which left me with just enough time to realise that just when I'd thought that my life was back on track, it'd been disrupted once again by the same whirlwind storm that had knocked me off my feet and thrown me into the world of possibly criminal secrets, wanted runaways and one gorgeous, brooding heartthrob.