Ace of Hearts (FU High 1)

“Dependent on a man.” She says it with disgust in her voice.

Yeah, some men are disgusting. Dad isn’t. There are good ones out there. My eyes drift back to the football field to Owen. “Is there something wrong with depending on people?” I think it would be sad to not have someone you could lean on when you needed it.

“You can’t rely on anyone.” My head jerks back to her. My heart aches for her in this moment.

“I’m sorry.”

She turns her head to look at me now. “Don’t be sorry for me.” She laughs. I don’t know if the laugh is to hide the pain or something else. Either way I don’t like it. She stands. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” She picks up her backpack. I reach out, grabbing her other hand.

“You can always count on me,” I tell her. I see that tough exterior start to fall into place like she had with Owen. I give her hand a small squeeze. She gives me a nod and without saying anything else she turns and leaves.

I watch her go, already knowing I’m going to make an effort to be her friend. She and Owen have both been reminders today that not everyone is what they seem. There are so many layers to people. I pull out a book from my backpack to get a head start on some of this year’s course work, getting lost inside it. It is a bittersweet habit I have.

A whistle blows and when I look up from what I’m reading, I see a sweaty Owen running toward me.

“Give me fifteen minutes to shower and get dressed. We can head to sewing after that. Sound good, Ace?” Owen says while he stands there looking all sweaty and masculine. It’s as though my tongue is tied when I search for the words to give him a response. My mouth can’t seem to form them. He looks so damn hot I’m speechless. I finally get my brain and mouth to work.

“Okay, Owen.”

He smiles widely at my response as he reaches out to tap my nose with his finger. “See you in a few.” He winks at me as he heads to the locker room.

It’s then I realize that out of all the words I could have chosen to speak, I said his name, giving him permission to touch me.

10

Owen

I shower faster than I ever have and hightail it out of the locker room before anyone can get in my way. I may have knocked down a freshman or two on my way out but, eh, that’s life. Ace is sitting on the dirty hallway floor, looking through her math textbook.

I grin to myself. What a nerd. What a fucking hot nerd. Maybe she can read the equations out loud while I bury my face between her legs. That’d be sexy. Of course, that’s not much of a stretch. Her breathing is sexy.

“Hey, Ace, we have five minutes and I have a pocket full of change. I’m going to treat you to a gourmet vending machine snack break.”

She turns and tilts her head like a cat trying to figure out if she’s going to kill her prey or toy with it first. Toy with me, Ace, I beg silently. Run your kitten claws all over me and then fuck me to death.

“That sounds delicious.” She shoves her book inside her backpack and gets to her feet.

I pull the backpack out of her hand, sling it over one shoulder and throw my arm around Ace’s back. It falls into place as if it belongs there. “Great. Are you a chocolate or hard candy kind of person?”

“You said this was a gourmet snack break so why do I have to choose?”

“You are absolutely right. Lifesavers and a bag of M&Ms coming right up.” We end up buying damn near one of everything along with two sodas. Ace devours the M&Ms, but only the plain ones because the other ones are an affront to mankind, she informs me. I make a big show of savoring the peanut-filled chocolates while Ace makes faces at me.

Fuck, she’s fun to be with. Although, why wouldn’t she be? She’s my soulmate and I’m a fun person so it makes sense that she is, too. We’re laughing by the time we reach the Home Ec room. Ace throws open the door and then halts. I nearly step on the back of her shoes, she stops so abruptly.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, immediately pulling her out of the opening so I can shield her with my body. Peering in the room, I scan for danger but see nothing but a group of about fifteen girls. Maybe she has a beef with one of them. I crack my knuckles. No one gets to be mean to my Ace.

“Which one?” I growl over my shoulder.