Ace sits in front of the television, his bloodless hands gripped between his legs, looking as angry as I’ve ever seen him. I immediately text Sutton and Charity and tell them to take a long time at dinner.
My thoughts flit to Matty. I never thought to ask him if he was worried. He probably isn’t in any danger of being replaced, but I never asked, either—too caught up in my own drama. I tell Ace I need to use the bathroom and slip away to shoot off a quick text.
Me: Day going okay for you?
Matty: It’s all good. Thanks for asking. You?
I’m doing okay. Worried about, I don’t want to bring up Ace again, so I just type, friends.
Matty: Got it. Call me if you want to talk or meet up. I’ll be up late.
Me: I’ll probably be busy.
Matty: Practice starts tomorrow. We’ll work it out.
When I get out, Ace is pacing.
“Have you decided what you’re going to do?”
“I’m the quarterback, Lucy, or did loverboy convince you otherwise?”
“Ace, I’m behind you. It doesn’t matter who I’m dating.”
He snorts out an ugly laugh. “Does it feel good to be Ives’s current slam piece?”
I grind my teeth together to keep from lashing out. “If you’re going to be an asshole, you can leave.”
Ace runs a hand through his closely cropped hair. “What is that you see in him?”
“He’s kind.” I think back to how he made me breakfast, his thoughtfulness in taking my glucose measurements.
“He’s working to turn the team against me. The entire defensive squad follows his lead. If he stood up and supported me, the team would support me. If I don’t have him, I’m as good as gone.”
I rub my lips together. I don’t like where this is going. I didn’t like it when Matt presented his side of the argument to me and I definitely don’t like Ace trying to leverage our friendship. “I have no influence over him, just like I have no influence over you.”
Ace’s jaw works furiously as he holds in whatever horrible invective he’d like to spit out at me. Finally, he fixes his attention on the television and we watch the show in silence. For two excruciating hours. I’m so stressed out I end up checking my glucose levels five times. I open my mouth to ask him to leave just as the show flips from the studio to the camera at Remington Barr’s home.
If I thought Ace was angry before, it’s nothing like the rage consuming him now. He squeezes the remote so tight, the plastic cover over the battery cracks in his hands.
I get up and move to the kitchen because the tension in the living room is suffocating. The phone rings, startling me. I glance at my phone, but I realize it’s not mine ringing. It’s Ace’s. It rings and rings until the voicemail cuts in.
Then there’s a series of pings that signal an influx of text messages or emails arriving. Ace sits there like a statute. I feel stupid and useless. Should I answer the inquiries for him? Say no comment? Block them? Or hell, just turn the stupid thing off.
“Ace, honey, can I help you?”
He doesn’t answer.
I fumble with my phone and text Matty.
Ace is frozen and his phone is blowing up. What should I do?
The phone rings immediately. Ace’s head tips slightly to the side, as if registering it’s at least not his phone.
“Hello?”
My heart leaps and my stomach drops at the same time.
“You okay?” Matty asks.
“Hey,” I answer vaguely not wanting to pour fuel on Ace’s already triggered temper.
“He’s sitting next to you?”
“Close.”
“Fuck.”
The animosity between the two is growing, and I can’t help but feel like it’s my fault. I turn away from Ace and whisper into the phone. “He’s in a bad place right now.”
Matty sighs. “Do you want me to come over?”
I clench the phone in my hand. “No. It’d make it worse.”
There’s a long pause at the other end of the line. I know he doesn’t like this, but Ace is my friend and I can’t abandon him now, no matter how rotten he’s been to me lately. Matty finally sighs, “Call me if you need anything. Anytime, okay?”
“Okay,” I say with relief.
He starts to say something but decides against it, and after we exchange goodbyes, we hang up.
“Was that him on the phone?” Ace asks immediately. Apparently, he’s not dead on my sofa.
I almost lie, but then I decide Ace deserves the truth about as much as I deserve to see Matty if I want.
“Yes.”
Ace breathes through his nose. “Are you dating him?”
The disbelief in his voice grates hard. I snap out, “Yes.”
“What makes you think you’re relationship material to him?”