Bea Messina

Ace was a bit flustered during lunch and I couldn't help but smirk.

When the block had finished, we all rise and continued with a light conversation as we made our way to the gym with the other guys from the team.

"No way, straight cut fries are way better!" I argue with Noah as we enter the gym. "Curly fries are unnatural, tell me one time you've seen a potato shaped like that!" I continue, throwing my arms in the air.

He chuckles and waves as they all enter the boys change room. I give them a slight wave and head for my change room.

When I enter, I take my sweet time changing into my black sports bra and black spandex shorts to match. Sighing to myself, I quickly throw my hair into a high ponytail as I exit the room into the gym again.

Walking out, I see most of the guys present and the moment I enter, hungry eyes trail up and down my body.

I scowl and sigh exasperatedly. "Ok listen up boys," I say catching their attention. "I am your team captain so do not look at me like I'm a meal. I'm taken and I'd be happy to beat the shit out of you if you jeopardize that or if you piss me off. You listen to what I tell you without complaining or arguing, silly excuses won't work on me." I say in a tough voice, putting my hands on my hips to seem more serious.

Crumbling down the facade, two strong arms wrap around my waist from behind and his head lay on my shoulder. From the scent, I can tell it's Ace. "You're so sexy when you're serious, especially when you're wearing practically nothing." He whispers against the skin on my neck, making an involuntary shiver run down my spine.

"Ace." I whine as I drop my head to the floor, "You're ruining my whole serious act." I say as I place my arms over his. He chuckles and kisses my shoulder.

A shiver involuntarily makes its way down my spine again and I can feel him smirk. "Let's just get practiced started," I say pouting a bit, looking back up at the smirking faces. I shake my head and chorale them outside as Ace never takes his hand off my lower back. This guy.

***

"Hello, Bill Florust speaking." I hear the familiar voice of Bill answer on the other side of the phone.

"Hey Bill, it's BlackJack,"I answer immediately, pacing around the room.

"Oh hey, what can I do for you?" He asks with a lighter tone than before.

"I was wondering if there were any races tonight, I need to race soon," I reply, chewing on my lip.

"Of course. There are three different races tonight, we have new racers joining us. If you'd like, I can enter you in all three."

"That'd be great. I'll make sure to get there after a fight or two at the bar."

"Alright, see you later, bye." And with that, I hang up the phone and lightly throw it on the bed.

I've been getting this bad feeling all day, a feeling I would only get when I was younger. I used to get this feeling right before a night my father would do what I hated most.

"Bea? Are you alright?" Ace's voice cuts through the silence like a knife as my gaze snaps to the door, in which he is quietly closing behind him with a worried look on his face.

"I'm fine," I answer quickly and curtly. This only causes him to look even more worried.

He steps closer to me, every step he takes, I step back once to keep my distance, afraid he'll know the truth. "Bea, what's bothering you?" He asks in a soft tone as I chew on my lip even more and fiddle my fingers around. "Bea, please tell me." He asks with almost a hurt expression.

I shake my head as the tears threaten to spill down my face at the memory of the feeling I am having right now. I can not tell him.

If I tell him, he will truly be disgusted, that will be the end. I don't know if I'll be able to live with Ace leaving me again. I know, I'm a coward, but I just can't. He is everything I need, everything I will always need. I can't seem to live without him anymore.

How did I let myself get to this point? Where I'm relying on a guy I know barely anything about to be my everything. The thing that keeps me going and the only thing keeping my life remotely together. How did I let myself become so weak again? How have I let him control me once more? Even when he's gone, he's always right there, making sure I fear his every move.

"I can't" I whisper, realizing that the tears have escaped and are cascading down my face.

He shakes his head and lowly chuckles, I know he is deeply hurt by my words and actions, "We can't keep doing this Bea. You know that I don't care what's happened, I just need you to tell me." He says as unshed tears fill up his beautiful eyes.

"I know Ace, but this is something that will disgust you beyond belief. Something that I can never forget and can never be forgiven, something that will make you leave." I whisper pointing my gaze at the floor to keep away from his prying gaze.

Suddenly, two warm fingers are beneath my chin, tilting my head to look up at him. "Bea, I want to know, I promise I won't leave. I just need to know what is bothering you." He says, offering me a small smile.

"On my thirteenth birthday, he gave me a present I wish I could return." I say as his eyes look sadly into mine. "Not only was Dante having his fun with me, but so were random men. He sold me all the time to the highest bidder for a night with me. One night, I had enough and killed any man who came near me. I have this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, one that'd I'd only get on nights I was with someone. I haven't gotten this feeling in a long time, Ace and I'm scared." I explained in an almost whisper.

"Kitten." He whispers, pulling me in for a tight embrace as one hand snakes around my waist with the other one at the nape of my neck.

I silently cry into his shoulder as my hands clutch at his shirt. "I promise, I won't let anything like that ever happen again. He's gone and there's nothing they can do to you now. You are stronger than them now, you don't have to be scared anymore." He assures me slowly rubbing circles on the side of my neck.

"They're not all gone." I mutter grasping his shirt harder in my fists.

"What do you mean Bea?" He asks pulling away, keeping his hands on my shoulders to keep my a distance away from him as he stares into my eyes once more. "I thought you killed all of them, that's how you got control of the gang in the first place." He says with a tone I couldn't place. Anger maybe? Disappointment? All I know is, it's not good.

"I did." I say as the hot tears fall even faster than before down my face.

"Than what's the problem!" He yells revealing that emotion I couldn't place, causing me to break down even more. I knew he wouldn't like what I had to say. Why did I tell him?

"Dante is still alive!" I yell, my voice wavering a bit at the end. "He had a twin brother, Thomas, I killed him instead!" I yell looking him dead in the eyes. "Dante is still alive." I whisper to mainly myself.

He takes a step back and his steps falter, causing him to almost fall backwards as he stumbles a bit. "He's, Alive?" He whispers among the silence of the room.

I sadly nod and slump to the floor, holding my head in my hands.

Without looking up, I can tell he left the room. With the click of the lock on the door, I snap my eyes up and run to it and start banging, pleading he'll let me out.

After moments of no answer, I scramble over to the bed and grab my phone and desperately dial Jackson's number.

"What's up Jack, I thought you were at Ace's?" Jackson voice says from the other end of the line.

"I am! I need you to get over here, he locked me in his bedroom! Get me out of here before he does something stupid!" I answer quickly with clear desperation.

"I'm already on my way, I'm bringing Kirk and Matt with me right now. We'll be there in a minute." He answers as I hear the wind of outside whip around him. I nod to myself and hang up and begin to pace the room again.

Please don't do something stupid Ace.