Page 40 of Breaking the Limits

Chapter 26

Kynlee

The doctors finally let us in to visit with Ace. We all go in two at a time except for Jovi who Axell refuses to let go in. Jagger and I are the last two to enter his room and as soon as I see Ace lying there covered in bandages, with tubes and wires coming out in every direction and the beeping from the machines the only noise filling the room, I lose it. Everything comes crashing down on me. If I thought I was crying before then I don’t know what to call this.

Sobs take over my body, knees grow too weak to stand but luckily Jagger wraps his arms around my waist to hold me up. I can’t even breathe. This can’t be real. This can’t be Ace. Ace is so full of life, so full of unrelenting passion, so full of sarcastic smartass comments. Seeing him lying there dead silent and unmoving is all too much. Jagger and I stand like this until finally he whispers, “It’s okay Kynlee, he’s alive. He’s strong and a fighter. Just breathe.”

At some point I calm down, and Jagger leads us closer to Ace’s bedside. I let out a shaky breath as I take in the bruises and cuts covering his beautiful face. Jagger urges me to take a seat in the chair beside the bed and in this moment, I just let myself be guided because my knees are still weak and my head is a jumbled, emotional mess. I sit numbly beside Ace while Jagger talks with him. When he’s done, he stands and clears his throat. “Are you staying here or leaving?”

I nod my head and whisper, never taking my eyes off Ace. “I’m staying.”

“Okay, I’ll come back and check on you later.” Jagger leans down and presses a kiss to the top of my head. When I hear the door shut, I scoot forward and take Ace’s hand in mine. I run my thumb back and forth over his bruised and scraped knuckles.Leaning forward I press a kiss to the back of his hand. He doesn’t smell like himself, he smells like antiseptic and hospital soap. I hate it.

“Ace, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean what I said. I promise I didn’t mean it but please just wake up or squeeze my hand or talk to me,” I whisper to him, my voice breaking as I fight back more tears. “I love you…” I whisper.

****

Something lightly brushing over my hair wakes me from my sleep. My throat is raw, my eyes are sensitive and puffy and my head is pounding from all the crying and praying I did last night. Then I take in my surroundings, my head resting on the side of Ace’s bed, something lightly brushes my hair again. Turning my head, I see Ace’s groggy blue eyes staring at me. I sit up and stare in disbelief. Am I dreaming? I pinch the skin on my arm and Ace chuckles then winces. “W-w-hat?” he tries to ask but I’m sure his throat is dry and the wince probably comes from the broken ribs.

“Shh…I was just trying to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. Let me grab the nurse and get you some water,” I say as I start to turn away his hand grabs mine and I can see it in his eyes, the unspoken apology that I don’t need and certainly don’t deserve. “I’m sorry too,” I tell him, as I lean in quickly and brush my lips against his.

****

Ace has made a great recovery, he still has a long way to go. One of the stab wounds to the back did affect his walking. The way the knife entered has resulted in damage to a muscle but after some physical therapy the doctors seem to think he’ll make a full recovery. Right now, the worst of it is that he’s walking with a limp but compared to what could have happened, I’ll takeit. He’s sore and still healing so he’s slow to move and I can see the frustration etched in his face but we’ll get there.

Today, Ace is being released and I’m worried about the flight of stairs to get to the apartment but his brothers, Jaxx and Pierce have a plan. I’m not sure Ace will love it but it’ll be helpful. Once we get back to the apartment, I can see the hesitation yet determination written all over his face. Once Ace sets his mind to something he will succeed however as soon as I park his Hellcat the guys all come down the stairs. “What the hell?” he mumbles.

Bowie swings open the passenger side door. “What the hell, you look like shit. It makes me almost feel bad for giving you hell.”

Ace chuckles. “Never stopped you before,” he replies, as Bowie helps him out of the car.

Axell opens my door and helps me out. “Jovi help Kynlee with the bags,” he says over his shoulder. Jovi moves to the trunk with Jaxx and Pierce on his heels. They grab everything from the trunk then head up to the apartment. I stay behind to make sure that Ace doesn’t need anything.

When he reaches the stairs, he pauses at the bottom, looking up, I can tell by the look of concentration that he’s trying to size them up, determine just how long this is going to take. Ace takes a deep breath and I notice the wince that he tries to hide. Before he can even lift his foot, Bowie, and Jagger each grab him under the arm and Axell reaches down and grabs his legs. “Oh, come on! You guys have got to be kidding me! I can walk! I’m not some damn cripple!” Ace’s protests continue and so do his brothers.

Once they reach the top of the stairs, they place Ace back on his feet. “Damn you bitch like a girl,” Bowie says with a laugh. Ace goes to slug him in the arm but ends up missing then letting out a string of curses from the pain it caused. “You got to be quicker than that,” Bowie taunts.

I step forward in between the two. If I’ve learned anything since becoming a part of this family it’s that once these two get started, they are hard to stop. “That’s enough boys,” I tell them, giving them both a stern look before continuing into the apartment.

****

A few hours later after everyone had eaten and spent time catching up, the apartment is quiet. Ace took his medication and is out for the night while I sit on the couch and contemplate what I want for my future. For so long I had only wanted one thing…attention. However, after all of this I’m not sure anymore. It seems like no matter how much attention I get it’s never enough. I have to ask myself when will it be?

That’s an answer I don’t have. I sit there trying to figure out what to do when my phone starts ringing. Enzo’s name is flashing on the screen. I sigh heavily I’ve been avoiding him since Ace got jumped. Mentally, I curse while I answer the call. I might as well face the music. “Enzo.”

“Well, I’m surprised you still know my name. I was beginning to think you were avoiding me,” he says into the phone. “You disappeared without a word and then refuse to answer your phone or text messages afterwards. You really know how to scare a guy.”

I scoff, “You don’t want to talk to me about being scared. Ace could have died Enzo and that was partly my fault. If I had just called him or hell, came home instead of going to your place he wouldn’t have been at Red Hott. I’ve been torn up and terrified so don’t you dare talk to me about being scared. Besides I’m not yours to get scared over.”

“Kynlee, babe, I’m sorry you’ve been having such a hard time, but face it, Ace is an ass and he had it coming. It doesn’t shock me that he got jumped. Look come over and relax. I’ll callMr. Olden and we can all sit down and talk over his ideas for your career. “

The anger in me boils over. I was already emotional and he isn’t helping. “First of all, I’m not your babe! The only person who can call me that if he wishes is my boyfriend…Ace. Secondly, I don’t care if you think Ace is an ass. I don’t care who you think is an ass, no one and I meanno onedeserves to go through what he went through. He didn’t kill anyone for crying out loud, just because you don’t like him doesn’t give you the right to runyourmouth,” Enzo starts to interrupt me but I cut him back off. “Don’t you dare interrupt me, trust me Enzo right now is not the time to interrupt me. I’m done with this career. I no longer want this shit. I’m going to figure something else out because I don’t want to be half naked and prancing around for the world to see. Everything that has happened the past few months has made me realize what a big mistake this was. My parents were right, I’m disrespecting myself by wanting to do this stupid shit, I’m done. And as far as we are concerned so are we. We’re not anything as of now. You’ve shown up and caused nothing but a mess for me and I feel like that was your intention. Your so hell bent on getting back at Ace for whatever reason that you were willing to use me and our friendship to succeed at that. You’re no friend of mine Enzo so after this moment you lose my number and forget I exist because I will be doing the same thing.” I exhale, pressing the end button. My heart is pounding and the anger flowing through my veins has caused me to shake but I don’t regret it. Everything I said was true and needed to be said.

I sit for a while longer before a thought occurs to me. Pressing my speed dial for Kenndrix, I grab my laptop and pull up colleges. I didn’t realize the time until Kenndrix’s sleepy voice comes over the line. “Is everything okay Kyn?”

“Yeah, shoot, I’m sorry, you were asleep. I didn’t even think about the time.”

“No, don’t worry about it. What’s up?” she asks.

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