Page 2 of Evading Exodus
What’s wrong? He’s asking me what’s wrong.I blew out a breath and turned my face away from his gaze.
“You’re laughing at me,” I responded, trying to keep my chin up and failing miserably. Twenty-fucking-nine years old and I still get pissed when people make fun of me. I blame my awkward years, and bullies…
Ace touched my jaw and drew my gaze back to his. “We weren’t laughing at you, Dare, we were laughing at me.”
His attempt at an explanation confused me more than made sense. “I don’t understand.”
“There’s a silly story behind all this.” He grinned, running his hand down my arm, but the caress failed to reassure me. “Would you like to hear it?”
I breathed deeply, pulling myself back together.
“Okay.”
Chapter 2: The Revelation
(The Second Plague: Frogs)
Ace slipped his hand into mine and led me to a secluded booth. I sat, and he motioned for me to scoot over so he could sit beside me. Jake brought over two Killian’s, took one look at Ace, and started snickering again.
“Get, Jay,” Ace scolded, shooing him back to the bar.
Wrapping my hands around the bottle, I stared at the label as I ran my thumbs up and down it. Ace’s hands covered mine, stilling them. He pressed his shoulder into me and grazed his lips against my earlobe.
I tilted my head away, the earlier pressure returning to my chest.God!I had it bad for Ace. Half of me wanted to simply drop the matter, but the other half didn’t want to let him off the hook for making me angry.
“I’ve really upset you, haven’t I?”
“Just say whatever it is you have to say, Aaron, and then I’ll go. Okay?” I made damn well sure I enunciated his actual name. There’d be no mistaking my irritation, especially since I wasn’t completely convinced we weren’t about to break up.
“Go? I don’t want you to go, Dare,” he said, panic clear in his voice. “I should start with an apology: I’m really sorry. I was an idiot. Jake said I was being stupid, and I guess I was.”
Ace paused, pulling his hands away and running them through his hair, making the short strands of dark brown and silver stand at awkward angles. I turned to study him, wondering when he planned on actually getting to the explanation.
“I can’t believe you’re Jewish, too.” He looked at me, his eyes bright. “My mom’s going to go bananas. I’ve never actually dated anyone else that was Jewish.”
And Bam! It all came together for me. My lips quirked, my heart settled, and whatever angry bug holding my gut hostage fled.
“Youreallyare an idiot, Ace,” I teased him. “Darren Goldman wasn’t enough of a giveaway for you?”
“Well, now that you say it, yes, but I didn’t want to assume. Jake said you were. He promised me hisJew-darwas working perfectly.”
I huffed out a laugh. “Aaron Lark, on the other hand, is a bit of a tough one.”
“Yeah. My dad’s father wasn’t Jewish, but my grandmother insisted he be raised in the tradition. When my folks got married, supposedly Dad told my mom that he wanted his kids raised like he was—temple, Bar Mitzvah, Confirmation… the whole shebang.”
“Did all that, too,” I told him. Finally relaxed, I took a sip of the beer. “Oh! This is good.”
“Next to Pete’s Wicked, this was my second favorite in college.” Ace recounted his Killian’s Red story as I leaned into him.
Terry stopped by the table and asked if we wanted anything to eat. He raised his eyebrows in question at me before leaving, and I smiled in assurance that everything was fine. Ace didn’t miss the exchange and gave me a surprised look.
“What?”
“New best friend?” he asked.
I smirked and slapped his thigh. “Watch out, Ace, or I’ll blab that story Terry told me about you hopping at Club Tru.”
His mouth dropped and eyes widened in abject terror. “You wouldn’t…”
