Taming the Ice #21 Ace Andrews

Chapter 1- A New Beginning

Ari

8 Years Old

Glass shattered from somewhere down the hall. The yelling has not stopped since the moment daddy got home.

It’s been happening a lot more lately but tonight…tonight was different. I could feel it in my belly. Something bad was going to happen.

“You need to control yourself Ashley! You’re going to wake Ari if you keep this up.” My dad tried to calm the situation. He was always trying to calm mom down, and yet she never seemed to listen.

“Good! Then she can hear just how much of a piece of s**t her father really is! How can you do this to us? You’re going to abandon your own family? Don’t we mean anything to you? Don't I mean anything to you?” Mom screeched, the sound making me shrink down into my mattress as I clutched onto the stuffed bear my father had brought me from his last deployment.

“I can’t do this anymore. The fighting, the yelling, the f*****g drinking Ash. I told you to get this under control before I got back. How do you think it feels for me to hear that you’ve been leaving Ari with your mom again? You really don’t think I know where you’ve been going?” My dad shouted, and at this point I stopped listening. It was always the same.

Mom hated how often Daddy went away and Daddy hated how much Mom drank when he was gone.

Suddenly my door flew open, the action causing me to jump before shoving the blankets over my head.

“Get up Ari, we’re leaving,” my mom slurred, the blanket being ripped off of me as I let out a gasp.

“W-where are we going?”

“Daddy is kicking us out. So who knows, maybe we’ll end up sleeping under a f*****g bridge or something!” She yelled towards the door, making my eyes widen.

That’s when my dad’s tall frame came into view.

“You are not taking our daughter anywhere. Monica is on the way, you can stay with her until you sober up.”

“Nope! I think I would rather take my daughter and leave, considering you don’t want us. Did you hear that baby girl? Your daddy doesn’t want you.”

“Ashley! That’s enough!” Dad boomed, that serious tone in his voice made my body stiffen as I tried to follow what was going on.

“What? You don’t want Ari to hear the truth? I mean, you did just say you wanted a divorce, didn’t you?”

“That has nothing to do with Ari. Come on sweetheart, come over here.” Dad reached his hand towards me and I went to slide out of bed.

But before my feet could even hit the ground, mom’s hand circled around my arm, holding me in place.

“Ari doesn’t want to go with you. Right baby girl? She wants to stay with me.” I froze, being put in the middle caused tears to well up inside of me as I bit down on my lip, trying so hard not to cry.

“Jesus Ash, you’re scaring her!” Dad rushed across the room, grabbing my other hand before yanking me from my mother’s grip and squatted down, coming to my level.

“Are you okay sweetheart?” He asked, the look in his brown eyes made those tears finally spill over as I flung myself into his arms.

“Y-yeah,” I blubbered, full on crying now.

“This is bullshit! I didn’t even hurt her. You are blowing this way out of proportion!” Mom yelled, making me peek over just as her hands started flailing above her head. “I barely even touched her! You always love to make me look like the bad guy don’t you?!”

I felt safe with my dad… He was my hero. Daddy was a sergeant in the Army and seemed tough on the outside, but on the inside, he was always so kind and sweet.

Mom was different…sometimes she was nice, but mostly she was mean. She never seemed happy and I can’t help but think maybe I was the reason for that. I don’t know what I did to make her so angry, but she blames Daddy for a lot of it too.

I could feel my dad’s hand resting firmly on my back as he slowly stood, holding me close to him.

“I’ve heard enough. I’m taking Ari with me tonight so you can cool off. After you sober up, then we can talk.”

That didn’t make Mom happy. The next thing I knew, she was throwing things around in my room, the anger surging out of her as my dad turned and walked us out of the house.

“You ungrateful little b***h! You’re choosing your father over me?! Well good riddance! I don’t need you anyways! I don’t need either of you!” She yelled as my dad led me to the car. He told me not to look back. That no matter what, he would keep me safe and he did.

After that night, Mom and Dad separated. I was able to live with my dad and the times I did see my mom, she was bitter about the fact that I “chose” him over her.

But I just went with the most stable parent… Mom needed help. Even Grandma Georgia knew that. So when Daddy got the news that he would have to help with the next deployment and be gone for two months, they decided it would be best that I stayed with Grandma Georgia rather than Mom during that time.

What I didn’t know was that my life would never be the same again after that. Daddy would never come back home and I would end up living with Grandma Georgia until I turned eighteen.

The day Daddy died was the day my world flipped upside down. The moment I lost him, something else inside of me died right there with him. He was my everything and nothing could ever fill that void. At least, I thought nothing could until I met Pete.

My freshman year of college was the first time I saw him. My roommate Elodie had dragged me to one of the hockey games considering her best friend at the time played on the team.

I wasn’t into that type of stuff. And I tried really hard to stay away from those types of guys. After seeing what my parents went through and how their marriage ended in divorce, I decided to try and be picky about who I dated.

Yeah I’ve had a few boyfriends, but I never went all the way with someone until I met Pete. Maybe it was the way he kept pursuing me. The fact that he even once painted my name on his chest and stripped his shirt off after they won the game, revealing it to everyone in the stadium.

Cheesy, I know. But it wasn’t just that. He was sweet and kind. He used to send me these cute texts every morning, telling me things I always dreamed of hearing. Pete saw past my looks and actually got to know me…the real me. That was more than any guy had ever done before. It was those small things that made me fall in love with him.

Then all of that seemed to change overnight. I don’t know what happened to that sweet caring guy that I first met but he started to care about one thing and one thing only…and he wanted it all of the time.

I mean, I get it, I’m a s****l person too…at least I thought I was before meeting Pete. Yeah I didn’t lose my virginity before him, but I did other stuff. And I liked the way it felt when I did it. But with Pete, I feel like it’s never enough. Like I was never enough… That’s when the insecurity started to take over.

So when I found out he had been cheating on me, it crushed me. It made all of those fears come true.

I just hated the fact that I fell for his bullshit and lies. But here I am again…falling for the exact same thing and trying to fill this void that seemed to be missing inside of me.

You can’t help who you love. At least that’s what Grandma Georgia used to tell me. And she is completely right.

Because if I knew the pain that loving Pete Daniels would cause me, I never would’ve done it. I would’ve forced myself to walk away and never look back, and yet here I am, my heart in my hands with a metaphorical knife right through it–a knife put there all by Pete himself.