Chapter 24
Ace’s back is rigid as he stands in his doorway.
Rio is the man who knocked on the door. He looks past Ace’s shoulder toward me where I’m standing in the kitchen. He tips his head. “Vera.”
“Hi, Rio,” I call back.
Ace grumbles something I can’t hear.
Rio says, “We need her input.”
“Honey, invite him in, it’s only polite,” I say.
Ace’s head whips around, eyes sharp.
Ooops. I forgot that Ace doesn’t have anyone into his apartment. I shrug. “We could go to the bar or whatever you call it.”
“Good idea,” Rio says. “I need a drink.”
When I approach, I rest my hand on my Ace’s back muscles. He’s still shirtless from when we had crazy rough sex less than an hour ago. Loud rough sex. My face flushes hot. “Shall we?” I ask, swallowing down my embarrassment.
“No.” Ace’s expression is set to stone again.
“It was Prez’s call,” Rio says, looking Ace square in the eyes.
“It’s okay. I’ll help, it’s?—”
“Only if she stays inside these walls,” Ace snaps.
Rio grins slowly. “Man, what kind of operation do you think we’re running?”
As if he’s shaking himself out of a fog, Ace grumbles and scrubs his hand over his face. “Give us five.”
“Thought you’d have cleaned up your hands by now,” Rio says, glancing down at Ace’s fists.
“Busy.”
The more tense Ace gets the shorter his responses are. I know the drill now.
Rio tips his chin. “I’ll order a round for all of us.”
When he disappears, Ace closes the door and presses both his hands against the wood.
“You okay?”
“Worried.”
From the way the word sounds coming out of him, I’m not sure he’s ever said it before.
Rubbing my hands up his back, I ask, “Want to tell me what you’re thinking?”
“No.”
I plant a kiss between his shoulder blades and back away.
He’s still there when I return wearing a different T-shirt of his and a different pair of joggers with my Mary Jane shoes.
I really do need to get some clothes, but I feel bizarrely happy in his things.
This time the shirt reads, FAFO. I’ll have to ask what that means, but now doesn’t seem like the time.
“I’m ready.”
He slowly turns and looks down at me, and shakes his head. His brows are crunched, his eyes are cold, and I should be intimidated. Instead I only want to ease his pain.
“What?” I ask as he continues to look down at me.
“The shirt.”
“Are my nipples showing? Because that’s your fault. I should take you up on that offer for clothes.”
He traces a thick, blood-stained knuckle over the FAFO.
“I guess I did,” he murmurs.
“What did you do?”
“I fucked around and found out. My world has been turned upside down.”
He leans down and kisses me and the message is clear. Ace is as outside his normal lane as I am.
“Five minutes are up,” I whisper, my lips still tingling when he pulls back.
He doesn’t say anything, just moves to the dresser, gets a clean shirt, pulls it on, and shoves his arms into his vest. No, not a vest, his cut.
After opening the door, he guides me out, a possessive hand around the back of my neck.
Which is good, because I almost stumble when I walk into the bar.
It’s packed with men and women, playing pool, drinking at the bar, sprawled out on the couches doing…
okay that’s racy, and every single one of them turns to look at me.
“I should have invited Rio in,” Ace mutters as he turns into a growling bear next to me.