Chapter 14 Ace
ACE
My mouth drops agape as the gates open for Jack’s bike, and he rides out of the compound with Camile clinging to his back. She turns just before the gates close again, and her gaze locks with mine briefly before she turns away once more, leaving me bereft.
Where is he taking her?
I break into a run, but the gates swing shut in front of me.
Never being one to miss the chance for a dramatic moment, I drop to my knees and skid across the ground. “Noooo!”
I cover my face with my hands. How can she be gone?
I never even got the chance to give her a kitten, though I guess they are far too young to leave their mother.
Maybe I’d hoped Camile would stick around long enough to watch them grow up?
Perhaps she’d like something else? A rabbit?
Girls like rabbits, don’t they? Not that I have any rescued rabbits right now. I could find one, though.
I sense someone behind me.
“What are you doing on the ground, Ace?”
It’s Ghost.
Morosely, I stand, brushing the dirt off my knees. “Jack just left with my girl.”
Ghost cocks an eyebrow. “Your girl?”
“Well, she would have been if she’d stayed here a little longer.”
“I think you might have had a little competition on that one, buddy.”
I sigh. “Yeah, I know. She only has eyes for Jack.”
“Jack?” he says, surprised. “I thought it was Rook.”
Now it’s my turn to be pissed. “Rook? What’s Rook got to do with this?”
I remember them being together in the canteen at breakfast, but I’d assumed he’d been told to sit with her and would be done after that.
Ghost must be hallucinating. What the fuck would she see in the prospect?
Yeah, okay, he’s more her age, and I guess he’s kind of attractive with his cut jawline and the tattoos, and some might say he’s handsome, but…
Fuck. Why would she not want Rook?
Ghost continues. “Rook took her on his bike to the hill to hang out, but they had company. Those three idiots some of you call the Numbnuts were messing around with them. I broke it up, but she was upset. Jack wasn’t happy, and neither was Camile. She asked to leave.”
That final sentence is a punch in the heart. She asked to leave? She left the compound… left me, because she wanted to, not because Jack was taking her away.
“Why?” I dare to ask. “She asked to leave ’cause the three idiots were being assholes?”
I’ll fucking kill them for that.
But Ghost screws up his face. “Not exactly, though they played their part.”
I want to know exactly what part they played, but first I want to find out what it is that Ghost isn’t telling me.
I get the feeling Ghost merely tolerates me. But then Ghost merely tolerates most people. The only one he has any time for is Jack, and we all have time for Jack.
“I was a bit hard on her,” he admits.
I’m surprised he’s confiding in me. Is it because he didn’t want to see Camile leaving either? Is he regretting the small part he played in it? Why would he care, though? Ghost is cold as fucking stone.
“That’s just who you are,” I comment.
“Yeah, but she doesn’t know that. She took what I said personally.”
“What did you say?”
Anger starts to rise inside me at the idea of Camile being hurt by Ghost’s words, and I ball my hands into fists.
Ghost notices, arches his brow, and I force myself to uncurl my fingers.
It would not be wise to take on Ghost. While I can handle myself, Ghost could probably kill me without me ever seeing him coming.
Plus, he’s the enforcer of the club, the Sergeant at Arms, so he could probably get away with it, too.
“I told her she was being a brat.” He sighs.
I stare at him. “Was that all?”
He shrugs. “Pretty much.”
I’m not entirely sure he’s telling me the truth, but Ghost isn’t the type of man you push.
Instead, my mind circles back to the men I can fuck with.
I need someone, or three someones, to take out my frustration on, and they’ll do just fine.
I’m so pissed that Camile left without me even getting to say goodbye that a good old-fashioned fistfight is screaming my name.
I need to exorcise some of my rage. I ought to wonder why I’m so screwed up about some girl I’ve only just met, but I don’t.
I simply focus on the pertinent issue at hand.
“Did the Numbnuts put their hands on her?” I ask.
“Yeah, one of them had hold of her when I showed up, but I got the impression they’d been there a while, and so most likely they each had a turn. They were really trying to push Rook’s buttons, not harm the girl, but they were doing it via Camile.”
So Rook failed her, too? Jesus. I see red.
“Where are they now?” I have no right to make the demand, and I’m on thin fucking ice, but sheer rage is making me reckless.
“No fucking idea.” He scowls at me. “I’ve just revoked their privileges for a week, on Jack’s orders, and read them the riot act. I thought Jack would want to tear a strip off them, too, but since Jack is now gone…” He gestures toward the closed gate Jack and Camile just exited through.
I crack my neck, tilting my head left, then right, and use one hand to crack the knuckles of the other and repeat the process.
“Ace,” Ghost says, a warning to his tone, “whatever you’re thinking of doing, just don’t. There’s been more than enough shit today to last me a goddamn month.”
“Me?” I say, trying to sound innocent. “I’m not thinking of doing anything.”
“Do you take me for a fool?”
“No, never. No one would be stupid enough to think you’re a fool.”
“Then stop treating me like one. What are you planning?” He crosses his arms over his chest and stares at me.
“Just to have a little word in the shell-like ears of our three idiot friends.”
“Is that all you’re planning to do?”
“Come on, Ghost. Don’t tell me you’re not raging inside as well at the fact that those little fuckheads put their hands on her. I saw the way you were fully locked in on her in the canteen this morning.”
“I was assessing the situation,” he replies, all fake indignation.
“Assessing the way her tits looked in her top, more like.”
“That’s enough, Ace,” he warns again.
I ignore him and wonder where I’ll find the Numbnuts. “Where do you reckon they’ve gone?”
Ghost shakes his head. “Ace, you’re this close to getting revoked fucking privileges too.”
“Fine.”
But Ghost isn’t done yet; he’s got his Sergeant at Arms head on now.
“In case you forgot, Ace, I am the one who is in charge of fucking security, not you.”
“You might be in charge, but you should also listen when someone is trying to tell you something, and I’m telling you that you need to keep an eye on those three pricks. I don’t trust them.”
“You can distrust them all you like, but you still don’t take matters into your own hands. That’s an order, Ace.”
“Fine.” I hold my hands up. “I won’t do anything. Christ, I just need a goddamn drink.”
He watches me with an expression that says he doesn’t buy one ounce of what I’m selling. “I swear to God, Ace.”
“I hear ya, Ghost.”
Ghost’s jaw works, but then there’s a screeched fuck you from the room where one of the guys, Denz, is staying with the sweetbutt he keeps fighting with, and the sound of a lamp or something smashing against the wall.
“Fuck my life,” Ghost grumbles.
As he storms off toward the room where the sounds are coming from, I reach into my pocket and touch the lethally sharp flick knife I always keep there, reassuring myself of its presence.
I know I have to listen to Ghost, or risk getting kicked out of the MC myself, but I make a mental note to keep a closer eye on those assholes.