Chapter 15
Molly
Jackass:
I need you to work in the kitchen –one until closing.
I swallow hard as my heart pounds, trying to keep my phone half-hidden from the professor as I process the message.
Cooking…
I’d love nothing more than to stand inside that kitchen and create magic, have people taste my food, but not only have I done my hardest to not see him after I kissed him, even stopping the pranks, even though it has only been two days, but I’m working tonight, where I actually get paid.
Crap.
Disappointment slams into me.
Spending the day cooking two days ago, it filled that hole in my heart, kissing Ace made my heart beat again, and now it’s all crashing down.
I eye the professor before I quickly message him back.
Me:
I can’t, I’m working the job I actually get paid for.
I hover my thumb over my phone before I press send and put my phone away, not expecting him message back.
He knows I won’t put the diner above my actual job or my college, I need to keep things in perspective, even if I want nothing more than to say screw it, but I can’t.
“Did you hear Professor Chuck got fired?” I hear someone whisper behind me, and I shake my head and take notes while trying not to let my mind wander back to Ace, which is really hard.
Two days and I still feel his lips against mine.
“Yeah, apparently, he threatened someone’s grade if she didn’t sleep with him, how disgusting is that?” someone who sounds like Nikki, the student who has slept with Professor Chuck for her grades, replies, and I roll my eyes.
She should be lucky to still have her place here.
“How pathetic is that, though? That he has to threaten women to get his own way?” the first girl questions, and I try to block them out as I type away, the ass no longer in my thoughts now that the dean has sacked him.
It’s also laughable because Ruth dumped him as well when her plan failed.
I blink. I want to cook, I want to make people happy and fill them up with my food, and worst of all, I want to see Ace, but I can’t have any of that, can I?
“Alright, class, that is it for today. We’ll follow up next class.
Please read through chapters twenty to thirty beforehand.
There will be a quiz which will get you ready for finals,” Professor Andy states, and some people groan, while I just put my laptop away and stand, my body moving on autopilot.
Ever since I kissed Ace, I can’t seem to function, he’s all I seem to think about.
Sighing, I walk down the steps and out of the class without a word to anyone before heading towards the door.
“Hey Molly,” someone behind me calls, and I stop and turn before locking eyes with Rylan, and I frown.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” I ask as he comes up beside me.
“May wanted me to take a class,” he says, and I raise a brow at his blatant lie before I notice Gabby, who is repeating a year walk out of the storage closet, rearranging her dress, and I chuckle.
“You mean screwing Gabby in the supply closet?” I call him out with a sly grin, and his face reddens, and I laugh, shaking my head as I begin walking again.
“Molly,” Rylan says as he gently grabs my arm, stopping me and I furrow my brows as Gabby stops beside us and looks between us, hurt lacing her brown eyes, and I move my arm back, forcing Rylan to drop his hand.
“Are you working tonight?” I ask Gabby instead of looking at Rylan, confused by his behavior, I mean, I know he likes me, but the man just screwed Gabby like some cheap hookup in the closet.
“Yeah, I’ll be on your side with you tonight,” she says, and I nod and continue to walk towards the door, both she and Rylan catching up with me.
“Can we talk, Molly?” Rylan asks as we walk outside, but I just shake my head while my whole body lights up and tingles, just like it did when I kissed Ace, rush through me and I frown and look up just as Gabby gasps.
“Oh my god, is that Ace, the Rebel’s only single officer brother?” she asks with excitement, and I raise a brow at her to hide the raging jealousy filling me before I look his way again, and even though he has shades on, I can see he’s looking at me, sitting astride his Harley, his cut visible.
Every woman on campus ogles him, and my stomach tightens with feelings I don’t like.
Jealousy.
Anger.
Rage.
I don’t like anyone’s attention on him, especially Gabby’s.
“Molly?” Rylan questions as he gently touches my arm when I don’t answer him, and I notice Ace’s head move slightly before his entire body tightens while Grabby bounces on her toes and says, “I’ll be right back,” and she descends the stairs, heading straight to the man who stole my heart like she didn’t just bend over for Rylan in the closet.
Ace doesn’t look her way as she bounces over to him, and I swallow hard as he tilts his head at me.
Shaking my head, I look at Rylan and remind him, “You’ve literally just slept with Gabby in the school's closet, yet you’re what? Wanting to speak to me? Probably ask me out? I’m not dating right now, Rylan, you know this, we’re friends.”
“But we could be more if you would just give me a chance,” he pleads, and I swallow hard and look back to where Ace is.
Gabby is standing before him, twirling her black bob in her finger, or trying to, but his sole focus is on me, and my stomach tightens as my heart flutters.
I’ve just lied to Rylan because I’m not as closed off as I thought. I can’t be if I want this man, who is way out of my league and slept with Abby.
Red flag, red flag, red flag!
Swallowing, I rasp, “We’re friends, Rylan, that is it, there are no feelings on my part.”
“You’re lying to yourself, Molly, and you know it!” he growls, and I flinch because I have never given him anything but platonic conversations, I never flirted with him, or touched his arm, or anything like that.
Clearing my throat, I ignore Rylan’s words, not willing to give him any indication there is something there between us when there isn’t and I descend the stairs with butterflies in my stomach.
Never in a million years did I expect Ace to appear after I messaged him, especially when we’ve barely seen each other since I kissed him.
Heck, one of the old ladies came in to cook, yet here we are, here he is.
Everyone on campus stares at him like love-sick puppies, while I just want to jump into his arms and beg him not to let me go, which won’t ever happen.
I feel Rylan following, and I know he won’t give up, and I silently sigh, but continue to walk over to where Ace is, right next to my car.
“I mean, I’ve been to a club party, but every time I’ve gone, you haven’t been there. Some of the women say they miss you,” I hear Gabby rattle as we close the distance, and it’s only then that Ace smiles slightly, though his tension is still there.
“How about we get out of here and find a secluded spot?” Gabby asks with a purr as I stop beside them, but Ace doesn’t answer her, instead, he removes his shades, putting them in his black tee, and locks eyes with me while Gabby melts on the spot.
“Oh wow, your eyes,” she basically moans, but again, he doesn’t pay her much attention, though I do raise a brow at Gabby because seriously?
Has she never heard of playing hard to get?
“Hey, Pidge,” Ace murmurs, and we lock eyes again.
“Prick,” I return, and Gabby gasps while Rylan sucks in a breath and chokes, “Molly, you cannot call a brother a prick.”
Oh yes, I can, I know it, and so does Ace.
“She can call me whatever she likes,” Ace says softly, and my mouth parts slightly. “I didn’t like what you said in your text,” he admits, and Rylan moves around me and glares my way.
“You’ve been messaging a biker?” he accuses as Gabby just watches with absolute shock. “You said you weren’t dating!” he growls, and Ace smirks that sexy smirk.
Jackass.
“I have a job, Ace,” I say without looking at Rylan, “As much as I would love to cook, I can’t.”
He nods, his smirk deepening, but confusion swims when he says, “Twenty dollars an hour until you get through culinary school, then I’ll up it to twenty-four an hour and give you free rein on the menu.”
Holy…
“You, uh, I mean, huh?” I scramble for words, and he does this magical thing, he grins wide while my two colleagues watch us with shock.
“You’re an amazing cook, Pidge,” Ace boosts, “Everyone loved your food, and I’ve managed to find someone to work part-time and around your school hours until you have your certificates, but it means leaving this school.”
I blink then blink again while Gabby sighs with relief, “You want her to work for you…” And even Rylan relaxes a little, clearly thinking Ace and I are platonic, but we’re not, are we?
I mean, I don’t feel like we are, my heart doesn’t feel like we are.
He’s my one, and I’m his, but I’m clearly messed up with trust issues, and the man hates that he has feelings for me—which I still think was the pranks that made him like me.
“Ace,” I say softly, trying to ignore the blood rushing to my ears, “I just spent four years busting my butt for this degree, I only have four and a half months left until I graduate.”
That and I have stipulations I have to abide by but I’m not telling him that, heck, I doubt he even knows that Abby is my step-sister.
He nods and asks, “And the degree means something to you?”
I swallow hard but nod in agreement.
“I may never have chosen it as my first pick, but the degree means I can help orphaned kids,” I admit, and he nods again before huffing.
“Okay, finish the degree and then begin culinary school,” he says, and I open my mouth to tell him I can’t afford that, but he puts his hand up, making my eyes narrow on it, but my lips twitch seeing the blue ink.
Guess it still doesn’t want to come out, huh?
“The club will pay,” he shocks me, and my mouth parts. His eyes soften seeing my disbelief, and he admits, “You’re an amazing cook and the club has heard all about it from the town, they want you, I want you.”
My heart leaps at his words, but I try to squash the feeling, because he wants my skills not me.
“What about your bike, the payments? I can’t just survive on one wage and pay for your bike at the same time,” I try.
“What did you do to his bike?” Rylan demands, but again, I ignore him, keeping my sole focus on Ace, who nods his head to his bike, and I frown as I look at it.
The paint is immaculate, no scratches, it looks brand new, and I narrow my eyes, seeing he was basically punishing me for touching his bike, not wrecking it, though to be fair, I have been playing those pranks, and he didn’t throw me out.
“My brother is a mechanic, my blood brother, Caleb and Lyra’s dad, the bike is done, so please tell me you’ll accept the job,” he says and we lock eyes again as he smirks and says, “And please don’t fuck with the food you serve me, the customers say you’re the best cook we’ve had and I would love to taste it sometime. ”
I huff out a chuckle as I look down, and Rylan mutters, “Don’t leave your stable job for a pack of lies, Molly,” making Ace growl and Rylan tense, and I look back at Ace, who wholeheartedly tilts his head.
“Please, Pidge,” he whispers, and I swallow hard.
Every cell in me wants to leap into his arms and cry out yes, but my mind is fighting to stay rational.
This man hates me but I, I, dammit.
Can I really take this leap?
What if I get hurt?
What am I supposed to do? Risk my stable job and go with my dream job, risking my heart because this man will never be mine, or jump?