Chapter 30
I’m not sure I can take any more stress. Ace is pacing. The cops are in a meeting with Prez.
“Are they here to arrest me again?” I finally ask, my stomach turning inside out.
He stops for a moment. “Will you stay here if I go find out what’s happening?”
“Yes,” I say immediately.
Ace, kisses my forehead. “Lock the door. All the locks.”
“Be careful,” I call after him as he leaves.
Oh my god.
I peer out the window, biting my now-chipped fingernails. Two cop cars are parked neatly along the edge of the row of motorcycles.
The compound seems extra quiet. I don’t see any guards in the towers. The gate is open.
What could be happening?
A soft knock rings on the door and I peer out through the peep-hole which as a security cover that I have to slide out of the way.
Katie and the other woman—the one with the saw are there.
They slip inside quietly and I re-lock the door.
“Do you know what’s going on?”
Katie shakes her head nervously. “I’ve never seen cops here before.”
“I’m Chaos,” by the way, the other girl extends her hand. “Slider’s my man.”
“Nice to meet you, I’m Vera.”
She’s heading for the kitchen. “You know how to cook?”
“I… sort of,” I reply.
“How about whipping something up for the three of us while we wait, I’ve got a nervous stomach that wants food.”
Slowly, I approach Ace’s kitchen. Whew. This feels like a big step. Cooks are very particular about the kitchen.
They take the two bar stools as I open the fridge. It’s as tidy as the rest of his apartment. And full of fresh ingredients.
“Does Ace cook?” Katie asks.
“Some,” I reply vaguely. “How about some scramble eggs and toast.”
“Got ketchup?” Chaos asks.
“Uh. Yes.” I hold up the jar. A mason jar that’s labeled ketchup with a date on it. Homemade ketchup.
For some reason, my heart turns over. Oh my god. I’ve fallen in love with an outlaw biker who cooks and drugs his girlfriend when he’s trying to protect her.
I sniffle.
Katie tunes in immediately. “Are you okay?”
“How did I fall in love?” I ponder, dashing a tear off my cheek. “It’s impossible.”
They both laugh gently.
“Girl, at least Ace didn’t kidnap you from a rival club,” Chaos says.
She proceeds to tell me about meeting Slider while I scramble eggs in Ace’s favorite skillet. It feels weirdly intimate.
I fall into an almost trance as they talk, my hands moving over the kitchen tools he uses. I almost forget to be worried. Then I catch sight of the parking lot through the window. The cops are standing in the lot. Ace is there. Skull is there and another man is too.
Katie says, “Well, no one is in cuffs.”
“And they’re shaking hands,” Chaos ads.
I press my hand to my stomach. “What do you guys think this means?”
“It means we should get out of here, because Ace just headed for the building and if I know anything about these men, he’s going to be in here in two seconds flat so he can get his hands on you.”
She wasn’t wrong.
The door bangs open.
Ace steps in, his hair is a bit messy. There are dark circles under his eyes. His hands still look like hell.
“It’s done,” he says without moving from the door frame.
The three of us stare at him.
When he doesn’t move, the girls bid me goodbye and scoot out the door with the rest of their sandwiches on paper towels.
Ace shuts the door, flips the locks, but he doesn’t move toward me.
“What’s done, Tobias?”
“The case.”
I sag, sitting on the kitchen stool. “It’s really over?”
He nods once. “The cops came to tell us about the internal investigation that uncovered that the officer with the mustache was in bed with Wallace Prince thanks to information Reingold gave them.”
“Oh my god,” I wheeze, covering my mouth. When I can speak again, I say, “Those jerks worked together to set me up.”
He nods once.
“You can—” he stops and clears his throat. “You could go home now.”
I glance around this space—the apartment where Ace made me feel more whole, more accepted than I ever have in my life. Inside, I’m trembling when I speak. “I thought I was home.”
That big body of his sways as his expression softens.
He silently crosses the room, cradles my head against his shoulder, hugging me close. “Stay. Forever.”
I choke on a sob. When I catch my breath I remind him, “That’s a long time.”
When he pulls back, he takes my hand in his and kisses the back of my knuckles. “Wife.”
“What?” I gasp.
“That’s what I want to call you.”
“You’re not serious.”
“Dead serious.”
He lifts me off the stool and carries me to the couch where he sits with me on his lap. Me. Six-foot tall, curvy me.
“I love you,” he says as he rubs his hand up and down my thigh.
I’m so shocked, I ask, “Do you have a fever?”
“No. Why?”
I kiss his cheek, the corner of his mouth. “Because I never thought a big mean biker would say those words.”
“Well, I never thought I’d fall for an accountant.”
I grin against his lips. “I can balance your checkbook, and help the club optimize tax breaks.”
He chuckles, then devours me with a searing kiss as his hand tightens in my hair.
I pull back enough to whisper, “I love you, Tobias.”
With a groan, he flips me under him on the couch, and takes my mouth again.
This time he growls, working his tongue seductively against mine as his body presses down, reminding me there’s nothing small about Ace.
When he finally comes up for air, he looks down into my eyes for a long moment. He says in a rough voice, “Next time you’re in the kitchen, do it naked.”