Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
“Damn girl, I wanna keep my head if that’s okay with you.”
Their conversation the night before and the time they spent together recently had started to make her wary.
The spark that ignited the first night they met had continued to burn between them.
He made her feel seen in a way that she missed.
He made her feel comfortable in a way that she realized she never was.
With Ace, she forgot to keep her guard up and that scared her. There were sometimes where she could’ve sworn she saw understanding in his eyes and witnessed a similarity reflected back at her.
When she was with him, Joy’s mind started to wonder what it would be like to belong again.
Almost everyone who loved her had turned their back on her when they saw the real her and the thought of experiencing hope of love only to have it snatched away again, terrified her.
It made her want to retreat back into her bubble of solitude, but she knew that wouldn’t be possible.
The small episode she had with Marco at the precinct was just further proof that she hadn’t yet healed enough to let someone in. She wondered if Ace would still be around by the time that happened.
The confusion within herself and anger and resentment towards the people who damned her to this life then abandoned her came out through every punch and Joy had to reel herself in to avoid accidentally harming her partner.
“Sorry girl. A lot on my mind,” Joy apologized, removing her gloves to open her bottle of water. She stepped away from Mel, letting the cool liquid soothe her dry throat and coaxing her hands to stop shaking with the need for more violence.
“Wanna talk about it?”
Joy looked at her warily. The only time she’d ever told someone her feelings was with a court order. Emotions weren’t useful in her line of work so she kept the shits at bay.
“Oh girl I let you come in here and beat on me 3 times a week, I think that warrants some girl talk. You keep everything so bottled in after… You know…” Mel trailed off.
Joy ignored that last part.
“If my memory serves, you get a few hits in yourself.Marcohough Joy was thicker, she and Mel were equally matched in height and Mel’s more lithe frame afforded her the speed to rival Joy’s power.
“Yeah yeah,” Mel waved her off. “So are you gonna tell me what’s up?”
Fuck it, Joy thought. She needed a sounding board and Mel had always been that for her.
“I kinda… met someone.”
Melody’s eyes ballooned. “What?” she exclaimed. Shock colored her face as she sat down, awaiting the rest.
“He’s… he’s nice.” Joy thought back to Ace’s cocky and combative demeanor. “Okay nice may not be the right word to describe him but I… like him. I’m starting to like him a lot actually.”
“He doesn’t like you back or something?” Mel asked around her own water bottle. Joy thought back to the heat in his eyes as Ace confessed how much he still wanted her. She had to blink a few times to avoid getting lost in the memory.
“He does…but… I’m just nervous. I came here to heal and I’m not there yet. I’m nervous about jumping into something before I do. I need to get myself together before I worry about a man.”
“Why can’t you get your life together while entertaining a little romance?”
“Because I don’t think I would survive it if I jump into something before I’m back to normal and he abandons me once he sees how fucked up I am.”
Mel’s eyes softened and she lowered her water bottle. “Oh honey. Don’t you think you deserve to be loved just as you are now?”
Joy thought seriously about the question for a moment. “My own family kicked me to the curb once they realized I couldn’t be fixed. Why would anyone else be any different?”
“Did I?”
“Well… no.”
“Did Glock?”
“No…”
“Exactly. Don’t close yourself off from love and romance just because of what you think might happen.”
Clink
Clink
Clink
Clink
Ace barely registered the sound of the lighter flicking open and closed. He barely heard the meeting happening around him.
His thoughts, as they always seemed to be, were consumed with Joy.
Her brilliant brain.
Her smart ass mouth and full lips.
The curves she poured into her all black outfits.
Those fucking eyes…
Ace felt like he was losing his mind. The curiosity he’d felt the night they met had grown past infatuation, past obsession. What he felt for her now could only be described as hunger.
He longed to be with her whenever she wasn’t near and when she was right beside him, he needed more of her.
The feeling was new and maddening. There was a moment — just a brief moment — where he’d wondered if he’d regain control of his mind if he went ahead and put a bullet between her eyes.
He’d considered it, and the fact that he had no desire to do it, and couldn’t even if he did, made his predicament that much more precarious.
One hand continued flicking the top of the lighter while the other tugged at the hair on his chin.
“Ace.”
His movements halted and his head snapped in the direction of his name being called.
“What?” he asked, finding Jrue’s eyes on him.
“You have the deciding vote. What are we gonna do about the detective?”
Ace sighed. Detective Harris was becoming a thorn in his side that he couldn’t wait to pull out and crush beneath his Ferragamos.
First the arrests, then the raid, and now, he’d received word a racketeering task force was in the process of being formed. Ace still had suspicions that he had something to do with the missing shipment as well but he couldn’t figure out how that would benefit him besides just pissing Ace off.
Ever since Blue’s arrest, Harris and DA Young had shaken every tree, looking for something to drop. Luckily, 50 years of their organization had made it solid and their team was unshakable.
Still, he couldn’t underestimate the lengths they would go to.
“The moment you underestimate your opponents is the moment you lose,” Pops would always say.
“We’re still holding. Jrue, have Rem put together a packet on him and see what cracks we can wiggle into. Von, keep an eye on the lieutenants. If they’re digging for information, they’ll go to them first. Same rules apply.”
“Shoot first, ask questions later,” Von finished.
Ace nodded.
“This is crazy,” Isaac spoke up with a huff. “This is just a fucking detective. I say shoot him and that pussy ass DA in the head to be done with this so we can move on.”
Ace speared his overzealous acquaintance with a hard glare.
“That just a fucking detective and pussy ass DA slipped a raid under our nose and has my best man sitting in a cell. He’s accomplished more in 6 months than any of his predecessors achieved in 30 fucking years.
This requires to be handled with finesse or we’ll be playing right into their hands,” Ace lectured.
Isaac smacked his lips. “Man fuck finesse. If it was me, I’d say take everybody out and start fresh.”
Ace chuckled. “And that’s exactly why it’s not you and never will be.” Ace turned away from Isaac, effectively dismissing him.
“Anything else on the docket?” he asked. He was over this meeting. He was antsy and couldn’t focus and knew the only thing that would ease his irritation was laying eyes on Joy.
He wondered what she was doing.
A quick glance at his watch said it was a little after four in the afternoon. The office would be emptying soon but he knew his Rose would still be planted firmly in her office until at least seven.
“Actually I had one thing,” Isaac spoke up again. Ace swallowed a growl of frustration.
“Go ahead,” Ace waved him on.
With a smug smile, Isaac sat up straighter and Ace had a sinking feeling in his gut that he wasn’t about to like whatever came out of his mouth.
“I looked into that missing shipment from January,” he started.
“Who told you to do that?” Ace asked.
“I took initiative,” Isaac shot back.
Ace raised a brow, chuckling coldly. He felt Jrue kick him under the table, a silent reminder to remain calm.
“Anyway, I figured out that it was some of the De Leone’s boys. Low level niggas. I couldn’t let that fly so I assembled a team and had them snatch up one of their men and take their gun shipment for retribution,” Isaac finished, the accomplished smile back on his face.
He looked at Ace like he was waiting for an applause or a cookie. Little did he know, Jrue’s grip on Ace’s chair was the only thing keeping him from jumping across the table.
The room was silent, everyone glancing warily at Ace, gauging his temperature.
Everyone except Isaac seemed to recognize what a huge overstep Isaac had made.
After a few moments of deep breathing, Ace turned to Isaac. The fire in his eyes made Isaac flinch.
“Have you lost your rabbit ass mind?” he asked in a low tone.
Isaac opened his mouth. “I was just trying to?—”
“—trying to start a war. What were your sources that it was them? Who authorized a retaliation? How do you know your “team” wasn’t spotted?”
“I… Well…Listen Ace?—”
“—get out,” Ace gritted out through clenched teeth.
“What?” Isaac balked.
“Get the fuck out before I throw your simple ass through that window.”
“Come on Ace, he had pure intentions,” Gerald spoke up on behalf of his son.
“I’ll throw you out right after him Unc,” Ace warned with a sharp look in his direction. Gerald’s expression soured at the threat but he didn’t say another word.
Ace wiped a hand over his mouth. “Isaac, you thought it was a good idea to start a war with our closest allies while we already have Harris and Young on our asses? Did you not hear anything discussed here?”
“Man, I was careful,” Isaac protested.
“I doubt that. The fact that you lacked the restraint to wait is strike one. The fact that you moved without my authorization is strike two. The fact that you’re sitting here with a stupid fucking look on your face trying to justify this shit to me is strike motherfuckin’ three. You’re out nigga.”
When Isaac didn’t move, all semblance of calm left Ace’s body. “Get the fuck out!” he roared, causing everyone at the table to jump.
Isaac jumped out of his seat and with a scowl that blended anger and fear, left the room.
Ace took several deep breaths, trying to calm himself. Trying to ignore the voice in his head that told him to follow Isaac and put a bullet through his skull. His last name was the only thing that saved Isaac from the fate Ace so badly wanted to give him.
Killing a member of a Council family required prior permission that Ace hadn’t received. Ace had enough problems on his plate right now. He didn’t need the Council and his grandfather on his ass too.
So instead, he occupied his shooting hand with his lighter and stood.
“We’re done here,” he announced, dismissing the silent group before heading to the door.
“Where to, sir?” Ray asked as he fell into step beside Ace.
Ace didn’t need to think about it. “The office.”
As soon as Ace made it back to the office, he immediately opened up the cameras. His heart thudded in his chest at the sight of Joy at her desk.
She had her hair out today. Loose and big like the night they met.
She was typing something on her computer, those lips Ace couldn’t forget the taste of twisted up in a scowl of concentration.
She paused then pulled out her phone.
The thudding in Ace’s chest turned from anticipation to anger at the sight of the wide smile that stretched across her face at whatever was on the screen.
Who the fuck made her smile like that?
A part of him was tempted to have Remy hack into her phone to find out but he knew that was too far, even for him.
Instead, he decided he’d take her attention back.
Without announcing himself, he made his way down to her office, knocking forcefully on the door.
She quickly locked and set the phone aside as he entered.
“Joy,” Ace said in greeting.
“Adonis,” she returned.
“I thought I told you to call me Ace.”
She shrugged. “I like Adonis better.”
The corners of Ace’s mouth curved slightly. “You enjoy being difficult.”
A wicked little smile spread across her lips. “With you? A little.”
Ace liked that about her. She never backed down from him. It wasn’t like other people who mustered a bravado they didn’t have to appear tougher than they were. She genuinely didn’t give a fuck. She genuinely believed she could say what she wanted because no one could beat her ass.
And that shit turned Ace on too much for him to be angry.
“Well get your stuff and bring your difficult ass upstairs. I have some things to run by you.”
Joy smirked as she stood, gathering her things.