Chapter 3
ACE
I’m not sure where those idiots will be right now, but I hope they’ll still be in the cafeteria shoveling down food.
If they are, I can sit back and watch them from a distance and follow where they go next.
I need to somehow get hold of one of their cells.
Hell, I could simply take one from them, but then I would have given them a heads up.
I don’t want them to know, just yet, that I’m onto them or they might be able to send a warning to whoever has taken Camile.
I’m absolutely convinced they’re behind this.
If only Ghost would have listened to me, or even Jack. Perhaps I shouldn’t have shouted at Ghost the way I did. I lost my temper for sure, but sometimes Ghost pisses me off.
He might be Sergeant at Arms, but I’m the Road Captain.
They’ve given me responsibility yet still treat me like I’m a fool.
Maybe I don’t help myself, because I try to make light of things, but that’s mostly a coverup for the rage simmering inside me all the time.
Anger at the state of the world, the way it treats the most innocent and the most vulnerable.
The way people abuse animals, even the baby ones, like kittens, and puppies, and all other kinds of wildlife.
The way other men have behaved toward Camile.
Shaking my head, I force myself not to go there, because if I do, I won’t be able to focus.
When I enter the cafeteria, it’s late into the breakfast run, but the three Numbnuts are still here.
They’re sitting in a circle with a few other men around a big table, talking animatedly.
I pick up on their words as I get near. They’re discussing the breasts of one of the barmaids and taking bets on whether they’re real or fake.
Part of me wants to march over, haul the one nearest out of his seat, and start punching his face repeatedly until it’s nothing but a bloody, pulpy mess.
I can almost feel the tendons and bones crunching under my knuckles and scent the metallic tang of blood on the air. Adrenaline bubbles up inside me.
I realize my hand has balled into a fist. I shake it out and try to relax. I breathe through the anger and ground myself as I amble over to where a couple of the ol’ ladies are starting to clear up the remains of breakfast.
“Mornin’, Ace, honey,” one of them says, flashing me a flirtatious smile. “You’re a bit late for anything hot, but I can go ask in the kitchen if there’s something in particular you’re after.”
“Nah, I’m good. Thanks, Cheryl.” I grab an apple from the fruit basket and bite into it with a hard crunch, the sweet juice flooding over my tongue. The whole time, I’m watching the table out of the corner of my eye, taking note of who they are sitting with.
“Well, sit your sweet ass down, and I’ll bring you over some fresh coffee in a sec.”
I flash her a grin. “Appreciate it.”
Maybe those other guys are in on it, too? I don’t really think so, because the Numbnuts are a law unto themselves. They tend to stick together, and while they might chat and joke with other members, they’re a tightknit group. Probably because no one else is as stupid as them.
For a moment, my brain takes a detour, and I wonder if there’s a noun for a collective group of idiots.
With my half-eaten apple in one hand, I approach them from behind. I see Eddy’s cell phone on the table, slightly to the left of where he is sitting, and hold back a smug grin.
Oh, they really do make it too easy.
Dramatically, I throw myself down next to him on the bench and snake my arm around his shoulder.
Eddy turns to look at me, and his eyes widen a little, his Adam’s apple rolling. I’m glad I make him nervous. If my suspicions are correct, soon I will make him hurt.
“What the hell do you want?” he asks, leaning away from me.
I only lock my arm on him tighter. Doing my best, happy-go-lucky-Ace impression, I shrug and offer a casual smile.
“I came to say sorry for the other day. When I threatened to… you know, divorce you from some of your digits. It wasn’t meant seriously,” I lie. “We’re all new to this club in one way or another, and we need to get along. I admit I was a bit of an asshole, but I’ve been stressed recently.”
From across the table, Eddy’s cousin, Duke sneers. “What the fuck have you got to be stressed about? You bounce around here like fucking Tigger.”
Oh, he’s going to get extra pain for that.
“Yeah, you’re always happy,” one of the other Numbnuts, Paulie, adds.
I try not to grimace as he sprays me a little with crumbs when he speaks.
“I might look it, but underneath, I’m only human.” I waggle my eyebrows. “Things have been busy, you know… mapping out new routes, getting to know a new area.” I almost say caring for the kittens but stop myself just in time.
There is no way I’d let these three fuckfaces know about them. It sickens me to think that I might be living amongst men who would harm innocent little animals, but there are men here who would surely do that, and worse.
I lower the arm around Eddy to rest on the table, and as I’m talking about the routes we might take soon, I reach forward to gesticulate with my right hand, knocking a can of Coke over as if by accident, spilling it all over Eddy next to me.
“What the fuck?” He jumps up and starts brushing the sticky liquid from his shirt and jeans.
While he’s distracted, I swipe his phone with my left hand and push it into my pocket.
He stares at me, his eyes narrow and his jaw set tight. “I thought you said you were sorry, and then you go and do something like this.”
“It was an accident,” I say, holding my hands up. “Truthfully.”
“Yeah, right. Well, you won’t be surprised if I don’t believe you. You’ve had it in for us from day one. I don’t know what the fuck we did to piss you off.”
I want to talk about how they manhandled Camile and pushed her around.
Rook, too. I know what I did to the kid at the hazing, but that was different.
He was up for that, and it’s a rite of passage.
These fuckers just like to pick on people they think they can get away with bullying.
I’m not sure if all three of them are spiteful or if their lack of intelligence means they don’t have as much empathy as most.
I try to plaster on a contrite expression.
“I did come over to say sorry, and this was an accident. Listen.” I reach into my right-hand pocket, not the one with the phone, and pull my wallet out.
I remove a handful of bills and pass them to him.
“Why don’t you go into town and… I don’t know, get a massage.
” I waggle my eyebrows at him. “One with a happy ending.”
There’s a massage parlor about fifteen minutes’ ride from here, and some of the club members frequent it. That kind of thing is not for me, but I bet it will be the Numbnuts’ idea of heaven. The place is open all hours.
“I heard that barmaid works there a few days a week,” I lie. “For extra cash. Maybe you can get her to flash you and sort out your argument.”
“Definitely fake,” Duke says instantly.
“Real,” Paulie replies. “You can tell by their heft.”
Heft? Who says that in relation to tits?
Eddy is ignoring them, focused instead on the wad of cash in his hand, and his eyes widen a little. As they should, because I’ve just shoved about two hundred dollars into his fat palm.
That should keep them busy for a while, and I’m hoping getting jerked off and staring at a pair of tits will stop him looking for his phone, too.
He grins at me. “Well, I suppose in light of this new development,” he waves the money in the air, “I will accept your apology. Fellows, why don’t we head to town?”
Fellows? Fuckwits, more like.
The three of them stand as one and shuffle out of the cafeteria, and as they walk off, I hear them discussing that poor barmaid’s tits again.
I will warn her to be wary of them. Although, hopefully, they won’t be members of this club for much longer if my suspicions are correct.
And, hopefully, Jack will let me do what I should have before, and start cutting parts off them.
Maybe I’ll use a rusty knife, just to make sure it hurts more.
I follow them outside, hanging back. They head to their bikes and climb on without Eddy even realizing he’s left his phone behind.
That’s the power of dangling a hand job in front of an ugly-as-sin, thick-as-a-post loser.
Even the least discerning of the sweetbutts don’t have anything to do with those guys.
I doubt they’ve been laid without paying for it in years.
The minute their bikes roar off, I race to Ghost’s place and pound on the door, wanting to be quick in case Eddy realizes his phone is gone and turns back.
“One fucking moment,” he shouts from inside.
I wonder if he’s been jerking off, too, and that’s why he’s taking his time. Then I wonder at my own sanity. Why am I thinking about him jerking off?
He pulls open the door, looks at me like I’m shit on his shoe, and sighs. “What now?”
“What now? What now, fucker is that I have Eddy’s phone.” I pull it out of my pocket and brandish it. “See?”
He frowns. “How did you get that?”
“I’m magic, that’s how. So, can you get into it?”
He smiles, almost. It looks kind of unnatural on his normally stern face. Christ, Ghost needs to loosen up. I know these are dire circumstances, but even before everything went to shit, the expression was rare for him.
“I can get into it. It might take a bit of time, but we can try the easy way first.”
“What’s the easy way?” I push past him into the hallway of his home.
With a put-upon sigh, he ushers me into his living room. The place is as sterile and personality-free as I’d expect. Ghost is a perfect name for a man who drifts through life mostly silent and alone.
“We try to guess his password.”
Oh, yeah, that makes sense. They are idiots after all.
“What should we try first?”
I look up to find Ghost watching me with a weird expression. A new expression. I don’t know what it means, and it unnerves me.
“What?” I ask.
“So, you and Rook…” he trails off.
God, here we go. Lecture time. I brace for impact, but his next words surprise me.
“What’s it like? Sharing?”
He says it so quietly I have to strain to hear him.
“Oh, um, I mean… I guess it’s not for everyone. I’ve done it before.”
His eyes widen. “You have?”
“I’ve lived a little, so, yeah. I don’t think Rook has, and Camile certainly hadn’t ever done anything like that before.”
“I know.” His eyes darken. “At least you were gentle with her.”
What. The. Fuck.
“How do you know that?” My voice has turned deadly.
“The cameras in the house, of course.” He taps his foot fast against the floor, and as he continues, his cheeks turn from deathly white, to deathly white with twin spots of color.
“I had to go back over the footage, obviously, when the men took Camile and, um, I saw some of it. I mean, I fast forwarded through it, but, yeah, I saw… enough.”
Lying fucker. I can see how mortified he is. Ghost watched us. Judging from his tapping foot, the way his eyes dart around the room, and the color on his cheeks, Ghost watched, and he liked it.
“You dirty fucker.” I snort a laugh.
Ghost’s eyes meet mine and his gaze turns sharp. “You won’t be laughing when Jack sees it, which he will.”
I shrug. “He clearly already knows what went on. He openly stated that we’d had sex with her.”
Ghost’s lips tighten. “Well, it’s an entirely different thing knowing it, to seeing it, and he’s going to lose his shit.”
“Why would he?”
“Oh, come on. He’s got a hardon for that girl, and I don’t think Jack’s the sharing type.”
Fuck. Panic slams into me. He’s right, of course he’s right, and I knew that, didn’t I?
But I chose to ignore it and get myself more deeply involved with her, and now I don’t think I can just shut the lid on it all.
“Jack can’t be with her, though, can he?
His daughter will lose her mind. Plus, will he even want to, deep down? He never got over his wife, really.”
“I don’t think he’s got any choice. I’ve seen how he looks at her, and you ought to prepare yourself that one day, maybe soon, he’ll claim her, and then he won’t want you, or Rook, or anyone sniffing around.”
Shit, shit, shit. I can’t lose her. I’d rather cut my own cock off and feed it to the turtle than hand her over to Jack.
Ghost moves on. “Anyway, that’s in the future. Right now, we’ve got to focus on getting her back, because if she’s not even here, you can’t all fight over her.”
I narrow my eyes. “Don’t exclude yourself from that. You talk about how Jack looks at her? I’ve seen the way you do, too. I mean…” I swallow hard. “You could join us one time. You might like it.”
His jaw works, and he gives me a disgusted look.
“Or just watch,” I add quickly. “I take orders like a good boy, and I know Rook does, and I’d bet Camile would love to have you tell her what to do. Imagine it now, you’re directing it all like a conductor, and we are the instruments you’re playing.”
My cock jerks at the thought. I guess I’ve always known I’m a bit of an exhibitionist. More the merrier, I say.
He clears his throat, but it sounds more like a growl. “Fucking focus, Ace.”
“Fine,” I mumble. “Okay, password. What should we try first?”
“One, two, three, four.” Ghost’s answer is immediate.
“No one uses that, surely?”
“You’d be surprised.”
I try it, and it doesn’t work.
“What about ‘password’,” I suggest.
Ghost plugs it in, but that’s a nope, too.
We try his date of birth. The name of his ex-girlfriend, who he talks about all the time, although I don’t even believe she’s real.
I think the woman is a figment of his imagination.
They don’t work either. We leave it for a while, so we don’t get locked out, and then try his friend.
The name of the barmaid with the maybe-fake, maybe-real tits.
I recall that he’s into Star Trek, so we go through some characters, but come up short each time.
I grimace. “If this is the easy way, I don’t want to see the hard way.”
“You’re about to.” Ghost stands and gestures for me to follow.
We head to the rear of the property where he pushes open a door to reveal a room full of computers and screens.
“Holy fuck.” I whistle. “Is this where you watch us all from? Like a god watching his creations?”
The glance he gives me is loaded with something I can’t name. “If you want me to be your god, Ace, I can.”
I swallow and look away. What the fuck is happening? I’m not into guys, but the idea of Ghost telling me and Rook exactly what to do with Camile, and how, has me all hot and bothered.
“Ha, ha,” I say with a forced laugh.
“Fucking focus, then. If you don’t want to feel uncomfortable, stop yanking my chain.”
“Yes, boss.” I mock salute him, and he scowls, and suddenly we’re back on safe ground.
Thank fuck.
Two whole hours later, and we are finally, finally, into the phone, and as I stare at the messages, Ghost picks up his own cell and makes a call.
“Jack?” he says. “You’re going to want to see this.”