14. Ace
ACE
I look at Camile with concern. Her face is blotchy and her eyes are swollen and red from all the crying she’s been doing.
“You’re staring,” she says with a small smile. “I bet I look gross.”
“You could never look gross to me.” It’s the truth. I love her, and not only for her surface appearance.
“Ace, you’re a sweetheart, but I must look awful.”
“I am worried you’re going to get dehydrated, though,” I point out. “One minute.”
I head into the kitchen and pour a large glass of water from the bottle in the fridge. Then I take it to her. “Here, drink this. You need to keep your strength up.”
How long has it been since we heard about the attack on the ride out? Hours, but how many, I have no idea.
“When did you last eat?” I ask.
She wrinkles her nose. “Ace, I don’t want to eat, I feel queasy.”
“That will be the stress and the nerves. Food might help settle your stomach.”
“I don’t want to eat.” She shakes her head. “Please, stop hovering and worrying, and just come here. Hold me. That will do me more good than anything else.”
I do as she asks. I sit by her on the couch and pull her into me.
She’s so small in my arms. Fragile. Breakable.
We already lost her once to a bad man, and she went through unspeakable trauma, and the possibility of something terrible happening to her again haunts me.
I know I will literally lay down my life to protect her, but even that doesn’t feel like enough.
At least now that Jack has given his head a shake and admitted his feelings, I know she’ll always have either me, Ghost, Rook, or Jack with her.
Although how it will work, exactly, I have no idea.
I can’t picture Jack joining in a group moment like the one we had the other day.
Or maybe he will, now he’s started to get his head around our dynamic.
The thought is a little intimidating. After all, he’s our leader, and he’s a scary dude. There are not many people who scare me, but Jack in a bad mood? That comes close.
His reaction to the snails amused me. I think he definitely has a mild phobia from his freakout. I will have to move them out of Camile’s house if I want to create the right atmosphere for some Jack seduction with our merry gang.
“What are you plotting?” Camile pulls back a little so she can look at me.
“Me?” I say, all mock innocence.
“Yes, you. I can hear the cogs turning in your brain.” Then she touches the top of my head. “Yep, it’s getting hot.”
“Princess! Did you just imply that I’m not the brightest spark?” I launch at her, tickling her gently around her waist.
She shrieks and giggles and kicks her feet. That sound is so good to hear, it goes a long way to soothing my heart.
“Ace, get off me. I can’t breathe.” She gasps, but I can tell she’s just playing.
I let go, and the minx picks up a cushion and bashes me about the head with it.
“Hey. No fair.” I manage to wrestle the cushion out of her grasp, and somehow, we end up with her under me, and me pinning her arms above her head, over the armrest of the couch as we stare into one another’s eyes.
Both of us are breathing heavily, and the air changes between us. My gaze flicks down to her mouth, a second before I dip my head and claim her in a dizzying kiss,
Her arms snake around my neck, and she deepens the kiss.
Her tongue tangles with mine, and I groan into her mouth.
Despite every shitty thing that is going on, I find myself growing hard.
I can’t help it. It’s an animal reaction to having her in my arms. She tastes so good, and she feels even better.
My hand slides down her body, down to her thighs, and under her short dress until I have my palm resting on her hip where her thong elastic meets her skin. She lifts her hips, a clear sign she needs more. What my girl wants, she gets.
I hook my fingers in the elastic and yank her panties down her thighs. Helping me out, she kicks them off her bare feet. Then I grab those gorgeous thighs of hers and duck lower to cover her pussy with my mouth.
There’s a desperation between us, a sense of us both wanting and needing to feel something other than worry and fear, if only for a moment.
I eat her hungrily, moaning my pleasure as her wetness coats my tongue.
Her fingers spear into my hair and she yanks at the roots, making my dick even harder.
I plunge my tongue as deep inside her pussy as I can get it, feeling her inner muscles pulse around me, then slide back out to suckle on her swollen little clit.
“Oh, Ace.” Her cries of my name are breathy and incredibly sexy. “I want you, please. Fuck me. Fuck me hard.”
How can a man possibly say no?
I lift my face from her pussy and look up into her eyes. They’re hooded with arousal, her lips parted and plump. We’re both breathing heavily.
“God, you’re so fucking sexy,” I tell her.
“I need you, Ace. Please…”
She’s begging me…
I reach down and undo my jeans, yanking them down my hips just far enough that my cock springs free. She’s still in her dress, but now it’s rucked up around her waist. We make no attempt to rid ourselves of any more clothing. Our need for one another burns too hot to wait another second.
Crawling back up her body, I position myself between her thighs. She grabs the back of my head, roughly dragging me in for another kiss. Knowing she can taste herself on my tongue only makes this hotter.
Without wasting another second, I hold my cock at the base, positioning the head at her wet heat, and ram inside her, deep and hard. She cries out, her head thrown back, her back arched.
I take a moment to absorb how she feels surrounding me, so perfect and tight, a glove around my cock, then I slide back out and drive deep again, making her body jolt.
“Oh, fuck, Ace. That feels so good,” she gasps.
I place my forehead to hers and fuck her harder.
Her fingers claw at my back, nails digging into my t-shirt and marking the skin below.
Her hips meet mine thrust for thrust. Our mouths clash with impatient, clumsy kisses.
She clings to me like she’s afraid I might drift away, like I’m anchoring her to the earth, and I lose myself inside this beautiful, brave girl.
“God, Ace. Please… oh, fuck…”
She’s on the verge of losing it, and so am I. Everything happened in a matter of minutes—a playfight turning into a frantic, fast fuck that we both desperately needed. There’s nowhere I’d rather be than inside my princess, and I swear I’ll give her anything she wants if it makes her happy.
I reach between us, pressing my thumb to her clit.
Her breathy cries get louder and her pussy clenches around me.
We lose all pace and rhythm, and pleasure courses through my body, culminating in a heady rush racing down my spine and out through my cock.
With a roar of pleasure against her mouth, I ram myself as deep inside her as it’s possible to get and spill my seed in several thrusts.
My toes curl and my eyes squeeze shut. I’m sure they’ve just rolled back in my fucking head with the power of this pleasure.
My ass and thigh muscles are rigid and quivering, and Camile’s pussy ripples around my dick, clenching and releasing, clenching and releasing, as her own orgasm works its way through her body.
We’re both left shaking and gasping for breath, holding each other tight.
“Oh, fuck,” she gasps. “I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Me neither.”
I push her hair, damp with sweat, away from her face, and kiss her again.
I’m still inside her, growing softer, but neither of us makes any effort to move.
I could happily stay this way forever, especially if it means we don’t have to think about what’s happened to Jack or Ghost, or Camile’s family.
I’d die happy in this little cocoon of us.
But Camile lightly pushes at my shoulder. “We’re going to have to move, or we’re going to make a mess of the couch.”
She gives me a cute little grin, and my heart swells. Fuck, I love this girl.
“I’ve got this,” I tell her.
I hook her legs around my hips, with me still inside her—just—and lift her, so she’s straddling me.
She squeals and laughs, especially when my jeans fall the rest of the way down my legs.
I’d kick them off, but I’m still in my boots, so all that happens is I’m shackled by my jeans.
Undeterred, I keep going, in a weird little penguin walk toward the hallway.
“What are you doing?” she giggles.
I keep her clamped to me, my cock still plugging her pussy. “To the bathroom, we go!”
She laughs, and I know I’ll make a fool of myself a thousand times over to hear that sound again.
I carry her into the bathroom, and, still holding her with one arm, use my other hand to grab a washcloth and run it under some warm water.
“Ready?” I warn her.
She giggles again. “Ready.”
I unplug my cock from her pussy, setting her on the edge of the sink, and am I ready with the damp washcloth to prevent any mess. I take my time, gently wiping her clean and kissing her as I do so.
“I love you, Ace,” she tells me.
“I love you, too, Princess. So much.”
“You can leave me now,” she says. “I’m all good, and I need to pee.”
I kiss her then yank up my jeans and make my way back into the living room, giving her some privacy. I chug some of the water I’d brought for her and throw myself back down on the couch.
I hope she doesn’t start to feel bad about what we just did.
We were lucky not to have been interrupted.
Rook could have come back at any moment, and while he won’t mind us doing the dirty under normal circumstances, I don’t think he’d approve right now.
Not when Jack is recovering from surgery and Ghost is missing.
On the side table, my cell phone rings. The screen shows a number I don’t recognize, but I answer anyway.
“Yeah?”
“Is that Ace?”
I recognize Vani’s voice immediately. “Speaking. What’s up, Vani? Is Jack okay?”
Camile reappears in the doorway, all put back together, and she slides next to me on the couch and grabs my forearm, her nails digging in to a painful degree. She widens her eyes at me, desperate for information, even though I know much the same as her right now.
“Yes, he is, well, sort of. I’ve already spoken with Saul, and he’s going to tell the rest of the club the very basics, but he asked me to tell you, and Rook, the details.”
I glance at Camile. “I’m with Camile. Do you mind if I put you on speaker?”
There’s a long beat and a sigh, but she says, “Okay.”
I press the speaker button, and her voice fills the room.
“The doctors came to speak to Dad, and I was in the room, too. It’s good news in the sense that the surgery removed any fragments, and he will recover.
But the not so good news is that he’s going to need some light rehab, and he’s going to have to take it easy for a time.
We all know that’s not Dad’s forte. Hence why Saul said to speak to you.
Apparently, you’re one of the few people who isn’t terrified of my father.
He says you might be able to make him see sense. ”
I smile at her words. “I can try for sure.”
“Hey, Vani, it’s Camile.” Her features are strained, her eyes worried. “I am sorry for earlier. Truly. I know you don’t want to hear this, but I care for your dad so much, and I will try to make sure he doesn’t do too much as well.”
Camile nibbles at her nail, the silence on the other end of the phone stretching on.
“Okay, thanks, Camile. I appreciate that.”
The way Camile sags as she lets out a long breath makes my heart ache. She just wants her friend back, and I bet Vani wants the same, too, deep down.
I get why Vani reacted the way she did to Jack’s relationship.
From what I understand, her mother’s death was horrific and traumatic.
The girl will most likely still be suffering from PTSD due to it.
Probably unaddressed, too, if she’s anything like Jack.
They don’t seem the types to go for therapy.
“What exactly did the doctors say?” I ask.
“That the gunshot wound in his leg was a through and through, which is good. No broken bones, but there was some soft tissue damage and, obviously, blood loss. The damage will mostly need to be addressed through rehab and physical therapy. They cleaned up the wound and stitched him up. The gunshot wound to his chest needed the bullet to be removed, but they said it was very superficial and hadn’t gone too far.
He should recover from that fairly fast.”
Camile clamps her hand over her mouth, and I understand why. Even though his wound was superficial, a gunshot to the chest could have killed him with just a few millimeters the other way. No wonder Rook was such a mess when he returned and covered in so much blood.
I can’t bear to lose any of these people I’ve surrounded myself with now. They’ve become my family, and I need them all to be okay.
“We’ll be so strict with Jack that he’ll hate us within days,” I promise Vani.
She laughs a little. “Yeah, maybe don’t make him hate you. And… um… maybe I can come over and get to know you all a little more. While Dad’s recovering. And perhaps we can talk, Camile?”
“I’d really like that, Vani.” Camile wipes at a tear threatening to spill down her cheek.
“I’ve got to go. Zane is here to take me home for a change of clothes. If you want to come and see Dad, Camile, I won’t stand in your way.”
She hangs up without a goodbye or any soft words.
Camile sighs. “She’s trying, but she’s not forgiven me.”
I put down the cell phone and cup her face in my hands, making sure she’s looking me in the eye. “First, there’s nothing to forgive. You’ve not committed a crime, Princess, you’ve just fallen in love. Second, she will come around. She’s already made the first move. It will take time is all.”
She nods. “God, I can’t bear to think how close we came to losing him, Ace.”
“I know.” I can’t either. “We just have to make sure we stop him from overdoing things when he gets back.” I brighten. “Hey, you can be his naughty nurse. Gives bed baths a whole new meaning.”
“Ace!” She digs me in the ribs. “Trust you to let your mind go straight to the gutter.”
I grin and kiss her. “You feel up to heading to the club and seeing what’s going on? We can fill Rook in on what we’ve been told about Jack, too.”
“Yep, that sounds like a plan.”
“Come on, then, beautiful.”
I stand and offer her my hand, pulling her up off the couch when she takes it.
We head out of the door to find Rook and fill him in on the news.