That did it. Lucy was instantly annoyed. First he tells her they should see other people and then he is angry that she didn’t come home.
“You’re the one who said we should see other people.”
“Lucy, are you telling me that you were with someone else all night?”
Lucy just continued up the stairs and walked past Tom. Tom turned and followed her into the bedroom.
“Answer me, Lucy!”
“Yes.”
Lucy took off her dress. Tom’s eyes opened wide and he gritted his teeth when he saw that Lucy didn’t have on a bra or panties.
“What the fuck Lucy! Did you leave your bra and panties as a souvenir?”
Lucy had her back turned towards Tom, thank goodness because she was smiling. Screw him, he was the one who wanted to see other people. She continued on into the bathroom and stepped into the shower. Moments later Tom was inside the shower with her.
“I…I changed my mind.”
Lucy looked up at Tom who didn’t look angry anymore…he looked scared, scared that he was going to lose her.
“Oh really, why is that?”
“I can’t lose you.”
“Tom, you’re the one who told me that we should see other people. I was the one who thought, well forget what I thought.”
“No Lucy, tell me.”
“When you said that you wanted to talk, I was expecting a proposal not…”
Tom grabbed Lucy and kissed her. He picked her up and she wrapped her legs around him and he slammed himself into her as he continued to kiss her until he needed to catch his breath.
“Lucy, marry me. I was wrong, I was scared. I love you.”
“But…”
“Whatever happened last night, it doesn’t matter.”
“I want you to marry me because I am the one for you. Not because you’re jealous or afraid you will lose me.”
“Lucy, I do love you. Yes, I was jealous as hell all night thinking about you being with someone else but, Lucy, I also realized that it’s you I want. I was a stupid fool to say what I said.”
“Oh Tom, I love you too.”
“So…is that a yes?”
“It’s a maybe.”
“I don’t understand?”
“Let’s just go back to how things were…before and make sure that’s what you really want.”
“It is…”
Before Tom could finish his sentence Lucy kissed him to end the conversation. She needed time to think and she wanted to give Tom time to rethink his sudden change of heart as well.
Ace walked into the station and his Chief called him into his office. He loved Chief Jenkins. Since his first day of work the Chief had always looked out for him and kept him under his wing. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for him.
“Hey Chief, what’s up?”
“I’m wondering if you can help me with something.”
“Sure.”
“It seems that I have been elected to Chair this year’s fundraiser and I’m looking for some help. I need someone I can trust to be my Co-Chair, so how ‘bout it?”
“You want me?”
“Well it is just the two of us here so I suppose you’ll do.” Chief Jenkins chuckled.
“Wow, what an honor. Yes, of course, I would love to help you out.”
“Good, then after shift you can come home with me and we can have dinner and get to work.”
“Alright.”
“Did you already have plans?”
“No, Sir.”
“I will call my wife and let her know we will have company for dinner.”
“Thank you.”
“No, thank you.”
Ace got up and walked out of the Chief’s office. He guessed he had better double up on the coffee so he could stay awake through dinner.
Lucy barely made it through the day. If her students weren’t so demanding she probably would have fallen asleep at her desk. She was dreading having dinner with her parents because all they ever asked was when Tom was finally going to make an honest woman out of her. What would she say if Tom told them he asked and she said maybe? Well, she would just have to cross that bridge when and if she came to it. She sure as hell couldn’t tell them that Tom wanted to see other people so she flipped out, got drunk and paid a stripper for sex after Mary’s, bachelorette party. Or that she couldn’t say yes to Tom because she wasn’t sure if he asked for the right reason or simply that she couldn’t stop thinking about Ace.
“You ready to leave, Babe?”
“Be right down, Tom.”
Lucy grabbed her purse and headed for the door.
Ace followed the Chief into his house. It was a beautiful home. The Chief’s wife came out of the kitchen carrying a pitcher of homemade sangria and a tray of cheese and crackers.
“Oh, let me help you with that, Dear.”
The Chief grabbed the tray and placed it down on the table and then leaned over and kissed his wife.
“I’ve missed you.”
“Missed you too. Sandy, this is Ace Dean.”
Ace extended his hand but Sandy grabbed him and hugged him.
“I am so happy to finally meet you. My husband talks about Lt. Dean all the time.”
Ace looked up at his Chief and smiled.
“What? You’re a good kid.”
“Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Jenkins.”
“Please call me Sandy.”
“While you’re at it, when we’re not at the station, you can call me Todd.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Dinner will be ready in about an hour.”
“Good, it gives us some time to head to the study and work on things. Give us a five minute warning.”
“Will do.”
Lucy and Tom arrived at her parent’s house. Tom stayed outside and played basketball with her brothers. Lucy went into the kitchen to help her mom with dinner.
“Lucy, will you carry the salad to the table, while I call your father.”
“Sure, Mom.”
Lucy’s mom walked out of the kitchen and Lucy added the dressing, croutons and the salad tongs to the bowl and then headed to the dining room with the salad.
Lucy’s mom walked past her and smiled. Then Lucy’s dad spoke, “Well, there’s my little Princess.”
Lucy looked up and the smile on her face turned to one of embarrassment and confusion when she saw Ace standing at her dad’s side. She dropped the salad bowl and it crashed to the floor.
Ace stood there frozen in place for a moment.
“Lucy, are you alright?”
Lucy looked up at her dad and nodded.
“You know me, always been a klutz.”
Todd kissed Lucy on the forehead and began to squat down to clean up the mess when Ace squatted down in front of him.
“I got this, Chief.”
“Chief?”
“Lucy, this is Lt. Dean down here cleaning up your mess.”
Ace looked up at Lucy.
“Pleased to meet you, Lucy.”
“I’m going to go grab the pail, I will be right back.”
Lucy squatted down next to Ace and whispered, “Thank you for not saying anything.”
“I did it for your father, not you.”
“I don’t understand, if you’re a firefighter then why do you have to…you know?”
“Stripping was something I did in college and still do occasionally. If you’re referring to the sex afterward, well that is something I also do when I find a woman I’m attracted to and I do it at no charge.”
Lucy stared at Ace. After blinking a few times she finally spoke, “You mean, well you’re not…”
“Lucy, get up from there before you hurt yourself.”
Lucy stood up and put on her best smile for Tom.
“I’m fine. I think maybe I’m just a little tired.”
“Do you want to go home, Babe?”
“Oh no, I made my daughter’s favorite for dinner, she isn’t going anywhere.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
“Mrs. Jenkins, no matter what you cook, it’s always delicious.”
“Thank you, Tom.”
Todd started to dish out the lasagna. Ace had gone into the kitchen to wash his hands. When he turned around Lucy was standing there.
“I’m sorry, I thought.”
“Yeah, I know what you thought of me.”
“Ace, I…”
“Excuse me.”
Ace walked out of the kitchen while Lucy was mid-sentence.
“Thank you for cleaning that up, Ace.”
“You’re welcome, Sandy.”
“Come sit over here next to Lucy.”
Lucy’s brothers walked in and sat down.
“Jake, Jon, this is Ace Dean.”
Ace reached out his hand and shook both their hands.
“Dad talks about you often. He said you’re a smart guy.”
“Yeah, he also says you’re gonna get yourself killed one day because you have no fear.”
“Jon!”
“Sorry.”
“No fear, Chief?”
“You know damn well I’m right.”
“Shit, you couldn’t pay me enough to run into a burning house.”
“Tom.”
“What, Lucy? I was just being honest.”
“Sounds like Tom is afraid of a lot of things.”
“Like what Jake?”
“Like commitment. You’ve been with my sister for a few years now and I still don’t see a ring on her finger.”
Lucy wanted to pass out. Ace was sitting there looking anywhere but at her. Tom and Jake were getting loud and the tension was mounting.
“Well I will have you know that I asked Lucy to marry me this morning.”
“WHAT?”
“I’m sorry Mr. Jenkins, I know I should have spoken to you first but it was a spur of the moment kind of thing.”
“Can we not talk about this now? Dinner is getting cold.”
“We will talk about this now. Why didn’t you tell your mother and me that you got engaged?”
Lucy looked down and then at Tom and then between her parents before she spoke.
“We, well I, I asked Tom if we could wait a bit.”
“Wait?”
“Please, this is between Tom and me, can we just drop it for now?”
“Maybe I should go?”
Ace stood up to leave but Lucy reached out her hand and grabbed his wrist.
“Please don’t go. I’m sorry the conversation got out of hand.”
“Lucy is right. The conversation did get out of hand. Ace, sit back down and enjoy your dinner.”
Ace nodded his head and sat back down. He had all he could do to swallow his food. Lucy was the last person he expected to see there, in fact he didn’t think he would ever see her again. Now he sat eating dinner in her parent’s house with her on one side and her father, his Chief, on the other side. What would his Chief say if he knew that he had slept with his daughter and that his daughter paid him for Christ’s sake?
Lucy pushed her food around the plate and forced down a few bites. All she could think about was Ace. She wanted to reach her hand down and place it on his leg. Hell, who was she kidding, she wanted to kiss him right then and there. She could smell his cologne and had an irresistible urge to just lick his whole body.
“Lucy? Lucy?”
Tom shook her arm, “Are you alright?”
“I have a bit of a headache is all.”
“Do you want me to take you home, Babe?”
“No, I think I will just go put on a pot of coffee.”
Lucy got up and walked into the kitchen.
Two hours had passed since dessert had been served and Ace was counting the minutes until Lucy left or the Chief allowed him to leave. Lucy walked into the study and Ace excused himself to use the bathroom.
“Dad, I think we are going to head home now.”
“Lucy, are you sure you’re alright?”
“I’m just really overworked. I need some sleep and maybe a vacation.”
“A vacation from Tom?”
“Dad.”
“You’ve been waiting for a long time for that guy to finally make an honest woman out of you and now you’re holding back. What did he do?”
“Nothing, I love Tom, he is…”
“Can we finish up tomorrow? I’m really beat.”
Todd looked up at Ace.
“Sure. Thank you for all of your help.”
Ace walked over and put on his jacket and then pulled an envelope from his pocket. He opened it and Lucy’s eyes almost fell out. Then he reached in front of her and handed it to her father.
“I almost forgot to give this to you, it’s a donation for the Children’s Burn Center.”
“It’s mostly dollar bills.” Todd chuckled.
“Believe it or not some stripper wanted to donate it. There’s two hundred and three dollars there.”
“Hey, Babe, ready to go home to bed?”
By that point Lucy couldn’t even speak, she nodded to Tom and then leaned over and kissed her father on the cheek. Tom grabbed her hand and they left.
“You ok, Chief?”
“I’m worried about my little girl. She wasn’t herself tonight.”
“Maybe it’s her time of the month?”
Todd smiled and then he patted Ace on the back, “Smart man, you’re probably right. Wish she’d ditch Tom though. I haven’t trusted that man since the day I met him. The fact that he asked her to marry him and she didn’t say yes right away makes me wonder what he has done to her?”
“Do you think he’s abusing her?”
Ace became concerned, then angry at the thought that Tom may be abusing Lucy.
“I’ll kill him if he as much as puts a hand on her and I’m pretty sure he knows that, so I don’t think that’s it.”
“I’m sure it will all work out.”
“See you next tour.”
“Good night Chief, thanks for dinner.”
Ace walked out.
ACE WAS SO WOUND up, he couldn’t go home to sleep so he decided he would drive by the club and see if any of the guys were there. He wasn’t inside two minutes before he was hit on. After Lucy, he was sure that it wasn’t a good thing to hook up at work.
“Hey, long time no see.”
Ace turned around and Declan was standing there.
“Hey, Dec.”
“What’s up, I haven’t seen you in weeks?”
“I was here a few times for parties but didn’t come upstairs after, I just headed home. I’ve been working a lot of overtime at the firehouse. We’ve been down two guys.”
“You hanging? Want to sit and have a drink?”
“I’m up for a drink.”
“I’ll grab a bottle and meet you at the corner table.”
Ace headed to the table and sat down. Shane walked over and sat down.
“What’s up, Bro?”
“Not much, Shane. You?”
“Training my ass off, next fight is Saturday night.”
“I don’t know how you do it.”
“I love the rush.”
“Rush? You get a rush out of getting your ass beaten?”
“No, I get a rush out of winning.”
“You…”
“Slide over, Shane.”
“Dec.”
“All we need is Chace and then the party would be complete.”
“Someone mention my name?”
“Chace, hey buddy.”
“Move your ass over, Declan.”
“So what’s the occasion?”
“No occasion, just four best friends together, drinking.”
“Well, Ace, that sounds like an occasion to me.” Shane winked.
“I say we take a few bottles, some girls, a guy and head to the back like old times.”
“Chace, what happened to Kim?”
“We broke up. She hates that I’m a cop. I don’t want to talk about it.”
Ace felt bad now that he said something.
“Well, I stripped last night and took this girl home and then tonight I found out she has a boyfriend who proposed to her and her father is my Chief.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, teach me to break the strip and no dip rule.”
“I have good news, our profits have tripled.”
Ace, Shane and Chace all looked over at Declan who was smiling like the cat who ate the canary.
“Tripled?”
“I think you’ve been hit in the head one too many times, Shane. Yes, you heard me right the first time. Our profits have tripled.”
“Whoa, any idea what we’re doing right?” Ace laughed.
“A few months back I hired a new assistant manager and well, I think the changes she’s made have started to pay off.”
“Dec, you’re actually giving credit to a woman?”
“Shut up, Chace.”
“Chace is right Dec, you sleeping with her?”
Declan didn’t answer at first but then when the three of them stared right at him he finally answered, “No, well…twice.”
Shane’s phone rang. Declan looked up at him.
“Aren’t you going to answer that?”
“Nope.”
“Shane, you know you want to.”
“Fuck you, Declan.”
Shane’s phone started to ring again. He powered it off as he glared at Declan.
“Alright, what’s going on?”
“Why don’t you tell Chace what’s going on, Shane.”
“Robert dumped me and now he wants me back.”
“Ok, so what do you want?”
“That’s the problem Chace, I love him, I want to go back with him, but I don’t think I can handle him dumping me again.”
Declan looked completely annoyed.
“He can’t just want you when it is convenient for him. He needs to decide what he wants because if he hurts you again, he will have to deal with me.”
Declan stood up and walked towards the bar.
Ace looked at Chace and then Shane.
“Shane, if I didn’t know better I would swear Declan was…jealous.”
“Nah, he has always been overprotective of me, of all of us. You know he’s like our dad.”
Lucy sat in the living room resting on the couch. Tom knew if Lucy had a headache she wasn’t going to want sex, so he went to bed when they got home. She couldn’t keep her mind off of Ace. She decided she should call him and apologize. She reached for her phone and called her cousin Mary to see if she had a contact number.
Ace of Spades (Underground Affair Series Book 1) Page 2
