by April Lust
He took a deep breath and turned to go back inside. Plunging his hand into the cooler of ice, Ace dug around until he surfaced with something suitable to drink. Part of him yearned for the stronger stuff to numb his pain, but he knew he needed to keep his head clear.
“Glad to see you decided to stick around,” Katie said from behind him.
Ace closed his eyes in exasperation, pivoting to look at her. Surprisingly, Katie’s face seemed sincere. Her eyes were red, but Ace could tell she still had yet to shed a tear. That was to be expected. Katie didn’t tolerate weakness, least of all in herself, and she wanted a man who would be just as tough as she was. Her attitude regarding what she considered to be weak was in no small measure why she and Ace fought so often.
As the leader of The Hell Brothers, Ace had to make some hard choices. Sometimes he wanted some validation that the choice he had made was the right one, and if he tried to seek this out from Katie, more often than not, she would accuse him of being insecure and unstable.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, and Ace pulled it out to look, though he already knew who it was.
“Who is that?” Katie asked accusingly, correctly imagining it to be Fiona.
“No one,” he said, turning the phone off and shoving it back into his pocket.
It tore Ace’s heart in half to say that, but he knew what the gang needed from him right now, and he was going to give it to them, no matter the cost to himself or his own personal happiness. He would send someone to guard Fiona instead.
This is where you belong, he reminded himself as he looked at Katie’s wavy black hair. What you had with Fiona, whatever it was, it wasn’t real. This is real. This is your life, now and forever.
Chapter 9
“How about a steak? Can I order that?”
Fiona flashed a smile at Bobby. “Of course! You can get whatever you want. In fact, why don’t you order me one too,” she said. “I’m just going to try Ace again really quick.”
She turned back to the hotel phone, dialing the number Ace had left her. This was the fifth time she’d tried to call him in the last two hours and so far, there had been no answer. This time the call went straight to voicemail.
Putting the phone back in its cradle, Fiona sat on the bed, wondering why he wouldn’t answer. The most obvious reason was that Ace couldn’t answer the phone because he was currently being murdered to death by Alexei and his mob, but Fiona didn’t want to think about that.
He could just be busy, Fiona tried to reason with herself. Busy searching for Alexei.
Maybe he just doesn’t want to talk to you, that horrible, self-critical side of her suggested. Maybe now that he’s had everything he can get from you, there’s no reason for him to stick around. He probably doesn’t give two shits about Alexei, Niko, or you.
“Everything okay?” Bobby asked, shaking her from her dark thoughts.
Fiona flashed a smile, bigger and brighter than ever before. “Absolutely! Did you order that food?” she asked, filled with false cheer.
“Uh, yep. Should be here soon,” he told her. “Did you get ahold of Mr. Connor?”
Keeping her tone light, Fiona waved a dismissive hand. “No, but that’s fine. We’re having a good time without him, right?” she said.
Bobby smiled. “Totally!”
Fiona tried calling Ace once every two hours for the rest of the night, but it continued to go to voicemail. Bobby had fallen asleep at this point, and Fiona woke him so he could get home before his parents worried.
She slept fitfully that night. Fiona was plagued with nightmares, some where Alexei was torturing her brother, some where Alexei was torturing Ace, and some where all three of them were tied up and tortured together.
She woke suddenly the next morning with the feeling that she hadn’t slept at all. She glanced at the clock. It was close to ten in the morning, but when she checked her phone, Ace still had yet to call her back.
A knock came from the door and Fiona ran to it, thinking it was Ace, but when she opened it, she came face to stomach with an incredibly tall, good-looking black man.
“Riley?” Fiona said confusedly. “What are you doing here?”
“I’ve come to guard you,” he answered. “You should not have answered the door so quickly. You did not ask me who I was, or check the peephole,” Riley said, pointing to the small security measure.
Fiona’s blood ran cold. Riley was right. She had completely forgotten that she was also a target.
“Please go back inside now, so you are not seen,” Riley instructed her.
“Where’s Ace?” Fiona asked, ignoring him.
“He is busy with the gang’s affairs—as he should be,” he added pointedly.
Fiona took the hint that her question was not going to be answered and stepped back into the room. She wasn’t happy that Ace couldn’t at least call her, especially when he said he would, but she knew that after last night, there was no way Ace could be accused of using her.
It had been everything she thought it would be: Ace had been so gentle at the beginning, so tender. And then they had flipped the script, and he had shown her exactly what she had been missing all these years. There was no doubt about it in Fiona’s mind: that was how people were supposed to have sex.
Still, when several hours had passed, and she and Bobby were well into the afternoon marathon of Law & Order: SVU, Ace still hadn’t contacted her.
“Riley?” she hesitantly called through the door. “Could you call Ace for me? I haven’t been able to get a hold of him.”
“Ace knows what he is doing. He will call you when the time is right,” Riley replied, his deep voice muffled.
Fiona went and sat back down on the bed with a huff. She briefly wondered if, perhaps, Ace was avoiding her, but dismissed the idea quickly. She didn’t think many of the members of The Hell Brothers particularly liked her; Riley might be the one blowing her off instead of Ace, not that she preferred that scenario by much.
“Are you okay, Mrs. Connor?” Bobby asked around a mouthful of ice cream.
“Sure,” Fiona said, not bothering to fake any enthusiasm.
An hour later, while Olivia Benson was delivering her snarky one-liner to the arrested criminal, someone knocked on the door—pounded, actually.
Fiona and Bobby exchanged nervous glances, and Fiona hurried to the door, making sure to check the peephole this time. It was Riley, but he was accompanied by another man. She opened the door cautiously.
“Something has happened and I must go,” Riley said hurriedly. “This is Andrew; he’ll make sure no one comes near you, okay?”
Fiona looked at the second man. He could have sat in the dictionary next to the word “biker.” He had an enormous chest that sloped into a respectable beer belly. His black shirt had the sleeves ripped off, displaying arms that were entirely covered with tattoos—many of which were naked ladies and skulls.
“Nice to meet you, Andrew,” Fiona said politely.
Andrew grunted in return. Riley took off without a word, leaving Fiona awkwardly looking at the man next to her, who did not seem to notice she was there.
Unsure of what to do, Fiona stepped back into the room and slowly closed the door. She rejoined Bobby in watching Olivia and Elliot bust bad guys, but Fiona couldn’t get it out of her mind: Where is Ace?
Two episodes later, right before the confession, Fiona decided she couldn’t wait around any longer. She picked up the remote and switched the TV off.
“Hey!” Bobby protested.
“I’m sorry, Bobby, but I need your help with something,” Fiona said solemnly.
“Sure, Mrs. Connor, what’s up?” Bobby had been calling Fiona that for the past two days, and she had let him, partly for simplicity’s sake, partly because it had been fun to pretend to be Ace’s wife.
“I think Ace might be in trouble. Do you have a car?” she asked.
“Well, yeah,” Bobby said. He had a Toyota that was only a few years younger than he was, but it got hi
m from A to B without too much trouble. “But how do you know where he is if he’s not picking up his phone?” he asked.
“I have an idea,” Fiona said, “but you’re not going to like it.”
Half an hour later, Melanie was knocking on the hotel door.
“’Sup,” she said to the giant biker beside her.
Andrew grunted.
Fiona opened the door. “Come on in!” she said brightly.
“Good talk,” Melanie said, waving to Andrew as she stepped inside. “So, what am I doing here, and who’s the kid?” she asked, pointing to Bobby.
“That’s Bobby, and I need your help getting out of here,” Fiona explained.
“Oh, okay,” Melanie said. “So, you don’t call me for days, and now you need my help?”
Fiona rolled her eyes. “Melanie, please. It’s not like I blew off plans for a slumber party; people’s lives are in danger. Let’s keep it in perspective, okay?”
Melanie pouted for a minute. “Oh, fine. What do you need me to do?”
“I need you to be me,” Fiona said.
“Is that was this is for?” Melanie opened her bag and pulled out the long black wig and pair of heels Fiona had asked her to bring. “Are you going to be me? No offense, but I don’t think that’s gonna fly. What about you, kid?”
Bobby cleared his throat. “You’re not very…well, what I mean is, neither of you are…um…no,” he finally finished.
It was true, Fiona and Melanie had completely opposing body types; Melanie was tall and lithe, Fiona was short and curvy.
“I know,” Fiona said. “I’m not blind. But that guy might as well be.” She jerked her thumb towards the door behind her. “You saw him coming in. He barely even looked at you. All he saw was tall,” Fiona pointed at the heels, “and dark,” she said, pointing to the wig.
“You have a point…” Melanie said slowly. “Okay, I’m in. What’s the plan? I pretend to be asleep when he checks on me or something?”
“Pretty much,” Fiona shrugged.
“Simple,” Melanie said. “I like it.”
Twenty minutes later, Fiona was moving down the hallway as quickly as the heels would let her. If everything went to plan, Bobby would join her outside in another twenty minutes to take her to Ace’s house.
Andrew was just as oblivious as Fiona had hoped, and almost a half an hour later, Bobby came out looking like he was trying very hard to keep himself from running.
“Thanks, Bobby. You’re a life saver,” Fiona told him.
Bobby slowly drove down the dark street as they made their way to Ace’s, nervously looking around. Almost all of the streetlights were busted, and sirens constantly echoed in the distance.
“Does anything look familiar?” Bobby whispered to Fiona, despite the fact that the windows were rolled up and there was no one around to hear them.
“Yep,” Fiona said grimly.
Two houses ahead, Fiona saw a familiar red and matte black motorcycle parked in an overgrown yard. Dozens of bikes surrounded the place, but, for once, Fiona didn’t feel intimidated; she felt furious.
Bobby, on the other hand, was feeling very intimidated. He unconsciously slowed the car to a stop. “You want to go in there?” he said.
Music and shouting could be heard even at this distance. There was obviously a major party happening, and who knew what that might entail.
“You can wait in the car, Bobby,” Fiona said dangerously. “This will only take a minute.”
She got out, slamming the door behind her, stamping toward the thumping house with the vibrating windows. Bobby stared after her miserably for a moment, then resignedly unbuckled his seatbelt and got out to follow her. He pressed the button to lock his car, listening to the sad, futile honk.
Fiona threw open the door, her head whipping left to right as she searched for any sign of Ace. Bobby cautiously entered after her, completely terrified, but determined to make sure Mrs. Connor was okay.
With her limited knowledge of the house’s layout, Fiona began to work her way room to room as she looked for Ace. Suddenly her ears pricked up, hearing a bold, familiar laugh coming from the kitchen.
Squeezing her way down a crowded hallway that seemed to be entirely made of leather and hair, Fiona finally popped out in what appeared to be more of a mess hall than a kitchen, with Bobby close behind her.
A long wooden slab about eight feet long served as a table to over a dozen people, all indifferently scattered around it. At the far end, Fiona saw Ace sitting on top, his boots resting on the bench, laughing uproariously with his friends—Katie being one of them. She was sitting on the bench next to Ace’s legs, leaning against him as she raised her can to empty it of its contents.
Fiona’s face burned with anger and humiliation. She didn’t know whether she wanted to tear Ace apart or run away and hide. What was I thinking? He used me! Melanie was right. Everything he ever said was a lie. She remembered her fantasies of being “Mrs. Connor” and a sick shame washed over her.
“Come on, Mrs. Connor,” Bobby said softly, his hand gentle on her shoulder. “I’ll take you back to the hotel.”
Closing her eyes against the embarrassing sting of the title Bobby had given her, Fiona turned to go with him. Stopping at the doorway, she looked back and saw Katie’s gaze boring a hole into her, a wild, victorious smile spreading across her face.
Fiona stared at the other woman as she stood up to whisper something in Ace’s ear. Giving Fiona one last look over her shoulder, Katie walked towards the back of the kitchen, Ace trailing obediently behind her.
Fiona’s embarrassment disappeared, and a hot, territorial fury began to grow inside of her. Shaking Bobby’s comforting hand off of her, Fiona tried to follow, but the crowd of people was too great, and before she could catch up to Ace and Katie, they had disappeared.
She whirled around angrily, searching for any sign of the man who had betrayed her, but there was nothing. Fine by me, Fiona determinedly thought to herself, I’ll search this place inch by inch if I have to.
And with Bobby still following her, that’s exactly what she did.
***
“Katie, I know you want to go over the plan again, but please,” Ace begged as he walked up the back steps behind her, “can we just go back to the party?”
Katie looked back at Ace and smiled wickedly. Ace paused mid-step, realizing she was not bringing him upstairs to talk plans. Taking a deep breath, he followed her into her bedroom and carefully shut the door behind him.
“So, er, what did you want to tell me that you couldn’t downstairs?” Ace asked, still trying to pretend that Katie hadn’t lied to him to get him alone.
Katie responded by peeling off her tight black crop top. She wasn’t wearing a bra underneath, and Ace instinctively averted his eyes, even though Katie’s breasts were something he had seen a hundred times before.
“What are you doing?” Katie asked him curiously. She stepped closer and Ace turned away from her. “Come on,” she said, reaching out to wrap her long, slender fingers around his arm. “It’s been too long for us. That’s why we’ve been off lately.”
Ace pulled away, still keeping his eyes down. “Katie…” Ace didn’t know how to say what he needed to. Partly because he couldn’t believe he was about to say it, and partly because if he said the wrong thing, Katie might very well pull out her gun and shoot him.
But Katie had been trying and trying with him over the last week, and he had kept pulling away. His mind hadn’t been ready to accept it until now, but things with Katie were done.
“Just spit it out, Ace,” she said coldly, folding her arms over her breasts. “Whatever it is, fucking spit it out already.”
“I can’t do this with you anymore,” he finally said. “Us, this…” he gestured between them, still not looking at her, “…it’s over, Katie. I’m sorry.”
A long silence spread between them.
“Is this because of her?” Katie asked, and Ace knew she meant Fiona.
<
br /> “No,” he answered honestly, surprising himself.
“Then what’s it about, Ace?” She sounded almost desperate.
“It’s about me, and what I need,” he told her. “I can’t really explain it, Katie.” Ace shrugged. “I wish I could, but I can’t.” Ace privately thought maybe he actually could, but not to Katie, and that was the whole point of it.
“So that’s it?” she said disgustedly. “We’ve been together for three years, and all you can give me is ‘I can’t explain it’?”
