Mischief (Circuit Book 2)

by Lacey Dailey

  But I also never told anybody except Sage. And she found out when she caught us making out in my dorm room after she came for a surprise visit. It wasn’t that I was worried people wouldn’t be cool with who I was. Sage accepted me in less than a second, and I’m not sure my parents cared enough to have an opinion either way. No. My hesitation wasn’t because I was closeted, even though I sort of was; it came from something else entirely.

  “Are you worried he doesn’t want it too?”

  I let out a dry laugh and shook my head. “Actually, Sage, I’m afraid he does.”

  “Wait… what?” She stood from her chair and dropped directly in front of me. “That makes no sense.”

  “Ace is my best friend.” I picked at the label of my beer bottle. “I’m sure it’s no surprise to hear I struggle with some stuff and Ace just makes it all bearable, ya know? The other night we had this intense talk, just totally opening up to each other. It was the best I’ve felt in a long time.”

  She smiled a smile so genuine, it made me warm to see her so happy for me. “What’s the problem?”

  “There’s some shit in my life that needs to be worked out. Things I have to do that scare the piss out of me.”

  “But doesn’t Ace make it easier? That’s literally what you just said.”

  “He does.” My cheeks hollowed with the size of breath I exhaled. “I just don’t want him to be a distraction, ya know? Like I’m using what I feel towards him to avoid all the crap. That’s not what he is, Sage. Ace is not a distraction from my life. He is what makes my life easier to live, and I’ll be damned if I ever make him feel otherwise.”

  “I think you’re worried about nothing, Brett. If you know Ace isn’t a distraction, then you’re able to make sure he knows it too.”

  She made a good point.

  “Just plant one on him, Brett. Tell him how you feel.” She nudged me. “You do know how you feel, right? Or is that the problem? You aren’t sure what you’re feeling?”

  Oh, I knew what I was feeling. Aside from pent up lust and a primal need to rip his pants off and touch his dick, I felt high. Constantly. I hadn’t smoked weed since I was a senior in high school and I couldn’t stop feeling like I was floating everywhere. He was on my mind every second of the day and Lord help me, but I could not stop looking at him. Now that I was jobless, it’s all I seemed to do. Stare at him. And don’t get me started on how fucking dopey I’d become. I used to think people’s odd quirks were strange and annoying. Ace? Couldn’t get enough of the way he never wore matching socks and sung Hollywood Undead off key in the shower every morning. I was obsessed with the way he made pancakes at dinner time and ate grilled cheese for breakfast. I loved his questions and his Mario figurines. I liked that he had sheets with race cars on them and a closet filled with hangers he didn’t use.

  My feelings towards Ace weren’t the problem. I knew how I felt around him. I was free, calm, breathing was easy and the pain that used to render me immobile didn’t hurt so bad when he was near.

  I was smiling just thinking about him. I knew I was. I was a fucking goner.

  “Oh, boy,” Sage laughed. “You need to live a little, Brett Maddison. Have another beer, get tipsy, spend all night kissing Ace and wake up in his bed tomorrow. You put your life on pause when I left, Brett, but I’m back now. You can press play.”

  I could press play.

  All I needed was a little push.

  ACE

  * * *

  “Did you find something?” I shut the door behind me, eyes focused on the back of Wren’s head while he looked down at his phone. “Dude! Why are we in here?”

  “Cruz texted us. You never have your phone on you or else you would’ve noticed it.” He pocketed his cell and took his glasses off his face, rubbing his eyes. “August discovered a blind spot in a security camera in the prison.”

  “And?”

  “And you know that prison guard that walks up and down that hall that seemingly nothing happens in?”

  Shit.

  “The blind spot is in that hall, isn’t it?”

  “Yep.” He slumped backward on his bed, pushing his glasses back in place. “That’s probably where Kade is paying that guard to get him what he wants.”

  I tumbled down next to him, the mattress rocking beneath us. “Which is what?”

  “According to Marshall and the shit in Kade’s file, he is a high-security prisoner in a high-velocity prison. He shouldn’t have access to computers.”

  “Prisoners send emails all the time.”

  “In low-grade prisons where the biggest offense is selling weed or tax fraud. Kade is a murderer who sold humans on the internet. Why the fuck would they give him access to a computer?”

  Wake up, Ace.

  Sex traffickers didn’t get internet rights. Hell. They didn’t get rights at all. Kade spent his first six weeks in prison in solitary.

  I ran my hands down my face and made a noise. “So there’s no way that email was from him. We’re back to square one now.”

  Wren rolled to his side and propped his hand in his head. “Unless that guard is on Kade's payroll.”

  My eyebrows rose up to my man-bun. “Dude. Shit. Can we say something about the guard? Report him for suspicious activity?”

  Wren snorted. “Who’s gonna report him? Mischief or Specter?”

  Right.

  “Sometimes I forget we gain our information illegally,” I huffed. “Our lives would be a hell of a lot easier if the President declared hacking an honorable talent or something.”

  “Yeah, no kidding.” Wren shoved my shoulder and dropped to his back again. “I’m gonna tell Sage. See what she thinks. We could be all wrong. All we have to go on is a blind spot, Kade’s past actions, and one email.”

  It wasn’t a lot, but Sage acted as our secret weapon. She held the map to Kade Wilson’s brain. Either he forgot that or just continuously underestimated how fucking strong she was. My bet was on the latter. Men like Kade turned a blind eye to the strength most women held. I’d seen it in my mom when my dad left and again when Sage went to visit Kade in person to find her friend who’d been taken.

  I was beginning to think that was the problem with villains in general. They underestimated the good guys. Lucky for Wren and I, we were directly in between the good and the bad. We held a firm grasp of each and weren’t dumb enough to underestimate either of them.

  “This is driving me crazy,” I admitted. “I do not want to be the reason Sage hurts.”

  It was the point in the bullseye where all my fear lingered. Kade Wilson could come at me all he wanted. Try to manipulate me and brain fuck me. I didn't give a shit as long as he left her alone. I'd witnessed her panic attacks one too many times. That man was a walking nightmare for her, and I wasn't gonna ask her to close her eyes and dream him up if she didn't have to.

  “She’s okay. I promise.”

  I relaxed a smidge. Wren wouldn’t lie to me. Brothers didn’t do that.

  “We will figure this out, Ace. We figure everything out. In the meantime, don’t let this keep you up at night. Just wait for another email and run like hell to Circuit when you get it.”

  “Yes, Sir,” I mocked. “God. You sound like Cruz without the Spanish. You could be him for next Halloween.”

  “He’d beat my ass.”

  “Yeah, he would.”

  We went quiet, the only sounds in the room were our breathing and the swoosh of Wren’s ceiling fan. I could faintly hear Brett’s voice floating down the hall, but not enough to know what he was saying. It made me smile, anyway.

  “So, is Brace official yet or what?”

  “Stop calling us that.”

  “I’ll take that as a no.”

  I sat up and whacked him in the gut. “Worry about your own relationship.”

  He grunted and heaved himself up next to me. A shit-eating smirk folded across his face. “So you admit it’s a relationship?”

  “Why won’t you let this go?”

&
nbsp; He studied me like I was something under a microscope. “Do you want me to?”

  “Do I want you to stop teasing me about a man I’m afraid to go after?” I snapped. “Yes.”

  “I’m sorry, man.” He gripped my shoulder. “Shit. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s whatever. I’m just…” I yanked at my man bun. “He’s better than Orlando Bloom. I feel lots of feelings for him, and I’ll just be really fucking crushed when he doesn’t feel the same. I would much rather spend the rest of my days holding his hand on the couch and having heart to hearts.”

  Something in his eyes flashed. “You hold hands on the couch?”

  I held up my finger. “One time. A few days ago. After he quit his job and I got that email about Kade. We talked about my dad and–"

  “Hold the fucking phone!” He flew off the bed like his asscrack was on fire. “You talked about your dad?”

  “So?”

  “So?!” His body flailed. “Ace Desmond Jackson, you do not talk about that man. Ever.”

  Oh, Lord. He used my middle name.

  “Well, I did with Brett.”

  “Because he’s special?” I thought his grin was gonna slide right off his face. That nosey fucker.

  “Yes, you fucking loon. Because he’s special. What? Is that what you wanted me to say? Brett’s special and I totally want to kiss him and have his babies.”

  “Brace for life.”

  “Stop calling us that.”

  “You need to stop being a bald-headed chicken plucker and go get your man.”

  “Wanting to pluck him is not the problem, Wren. I would be glad to pluck him anywhere he wanted. It’s basically torture to be close to him and not grab his face to bite his lips and lick all that yummy looking scruff.”

  “TMI.” He shook his head as if he was trying to erase whatever image I put inside it. I, on the other hand, was going to savor that image for later when I was alone in the sheets.

  “What’s holding you back, Ace? Be honest.”

  “Rejection.” It was as easy as that. “If he doesn’t feel the same, I risk losing him. And man, I cannot lose him.” I wasn’t even sure I could comprehend the thought. “He adds something to my life I didn’t even know was missing.”

  He smiled softly, his cheeks reddening. “I know how you feel. But, Ace, if you don’t tell him, you’ll regret it. Put yourself out there, man. Ask him if he feels the same.”

  “I’m not sure I can handle the answer to that question.”

  Hell. I wasn’t even sure I was brave enough to ask it.

  “HEY!” Despite the wooden door separating us, Brett’s shout filled my ears. “What the hell are you two doing back there? Mario Kart round two! Let’s go!”

  “Your boyfriend is beckoning us.” Wren winked and flung open the door.

  I stepped in the hallway behind him and kicked him in the ass so hard, he left the ground.

  “Fuck!” He barked, looking over his shoulder to shoot me a glare dark enough to drop a man. “I hate you.”

  I patted the top of his head and brushed past him, striding into the living room.

  “Finally. Damn. You two braiding each other’s hair back there or what?” Brett stood off the couch and held out a beer. “Here.”

  “Thanks.” I took a swig, meeting his gaze. My knees went weak beneath the force of his smile. It was pulled up to his eyeballs, all his teeth on display. I took a second to form words. “We, uh, going for round two?”

  “Yeah."

  I nudged my head toward the game console. "You gonna press play?"

  8

  Brett

  Decisions.

  There were good ones.

  There were bad ones.

  The line between the two was thin. Flimsy. Made up of something that could be blown or brushed away. The moment one began to cross it, it’d blur. Become permeable. Allow anything and everything to cross through it. Anyone could look at the blurred line as an invitation and be enticed to cross it when pressured or overwhelmed by a situational force.

  Or by a man.

  Ace Jackson was my line. He was the blur between a good decision and a bad one, and as I stared at him from across the room, my brain fogged with the after effect of cheap beer and the way it felt to be next to him all night, I couldn’t decide if I was about to make the best decision of my life or the worst one.

  “Dude!” he groaned and flung his foot, catapulting his unlaced shoe across the living room. “We need a new kind of game plan. We are reaching almost a hundred losses to Princess Peach!” He shook his head in disgust and kicked off his other shoe, ignoring the thud it made when it hit the wall. “Mario would be so disappointed.”

  I watched the way he leaned against the back of our couch until he was slowly toppling over it backward. He settled into the cushions, his hair hanging off the edge and arms splayed out like he’d just been shot. His legs were sticking straight up in the air, mismatched socks on display. “Maybe it’s all the beer we drink,” he said to the ceiling. “We should lighten up. It’s clouding our judgment.”

  I had to disagree. It wasn’t clouding my judgment at all. If anything, it provided me with the courage it took to open my nervous mouth and tell Ace exactly what I wanted to do to his. I supposed that’s why they called alcohol, 'liquid courage'. It was a catalyst to bravery.

  I’d only had three beers. Not enough to get me anywhere near drunk, but enough to loosen me up. I rolled my shoulders back and let my eyes roam him freely. The tip of his tongue was poking out from between his lips while he was attempting to blow a single piece of hair off the tip of his nose. It was fucking adorable. The crinkle of frustration marring his forehead and the way his chest rocked with a grumpy huff made me want to straddle his chest and kiss him senseless. But as I began to approach him from my spot in the doorway, I clammed up. Any buzz I had back at Wren’s faded away with the notion that if I did this, everything would be different. And with the constant changes happening in my life, major life decision after major life decision, I wasn’t sure I was strong enough to handle him telling me no.

  “Holy hell.” He batted his hands, brushing them across his face to remove that disobedient piece of hair. “Jesus. Finally. I should get a headband or something. I wonder if Sage has some I could steal.”

  That made me laugh. One of the best qualities Ace possessed was the sure way he always beat to his own drum. It wasn’t exactly traditional for a grown man to be walking around with his hair all wild, kept tamed by a headband he borrowed from his best friend's girl, but Ace never gave much of a shit when it came to blending in. Thank hell for that.

  “What the hell you laughing at?” He rolled his head to the side, his cheek buried in the cushion. “I’m being cautious. What happens if I’m driving and a lock of hair gets in my eyes? A headband could be what saves my life.”

  “Ah, yes. You’re right. That’s probably why all humans with long hair are required to keep a headband in their car at all times.”

  “Figures nobody told me that rule.”

  I shook my head with a low chuckle and fell down into the loveseat next to the front door. I gave it all my weight and just let my limbs fall where they wanted. My head tipped back and rested against the back of the couch. It was sometime after two in the morning. After all the intense games of Mario Kart and the few beers, we should’ve been dragging ourselves to bed. But Ace stayed up to the crack of dawn almost every night and I slept well past it every morning.

  “Yo.”

  I lifted my head and met his gaze. “Yo.”

  “If your five-year-old self inhabited your current body, what would your five-year-old self do?”

  “This is so easy, Ace.” I looked down at my lap. “Little Brett would definitely want to touch his new dick.”

  He burst into laughter, the airy sound filling my chest with something I couldn’t quite pinpoint. “You are so right. Little Ace would want the same.” He folded his hands behind his head. “Puberty is awesome. Pimples di
sappear, your dick grows, and the dates start coming.”

  “Not me. I didn’t go on a date until my junior year of high school.”

  That seemed to shock him. His mouth fell open. “Seriously?”

  “Why does that surprise you? I was a macho nerd. I was really fucking serious about becoming valedictorian. I didn’t need any distractions.”

  He turned his whole body just to look at me, adjusting his hands so they were resting under his head. “Where did you take her?”

  “Who?”

  “Your first date.”

  “Ugh. Are we really talking about this?”

  “Why not? Come on.” He flashed me a wink. “I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.”

  My stomach flipped. He was such a fucking flirt. It came so naturally to him, I was positive he had no idea what he was doing to my insides.

  “Uhm, okay. Her name was Daisy. Her friends made it pretty clear she wanted to go out with me. I avoided it for a while until she just walked right up to me at lunch and asked me out. I didn’t want to be the asshole who rejected her in front of all those people, so I said yes.”

  “This is the lamest first date story ever. What kind of teenage boy were you?”

  “Fuck you. I had my sights set on bigger things. Besides, after the date, I found out she and a couple of other people on the softball team took bets to see who could get to me first.”

  He jerked. “Are you for fucking real?”

  “Yep. According to Sage, I was the hot nerd that flirted. She used to say I got myself in trouble with the ladies by smiling at them and then never asking them out. A tease or whatever. I don’t remember teasing a damn person.”

  He faced the ceiling again. “I could absolutely believe you were a tease.”

  There seemed to be more he wanted to say. I knew there was more I wanted to hear but I was too chicken to ask him to elaborate. So I refocused the conversation to something much more interesting. Him.