Wild Renegade

by Andria Large

  "Hey, Nikki," she says cautiously. "How are you?"

  "I know you know," I reply.

  "Right, let’s cut the bullshit then. What the fuck is going on?" she demands.

  "Ugh! I don't know..." I say then go on to tell her everything from what I walked in on to what Ace said while outside my door.

  Raelynn is silent for a moment as she takes in everything I told her. Then she says, "Honestly, he sounds genuinely distraught about this so I'm leaning toward he didn't do it. But why don't you just take some time to yourself and think about everything? You’re upset right now and not thinking clearly. You are not a stupid woman but I think your emotions are blinding you to what you know is the truth. I mean, you've told me multiple times how desperate this girl is to be with Ace, so I have no doubt that she would go to this extent to break you two up. She's probably wallowing in her success right now."

  I snort. "It's funny that you say 'wallowing' because she kinda looks like a pig."

  Raelynn barks out a laugh. "Ha! That is funny!"

  "It's not like I can really take a few days off, though. I mean, there is a concert tonight, I can't just bail." I sigh.

  "Okay, so if Ace comes to you wanting to talk, just tell him that you need some time to think and can't talk to him right now. I'm sure he'll give you the space that you need," she replies.

  "Yeah, okay. You're right. Thanks, Rae," I say.

  "You know I'm here for you, Nikki. Just say the word and I'll send Sebastian out there to kick Ace's ass." She chuckles.

  "Oh god," I groan. "I don't think that will be necessary."

  Raelynn laughs. "He's already talking about buying a plane ticket."

  I chuckle. "Tell him that I appreciate the gesture, but I think that I can handle this without him busting down doors."

  "I will."

  "Thanks again Rae, I gotta go, but I'll call you tomorrow," I say.

  "Okay, Nikki, love ya," she replies.

  "Love you, too, Rae."

  I hang up and set my phone on the nightstand. Rae is right. I need to give myself time to calm down and think this through. I hop in the shower and get ready for the concert tonight.

  ~Ace~

  "You can't fucking fire me over this!" Hillary squawks.

  "Yes, I can. You snuck into Ace's room and stole his room key then proceeded to make it look like you two slept together, and I'm sure that picture on TMZ is not a coincidence," Lizette says.

  I'm standing in the corner of a conference room that the hotel let us use, arms crossed over my chest, trying to keep my cool. I have to stay as far away from her as I can, otherwise I might strangle the bitch.

  "This is bullshit!" she shouts.

  "Hillary, you were way out of line and your actions will not be tolerated. You need to pack up your things, I have a cab waiting to take you to the airport," Lizette says calmly, but she's all business.

  Hillary turns to face me, her eyes flashing furiously. "You son of a bitch! You're going to regret the day you ever screwed with me. You haven't seen the last of me!" she barks before stomping out of the conference room.

  Lizette stares at the door where Hillary just exited. "Damn, she's nuts."

  "Tell me about it," I mumble. "That has to be one of the worst decisions that I've ever made."

  "Ya think?" she snorts.

  I send her a dirty look, which has her chuckling.

  "Thank you, Lizette," I say solemnly.

  She nods. "She needed to go."

  "Were you able to find a replacement yet?" I ask.

  "Yeah, I'm going to have her work with Kara in NY for a week or two to bring her up to speed on the dances. So you guys will be short a girl for a few shows."

  "Hey, that's better than dealing with Hillary's bullshit," I scoff.

  "True. I still can't believe that she did what she did. That's straight up insanity right there."

  "You're telling me." I grunt.

  "Alright, I'll send Rob to her room to escort her out and make sure that she leaves," Lizette says.

  "Okay." I nod as we both head for the door.

  "In the meantime, give Nicole some space. She’s probably really confused right now and I'm sure very upset. If you bug her about it, you'll only make it worse," she says.

  We step out into the hall and I pull Lizette into a hug. "Thanks for everything," I murmur.

  She returns the hug. "You're welcome, now go get ready for tonight's concert," she says.

  "Yes, boss," I tease.

  She gives me a dirty look and a shove. I chuckle as I leave her to go back to my room to get ready.

  Chapter Eight

  ~Ace~

  I follow the guys toward the stage. The dancers - including Nicole - are already waiting to go on stage. The tension between everyone is palpable. Dean gives me a sympathetic look and a pat on the shoulder before taking his place in front of me in the line. We have a couple of minutes before going on, so I make an effort to try to talk to Nicole. I walk over to where she is standing at the end of the line of dancers and stop next to her.

  "Nikki..." I start but she cuts me off.

  "Ace, please, can you just give me some time and space to think?" she says firmly without looking in my direction.

  It kills me that she won't look at me. "Can you just look at me?" I ask. I desperately need her to look at me.

  She hesitates, but she lifts her bloodshot eyes to meet mine. I move closer to her, staring her in the eyes as I say with conviction, "I did not cheat on you."

  She swallows hard and turns away without a word. I just needed to look her in the eyes and tell her that so she could see that I'm telling the truth. I go back over to where I'm supposed to be. She needs space? That's fine. I'll give her some space, especially if it will help her realize the truth.

  The concert starts and Nicole is professional yet cold. When she touches me, it doesn't feel the same. There's no heat in it, no emotion. She's only touching me because she has to. And she's avoiding looking at me as much as possible. The smile on her face is forced. It's really hard to be upbeat when the woman you love is hurting.

  The next morning, we all file onto the buses and head out to the next city. Nicole remains on the bus with the dancers since she asked for her space. I'm in a shit mood so I try to keep to myself as much as possible. I'm sitting on the couch in the front of the bus with Everett. Beau and Lizette are in the back room taking a "nap." Dean's in one of the bunks reading and Roland is playing a game on his iPad at the table. Everett has his guitar once again and he is strumming away. An idea hits me.

  I turn to Everett and ask, "Do you know that Proclaimer's song, I Would Walk 500 Miles?"

  "Umm..." he mutters as he thinks for a moment.

  Everett is the kind of guitar player where, if he knows the way a song goes, he can play it without looking at the sheet music. He fiddles around for a moment before strumming the first few chords of the song. Damn, he's good. I pull out my phone and look up the lyrics. I start singing while he continues to play. Everett sings background, somehow knowing when to harmonize. He obviously knows the song better than I do.

  After we finish, Everett smiles at me. "You're gonna sing this to Nicole, aren't you?" He chuckles.

  "Yeah, wanna help me?" I smirk.

  "Hell, yeah." He laughs.

  "Do you think it will help me get her back?" I ask, smile fading.

  Everett shrugs. "I don't know, maybe. Girls do love when guys sing to them."

  I grin. "That's true."

  I hope this song gives Nicole an idea of what I will do to be with her. I've done everything I can so far to get her to see that I didn't cheat on her. Everett and I talk some more about the when and how. I also find Dean and ask him to help me. I have a plan and I pray it works.

  ~Nicole~

  It's been four days since the whole Ace and Hillary incident. Ace has definitely given me the space I need. I haven't spoken to him since that day. I have caught him on multiple occasions watching me, though. Whenever
I look over at him, he gives me a small sad smile that breaks my heart. I really miss him. I miss talking to him and being in his arms. I've really thought hard about everything. All along, my heart has told me that Ace is being truthful and sincere; my mind just needed to catch up. I thought back on Ace's reaction to seeing Hillary in his room, and he was genuinely shocked and appalled that she was there. Then what he said when he was outside of my room, "Why would I want to fuck up what we have to sleep with some psycho chick?" Exactly. He wouldn't. So I have come to the conclusion that I was wrong in thinking that Ace would cheat on me, especially with Hillary. Now, I just have to build up the courage to talk to him and fix this relationship.

  We arrived in Nashville, Tennessee, this morning and we have a concert tonight. I've been hanging out in my hotel room since we got here and I'm starting to get hungry. I decide to go down to the lobby to see if the front desk can suggest somewhere close for me to grab a bite to eat. I grab my purse and open my door to see Dean standing there with his fist held up ready to knock. I jump and yelp.

  "Jesus, Dean, you scared me," I gasp.

  He smiles. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. Were you heading out?"

  "Ah, yeah, I was gonna go grab something to eat," I reply.

  "Oh, great, I was going to see if you wanted to get lunch with me. There’s a little hole in the wall restaurant a couple of blocks down that I heard has really good food," Dean suggests.

  I narrow my eyes at him. "This isn't a date, is it?"

  Dean's eyebrows shoot up. "What? No! I just thought you would want to get out...maybe talk," he says sincerely.

  I nod slowly. "Okay."

  I step out into the hall and let the door close behind me. Dean has on a baseball cap and sunglasses hanging from the collar of his t-shirt. As we turn the corner to go to the elevators, I see his bodyguard, Brock, is waiting for us. We all get into the elevator and head down to the lobby. Dean slips on his sunglasses as the elevator doors open to let us out. He shoves his hands in his pockets and casually walks toward the front doors. I have to walk faster than normal to keep up with his long strides. Dean is six foot four and his legs eat up a lot of distance when he walks.

  "Listen, I know we haven't had a chance to talk about what happened yet but I want you to know that I was there and saw everything that happened. Ace did not cheat on you. Hillary tried really hard to get him to kiss her, she was all over him. That picture was taken when Ace had to physically grab her and shove her away. She was relentless," he says, his tone sounding irritated by even the thought of Hillary and her antics.

  "As if you would actually tell me if he did cheat?" I ask, rolling my eyes. "Please, I know the guy code."

  "Guy code my ass. I would definitely tell you. If he's gonna be a douchebag and cheat on his girlfriend, I'm not going to cover for him, he would deserve for you to break up with him. But he didn't, and he doesn't deserve what happened," Dean says seriously.

  I keep quiet, letting what he said soak in. I've already made my decision about believing Ace, but this just helps to solidify it.

  "He really misses you and he's just sick over this whole thing," Dean says, sending a frown in my direction.

  He stops in front of this cute little bistro and opens the door for me. I walk in with him at my back. The hostess seats us and hands us our menus. There are only a few other people eating so it's not too crowded. Dean removes his sunglasses and hangs them from his shirt collar again. After glancing at the menu, he sets it down and scoots his chair out.

  "I gotta use the bathroom, I'll be back," he says.

  "Okay."

  Dean pats my shoulder as he passes me and I smile up at him. I look back at the menu to try to figure out what I want. It’s no more than a minute after Dean leaves that I hear a guitar strumming behind me. Curious, I glance over my shoulder and am completely stunned by what I see.

  Ace, Everett, and Dean are walking up as Everett plays the guitar that's hanging over his shoulder. I recognize the song immediately and I can't help but laugh. Ace starts singing as he stops next to me.

  "When I wake up, well I know I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the man who wakes up next to you. When I go out, well I know I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the man who goes along with you..."

  Everett and Dean sing background. Oh my god! This is actually one of my favorite songs, I Would Walk 500 Miles by The Proclaimers. I glance around to see all of the other customers watching and smiling. I can feel the heat rush up my face. I press my hands to the sides of my face as Ace sings to me. I cannot believe he is doing this. And Dean, that sneak, set me up!

  Ace's voice is amazing, I love listening to him sing. He has a beautiful tone. He has one of those voices that can sing any kind of music - from R&B to Country to Rock. He could fit into any of those genres if he wanted to. Ace is showing me his heart through his singing and the way he is looking at me. God, the way he's looking at me...it's making my heart race.

  "...When I'm lonely, well I know I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the man who's lonely without you. When I'm dreaming, well I know I'm gonna dream, I'm gonna dream about the time that I'm with you..."

  It also helps that he's looking more gorgeous than ever. He's in a plain white V-neck T-shirt, worn jeans that fit with just that right amount of snugness, and black biker boots with his jeans haphazardly tucked into the tops of them. His dark hair is its usual wild mess and his goatee has turned into a full beard. He looks rugged and delicious and my hands are itching to touch him.

  How could I have ever thought that his man...this sweet, adoring man, who is singing his heart out to me in a restaurant, could have cheated on me? Because I was dumb and fell for the stupid games of some crazy twatwaffle. How could I have been so blind? The song ends and the other customers start clapping. Ace squats down in front of me and takes my hands in his.

  "Baby, please say you'll be my girlfriend again. I've been miserable without you," he murmurs, his crystal blue eyes pleading with me.

  I nod. "Okay," I reply with a small smile.

  Ace's eyebrows shoot up. "Really?" he squawks as if he wasn't expecting me to say yes.

  "Yes, really. I was going to come and talk to you today. I'm sorry I didn't believe you, that was stupid of me," I say softly.

  He lets out a relieved sigh. "Oh thank fucking god," he breathes right before grabbing my face and kissing me hard.

  I giggle as he kisses me a couple more times before standing. I send Dean a look and he just grins and shrugs. Jerk. He knew exactly what was happening the whole time. I glance at Everett to find him smirking as he watches us.

  I turn back to Ace. "Thank you for the song, it was awesome." I grin.

  "I didn't know what else to do," he says, his eyes showing me the pain he's been going through.

  I nod solemnly.

  He turns and thanks Dean and Everett, giving each of them a hug. Then both Everett and Dean come and give me a hug before they both head for the door. Ace sits down across from me and reaches across the table to grab my hand. He pulls it across the table so that he can kiss my knuckles.

  "Damn, I’ve missed you," he rasps.

  "I've missed you, too," I admit and give his hand a squeeze.

  We go on to have a nice lunch. We talk and laugh and get back on track with our relationship. This whole thing has helped to solidify the fact that Ace and I will never have a "normal" relationship. There will always be someone out there trying to break us up. Whether it's another girl or the paparazzi or whomever. I need to stay strong, I need to have more faith in Ace, and I need to think about things before making rash decisions. I acted like that girl that I never wanted to be. I should have known from the get go that Hillary was playing me. But I didn't stop to think about it, I just acted on the emotion that I was feeling. Never again...

  ~Ace~

  The crowd roars as we take our final bow on stage. We race off, heading back to the dressing rooms to take quick showers. After getting a refreshing cold shower, I walk back out into the dressing roo
m in my towel to get dressed. This venue actually has six shower stalls in the bathroom, so we were all able to shower at the same time instead of taking turns like we sometimes have to do. I go over to my bag and pull out my clothes. We have to do a small meet and greet before heading back to the hotel. I am in desperate need of a cigarette but it's going to have to wait. I really should quit. Nicole has mentioned a few times that I stink like them and has refused to kiss me right after I smoke one. I mean, I don't smoke a lot, not even a pack a day, but maybe it's time to get rid of them.