Ace of Hearts

by Chantal Fernando

  “It’s perfect,” I tell him. “Thank you, Knuckles. I also like how everyone gets called an asshole just because they belong to the MC, even if they didn’t do anything.”

  “Yeah, but everyone knew about it, so basically we’re all assholes.”

  “I’m not going to argue with you.”

  Music starts to play, and Veronica brings trays of food out for everyone. She comes and gives me a lingering hug and asks me how I’ve been.

  “Not too bad, how have you been?” I reply, smiling at her.

  “Much better now that you’re back,” she says, offering me a quiche. I take one and thank her.

  “The place just wasn’t the same without you,” she continues, sighing deeply. “I hope you like the quiche.”

  “They look good,” I tell her.

  All I can think of, though, is someone better eat the food before I do, or it might end up how it did the last time. Great, being poisoned has ruined me for my favorite thing in the world.

  Food.

  “Hey, Dreads,” I say to Mac, giving him a hug. “How have you been?”

  “Good,” he replies, lifting a joint to his lips. “We’ve missed you around here though.”

  “So I’ve heard.”

  Shack comes and says hello and gives me a hug. Such a change from the first night I met him. I head to the kitchen to find a vase for the flowers, coming to a stop when I see Paulina and her friend in there having a discussion.

  About me.

  “I don’t know why the fuck she’s coming back again,” Paulina snarls, hands on her hips. “It was so much better once she left. We can do what we want. Now we have to act PG again. And it’s a fucking biker clubhouse; we should be able to do what we want. Like if I want to walk out there and fuck Ace right now, I should be able to.”

  I see red.

  I’m about to tell her right off when her friend says, “Ace is taken, Paulina. He’s not going to cheat on her, you tried and he rejected you, so maybe you should focus on one of the other men. How about Rogue? He’s VP and fucking hot.”

  Wait a second.

  She tried?

  To fuck Ace?

  This bitch has to go.

  I step into the kitchen, looking for the vase I saw in the cupboard the last time I was here. I pull it out, fill it with water, and then place my stunning roses in it.

  “Beautiful, aren’t they?” I say to them, smiling a little too sweetly.

  They both look uncomfortable, probably wondering if I overheard their conversation. They don’t have any power here. One word to my dad and I know he would kick them out permanently, but I don’t want to do that. I need to handle things for myself, as Ace’s woman, not as the president’s daughter. I dry my hands, then move to face Paulina.

  I look her dead in the eye and say, “Ace is mine. If you even look in his direction, you will regret it.” She tries to speak, but I hold my hand up. “I’m not done talking. I know you’ve fucked in the past, blah blah, and I don’t care, because that was before he met me. I heard enough between you and your no-name friend here to know that he clearly doesn’t want you.”

  “I’m not scared of you, you fucking bitch,” she yells in my face. “The men here love me too much to see me go, and that includes your precious Ace. While you’re off at college, who do you think will be here waiting for Ace to give in to his desires? To satisfy his needs? I know just how good he is with his hands . . . and his mouth.”

  “You are disgusting and have no self-respect.”

  “Oh, screw your holier-than-thou bullshit. You don’t get to judge me. I’m perfectly happy. Who knows, maybe your father will show interest again.” She registers the shock on my face. “Oh yeah, I’ve even fucked your father too.”

  Okay, that is a whole level of fucking disgusting. My ears cannot unhear that shit.

  Without thinking, I raise my fist and punch her right in the face.

  “Ouch,” I mutter over and over again, holding my hand, while she covers her face as blood starts dripping from her nose. I hope it’s broken, the dirty bitch.

  It’s Rogue who walks in first and sees what has just happened.

  “Erin, where’s my hug . . .” He trails off, seeing the blood. “Oh shit. What happened here?”

  Knuckles walks in next and casually takes in the scene. He then looks at me, without missing a beat, and says, “Things always get more interesting the second you walk through the door. How do you do it?”

  Rogue gets a tea towel and hands it to Paulina. “Stop the bleeding.”

  “It’s just a little blood; she isn’t going to bleed out,” I say, just as Ace walks in, hearing my words.

  “Jesus Christ,” he mutters, looking between me and Paulina. “What did you do?” He moves closer to her as if to help, until I say, “Touch her and you’ll be next.”

  He stops in his tracks and turns back toward me.

  “Erin’s turned into a savage,” Rogue announces to the room, blue eyes wider than I’ve ever seen them.

  I make a mental note to thank Clover for teaching me how to throw a mean hook.

  “A savage or a Raven?” Knuckles fires back, studying me.

  Ace grabs my arms and pulls me outside the kitchen, back to the party, where members have no idea their club whore just got taught a lesson. He takes me to the bar and pours us each a drink.

  “What happened?” he demands, downing his drink like he really needs it. “You’ve been here, like, five minutes, and you know I haven’t touched her, or don’t you trust me?”

  “I do trust you,” I tell him. I don’t mention that the other girl confirmed that Ace didn’t do anything. “But I don’t appreciate someone telling me how they’ve fucked both my man and my dad. Do you know how fucked-up that is? I need alcohol to forget I ever heard that, because I’m fucking traumatized.”

  Dad walks over to us. “What happened?”

  “Erin punched Paulina,” Ace says, wincing. “And trust me, you don’t want to know why.”

  “I told Paulina and Jessie to leave, why are they still here?” he asks, jaw clenching. “Are you okay, Erin?”

  Jessie.

  The other girl finally has a name.

  “Nothing a bottle of vodka can’t cure,” I tell him, downing my drink in front of his very eyes. “Actually, maybe there’s nothing that will cure finding out that your man and dad have slept with the same woman, and having her throw it in your face.”

  Dad flinches, his face turning red, with anger or embarrassment, I don’t know. “Excuse me,” he says, then storms to the kitchen.

  I look at Ace, who is staring down in his drink like it suddenly holds all of life’s answers.

  “Vodka shots?” I ask.

  It’s the best idea I’ve ever had.

  29

  Where did you learn to punch like that?” Ace asks me, brow furrowing. “I never picked you for a fighter.”

  “My roommate taught me,” I explain to him. “She’s a black belt in karate and knows all kinds of shit.”

  Knuckles sits down next to us. “Are you trying to take my job? You want to be the Ravens’ enforcer now?”

  I poke my tongue out at him. “Only when it comes to the women.”

  “You broke her nose,” he tells me, sounding amused, surprised, and a little bit proud.

  “Well, luckily it’s not her nose you guys need from her,” I say, flashing a fake smile.

  “Hey, don’t look at me! I’ve never gone there,” Knuckles admits, lifting his legs up onto the coffee table in front of us. “But you can’t go fighting all the women we’ve been with.”

  “Well, hopefully not all of them are so nasty.”

  “You’re making her relive it,” Ace tells Knuckles. “Look, she’s getting angry again.”

  “Hey, she’s not my woman. She’s my bestie, so she’s not going to lose her shit on me,” he says cheerfully, bringing his beer to his lips. “And she stood up for herself. I don’t know why everyone is getting so worked up ab
out it. She did what she felt she had to, to get respect. And I respect that.”

  “Because she was sweet and innocent when she walked through those doors,” Ace points out, frowning. “She wouldn’t have had it in her to punch someone in the face.”

  “And now she does. And she needs it to survive around here; she can’t go running to Daddy or you for everything if she wants to be respected, Ace,” Knuckles tries to explain to him. “I know she’s your woman, and your princess or whatever, but she still has to live here with everyone else, women included. And you can’t save her from all the women, even if you wanted to.”

  Ace sighs, like he can feel the weight of the world on his shoulders. I reach out and take his hand in mind, cold from the glass; I give it a squeeze. “Knuckles is right, you can’t save me from the women. And you’re also right that it’s not in my usual nature to hit someone, but she pushed me, and she’s been pushing me. So can we forget about it and try to enjoy my welcome-home party, please?”

  I move so I’m sitting on his lap, with my legs off to the side, and give him a sweet peck on the lips. “So what else have I missed around here?”

  “Nothing much,” Ace tells me, running his hand down my spine. “We’ve been working and keeping up with all the business ventures. We went on another run yesterday, which I told you about. It was so good to have all of us riding together.”

  “We’ve had another chapter visit, too,” Knuckles adds in. “So other Cursed Ravens but from different areas. Oh, and Rogue got into a fight with two Devils Gate members.”

  “Devils Gate?” I ask, looking between them.

  “Another MC, which we aren’t exactly on good terms with,” Ace explains, touching my hair. “Rogue was at a biker bar and ran into two of their members. They started talking shit, and Rogue made them pay for it. Tension is kind of high right now, so we’re being really careful. We don’t want any of them to catch us out alone.”

  “That’s kind of scary,” I admit, snuggling into Ace. “What would they do if they ran into one of you and there was a huge group of them?”

  “If no one was around, they’d kill us,” Knuckles says, a little too casually for my liking. Why don’t they sound too concerned about this fact? Knowing that a group of men would kill you if they ever had the chance must be a stressful situation. You’d have to watch your back all the time, and you’d never know when one of your fellow brothers could get into trouble. This must be normal for them, and the reality of it is both mind-blowing and terrifying.

  “If it was in public though, there’s not much they can do other than fight. People call the cops, and none of us want cops involved in our business.”

  Every time I think I’m finally getting used to this world, I learn something like this. Do I even want to know? It’s not like they’d ever change or stop doing what they’ve been doing for years for me. Despite it being completely against who I am, I let it go. There is nothing I can do.

  “That makes sense,” I say, stretching my neck from side to side. “I need a massage.”

  “I’ll give you one tonight,” Ace says in my ear. “And afterward, I’m going to make you scream my name.”

  My cheeks heat, and I look at Knuckles to see if he heard that, but he’s busy talking to Dreads, who came to sit on the other side of him.

  Rogue also joins us, his blue eyes filled with humor. “I can’t believe you broke Paulina’s nose.”

  “I did it for you. I heard them saying that you’re next on the hit list,” I tease, then ask them all, “Do you think it was her who tried to poison me?”

  “I don’t know,” Rogue answers first. “If it was, I don’t think she’d be acting alone; she’s not very smart.”

  “She has the motives though,” Dreads adds, rubbing his hands on his latest tie-dyed T-shirt. “She wants Ace, and now with Erin here, she can’t have him or roam freely in the clubhouse. Plus she’s jealous because Erin is way hotter.”

  “Aw, thanks, Dreads,” I say, flashing him a drunken smile. “I think I’m hotter, too.”

  “That was never a question,” Ace says, shaking his head. “No one is hotter than you.”

  “See, this is why I love you,” I say, giving him a kiss. I’m about to turn and say something to Knuckles when I realize what I just said. “Oh, fuck.”

  “You can’t take it back now,” he murmurs, sounding amused and happy. “You love me, and do you know what that means?”

  “You’re going to run because you’re a commitment-phobe?” I ask, cringing. “Also I imagine the thought of only one pussy probably scares the shit out of you.”

  “Actually, it means you’re stuck with me, because I think I love you too,” he says, kissing my cheek affectionately.

  I narrow my eyes on him. “Did you just say that you think you love me? Think? Did you hear that, Knuckles?”

  “I did. It’s pretty hard to miss when you’re talking so fucking loud,” Knuckles pipes in.

  “I’m using my inside voice,” I say, slurring a little as the shots start to hit me. “Oh, hey, this is a great song. Will you dance with me, Ace?”

  I jump off his lap and pull him up, moving my hips from side to side, and raising my free hand above my head. My hair falls on my face, but I don’t bother to push it away, I just keep on dancing. Ace spins me around and comes to stand behind me, hands on my hips as I start to grind on him. I think I’m super sexy right now, but I probably look absolutely ridiculous.

  Knuckles is probably recording this again and won’t hesitate to show me it in the morning, but I’ll let sober me worry about that. I spin and wrap my arms around his neck, pressing my breasts against his chest. He picks me up, and I wrap my legs around him. I love how strong he is and how feminine he makes me feel.

  In my eyes, there’s nothing he can’t do.

  He spins me around, which probably isn’t the best idea, but I laugh and hold on to him for dear life. This night might not have had a good start, but there’s a reason I didn’t stay away. These men are far from perfect, in fact, there’s something seriously wrong with most of them, but they make me feel alive.

  Ace makes me feel alive.

  And I love my dad no matter what. We will fight, and we will butt heads as we navigate this newfound relationship, and I’m sure as fuck not putting up with his being controlling or scheming behind my back, but other than that, I will always have him. And he will always have me.

  “Get a room, you two!” Rogue calls out, shaking his head at me.

  “Rogue knows the words to the Moana songs!” I blurt out, snitching on him.

  The rest of the night is a drunken blur, but I remember dancing, laughing, and knowing I made the right choice to return.

  I’m hungover, I’m half asleep, and I’m extremely hungry, but that’s when my father finds me in the kitchen and wants to have a talk.

  “I just want you to know that I’m really sorry about my actions, and what you heard, and the fact that I was being selfish,” he says to me, pulling out a chair and sitting down. “And I’m sorry about last night and what Paulina said to you. You shouldn’t have to hear things like that about me.”

  No, I shouldn’t.

  However, I’m sleeping with one of his men, so it’s not just him who has done things to make things a little awkward between us.

  “I just want you to know that if you want to be in my life, you need to be honest with me, and we need to rebuild the trust between us,” I tell him. “You really hurt me, Dad. You weren’t honest, and you used Ace against me because you knew I liked him. You all but bribed him!”

  “He was always going to become the VP when Rogue becomes president,” he admits to me softly. “Ace is not meant to be just a treasurer. I’ve always had big plans for him. He just didn’t know about it yet.”

  “So you schemed against your own man, too?” I ask him, shaking my head in disbelief.

  “Yes, I did. Look, Erin, what I did was wrong, and I know that now. I’m sorry I hurt you, and I will do w
hatever it takes to get you to trust me again. But you need to know something—when it comes to you, I’d do anything. Your safety is my priority, so if there is ever a time I think I need to make a call to protect you, I will do it. You may not like it, but this is the truth. I am the president of the Cursed Ravens, and I normally answer to no one.”

  “What goes on in that mind of yours? I need you to promise that all this manipulation is going to stop, especially if it involves me.”

  “I will be better,” he says quietly. “I’m not going to lose you again.”

  “We really need to communicate. And you need to let me live my life—how I want to, not how you want me to.”

  “I know,” he admits, reaching out and taking my hand. “I learned my lesson, trust me. I hated it when you were gone, knowing you didn’t even want me to call, or visit. I’m not going to fuck things up this time. I’m so happy to see you again, Erin.”

  “I’m happy to see you again too,” I reply, moving to give him a quick hug. “I’m going to make some coffee, do you want some?”

  “I’d love some,” he says, sitting back in the chair and pulling the newspaper on the table toward him.

  I make three coffees and give him his, then kiss him on the cheek. “I’m going back to bed. Want to have lunch today, just me and you?”

  “Yeah, that would be nice.”

  “Okay,” I reply, then walk back to Ace’s room with both mugs in my hand. I push the door open with my hip and step inside. Ace is still fast asleep, so I leave his mug on the side table, then sit in the chair next to the bed and drink my coffee.

  I can’t believe I punched Paulina.

  It’s been a while since I’ve hit someone. In fact, I think the story Mona told Ace was the last time, so I was just a kid.

  It felt good though, a little too good.

  I can see why Knuckles likes his job as enforcer.

  I finish my coffee just as Ace wakes up to his, and then the two of us climb back into bed and fall asleep again.

  I told him that I loved him, and he said he thinks he loves me too.