“It was more complicated than that,” Ace continued. “He was supposed to have my cash waiting in a briefcase after I provided my services, but he didn’t.”
I glanced down at my hands and realized they were shaking. “So that’s when you traded with him. That’s why there was nothing left in his will for me. And he sold me like he owned me. What were you going to do with me once you had me?” I was shrill as I looked back up at him defiantly.
Hunger shadowed across Ace's face. "Your grandfather promised me that you had never been touched by a man. I wanted to be your first…and your last.” There was no shame in his expression. He was serious.
I stood up and paced the room angrily, trying to keep my breath even. “I’m not a slave or some whore or a prostitute,” I hissed. Besides, my lack of a sexual history was none of his damn business.
Ace stared at me as if I were a work of art, which confused me. “No, you’re not any of those terrible things.” He glanced at me as if I were an angel who appeared out of nowhere.
I threw my arms up in the air in frustration. “Well, what’s all this about? What did you do for my grandfather?" I wanted answers. Before, I didn't want to know what business my grandfather was in. Drugs? Firearms? Other contraband? It was best that I didn't know. But what deal could he have possibly made with Ace to justify offering me in the process? I wouldn’t leave without the truth. Not this time.
Ace sighed hesitantly. His expression revealed that he was afraid. What was he afraid of? He was this big, muscular motorcycle-riding, lock-picking, gun-slinging ex-con. What on earth could rattle him to the point of being scared? His unsettled demeanor left me swimming in a sea of unrest. Tumultuous waves churned in my stomach.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Ace glanced down at his hands and began to speak without meeting my gaze.
“I did something he couldn’t do himself. He really didn’t tell you a thing, did he?”
“What was it?” I cried with impatience. “Tell me. Just tell me,” I begged.
Ace locked eyes with me. His jaw squared, and his lips spread into a thin line. His cheeks sagged somberly as if he wasn't prepared to reveal the next statement.
“I killed your mother’s boyfriend. I killed the man who beat and murdered his daughter.”
There it was, the truth. All laid out before me, in a sickeningly crashing blow.
Bile rose in my throat, burning my insides. I began sweating as that nauseous feeling swept over me like a heavy blanket. I wretched and ran to the bathroom, struggling as the horrible memories came screaming back to the front and center of my mind.
Chapter Six
Ace
She ran to the bathroom and heaved the door shut with a solid slam. A weight had lifted off my chest, but I didn’t know if I felt any better. I leaned back against the mattress, sagging my head into the pillows. This was a decent room, for being a shady motel in the middle of nowhere.
But that's where we needed to be. That's where I had to be to protect her. It was my obligation, even if her grandfather had long passed away. I'd made a deal to keep her safe, no matter the cost.
And that was precisely what I intended to do.
I waited for her to come out. I wanted to call out to her, but I wanted to give her space too. I knew it was a lot to deal with, a lot of fresh information to digest. She was probably feeling overwhelmed by the situation, and how could I blame her?
I harbored so much regret and sadness for a past that had been out of my control. It was no use trying to rewind the clock and take away all the pain and suffering that had come along with it.
Khloe was in the bathroom, physically sick with the torment she was facing. I had buried the secrets of my past a long time ago, along with any glimmer of hope that I’d ever find Khloe alive and well, but yet, here she was. She was in the next room, and I found myself shaky and sweating at just the thought of her being so close to me.
I had to look at the bright side. At least I’d succeeded in my efforts to get her to stay and talk things over with me. This was the same woman who had fled and started her life over, doing everything in her power to escape me and prevent herself from being found. The pain ravaged me, the fact that she had tried to be on the run so that I couldn’t find her.
Everything about Khloe was enchanting. I would have done anything to protect her. From the first moment I ever laid eyes on her, so many years ago I knew that I wanted to make her mine. I closed my eyes and allowed my mind to drift, reminiscing about the time I saw her for the first time.
She had looked beautiful next to that silky, long flowing wedding dress that she’d made all by herself. Her creative talent seemed to be limitless. I’d spent so many nights alone, imagining being able to rip that dress off of her on our own wedding night. It was all a dream, a spectacular product of my wild imagination.
She’d been just a girl back then, barely even seventeen. She was sweet, pure and innocent. Even now, years later, I noticed how some of that magical and tender youth twinkled in her eyes.
I’d give anything to turn back time and be the one to take her innocence. Not in a twisted way, but with passion and nurturing.
I wanted to claim her. She was so gorgeous. Her silky black hair and her cool gray eyes tantalized me, mesmerized me. She had grown into an irresistible woman. She had sleek curves in all the right places, secretly enticing me. I wanted to run my hands up and down her bare tummy, driving her wild with pleasure.
I took a deep breath, trying to cool my body down. I was getting hot, and most of it had to do with vividly picturing Khloe naked and spread out in front of me on the bed.
She was still in the bathroom. I tried to remember whether I’d seen a window in there. Was it possible that she was trying to escape again? My heart plummeted through my chest at the thought.
I kept my body as still and quiet as possible, prickling my ears to hear through the silence. There was a bump in the bathroom. I sighed with relief. She was still in there. She hadn’t left me again. I couldn’t let her slip away, not after being lucky enough to find her again after all these years.
“Khloe?” I cried out. My voice was raspy. “Is everything alright?” My curiosity rang out through the air.
There was a slight pause and a moment of silence before she finally whimpered an answer. “I’m fine,” she croaked. “Be right out.”
“Okay,” I breathed out and leaned against the headboard. She hadn’t left, which was a good sign.
I glanced down at the bulge protruding from my pants, my girth desperate to escape. I was hard just thinking about how only minutes ago she’d been vulnerable and handcuffed to the bed. I yearned to bury my face between her legs and taste her juicy innocence.
Who was I kidding? I was an ex-convict, always on the run myself. Danger and turmoil followed me everywhere I went. That was no place for a lady, especially not one as tender as Khloe.
On the other hand, she’d held her own against me. Even I couldn’t have suspected that she had turn the tables around on me, tricking me into letting her out of the handcuffs. My lips cracked into a humored grin.
She was feisty after all, but still innocent. She’d already witnessed enough death and destruction in her life. I was just fuel to the fire. We were probably oil and water. No wonder she tried to hide all these years. I was bad for her. Maybe she was right after all. She was a good girl. I was a bad boy. We just didn’t mix.
But that didn’t stop my yearning. I craved her with a desperate hunger. My skin itched to consume her, make love to her, fuck her silly until she couldn’t breathe or stand.
She deserved to be free. She was the type of woman who needed to be on her own, living her innocent life, away from criminals like me who could pop her blissful bubble in an instant.
Guilt did torment me. She had worked so hard to build up a new life for herself, and here I was, back in the picture to tear it all down again.
I heard the toilet flush in the bathroom. I shifted my wei
ght, and my breath froze in my lungs. I waited for her to come out, but I didn't know what would happen once she reemerged, beautiful as an angel. My one and only living redemption.
The sink faucet turned on, and I heard water rushing into the basin. She cleared her throat. My heart pounded in my chest. I had to gear my mind up in preparation to see her remarkable beauty once again.
I hoped that she was feeling better and felt regretful about the fact that it was me who had made her sick in the first place. I paced the floor. I shoved my hands in my pockets. I took them out and ran them through my short hair. I waited.
Even if my agreement with her grandfather had dissolved years ago after his death, part of my heart still yearned to make Khloe mine. I knew that even if I hadn’t spontaneously collided into her presence during the shop raid, I might have come back for her, eventually.
The door to the bathroom twisted open. Khloe hobbled out. Her hair was in a messy bun with wisps of hair falling in delicate strands across her face. She pushed them away with one fluid movement, cleared her throat and stared at her feet.
Her cheeks were flushed and rosy. Her eyes were glazed, and it was almost impossible for me to read her stoic expression.
“Are you okay?” I edged closer to her.
“I’m fine,” she said wearily and took an instinctive step backward.
It stung my heart that she behaved this way in my presence, but I guess I deserved it. It's not like I expected her to suddenly wrap her arms around my neck, press herself against my body, and beg me to marry her. It was just a fanatical ideology playing out in my mind. There was no truth to it.
"Good." I nodded and gave her a chagrinned smile. "I'm glad to hear it." What else could I say to erase the ghosts of her past that had leaped out of the darkness to haunt her?
“Sorry I got sick.” She sniffed and made an awkward movement towards me.
“It's okay.”
I watched her move about the room, mentally pondering something that must have been private because she didn’t share whatever it was with me. There was silence between us. I observed her, inspecting her movements. I didn’t know what to say to her anymore. I wanted her to make the decision on where we went from here. I felt as if I owed her that much.
“I’ve been thinking,” she said somberly, finally breaking the silence between us. She sighed and parked herself against the side of the dresser holding the ancient box television set.
“Oh yeah?” I asked, curious and peaked with intrigue. My heart raced. “Tell me. What is on your mind?” I wanted to reach out and touch her hands and cradle them softly between my own.
She let out a soft, nostalgic sigh. Then, her eyes locked with mine. “I suppose I should start by saying thank you.”
I was taken aback. I opened my mouth to speak, but then closed it again. Finally, I managed to get out a parrot statement. “Thank you? What are you thanking me for?”
She shrugged as if she were casually discussing the events of her day around a dinner table. “You saved my life back there.”
“I told you that I want to protect you. That hasn’t changed,” I stated gravely.
She held her gaze on me. There was something there. Finally, I saw it. The glance might have been subtle, but it was enough. She must have feelings for me too. I could see it in the flashes of her gray eyes.
“I know,” she whispered. “I want to repay this debt.”
I shook my head. “Khloe—”
“Let me explain.” She wrung her hands together. “My Mama was important to me. This guy killed her. He was running around town, blaming it on an overdose, saying she slipped and fell, bashing her head on a rock. I saw it happen. He was fighting her! I told the police everything, and they still let him go. He was walking around scot-free. So this…this is important. It’s important that I do this.”
She was too innocent for words.
“You don’t have—” I began.
“No.” She cut me off with a defiant stare. “I owe you now. Don’t deny it.”
I didn’t say anything. I just waited for her to continue. “I owe you for both debts.”
I didn’t completely understand what she meant by the word ‘both’ debts, but I decided to let her elaborate, so I stayed silent as I stared at her.
“For taking care of my Mama’s killer and then for saving me. I want to repay you, then I want to get on with my life,” she confessed.
“Okay…” I trailed off cautiously.
She took a step in my direction. “Can we renegotiate and make this an even trade, then go our separate ways?” Her eyes searched mine with a pleading quality that liquified my senses. I felt a stabbing pang of longing and regret surge through me.
I didn’t want to agree, but I didn’t want to lose her again by denying her request. I sighed as I stared up at the ceiling. There was a fly in the room, swarming and hovering up above, attracted to the warm glow of the overhead light.
I met Khloe's gaze. I would be willing to hear her out. I licked my lips and ran a hand through my hair. “What do you propose?” I was eager to hear her compromise, even if I might not like the request.
Chapter Seven
Khloe
His eyes were curious, wandering over me as if he were hungry and I was the snack he wanted to devour. This both startled and aroused me at the same time. There was chemistry between us, just like when we first me, but I wasn’t sure how to deal with it yet. He was alluring, but I needed to tread the waters and cravings of my heart with careful trepidation.
“What do you propose?” He asked again, edging subtly closer to me.
I took a deep breath, inhaling with a pause before responding to him. I narrowed my eyes and gave him a sultry stare.
“I know what you want,” I whispered. I didn't know where the bravery was coming from, but I was suddenly filled with a batch of it, and it helped me press forward into the next statement that I would have to admit.
An amused smile cracked against the edge of Ace's lips. He crossed his arms and studied me. “Are you sure about that?”
I gulped and nodded, mentally compelling myself to state the obvious. “You wanted to fuck me while I was still a virgin.” There. I’d admitted out loud the one thing that we were both thinking. My statement rang through the air like a gong.
Ace licked his lips, clearly enjoying this little exchange. He shifted his weight, but his gaze never strayed away from mine. “That’s true, but since you are no longer a virgin—”
I interjected with a scoff. “No longer a virgin according to who?” I was defensive and appalled by his assumption.
Ace's cheeks flushed. His amber eyes widened with surprise, and a splash of delight flickered in his expression. "You’ve never had sex?” He asked as if it were the most outlandish possibility in the world.
I held my poker face and nodded curtly. I didn’t want to go into how I never trusted anyone enough to open up to them. I never went to college like other girls my age or attended house parties. Up until recently, I barely stayed in a city long enough to seriously date anyone.
I folded my arms over my chest. "So?" I quizzed, not dodging the question but not appeasing him with confirmation either.
He stared through me, sizing me up. His cologne filled my nostrils. He smelled sexy and rugged.
“What do you think?” I asked, beating around the bush but he knew exactly what I was implying. “Do we have a deal, or not?”
He eyed me skeptically, but he still had that taut grin on his face. "Keep me uncuffed, and we can talk."
I grinned. “That sounds like a good deal to me,” I said with a mystical inflection in my voice.
We were only inches apart now. I held my breath and waited to see what would be unleashed in his mysterious eyes.
“I do have one condition,” he breathed.
“Oh yeah?” I looked up at him cautiously. “And what would that be?” My heart pounded with anticipation.
"I want to take you somewhere," he state
d vaguely as if he enjoyed keeping me in suspense.
I raised my eyebrow. “Somewhere could be anywhere,” I whispered, keeping my eyes locked on his. “I can’t exactly make a deal if I don’t have a clue where we are going.”
He smiled with amusement, smirking at me as if he found me delightfully adorable, which I supposed was a good start and a good first impression to leave on him. Not that it was hardly the first impression, but everything felt like a new beginning.
My heart was pounding in my chest. My pulse was noisily drumming in my ears. My fingertips sizzled with excited expectancy.
“I want to take you home,” he said, still abstractly.
I wrinkled my forehead in confusion. “Home? What do you mean, home?”
At first, I didn’t comprehend. I figured he wanted to take me back to my one-bedroom apartment that was void of any furnishings except for a rickety bed with a flat mattress on box springs and a tired, faded beige couch in the living room, and work tables everywhere.
“Where you belong.” His eyes twinkled with mischief.
“Do you mean my grandfather’s house?”
He shook his head. “Not that home. Definitely not back to the place you ran from.”
I shook my head.
“His log cabin. The one he gave me,” he replied.
I wasn't expecting him to say that. My breath caught in my throat, and my eyes grew wide. He had finally confirmed my suspicions that my grandfather had died with more than just a few pennies to his name.
“Are you…serious?” I stammered. “You want to take me there.”
“Yes. Your grandfather wanted me to take you there.”
I envisioned the concept and what it would be like to live in the mountains in a cabin. It sounded magical, in theory. But to be all alone with him? Could I really even trust him? I had only myself to blame if this didn't work out. I had baited him and told him I would agree to his terms because a debt was still owed. That’s just the way the world worked. This was the world I knew. I would have to conform and pray for the best.
Claimed by the Ex-Con: An Ex-Con Second Chance Contemporary Romance Novel Page 4