She kissed Janice on the cheek and let Preach pull her from the house. Janice had learned a lot about the club tonight and she regretted never being a part of it. Janie had been a fool to turn this down. These women would have helped her and she would have had Ace in her bed every night. Janice wondered if she would have him in hers tonight.
He stepped inside and the look in his eyes told her what she needed to know. He said his goodnights to Marty and leaned down to whisper in Janice’s ear.
“I can’t let you drive like this Janice. You ‘ve had too much to drink.”
“I guess I could crash on your couch.”
“You could if you want me to fuck you in the middle of the living room.”
Janice met his heated gaze, but couldn’t find words.
“Get naked and get in my bed before I bend you over the fucking table.”
He slapped her ass hard and pointed her toward the bedroom. She went happily. There was nowhere she’d rather be and she knew it wasn’t just the booze talking.
11
Ace eased himself down on the couch beside Janice. He looked tired and his skin was almost gray. She had been in Cool Creek for almost a week and Ace seemed to be pulling away from her as a friend and clinging to her in the bedroom. She hated the feeling.
“Won’t you tell me what’s going on with you? Why did you come back after all this time?”
“Just wanted some peace. Some place to just be.”
“Well you can be right here Ace. With Marty and me too if you want. Let us take care of you.”
Ace looked up and she wondered what he saw. She knew she had aged well, but it had still been twenty years and she was almost forty. She knew she was starting to get wrinkles around her big blue eyes and she had found a few white hairs mixed in with her red curls, but she was still an attractive woman. She had been nineteen and Janie had only been seventeen when Ace and Tank had warmed their beds. Ace had been older, in his twenties, and Tank at thirty, but the girls hadn’t minded. They had loved them as only young girls could.
“I don’t think you know what you’re offering Janice.”
“I don’t think it matters. I’m tired of being alone Ace.”
Ace let out a breath and nodded. “Might be good for both of us but I don’t want Marty in the middle of it.”
“I wouldn’t do that to her.” Janice felt her heart speed up and she could barely get her breath. When he reached for her she didn’t protest. When he touched her she didn’t mind. She couldn’t think of anything but the tempest he was creating and she was losing herself to it. When she found herself straddling his lap she went with it. She rode the feelings that drove her until they were both too spent to move. She lay on his chest as they caught their breath and neither of them spoke and when she woke to a darkened room it was to the smell of coffee and a tenderness between her legs that told her it hadn’t been a dream. She had been warming Ace’s bed since she’d arrived, but this was different, this was an agreement of sorts.
Ace walked in from the kitchen carrying two cups of coffee.
“Hey.”
“Hey.” Janice refused to let things get weird between them. They had to learn to live together. “How ‘bout some supper?”
She saw him sigh. “Sounds good.”
Janice stood and pulled the blanket from the couch around her. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll have us something good going. When will Marty be home?”
“In a couple of hours. She’s working on somthin’ with Spec.”
“Something legal?”
He shrugged. “Probably.”
She rolled her eyes. “That didn’t really help.”
“How about this?”
He pulled her against his body and kissed her hard. Janice felt herself begin to tingle as he pushed the blanket from her shoulders and cupped her breast. Ace was a big man and he lifted her as if she weighed no more than a doll. It made her feel like a woman and she just wrapped herself around him. He didn’t take her to the bedroom, but he pressed her against the wall in the living room. This was no easy loving, it was a claiming, a need that must be filled and he filled it with deep, pounding thrusts that rattled the pictures on the wall.
“Fuck Janice, this feels so good.”
She couldn’t even breathe. Her body convulsed around him within seconds and he emptied himself into her body and panted for breath.
Janice tried to recover from her own climax. She couldn’t believe he had just grabbed her and taken her against the wall like a teenager, but she loved it. She felt young and alive for the first time in twenty years.
Ace helped her stand and smacked her ass when she turned to go into their bedroom and her cheeks pinked when she blushed like a kid when he sent her a wink. She was hopeless.
They managed to get cleaned up a few minutes before Marty walked in. She raised a brow, but made no comment.
Ace watched Marty and Janice talk as they made dinner. He knew he shouldn’t be here, knew they would be better off if he had never acknowledged them, but he was a selfish bastard. He wanted to feel loved and he wanted to know his daughter and he wanted to know what it was like to have a family for once in his miserable life.
Marty looked up and smiled when she caught him watching her.
“You better not be watching my ass ‘cause that would just be nasty.”
Ace forced a frown. “I was. I was just thinking how sad it is you didn’t get your mama’s ass. She had the nicest ass I’ve ever seen in a pair of jeans.”
Marty rolled her eyes and threw a dishtowel at him, but Janice looked conflicted. He’d only been kidding with Marty although Janie’s ass was amazing, but he hadn’t meant to hurt Janice’s feelings. This might get tricky, but then he met her eyes and she gave him a wink. Maybe she was more of a woman than he had given her credit for…
Marty was looking back at her ass. “I have a great ass. Spec said I do anyway.” She stuck her tongue out at Ace when he frowned. “Mike too, but he doesn’t count because he is such a huge drag. Tommy likes it too…”
Ace laughed. “I’m betting any man you’ve been around for the last few week would agree that you have an ok ass. Why has Spec been looking though? He’s too old for you. I may need to have a talk with him. And you need to make sure Tommy keeps his eyes off your ass and his tongue off your goddamned tonsils or I’ll kill the little bastard.”
Ace wanted to laugh at the look of horror on Marty’s face.
“No, please don’t do that. Please. Spec or Tommy. You can rage at Mike all you want or Vest or whatever, but not them. They are the only friends I have here.”
“Maybe. I really don’t like the sound of it.”
“Dad, please.” Marty’s face blanked. It was the first time she had really called him dad. Ace wondered if she really thought he would reject her and figured she probably did. He didn’t know what to say to reassure her so he just let it go.
“I said maybe. I guess I’ll have to watch him.”
She still looked unsure. “You don’t mind do you?”
He took a long drink of sweet tea before he answered. “Mind what?”
“If I call you dad?”
Ace saw Janice from the corner of his eye as she dried her own.
“Why would I mind? It’s who I am Marty and I’m damned proud to be. Being your dad is just as important to me as being a Defender. I told you already, you can call me anything you want.”
Marty’s eyes filled with tears and Ace felt like the biggest asshole in the universe. What had he said wrong?
Marty rushed him and his arms were filled with a weeping female. He patted her back, but had no idea what to say.
“You don’t know how much that means to me.”
Oh, well, good. “I love you Marty. You are my kid. I wasn’t around because I didn’t know to be. I’m really happy to have you as my kid. I don’t regret anything but not coming back sooner.”
“I’m really glad you’re my dad.” She wiped her nose on her ha
nd. “The brothers all really respect you and say you’re a damn good man. I love you too, I have loved you all my life. I was so scared you wouldn’t like me.”
“Damn it, you sure do know how to humble a man. Marty you are everything I could ever want in a daughter. I wouldn’t change a thing.”
She hugged him and he felt like a dad for the first time. He hadn’t lied. She was everything he could have asked for and he knew he was going to hurt her more than she deserved.
“Wash the snot off your hand before you finish my supper though.”
She laughed and went to wash her hands. Janice smiled at him and nodded her approval.
“She has needed that all her life. It’s a miracle she hasn’t gone crazy over some boy, but none of them measured up in her opinion.”
“Not sure I do either.”
“Well I hope you don’t let her down.”
“No pressure though huh…”
“Not too much.”
12
Ace felt like hell. He rolled over and found Janice gone. He grabbed his phone and called Lizzie.
“Hey Ace. I figured you’d sleep another hour or two. I’m on my way over there now to check on you.”
“Feel like hell today Lizzie.”
Her tone changed in an instant. “How much did you drink last night Ace?”
“Five or six.”
“Alright. How bad is the pain?”
“Fucking bad.”
“I’ll be there in five minutes. I have something with me that will help. Hang in there Ace.”
“Hurry the hell up Lizzie, I can’t let Janice see me like this.”
“Almost there Ace.”
He laid back on his pillow and tried to breathe through the pain, but it was tearing him to pieces. Janice stepped into the room and saw him. He could only imagine the picture he made lying in bed with his teeth gritted and covered in sweat. He watched her jaw harden as she took in the scene. She went to his bathroom and brought back a cold wet cloth. She bathed his face in the cool water and then laid the cloth across his forehead.
“Tell me what to do Ace. Who to call.” Her voice was steady and calm and helped him to relax a little.
“Lizzie’s on her way.” He gritted out.
She just nodded and walked to the window.
“When this eases I want to know. I want to know so I can help you. It won’t change anything so don’t worry about that, but I need to know what to do.” She took a deep breath. “I guess now I know why you came back to Georgia and to Janie. Well I’m not Janie, but I’ll stay if you need me to. Lizzie’s here.”
Ace closed his eyes. He had run out of time. Now Janice felt like she was just a replacement for Janie. Fuck he could not deal with this shit.
Lizzie walked in already holding a syringe. “I won’t ask you how you are. You look like shit.”
“Fucking sorry bedside manner you have. How the hell did you snag Rider acting like that?”
“God knows. Little pinch now. There, how does that feel?”
Ace cut his eyes to Lizzie.
“Sorry, habit I guess.”
Ace let out a long breath as he felt the medicine start to ease his agony.
“Thanks Lizzie.”
Lizzie nodded and looked to Janice. “Ace what do you want her to know, ‘cause she needs to know something?” She asked in a hushed tone.
“Tell her everything, but do it right here so I can see her face. I need to know what I’m up against.”
“Alright.”
Ace reached out his hand and Janice took it. She sat on the edge of his bed while Lizzie told her about his cancer and where it had spread and how long he had to live with it. He was taking treatments, but they were mostly to slow it down and give him more time. There was no hope of recovery.
Lizzie was honest and she didn’t sugarcoat anything. Janice felt her heart shatter when she realized how much she had grown to care for Ace. He had known all along and had allowed her to get close to him, to love him and then Marty. This would kill that girl.
Anger boiled in her belly until she couldn’t take it. Tears poured from her eyes. She turned on Ace and pounded her fist against his chest.
“How could you do this to us? Why didn’t you just leave us alone? How cruel are you to do this to Marty? She loves you. She…”
Ace just captured her wrists and tossed her to the bed. He was feeling better now and he was strong.
“Lizzie can you give us a few minutes?”
Lizzie nodded and skittered from the room.
“Hush Janice. I couldn’t leave. Marty knew me and there’s no way in hell I’d let her think I didn’t want her. I do. I want her to know the brothers because I won’t always be around. They will protect her for me and you too. I didn’t plan what happened between us, but I don’t regret it one damned bit. Stop fighting me and listen damn it. I need you Janice and I want you in my life, what’s left of it. I want you to stay for as long as I have and make a family with me and Marty. I will understand if you don’t want that, but damn it I want it.”
Tears were about to choke Janice to death. She didn’t know what she wanted, but she knew she couldn’t leave Ace right now. He needed her.
“I’m not Janie Ace.”
“I know that. Janie couldn’t deal with the shit you’ll need to. I need you Janice. I need your strength. Just you.”
“I don’t know what I want Ace, but I’ll stay. Damn you I’ll stay.”
Ace kissed her then and Janice knew she would never leave him. It would be Ace that would leave and from what Lizzie said it wouldn’t be long and it wouldn’t be pretty. Janice just wrapped her arms around the man that had snatched her heart without her knowing it. How could she do this?
After a few minutes he eased off of her and sat in his spot. His face had regained a little color and he wasn’t sweating like before.
“Feeling better?”
He nodded.
“Well what do you want for breakfast?”
Ace looked at her for a long while. “I don’t want special treatment Janice.”
“Good damn thing too I guess. What will it be Ace?”
He chuckled. “Well I guess bacon and eggs would do me fine.”
“Comin’ up. Get your lazy ass out of bed. We still have things to do around here.”
“Yes ma’am.”
13
Ace sat in church and listened as the brothers talked about the plan to infiltrate the Devils. They needed to cut out the heart of the snake and Preach believed they could do it from within.
“I have information that says a Devil brother from California is heading out to join the Virginia chapter.” Spec laid a picture on the table. “Name’s Nix Bradley. From what I hear he’s never been to Virginia and hasn’t met many of the brothers. Run into some trouble with one of the California brothers over a woman so he’s got a new home. We could intercept him and put one of ours in his place with very little trouble.”
“Who you got in mind Spec?” Preach perched his glasses on his nose and looked at the photograph.
“I was thinking Vest there.”
Mike rolled his eyes. “Stupid fucking name if you ask me.”
“No one did and I think it fits.” Preach said without looking away from the photo. “What about tats? VEST there doesn’t have the right ink.” He emphasized the use of the new nickname.
“Vest there never got his club ink. He was recovering for a long damned time and then surgery and I don’t think he ever got around to it. He could wear devils ink.” Ink said as he leaned back in his chair.
“Fuck that. No fucking way am I putting devils ink on my skin. No.” Mike was livid.
“I can do it in semi perm ink, like a henna. We can just wash it off when it’s all done and ink the real shit on there.” Ink said sounding bored.
“Preach that shit is fucked and you know it. I don’t want that shit on my back even for a few weeks.”
Preach shrugged. “What’s Marty’s r
ole in all of it?” He turned his attention to Spec.
Mike sat. His jaw was hard, but he stayed quiet. Ace watched him like a hawk, but the man gave nothing away. Whatever was going on with Mike and Marty wasn’t showing on the man. For some reason that didn’t make Ace feel anybetter.
ACE (Defenders M.C. Book 4) Page 6