Winning Streak

by Alice Ward

  “Coke?” he asked, his voice still barely audible.

  I placed the order and then said as casually as possible, “Why don’t you go wash up? I’ll watch your stuff.”

  As soon as he left, Yankee walked over to me. “That’s nice of you.”

  “What’s his story?”

  She lifted a shoulder, which didn’t surprise me. Most people didn’t care enough to ask. The homeless were invisible to most everyone, which pissed me off. Most of them had the most incredible stories, were real heroes, and had survived more shit than most people would ever know.

  After Charlie started eating, he started opening up. Just as I thought, he was a war vet who had survived three tours in hell. “Lost my leg, then my mind,” he chuckled and lifted his pant leg to show me the prosthesis.

  “You seeing anyone?” I asked casually when he jumped after a door slammed closed.

  “Nah. I did for a while, but…” he lifted a shoulder and took another large bite. He was starving, and it pissed me off.

  “Where are you sleeping?” I asked him after I ordered a couple slices of apple pie and pushed both in his direction.

  “Here and there.”

  I gritted my teeth. “I saw a pretty nice place not far from here. Rent by the month. After you eat, let’s get you set up there for a while.”

  He paused, a fry halfway to his lips. “Why?”

  It was my turn to lift my shoulder. “Because I want to thank you for serving our country.”

  I’d learned long ago that thanking them was usually the only way I could get vets to take any assistance.

  He swallowed hard, his dark eyes boring into mine. “Sounds good, man.”

  I motioned to the girl behind the bar, asking for the check. I paid, left her a hundred and took my new friend to the local big box store.

  An hour later, we came out with clothes, food, and toiletries. I also bought hundreds of dollars’ worth of gift cards to various restaurants in the area; enough gift cards to feed him for six months, at least. I’d found it was better to give gift cards than cash when I could, so they didn’t drink the money away, if drinking was a problem, which it usually was.

  Another taxi took us to the ‘pay by the month’ hotel I saw earlier, and I paid him up for a year. We got all of his stuff settled, and dammit, I hated to leave him there alone. But I’d done what I could.

  “Thanks, man,” Charlie said before I left.

  I slapped him on the shoulder. “No, thank you. Take care.”

  I left him there, closing the door behind me softly. Inside, Charlie started to whistle.

  Smiling, I walked away, down the steps and back onto the street. Getting my bearings, I decided to walk back to the bar. I had some purple panties I needed to return.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Holly

  “Why won’t anyone tell me where Ace is?”

  Calvin and the other guys just stared at me like I was asking them to do complicated math. I was smiling, trying to keep my voice light. The last thing I needed was to be thought of as a hysterical female.

  “He wasn’t on our shuttle,” Marty finally spoke up.

  I took a deep breath, a smile still plastered on my face. “Did you see him leave the stadium?”

  Again, what the fuck was with these looks?

  “He did leave,” Frank confessed. “I saw him in the parking lot.”

  Another deep breath. “Okay, so did he get on another shuttle?”

  “Did you call him?” Marty asked.

  I suppressed a growl. “Yes, but he hasn’t responded.” I was ready to break into tears when I felt a pair of strong hands on my shoulders.

  I turned and found myself pulled against a hard chest. Oh thank God, he’s here. I looked up but quickly realized this wasn’t Ace. It was Jack. I stepped back. “I’m sorry. I thought you were someone else.”

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, the only one with any concern in his tone.

  Tears started to well up in my eyes, but I blinked them back, refusing to let them fall. “No one seems to know where Ace is, and I’m worried about him.”

  The elevator door dinged, and Whitney stepped out. She rushed to my side and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “Holly, what’s wrong. Are you hurt?”

  Well, shit. I must not be hiding my distress as well as I thought.

  I felt foolish. It wasn’t like Ace wasn’t the type to wander off, even with me here in his room. I really was just worried because I knew he was dealing with stressors he wouldn’t let anyone else know about. He had been so different, so attentive, and sweet. There was a change in him, one I’d hoped for, but had never let myself believe would happen. Now it had, or I’d let myself believe it had, and it hurt more than I wanted to admit to think it was over that quick.

  “I think this is my fault,” Jack spoke up, running a hand through his hair.

  “Why do you say that? Do you know where Ace is?”

  Whitney pulled away, and her face changed. “Ace?” she snapped. “Ace is why you’re so upset? You’ve been here one damn day, and he’s already missing in action?” She spread her arms out wide. “Surprise!”

  I ignored her and took a step closer to Jack. “What happened?”

  “I don’t know where he is, but I might know why he’s upset,” Jack said softly.

  Dread spiraled in my stomach. “What happened?” I repeated.

  “We were talking, and I told him about our dates.”

  Blood drained from my head. “Why did you do that?” My voice was a whisper.

  “I thought you’d told him. I mean, you told me about him. I admired your honesty and wanted to follow your lead. I thought it would be good for me to acknowledge the elephant in the room. Only, you hadn’t told him yet. Maybe you didn’t plan to at all. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause you any pain.” Jack’s eyes were filled with sincerity.

  I exhaled and forced a smile on my face. “It’s not your fault, but thanks for letting me know.”

  Unsure what else to do, I walked back to Ace’s room, but Whitney was right behind me. As soon as the door closed behind me, I turned to her. “Please don’t yell at me.”

  Her mouth was opened to do just that, her finger pointed directly at me. She froze. Which made me laugh. Then she was laughing too. We sank down on the couch, and to my horror, my laughter turned into tears.

  “Holly. Why are you so upset?”

  I pulled my hands away from my face and leaned my head back on the cushion, willing myself to stop crying.

  “I messed everything up,” I groaned.

  “No. No, you didn’t. He did. How is any of this your fault?”

  I explained everything to my best friend, the one who hated Ace Newman, as best I could. I was strong. I never caved. I never let his behaviors tear me down. He was fun, exciting, great sex, nothing more. I never let my heart believe that he was, or ever could be more than just that, great sex.

  “But…?” she asked.

  “But I can’t consolidate how he is to the world with how he is with me. Whit, you should have seen him last night. His walls were down. He was so sweet and tender. In those moments, I…” I swallowed hard. “I love him.”

  Whitney gripped my hand. “I know.”

  I sniffed hard. “You do? I thought I was a better actress than that.”

  She laughed softly. “Maybe to everyone but me. Can I tell you a secret?”

  I rolled my head until I was looking at her. “Of course.”

  “Calvin thinks he loves you too and is too afraid to admit it.”

  She reached up and brushed away a tear that made its way past my lashes.

  “The thing is, Holly,” she went on, “just because he loves you the best he can doesn’t mean you don’t deserve better than what he has to offer.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Some people only have the capacity to love so much, and Ace might not ever be able to love you more than he does now, or at least not be able to demonstrate that
love.”

  “Why?”

  She shook her head. “Pain, maybe. It’s like a guard on the door to their heart. A little bit of love sneaks out, and it’s pushed back inside.”

  “That’s so sad.”

  She nodded. “Yes, it is.”

  “Whitney, I’m worried about him. I want to go look for him. It’s been hours.”

  “Okay. I’ll go with you. You can’t walk around this city alone.”

  We agreed to meet down in the lobby in fifteen minutes, giving me enough time to straighten up my face. Downstairs, it wasn’t just Whitney, but a bunch of the guys hanging out. I groaned but headed in their direction anyway.

  “I think I know where he might be,” Luke stated as soon as I was close.

  Whitney took over. “Okay, you can come with us.” She gave Calvin a you’re coming too look, and he slowly rose to his feet.

  “I want to go too, if that’s okay?” Jack asked.

  I wasn’t sure that was such a good idea, but Whitney was already nodding. “It might not hurt. He can straighten things out.”

  “You sure?” I said, giving her a warning with my eyes.

  “Yep. I’m positive. We’ll get it straightened out.” Whitney sounded convincing.

  Frank and Marty opted to stay at the hotel and eat dinner, leaving Calvin, Luke, Whitney, Jack, and myself to go on the hunt for Ace.

  It wasn’t a very big city, so at least he was nearby. The problem was, there were bars everywhere, some tucked in behind convenience stores, others that were stacked on top of one another along Seabreeze Boulevard.

  Luke wanted to try the place he and Ace had gone to a couple of times. As we walked up to the place, it looked dead empty. I almost turned around until I heard Ace’s laugh.

  I glanced over at Whitney, and she jerked her head to the door, urging me to just get it over with. Opening the door, the first thing I saw was Ace holding something purple over his head. A cute little blonde was grinning and jumping up, trying to reach it.

  Upon hearing the door open, Ace looked over, and our eyes met. I watched his lips sound out the word fuck as a myriad of emotions flashed over his face. He lowered the purple cloth and handed it to the girl. Panties. He was giving her a pair of panties.

  “Fancy seeing you here,” Ace said, his smirk firmly back in place. “Looks like you brought the whole gang. Great. C’mon in and have a drink on me.”

  Whitney grabbed my arm and hissed, “What do you want to do?”

  I didn’t know.

  Then Ace’s eyes locked on mine again. Even though he wore a smirk, those eyes were filled with pain. I could see it. I could feel it. It radiated off of him like waves.

  Behind him, the blonde bartender caught my attention. She had a serious look on her face when she nodded toward the hallway, then headed that way.

  Curious as to what she could possibly have to say to me, I followed her. “What you just walked in on was total bad timing,” she began, and I looked down at her hand still clutching the panties. She blushed and held them up. “This was a stupid bet, nothing more. Then Ace left and helped a homeless guy get a place to stay.”

  Homeless guy? Ace helped a homeless guy?

  “Are you serious?”

  “Yeah. Guy’s name is Charlie. He came into the bar, and I was going to toss him out, but Ace bought him something to eat, then left with him to buy him clothes and a place to stay.”

  I still didn’t know whether to believe her or not. “Ace Newman did that?”

  “Yeah, he did. And because we’d had that stupid bet earlier, he came back here to return my panties, and he also gave me some money to check on Charlie once in a while. When you walked in, he was just messing with me, making me jump for them. But I swear, if you’d walked in two minutes earlier, it would have been him giving me money to make sure the homeless guy was taken care of.”

  Digging in her back pocket, she pulled out several hundred dollar bills and a piece of paper with Ace’s phone number, an address, and “Charlie. Room 211.”

  “Why are you telling me this?” I ask her, still staring at the paper.

  She gave me a little smile. “Well, I guess because I didn’t want you to think I’m some slut who gives her panties to just anyone. I’m not, and I don’t. I’m a psych major at UCF, graduating in the spring. I bartend to make money and because it’s a good place to read people.”

  “And…”

  “And nothing, I guess. I just didn’t want you to misunderstand. He seems like a really nice guy underneath that slimy surface.”

  I couldn’t help it, I laughed at her description.

  “He was really cool with Charlie. It was really nice what he did for him. Most people wouldn’t.” She blushed. “I wouldn’t have.”

  “Thank you,” I told her. “Really, I appreciate you telling me.”

  She smiled what appeared to be a natural smile for the first time. “Sure. I’m going to go, uh, put my panties back on.”

  I laughed, and she turned to rush into the ladies’ room while I stood there, pondering everything she just told me.

  I knew there was more beneath Ace’s surface than what he let people see, even me, and I thought I’d seen more than most people did.

  Smiling, I headed back to the bar while all the guys were joining Ace in a toast.

  Whitney met me halfway. “What was that all about?”

  I told her everything, watching her jaw sag a little more with each word. “Wow,” she finally said. “What are you going to do?”

  I watched Ace laughing and tossing back another. Then my eyes flicked to Jack, who was watching me intently. He lifted his chin and gave me an it’s okay look. I sighed. I really needed to introduce him to my sister.

  Ace said something and my focus was on him again. Our eyes met, and I smiled, and the look of relief that washed over his face did something deep inside of me. As foolish as it seemed, I wasn’t ready to give up on him yet, even if we never ended up together.

  I was surprised when he left the guys and headed my way. He didn’t stop until we were toe to toe. “Come home with me,” he said, his eyes searching my face.

  Placing my hand in his, I let him lead me out to a taxi.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Ace

  There were two types of weather in Florida. It was either hotter than fuck, or it was storming like hell.

  When we stepped outside, lightning was flashing in the distance, the thunder chasing it almost immediately. The wind was blowing the fronds of the palm trees, whipping them nearly horizontal. We had about five minutes until this mother hit.

  Correction.

  We had less than a minute. I was still flagging down a taxi when the bottom fell out. Within seconds, we were soaked to the skin.

  Holly was shivering when we finally made it inside a cab, so I pulled her close, giving her whatever warmth I had. It was still pounding rain when I paid the driver, and Holly and I ran inside. Her teeth were chattering in the elevator, and she was in full body shudder by the time we were inside my too cold room.

  Taking her hand, I pulled her into the master suite but bypassed the bed. Instead, I pulled her into the bathroom and turned the knobs on the huge tub. Locating some bath salts the complex leaves for guests, I dumped them in, and soon, the entire room smelled like a girl.

  But I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything but keeping her safe and warm.

  “Let’s get you undressed,” I told her, then took over when her trembling fingers tried to undo the button on her shorts. I slid them down her legs, taking her panties with them. Kneeling at her feet, I could smell her scent. It was so unique, it made my mouth water.

  Later, I reminded myself.

  When she was fully naked, I lifted her, and she sank into the water, all the way to her chin. Her hair floated around her. Damn. She was so beautiful. Like an angel with her hair swirling around her.

  I undressed, watching her watch me, growing harder as desire flared in her eyes. I pulled my w
allet from the back pocket of my shorts, leaving it close enough to the tub to grab a condom if one was needed.

  I still wasn’t sure. Holly seemed okay, seemed to want me, but I could still read the hesitation in her gestures.

  Was it because of what she’d seen at the bar? Or because of damned Jack?

  Jealousy hit me again, just thinking of him touching her.

  Pushing those thoughts away, I sank into the water behind her and pulled her close. My hands glided over her silky smooth skin. Her thighs. Her arms. Her neck. Her breasts. I touched every part I could reach.

  “Holly, I’m sorry for—”

  “Shhh,” she said, “you don’t have to explain.”

  Damn tears pricked the back of my eyes, and I was glad she couldn’t see me. Nobody in my whole fucking life had accepted me the way this woman had. Well, not since my mom. For as long as I could remember, somebody wanted something from me. My dad. Coaches. Fans. Especially once I hit it big.

  But not Holly.

  She just kept giving herself to me. Her body, yes. But her time too. Her attention. Care.

  I fisted her hair and turned her head until I could seize her lips, needing to taste her so bad it was a physical pain. She moaned and turned in my arms, kissing me back passionately while my hands explored her curves, her thighs. Her center.

  She cried out when my fingers found her slit and plunged deep into her depths. Her nails dug into my arm as I forced my fingers deeper. I curled them, twisting and stroking her sensitive walls. Listening to the sounds she made was heady, knowing I was giving her such pleasure.

  More. I wanted more.

  In and out of her body I stroked. Her tongue speared my mouth, and I willingly accepted it, stroking it with my own. She was so soft, everywhere, but also strong. She reached between us, her hand gripping my erection, nearly driving me insane.

  I was on a mission, nothing in the world mattered more than making her feel good right now. I pressed and rubbed and stroked, trying to give her what I couldn’t tell her. Show her how special she was to me.

  She was nearly sobbing, but this time from joy as her body tightened around my hand. I watched her face. Her mouth opening, her eyes rolling back, the cry wrenching its way from her throat as she violently shivered and quaked.