Page 49 of Ace

Biting my lower lip, I turned to find Jake standing behind me.The sympathy in his eyes was almost my undoing.

“Does it get any easier?”

“Not really.”He shook his head.“But you know they’re doing something important, something not a lot of people are capable of.Because of them, our world is a safer place.”

“I suppose.”I admitted it reluctantly.“Except I want Ace to be safe.”

Jake took a step closer and slung a fatherly arm around my shoulder.“If he hid from danger, if he didn’t do what his conscience told him needed to be done, he wouldn’t be the man you fell in love with, would he?”

“No.”I rested my head on Jake’s shoulder as we wandered back toward the clubhouse.“But he might get killed.”

“I doubt it.”Jake chuckled.“He’s not that easy to kill.”

“Yeah.He told me that already.”

“See.He’s smart too.”

That drew a reluctant smile from me.“I guess he is.”

Jake tousled the hair on the top of my head.“Of course he is.He found you, didn’t he?”

We stepped into the clubhouse, and the smell of freshly brewed coffee wafted out of the kitchen to greet us.Mom must have known we weren’t going to be able to go back to sleep.

“You didn’t come to see the guys off.How come?”I knew she thought of the bikers as her kids in a way.

“Too hard.”Mom shook her head.“If something happens, I want my last sight of that person to be a happy one.Eating.Drinking.Carousing with his buddies.Not heading out to his doom.”

A cold shiver ran down my spine at her words, the sight of Ace leading the string of bikers out of the gate flashing through my mind.

“Here.Drink this.”She handed me a mug of coffee with lots of cream.Just the way I liked it.

“Did you used to watch when Jake left?”I asked.

Mom shook her head.“Jake had already retired when we got together.Didn’t have to worry about that.”

“You would have stared longingly after my awesome ass,” Jake piped up.

“Awesome ass?”Mom rolled her eyes.“You are delusional.”

Jake turned and slapped his butt before sauntering over to the coffee pot and pouring a mug for himself.

I laughed, almost choking on a mouthful of coffee.

Looking fondly at Jake, Mom addressed me in a stage whisper, “His ass is kind of awesome, but don’t tell him I said that.His ego is big enough as it is.”

Jake turned, smirking suggestively before stalking across to Mom and pulling her in to smack a big kiss across her lips.

“Maybe I should leave you two alone.”I forced a smile as I headed for the front door.“I could use a walk to clear my head.”

Jake held out a restraining hand, all trace of playfulness gone.“Lockdown.Sorry, lass.Means you’re staying inside until the guys get back and say otherwise.”

“Seriously?”I frowned.“Like I can’t even go outside and get some fresh air?”

“Nope.You stay in the clubhouse.”He gestured at the rifle I’d propped in the corner of the room.“And you take that with you wherever you go.Loaded and ready, within arm’s reach, at all times.”

“Yeah, Ace already told me that,” I groused.But Jake and Mom had been good to me, and I didn’t want to start an argument with him.Or worse, get him in trouble when Ace returned.“I guess I’ll just go play with the plumber and his buddies.”

Mom gave me a blank look.

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