Page 7 of Ace

Ace turned that icy glare on me that I remembered so well from childhood.He’d used it every time he caught his brother and I doing something he didn’t approve of.

“No.”

* * *

Ace

I felt better now that Joker had taken a good look at the wound and patched Emma up.He might like to play the clown, but under that act he was one hell of a medic.If it weren’t for his PTSD, he could have become one of the top surgeons in the country.Well, his PTSD and his total lack of respect for anyone who hadn’t earned it.That tended to include his superiors.Most of the brothers had the same issue.

Emma couldn’t be in better hands.

Unless they were mine, of course.I wanted to get to know her better.Since shipping out over a decade ago, I’d managed to mostly put her out of my mind.Although I’d noticed her growing into a very sexy young woman, she was too young for me.I had a decade on her.And she was too fucking good for the likes of me.She deserved someone better than an ex-Navy SEAL who’d seen far too many dead bodies.

Despite that, my dick stood at attention just having her in the house.It really wanted to get to know her better.A lot better.But hell, she’d dated my kid brother.That made me some kind of perv for the way my cock got hard every time I gave her a sideways glance.

Or did it?Maybe she was one of those women that liked their men with a little more experience.I didn’t see any rings on her fingers.Maybe I was just what she’d been waiting for.Might be worth a shot.

That was going to have to wait, though, until me and the club took care of the unknown gunman, and anyone else who might pose a threat to my woman.Her account of the park thing resembled an execution-style killing, leading me to question what was going on right under the noses of the club.

I risked a peek at the woman curled up against me on the sofa.She looked good there.Looked like she fucking belonged there.Deep down, below the level of logic and reason, when she needed help, I was the one she’d come running to.

That felt good.Real good.

I stuffed those feeling away to be considered later.Right now, I needed to understand the events of the night a little better.

A thought occurred to me, and I frowned.“Do you usually walk home from work this late at night?Where’s your car?”

She sighed.“Damn thing won’t start.Replaced the battery six months ago, so it’s probably the starter this time.I just forked over all my cash for next term’s tuition, so I can’t afford to fix it before payday.Until then, I’m hoofing it.”She managed to look everywhere except at me.“I knew taking the shortcut through the park was risky, but my feet were killing me, and I hoped luck would be on my side just this once.”

She didn’t need me to point out how badly luck had let her down.Again.The fact that she’d been forced to ask me, a guy she hadn’t seen in years, for help was proof positive that Karma had it in for her.

Or maybe Karma thought it was time to do me a favor.

I picked up my phone from the side table, keeping one arm wrapped around her in case she got the silly notion that she could leave.“I need to call a couple of the guys and get them to check out the park.”

She glared at me and tried to pull away.“Check it out?You think I made this up so I could come play snuggle bunny with you?”

I smothered the urge to laugh.She was the farthest thing from a snuggle bunny as I’d ever seen.“Yes, I believe you.Pretty hard to fake a bullet wound.Issue is that dead bodies tend to attract the attention of the authorities.The last thing the club needs is to have cops swarming all over the place.Which they will, if there’s a dead body found in a public park.”

“So…?The cops will find the killer and then everything goes back to normal.”

I raised one brow.“You can’t possibly be that naïve.The first person they’re going to suspect is the head of the local motorcycle club.”

She winced.“Sorry.I didn’t think of that.I didn’t mean to get you into trouble.I can leave.Go home and call the cops from there.Leave you out of it.I just thought…” Her voice trailed off and she shrugged.“I don’t know.I guess I thought you could protect me.You know.From whoever that guy was.”

“And I can.But getting the cops involved is a no go.I’ll make a couple of calls, and the guys will take care of it.”

She blinked.“Okay.Thanks.”

A tentative smile curved the corner of her lips as she pulled back a bit and looked up at me.Mascara and eyeliner had combined to create black streaks down both of her cheeks.God, she looked so young and vulnerable.“Can I use the bathroom?”

She must have realized I wasn’t planning on going into details about how the guys would handle things.Or maybe she didn’t want to know.Regardless, it let me off the hook.

“Sure.”I loosened my arm to let her stand and pointed toward the hallway.“Second door on your right.”

“Thanks.”She took two steps in that direction and paused then turned back to look at me.“For everything.Thanks for being here.I know it’s been years since we even talked, but you were the only one I could think of that might be able help.”

“Go wash up.”I growled the words out.It was all I could do to stay seated, not jump up and grab her and never let her go.

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