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Ace
Ace couldn’t wait to get out of the damn meeting that he was roped into by Knox. He wanted his business partner to handle it so he could stay home with Arabella but Knox told him that this meeting was too important for him to skip. He was right—it was, but he wasn’t about to admit that to his best friend. If this deal went through, they could be opening up a second casino and that would give them both the financial security that they had always dreamed of. Owning one casino had made them both millionaires but opening another would set up their children and grandchildren for many generations. That was what he and Knox were building together—an empire that would take care of generations of both of their families.
The meeting went well and when it was over, he didn’t even go back to his office. He beat it the hell out of there, making some excuse to Knox that he had a sitter with Arabella and that she still wasn’t one-hundred percent. Was he lying to his best friend—yep. Did he feel bad about lying to Knox—no. Ace was so fucking excited to finally have Trinity at his place, he couldn’t wait to get back home to both her and his daughter. Plus, if he had stayed, Knox would probably give him grief about not going over to the club in the last week. His friend was trying to be supportive, but he knew that he was shirking his duties as the Smokey Bandit’s club Prez. It was a title he took very seriously but wasn’t sure that he’d be able to keep. Arabella was his top priority now and without an Ol’lady to help take care of her, he wasn’t sure that he could keep burning the candle at both ends. Sooner or later, he was going to burn out and he couldn’t do that to his daughter. She deserved his best and if that meant stepping down as the Bandit’s Prez, he’d do it. He just needs to find a replacement first.
Ace decided to swing by Trinity’s place and then pick them up some dinner. He drove to the address she had texted him and cringed when he saw the hole that she called home. The place was run down, to say the very least. In fact, calling the old building run down was too kind. It was a slum and he wasn’t sure why she lived there. He found her key under her front mat, just as she instructed, and he let himself into her place. It was a tiny shithole, but it was clean and he could tell that she had tried to make the place as homey as possible, given what she was working with.
He saw that her bedroom light was on. It wasn’t hard to miss since the place had just two rooms and a small bathroom which he passed on his way back to her bedroom. “Trinity?” a man’s voice called. Ace stopped dead in his tracks and looked around for anything he might use as a weapon. Finding nothing, he proceeded with caution down the narrow hallway.
“No,” he called back. “I’m her friend, Ace. She asked me to stop by and pick something up,” he said. He looked into her bedroom and found an older man sitting on the end of her bed. He looked as if he had just gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar and Ace wondered if he was supposed to be in Trinity’s apartment or if he was there to surprise her.
“Who are you?” Ace asked.
“I’m not sure that’s any of your business,” the older man said.
“Sure it is. You see, I’m supposed to be here. Trinity asked me to stop by to grab her bag. She didn’t mention that she’d be having company when I dropped by. Plus, I told you who I am, so it’s only fair for you to tell me who you are,” Ace said. He was smiling at the old guy but he felt anything but nice right now.
“I’m Trinity’s landlord, Lou.” Ace looked him over and nodded.
“Was Trinity expecting you, Lou?” he asked.
“Not really. I just was checking in with her to make sure that she was all right. She didn’t come home last night and I was worried about her.” Ahh—Lou was a stalker. Now it was all becoming crystal clear to Ace what was going on here.
“Does Trinity know that you watch her, Lou?” he asked. He sounded like he was accusing the man of something and that was just fine with him because he was.
“What?” Lou asked. “How dare you make it sound like I’ve done something wrong. I’m simply checking in on a friend.” Lou stood and crossed the room, brushing past Ace to walk to the front of the apartment. He let the guy go because he didn’t have time to get into it with him. He wanted to grab the to-go order that he had called in and get back home to Trinity and Arabella.
“Sure you are,” Ace said, following Lou to the front door. “How about from now on, you ask Trinity before you enter her apartment.”
“How about you mind your own fucking business,” Lou growled. Ace had to give it to the old guy—he had balls. He just didn’t know who he was fucking with.
“Okay, Lou,” Ace almost whispered. “I thought we could do this the easy way but looks like we’re going to do this the hard way. You stay the fuck away from Trinity or I’ll tear you the fuck apart. Got me?”
Poor Lou looked a bit taken aback. “You can’t come onto my property and threaten me,” he warned. “I’ll throw Trinity out on her ass.”
Well, that escalated quickly. “Don’t bother,” Ace said. “I’m sure that once I tell Trinity how you were sitting on her bed, waiting for her to come home, she’ll be back here to pack up her shit tomorrow. When she does come back here to hand you back your keys, you take them, and don’t you say a fucking word to her. We clear, Lou?” Ace asked. He stood over the old guy waiting him out. He wasn’t sure if Lou was going to give him a fight or back down, but he was ready for either.
“Fine,” Lou said. “And if I see you on my property again, I’ll call the police,” he promised.
“I’d love to see how they react to the news that you were waiting in your tenant’s home for her to come home, without her permission. I’m betting that’s a giant red flag in your landlord handbook, Lou,” Ace challenged. The old guy mumbled something under his breath and quickly left Trinity’s apartment. Ace found her bag sitting on the small kitchen table and grabbed it. He headed out, making sure to lock up and bring the spare key with him, not that it mattered. Her sleazy landlord had his own set of keys and if Ace had his way, he’d stay true to his promise and get Trinity out of there. It wasn’t safe for her there and he hoped that finding Lou sitting on her bed would be enough to persuade her of that fact.
* * *
Ace found Trinity in his kitchen, barefoot and wearing just his t-shirt, washing Arabella’s bottles. “I’ll do that,” he said. He sat the box of pizza on the counter and she looked over at him and smiled.
“I love pizza,” she said.
“I’m glad I guessed correctly,” he said. “How was Arabella?” he asked.
“Good as gold. She’s in her bouncy seat, just over there,” he looked over to where Trinity had nodded and found his very happy daughter kicking and smiling in her seat.
“I haven’t used that thing yet, but she seems to love it.” He smiled at his daughter and pulled down plates for their dinner. “Hope you’re hungry. I got a little bit of everything on the pizza.”
“I’m starving. Thanks for picking up my bag for me,” she said, grabbing it from the counter. “I’ll go change out of your t-shirt now that I have some sweat pants to wear.” The thought of her changing out of his shirt was one that he didn’t like. He felt some strange satisfaction that he came home to find her in his home, with his kid, wearing his t-shirt. His inner caveman was thumping his chest, he was so fucking happy.
“No need,” he said. “I don’t mind you borrowing my shirt. Looks better on you, really,” he promised. He looked her up and down and then realized that his attention must have embarrassed her with the way her cheeks turned bright pink. He liked that too.
He watched as Trinity grabbed two glasses and filled them with water from his refrigerator. She sat one down in front of him and sipped her water as if buying herself some time. He knew she’d get to whatever was making her wheels spin, sooner or later, but he had a feeling he wasn’t going to like what she had running through her mind.
