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Ace
Ace was on his way out with Arabella snuggled into her car seat. It had been a long fucking day and all he wanted to do was get her down for the night, take a hot shower, and text Trinity his information. The only bright spot in his day was spending the evening with her and Arabella. Trinity surprised him and Ace wasn’t used to people taking him by surprise anymore. He usually could read people like a book—especially women, but Trinity wasn’t like the women he usually hung around with. Hell, she wasn’t even like her sister, and that was the biggest shock. She was smart, beautiful, and sassy as hell. He loved a woman with a mouth on her and God, she could keep up with him at every turn. Trinity seemed like she’d be able to give as good as she got and that made him crazy with lust. The problem was—she was his kid’s aunt and his ex’s sister. There was no way that he’d get involved with her and blow Arabella’s only possibility of having a positive female figure in her life. He had a feeling that Trinity would be a very positive role model for his little girl and having her around wasn’t a hardship for him either. She kept him guessing and he liked that about her.
He was strapping Arabella’s car seat into his waiting SUV when his business partner, Knox, came out of the casino. “I heard you were looking for me,” he said. The baby stirred and Ace shushed him.
“Don’t wake up the kid,” he ordered. “And yeah—I was looking for you. I needed some help with the shit that seemed to be piling up around me, but I heard you were putting out your own fires. Besides, Arabella’s aunt stopped by for a visit and I lost track of time.”
“Arabella’s aunt?” Knox asked. “Since you’re an only child, I’m assuming that she’s Charity’s sister?” his friend asked.
“Yep,” Ace said. “She’s the one who brought Arabella to the bar last week.”
“She sounds great,” Knox said.
“She is pretty great,” Ace agreed. He didn’t miss Knox’s smirk but he was too tired to knock it off his smug face or do anything else about it. “Don’t look at me like that,” Ace grumbled. “She’s Arabella’s aunt, asshole.”
“I know—you just said that she’s Charity’s sister. I just haven’t seen you smile like that in a few weeks, man,” Knox said.
“Well, it was a nice night—that’s all. Plus, I like the idea of Trinity being a part of Arabella’s life. She’s a smart woman—a lawyer. She worked hard to get to where she is with no help from anyone else. It will be nice for my daughter to have such a positive female role model in her life,” Ace said.
“I get it,” Knox said. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt again. What Charity did to you was an asshole move. I just hope that her sister doesn’t play the same games and end up hurting both you and Arabella.”
“I appreciate that, Knox. But I can handle my own shit,” he said.
“Noted,” Knox breathed. “You coming back to the Bandits any time soon?” Knox was in his MC, in fact, he was his right-hand man. Ace knew that Knox was handling his club’s business while he took care of Arabella and worked on getting her settled into a new routine. He hated that his club’s business was rested on his friend’s shoulders, but he had no choice—his daughter came first.
“Soon,” Ace agreed. “I just have to find a part-time nanny for evenings, so I can make it into the bar for meetings. I won’t bring Arabella with me—it’s not the place for a baby. I hated that Charity used to bring our daughter with her to hang out at the bar, but she refused to sit at home. Now I know it was so she could see Rooster, but I had no idea about all of that when it was happening. Hell, I thought she hated to be away from me, and that was why she insisted on bringing Arabella into the bar. Kids need stability and I’m not sure that I can give that to her and be the Bandit’s Prez.”
“Are you saying what I think you are?” Knox asked.
“I don’t know,” he breathed. The thought of leaving his club behind to raise his kid played through his mind every day since he got her back, but he hadn’t admitted it out loud to anyone yet. “Listen, don’t say anything to the guys until I can think things through. I’m sleep-deprived and not thinking straight. I’d like to take a little more time to weigh my options,” he said.
“No problem,” Knox said. “Just know that no matter what you decide, I’ve got your back, man. We all do—the whole club is behind you, Ace. You do what’s best for you and Arabella and we’ll figure out the rest.”
“Thanks, man,” Ace said. “I’ll see you in the morning. We have that meeting with the food vendors first thing.”
Knox rubbed his flat belly, making Ace chuckle. “I love when the food vendors come in,” he said. “I’ll skip breakfast and be ready to chow down.” Ace shook his head at him and slipped into the driver’s seat of his SUV, giving a wave over his shoulder. He needed to go home and get some sleep, but first, he’d text Trinity.
The thought of her laying in her bed, reading his messages made him hot. “Not going there,” he breathed, willing the dirty thoughts from his mind.
* * *
By the time Ace got Arabella down in her nursery and he took his shower, it was past eleven. His hopes of being able to text with Trinity were dashed, so he shot her a quick message with his address and security code to get into his place. He was about to toss his phone onto his nightstand when it chimed with a text message.
Hey—thanks for texting me your address, and thanks for dinner tonight. I had a good time.
Ace’s first instinct was to text her back and ask if she had a good time with him or with Arabella but a part of him was afraid that she’d say it was because she got to spend time with the baby. That was her main goal tonight—to get him to agree to allow her time with Arabella.
Arabella had a good time hanging out with you too, Trinity. She told me that she’s looking forward to seeing you tomorrow night.
Ace thought about adding a smiley face emoji to the end of his text but thought that might seem a little too pathetic coming from a grown-ass man. What was it about this woman that made him want to get a little mushy and say romantic crap? She wasn’t that person for him, and he needed to remember that. Trinity was his daughter’s aunt—nothing else.
LOL—well, I know that my niece is a genius, but talking? So, Arabella had a good time hanging out with me, but how about her dad?
“Shit,” he breathed, sitting up in his bed to reread her last text. Had she just asked him if he liked hanging out with her? He had but admitting that might be the beginning of the end for their relationship and that would suck for Arabella. Trinity was going to be the closest thing that his daughter had in her life to a mother figure. Ace knew Charity well enough to know that she wasn’t about to change her stripes—a tiger never did. His ex wanted one thing out of life and that was to have it all—something that a baby wouldn’t allow. Charity was selfish and people like his ex didn’t want to be tied down with the responsibilities of a kid. Besides, he had a feeling that Rooster didn’t want Arabella around. Kids weren’t his old friend's jam either. Arabella was better off right where she was—with him.
Sorry—never mind. Forget that I even asked. I’ll be at Bella’s daycare to pick her up tomorrow as planned. Have a good dinner meeting.
“I’m fucking this all up,” he grumbled. The last thing he wanted was for her to feel as though she did something wrong. He took too long to respond to her and now, she was backtracking and rethinking her question. His only option was to call her; Ace just hoped that she answered.
