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“While you might be able to guarantee your feelings, you can’t guarantee hers.”
“She won’t fall in love with me.” I bowed my head and pinched the tension in the back of my neck. “She can barely stomach looking at me.”
He didn’t know the full extent of our arrangement, and it was better that way. His conscience wouldn’t allow him to stand by while I went about things the way I chose.
“Your presence in her life can only be a temporary one,” Cristian noted. “You think you are saving her, but how can you be certain you might not equally devastate her?”
“It won’t happen. I won’t allow her feelings to grow roots.”
“You wouldn’t be here talking to me if you didn’t have your doubts,” Cristian argued. “Tell me what it is you want to hear from me?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
“I can’t give you my approval.”
“I know.”
We were both quiet then. He took it upon himself to redirect the conversation. “How is your health?”
“It’s fine.” My fingers bounced against my thigh, a nervous pattern that I couldn’t recall making before. “I’m tired. But fine.”
“And you are still certain of your course with that matter?”
“Yes.”
“Then I can offer you only this,” he said. “Do what good you can while there is time.”
“I’m trying.”
“God will light your way.”
I smiled into the darkness. “I hope for your sake, Father, he will light yours as well.”
“I HAVE TO PEE.”
Ace gave me a bored expression as he uncuffed me from the desk. I was free, but I knew it wouldn’t be for long. While I went to the bathroom, I contemplated my potential escape options, but they were limited to spraying him with water or throwing a bar of soap at his head. Nothing in this bathroom would be useful, and the man was a tank.
“You might as well just suck it up and do it,” Ace told me when I came back out. “You’re only delaying the inevitable. He won’t let you go until it’s done.”
“You sound like you know from personal experience.”
“That’s because I do.”
I arched a brow at him. “Did he make you write lines?”
“No, worse. He made me go to school.”
He locked me back to the desk, but my curiosity wouldn’t let him go. “What could he possibly have over you?”
“He saved my life,” Ace said. “I owe him more than I could ever pay him. The least I could do was get my shit together if that made him happy.”
I looked up at the beefy man who sounded mild as a kitten whenever he talked about Lucian. “So you finished high school?”
“College,” he corrected.
That information shocked me. Maybe it was a stereotype, but I’d just assumed the huge biker dude probably didn’t have much going on in that head of his other than beer and broads.
“What’s your degree?”
“Diesel mechanics,” he explained. “It was a two-year program. Now I got my own shop, make a decent living, and give some of the boneheads from my club something to do with their time. No complaints on my end.”
“Huh,” I mumbled.
“Yep. I’m going to go take a nap. I suggest you get to writing.”
“Wait,” I pleaded.
He sighed. “What?”
“Can’t you tell me just a little bit about Lucian?”
“That’s for him to tell you.”
“I’m not talking about his darkest secrets.” I rolled my eyes. “I just… I don’t know anything about him really.”
“He’s a good dude.” Ace shrugged. “That’s all I can really say.”
“Good?” I snorted. “He gets criminals off. How is that good?”
Ace crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. “Have you ever considered that maybe you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, little girl?”
“What do you mean?”
“He defends accused criminals. There’s a big goddamn difference. Now give that some thought before you go tossing out bullshit statements.”
His body language warned me we were in choppy waters here, but I was finally getting somewhere, and I couldn’t stop now.
“You were innocent?” I pressed.
“Yes.” Ace gritted his teeth. “Even if you find that hard to believe, not everyone who gets tossed in the can actually deserves it. You might be surprised if you did your research.”
I toyed with the pencil on the desk as I thought that over. “So he just takes on cases of people he thinks are innocent?”
“I can’t answer for him. All I can say is Lucian does what he thinks is best. He’s a damn good guy who got dealt a shitty hand, and I stand by his choices whatever they may be.”
“Shitty hand?” I looked up at him, desperate to know what he meant by that.
“You’ll have to ask him about that,” he said.
I groaned, and Ace smirked. “You know, you’re a little brat. But I kinda think you might be good for him if you can get your own head out of your ass and see him for who he is.”
