Ace of Spades (Underground Affair Series Book 1) (17 page)

Chace and Declan got out of the car. Shane just sat there. Chace opened the door and poked his head in.

“You coming?”

Shane nodded his head. “I just need a minute.”

“Hey, I know what I said was hard to hear but Shane it had to be said. We all love you and we’re here for you. Don’t shut us out.”

“Thanks.”

“Look, I’m going to get Declan inside and get him fixed up. You come in when you’re ready.”

Chace shut the door and left with Declan.

Chace led Declan towards the ER as Declan was looking up to try and keep the blood from gushing from his nose.

“Shane’s a mess.”

“Dec, I’m sorry I didn’t go over there and talk to him myself.”

“It’s ok. Now I owe him one.” Declan chuckled.

“You two have always had the strongest bond.”

“Maybe because he needed me the most? You were always on top of your game and Ace, well he is so damn stubborn about taking care of himself. Shane and I get each other on a different level is all, we have since college. In high school we had a mutual hate for one another on the mat.”

“I heard that was because Shane won all the matches between you two.”

“He was the better wrestler, I will admit it…to you.” Declan laughed.

Chace had finished filling out the paperwork and the nurse gave Declan some clean gauze pads and an ice pack and told them to take a seat and wait for a doctor.

Shane finally decided he needed to stop feeling sorry for himself. He got out of the car and was walking through the parking lot when he heard someone call out his name, “Mr. Hart.” He turned around and Dr. Martino was standing there.

“Hey.”

“Are you feeling alright?”

“I’m ok.”

“Then why are you here at the hospital?”

“I think I broke Declan’s nose. He’s in the ER.”

“I thought I saw your partner Chace walking in the hallway.”

“Yeah, I called him when it happened. I’m still too dizzy to be driving.”

“How dizzy?”

“No worse than I’ve had in the past. Usually it takes a few days to subside if I’ve been knocked out.”

“If it gets to be worse than you’ve had in the past then I want you to come back to the hospital or give me a call. Head injuries are not something to be taken lightly.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

“Luke.”

“Shane.”

Luke smiled at Shane. Shane smiled back and it looked as if he winked since his one eye was still so swollen.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“How is it that you can dedicate your life to building a perfect body with a beautiful face and then knowingly allow someone to damage it, possibly beyond repair?”

Shane liked hearing Luke say he had a perfect body and a beautiful face. It made him feel good about himself…for a minute.

“It’s something I’m good at. It helps me to relieve my anger and at the same time it’s such an adrenalin rush. People want to see me, they chant my name and my opponents fear me.”

“But what about afterwards, the pain and risk of possibly losing your life?”

“I don’t think about losing the fight or my life. As for the pain, it reminds me that I’m alive, that I’m a survivor.”

“Some pain can be pleasurable but what you endure, not so much.” Luke smiled.

“I’m also familiar with the pain and pleasure factor but I somehow don’t think you’re still talking about fighting?” Shane grinned.

“I think it’s time for me to go home.”

“Yeah. I need to check in on Dec.”

“I’ll see you next week at your appointment.”

“Maybe by then I will be able to see you with two eyes.” Shane laughed as he walked away.

Luke couldn’t keep his eyes off of Shane’s sexy ass as he watched him walk away.

Lucy rolled over and saw Ace staring at her. She smiled and he smiled back.

“I think you made me pass out.” Lucy chuckled.

“I can’t help it if you can’t keep up with me.” Ace laughed.

Lucy grabbed her pillow and smacked Ace with it and then he whacked her back. They rolled around having a pillow fight until Ace fell off the bed. Lucy looked over the side at him lying on the floor. Neither of them could stop laughing. Lucy couldn’t ever remember being this happy…or in love. Ace’s phone started to ring.

“Lucy, can you grab that.”

Lucy grabbed the phone and as she handed it to Ace she unknowingly hit the speaker button.

“Hello.”

“How did the date go? Thank you for helping me out with Lucy, I owe you one.”

Lucy’s father didn’t even finish the sentence before her heart sank. Ace sat up and tried to get the phone off of speaker but he wasn’t fast enough. The look on Lucy’s face broke his heart.

“Can I call you back?”

“Are you still with her?”

“Yes.”

“We can talk tomorrow.”

Ace hung up the phone and stood up. Lucy was already searching for her clothes as she held back tears. Ace walked over to her and grabbed her and tried to pull her into a hug.

“Don’t.”

Lucy pulled away and continued to get dressed. Ace stood there trying to think of what to say.

“Lucy, I love you.”

Lucy turned around and slapped Ace across the face.

“As if you taking me out and doing all this shit for my father wasn’t bad enough but now, NOW, you’re going to tell me that you love me, when I know damn well it is a lie. You just don’t want me to go home and tell my father that you fucked up on your charity mission for poor pathetic Lucy.”

“No, no Lucy, I swear, yes your father asked me to take you out but Lucy, we’ve been hiding behind his back. I couldn’t tell him that. Of course I said yes, he’s worried about you. Hell, I was going to ask you out anyway.”

“What were you going to get out of this, a promotion?”

“A date with a beautiful woman.”

“You never wanted a date before. You only wanted to fuck me…”

“Lucy, stop it.”

Ace grabbed Lucy by the wrist.

“LET GO!”

Ace let go. Then he stepped back.

“I guess you never cared about me at all.”

Lucy looked up at him and just stared for a minute before she turned and walked out.

Declan came walking into the waiting area with a taped nose and two newly formed black eyes. Shane stood up and walked over to Declan.

“I’m sorry, Dec.”

“I know, Shane.”

Chace stood up, pulled his keys from his pocket and headed towards the door.

“Let’s get you home, Declan.”

Declan and Shane followed Chace without another word.

Ace wanted to chase Lucy out the door but he didn’t, instead he sat down on the edge of the bed and vowed not to ever let another woman into his heart. How could he be so wrong about her? As he laid back onto the bed he saw his cell phone. He picked it up and dialed Lucy’s father. He figured he had better warn him.

“Ace, I said we could talk in the morning.”

“Chief, uhh…Lucy knows that you asked me to take her out. She heard you on the phone earlier.”

“Oh, I see.”

“I’m sorry. I told her that I would have liked to take her out anyway and I was happy you’d asked me to.”

“Don’t worry, Son, I will talk to Lucy and explain how worried I was about her.”

“Alright then. Good night, Chief.”

“Good night, Ace.”

Lucy walked down the street away from Ace’s house and called her cousin, Mary to come and pick her up.

“Hello.”

“Mary, can you come and pick me up please?”

“Lucy, are you alright? Where are you?”

“I’m down the street from Ace’s house.”

“Déjà vu?”

“Oh Mary…”

Lucy started to sniffle and then Mary knew she was crying.

“Did he hurt you, Lucy?”

“Yes, but not physically.”

“How long have you been seeing him? I thought it was just that once?”

“Tonight was our first date. All the other times were just sex.”

“Whoa! Sex? How much sex? How many times? I can’t believe you’ve been holding out on me.”

“Not that many times. I haven’t seen you to tell you. Are you on your way?”

“Yes, I’m already in the car. What did he do to upset you?”

“My father asked him to take me on a date and he did.”