Chapter 45: Chapter 45

Chapter 45 Ace

I open the door to the bedroom, and Ace topples back against me. I move out of the way and he crashes to the floor, groaning.

"You were leaning against my door this entire time?" I ask Ace, who still groans on the floor.

"Correction! I fell asleep against your door."

"You....fell asleep....waiting for me?" I ask, amused.

"Indeed."

I roll my eyes and Ace gets up off the floor, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Can we talk about this now, please?" He asks.

I sigh. "Fine. It really hurt me that you would try to hide something like this from me. It makes me wonder what else would you hide from me?"

"Look, I'm sorry. I understand why you are upset about this, but...I was just trying to protect you. I figured that life had already thrown so much at you and now that you're pregnant I didn't want to put too much stress on your shoulders." Ace says.

"I understand that your intentions were pure but Ace, this is my family we're talking about. Even though I've never met my brother and I'm sure I don't really want to meet him, doesn't mean it's not my business."

Ace sighs. "I know, it was wrong of me to leave you in the dark, and it won't happen again. I will try to communicate with you more. Please forgive me? Sleeping outside of your door isn't really that fun."

Ace's face is looking at me like a puppy, begging for attention and food.

Damn it, why does he have to be so cute?

"Fine, I forgive you. But don't ever pull something like that again."

Ace beams. "Thank you! I won't try something like that again."

"Good. And by the way....what is going to happen to my brother when you find him? What of he's good?" I ask sadly.

Ace just looks at me with a sad expression and shakes his head. "Dakota, he's not. He's involved in all sort of heinous crimes including human trafficking."

My stomach feels nauseous. "A-are you sure? Because if there's any good in him at all could you maybe spare him?"

Ace sighs and looks at me with doubtful eyes. "If I find even an ounce of good in him, I will spare him."

* * *

I poke Ace's sleeping face the next morning.

"Ace."

Poke.

"Ace."

Poke.

"Psst. Wake up."

Poke poke poke.

"Mhmm what?" Ace grumbles and wraps his pillow around his head to shield me of my attacks.

"Ace this is important."

He snores.

Hmmm I've got an idea.

"ACE! WAKE UP, THE BABY IS COMING!"

Ace shoots out of bed in lightening speed. His foot gets caught in the covers of the bed and he falls to the floor in a heap.

"WHAT?" He shrieks, panicked as he shoots up from the floor.

I laugh at him and Ace's face falls. "What? We've got to get to the hospital!" He exclaims, raising a confused eyebrow.

"Ace," I say, "The baby is not coming yet."

His shoulders slump. "The baby is not coming?"

"Nope."

"The baby is not coming." He states.

"You are right."

"The....baby.....is.....not....coming." He says slowly.

I nod.

Ace's eye twitches. "Then why the hell would you wake me up! Don't you ever pull that again, you almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry. I won't do that again. You were just ignoring me and I wanted to ask you a question."

"A question. That's all?"

"Mhm. It's an important question." I say.

He sighs. "What is it?"

"Can you teach me self defense soon?" I ask excitedly, "You said you would."

Ace nods. "Yes, yes I will. But I want you to take it easy considering you're seven months pregnant."

"Of course. But you can just teach me the basics for now. It's important for me to know how to defend myself."

So that evening rolled around, and I change into some workout clothes. My belly had grown quite large now because Cole is nearing full term.

I walk down to the gym where I see Ace warming up with a punching back. He's shirtless and fierce as he strike the bag and sweat drips down his back.

Mmm that's a whole snack right there. No, more like a whole meal. I think to myself.

Ace suddenly turns around and catches me staring.

Whoops.

Eh, who cares he already knows I find him hot obviously.

He smiles cheekily at me and then it's his turn to stare. "You look great."

I roll my eyes. "Oh please, with this belly?

"You look good whatever size you are, baby." Ace replies.

Aww...

"Lets begin. I will only teach you the basics today because I don't want you putting too much stress on Cole."

"Okay."

It has been harder to breathe as Cole grows, so strenuous activity would be hard on both Cole and I.

"If you have a solid, well balanced stance then you will be harder to knock over. Extend your non-dominant foot towards your opponent." Ace instructs.

"Like this?" I ask.

Ace nods. "Yes, just like that. But rotate your leg slightly towards your body."

I do exactly that.

"Good. Now that we've established a good fighting stance, it's time to move onto how to hold your fists. It's important to keep your thumb outside of your fist, otherwise if you keep your thumb inside your hand, you could crush your thumb if you punched really hard."

Ace gently unfolds my hands and sets my thumb outside of my hands. His hands linger on mine for a little longer than they need to be, though, and I push him away.

"Less flirting, more fighting." I say, giggling.

"You make it so hard." Ace says, smirking and wiggling his eyebrows.

My face turns red. "Ace!" I scold.

He shrugs and plays dumb. "Gee, someone has a dirty mind, I didn't mean it like that. They do say some pregnant women become more horny-"

"Hey Ace!"

"What?"

"Catch these fists."

"Wha-OW!"

I landed a punch on his arm, making sure to get the stance as accurate as possible and my fists in the right position.

He laughs. "Okay, that was pretty good. You're a fast learner."

I nod my head in thanks, and once we are able to concentrate, we work on more basic skills of self defense.

* * *

Night time approaches, and we lie in bed together, wrapped up in each other's arms. Are legs are tangled together and Ace runs his hand over my pregnant belly lovingly.

When I found out my brother didn't care about me, either, I felt heartbroken. I felt like I had no family to call my own. I felt betrayed and emotionally wounded.

But, how wrong was I?

I do have a family.

Katelin, Ace, Dakota, the entire gang, and of course, little Cole is my family now. Family isn't defined by blood, but by heart.

My heart belongs to these people and this is the one place I call home.

And that's a beautiful thing.

* * *

"I have a surprise for you." Ace says, waking me up the next morning.

"A surprise?" I ask, sitting up.

He nods and pushes me back down. "Stay here. I will go get it."

Ohh I wonder what it could be.

A few moments later, Ace comes in with a tray full of fruit, yogurt, eggs, bacon, and orange juice. He even remembered my prenatal vitamins.

"I figured I needed to make it up to you. I shouldn't have tried to hide something like your own brother from you."

"Well thank you. This was very nice of you." I tell him as I shove eggs in my mouth.

"Officialy forgiven?" Ace asks with puppy dog eyes.

I roll my eyes. "Ace, I already told you I forgive you. I can't stand to be mad at you for too long."

Ace just smiles and kisses me on the forehead. "I love you babe."

"I love you too."

* * *

Ace's POV:

I can't let Spade get away with what he's done. It's too much of a risk and I have to think about the safety of my family first.

If I don't do something, then he will. We may be able to keep him away for now, but eventually, he will cause a problem.

Just like a leaking pipe.

You can continue to patch it, but eventually, you're just going to have to get rid of it.

So, I gather my men and make the announcement in my office. Dakota comes with me, too.

"As you all know, I am making plans to finally end this gang." I look down at Dakota, and she looks sad. "Dakota, how do you feel about this situation?"

Dakota sighs and says, "I understand that my brother will just cause problems and put the lives I love in danger. My brother may be related to me by blood, but, if he really is that bad, then, I should not even consider him family. No family of mine does this. What has to be done, must be done to keep us safe. I would hate to just leave this alone, then to have it bite us in the butt later. I am having a child now, and I would do anything to keep him safe."

That is a character quality of a strong woman. Putting others before herself, and sacrificing her feelings for the safety of others.

I can tell she fought hard with this decision, but ultimately, lives are at stake here.

A couple months goes by before I figure out that we have a rat in the gang. Why I know that there is a rat in the gang?

Because every plan I make ends up falling apart the moment I speak to my gang members about the plan I have in mind.

And we all know what happens to people who choose to double-cross me.

They die.

Dakota is now due any day, and I would like to get this situation under control before Cole is born.

But with each passing day, my hope to find the rat before Cole is born diminishes.

* * *

Dakota's POV:

The morning was seemingly normal.

I had rolled out of bed and took a bath to help ease the soreness in my feet from carrying Cole. It was rather peaceful, the early morning hours and oddly enough, I found myself bonding with Cole. I also talked to him a lot, and even though I haven't met him yet, I've already fallen in love with him.

After, I went to the kitchen and made breakfast for Ace before he heads off to work.

I set his plate down on the kitchen table. "Ace! Your breakfast is ready!" I call out.

Ace scrambles in the kitchen as he throws a jacket over his shoulders. "Thanks babe." He says, kissing me on the cheek before settling down into the chair.

I sit across from him and pick at my eggs. I don't usually eat this early in the morning so I'm not hungry.

Ace and I talk as he eats.

But then the phone rings.

"Let it ring. You're more important." Ace says, smiling as he continues eating, and I smile back.

But then the phone rings again.

And again.

Ace rolls his eyes.

And when it rings the fourth time, Ace says, "It might be an emergency. I'm picking it up."

Ace picks it up and sure enough, his face falls. "Yes, this is he. What? He wants to speak to me? About what?"

I hear the voice of a man on the other line.

"Fine. I will be waiting then." And with those words, Ace hangs up, an angry look plastered across his face.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"Spade has a message for me." Ace gets up from the table and puts his empty dish into the sink.

"What?"

"I've got to go to my office now. I'm sorry I have to cut our breakfast together short."

"No, I-I understand." I stutter nervously. What could Spade want to say?

"I'll be in my office if you need me."

And with that, Ace leaves in a hurry.

But my curiosity eats me alive.

So, I do whatever any skilled eavesdropper would do.

I smash my ear against his office door.

I mean, I'm not really doing anything wrong, right? My brother who I've never met before is calling Ace. I have the right to listen and attempt to justify my actions.

"Spade!" I hear Ace hiss, "You're digging your own grave, you know that?"

I wish I could hear what Spade is saying. If only Ace would put the phone on speaker!

"I knew there was a rat! And when I find him, he's dead!" Ace says angrily. So angrily in fact, that he sounds like he could explode any second.

"Don't you dare touch her, I will have you mercilessly tortured and slaughtered if you even attempt to do so!"

They're talking about me....

"Watch your back Spade, watch your back." Ace spits before I hear the sound of a large smash.

"Jordan! Double the security! And start questioning everyone, we have a dangerous rat on our hands." He orders before I hear the sound of footsteps thumping closer to the closed door.

I make a made dash away from the door and stroll back into the kitchen casually where I wash the dishes. My eyebrows furrow and my anxiety peaks.

Something is going to happen.

Something major.