Ace
The week-long trial period had come and gone and finally, after a full month of Trinity having to run to her apartment to pick up a “few more things,” as she liked to phrase it, he put his foot down and hired a moving company to move her in with him. She had already agreed to live with him and Arabella, she was just dragging her feet.
Trinity seemed to be doing that a lot over the past month that they were together. He wanted to discuss where their relationship was heading, but every time he brought it up, she’d shoot him down and tell him that he was moving too quickly for her. He’d always promise to slow things down because he didn’t want to chance losing her. If she’d just hear him out, he’d be able to tell her that he had fallen in love with her. He wanted to convince her that she should not only move into his place but also agree to marry him. He wanted everything with Trinity and every time he thought it was safe to tell her that, she’d push him back and remind him that they had only been together for a month. How could he push back against that? It was the truth, so he couldn’t. He was moving fast but that was only because he had found the one person he wanted to spend all his time with. Ace felt like he had wasted enough time with the wrong women—now that he had found the right one, he didn’t want to waste another minute.
His office phone rang and he peeked out into the reception area to find that his assistant was away from her desk. He sighed and answered the call. “Wild,” he growled into the phone.
“Mr. Wild,” the woman breathed into the other end of the call. He recognized Ashley’s voice from daycare right away.
“Ashley,” he said. “Is Arabella all right?” He felt as if he was holding his damn breath waiting for her to answer.
“Yes,” she whispered. “But her mother is here and she’s demanding that I give her the baby. She’s not on your approved list.”
“Fuck,” Ace growled. “Do not give her the baby,” he said.
“I won’t but I had to call the authorities. I think that she’s on something and she’s threatening me and my staff. I called you as a courtesy,” Ashley said.
“Damn it,” he shouted. “I’ll be right there. You did the right thing, Ashley, thank you.” He ended the call and grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair. He hadn’t heard from Charity in months now—why would she suddenly show up at the daycare, demanding to see Arabella? The bigger question was how she found out where Bella went to daycare. Someone in the Bandits had to have told her—that was the only explanation.
He grabbed his cell phone and called Trinity, but his call went straight to voicemail. “Shit—she’s probably in court,” he whispered to himself. He called Beck’s cell number that Trinity gave him and hoped like hell he could reach her.
“Ace?” she answered. “Everything okay?”
“No,” he admitted. “I’m trying to reach Trinity. You know where she is?”
“She’s in court,” Beck said. “I can try to get her a message if you’d like.”
“No, don’t interrupt her,” Ace said. “I can handle this mess. Just tell her that I’m picking up Bella from daycare and will meet her back at our place.”
“Is Bella all right?” Beck asked.
“Yeah—it’s a long story and I’d like to tell Trinity personally. I’m sure she’ll fill you in tomorrow,” he said.
“Sure,” Beck agreed. “Good luck, Ace,” she said. He ended the call and slid into the driver’s seat of his SUV. He needed to figure out why the hell Charity had shown up at his daughter’s school. Then, he’d take his baby home and tell Trinity about her sister’s reappearance.
* * *
Ace pulled in front of the daycare center and parked his car. He cut the engine and hopped out of the SUV, running at top speed into the building, and came face to face with Charity. She looked nothing like the woman who had taken off on him with his old pal, Rooster. She looked like she had lost weight in the past couple of months and her matted hair told him she hadn’t showered much either. Her clothes were dirty and if he wasn’t mistaken, she was either drunk or high.
“Charity,” he barked. “Why the hell are you here?”
She didn’t seem to care that he overlooked niceties. “I want my daughter, Ace,” she spat. Her words sounded like a garbled mess and Ace sighed, putting his hands on his hips.
“Where is Rooster?” he questioned.
“He kicked me out about two weeks ago. I need Arabella, Ace,” she all but begged. “I have no one else left in my life.”
“You can’t just come and go from Arabella’s life as you please, Charity. Just because you’re alone doesn’t mean that you get to interrupt Bella’s life.”
“Bella?” she questioned.
“Yeah—it’s what Trinity calls her,” he said.
“Trinity—why would she call our daughter anything?” she asked.
“Because after you dropped our daughter off at your sister’s place, with instructions to deliver her to me, Trinity and I agreed that she’d be able to see the baby. She’s stepped up and is helping me to take care of Arabella and I’ll forever be grateful to her.”
“Oh my God,” Charity slurred. “You’re sleeping with her, aren’t you?”