Her dark eyes focus on me again and I apply more pressure to her waist. “We’re nowhere. Just outside the city. Needed to make sure we weren’t followed. I’ll take you home, I just…” I shove a hand through my hair, taking in her stiff posture and the pools brimming at her eyes.
“You’re not okay, are you? Of course you’re not. Fuck, Naima…I’m so sorry.”
She glances up to the sky, and then back at me. The expression in her eyes rakes me over, ripping me apart inside.
How can she ever remember this night as anything more than the worst one of her life?
A quick shake of her head. “It’s not your fault, Ace. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And so were you.”
I bark out a frustrated laugh as my eyes roll toward the night. Because I’ve never been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The trouble that follows me around? I’ve always created it. I was doing something for myself, something important, when I started the G-ring. Now it’s tainted, dirty. Because it brought this woman into my life only to royally screw up hers.
Her hand squeezes mine, forcing my attention back to her. I freeze there, like she’s holding me hostage. Just with her attention.
“I don’t blame you for what happened back there.” Her words whisper, but they’re so intense and full of force I have to listen.
I nod, and then gesture toward the Harley. “I’m going to take you home. Where do you live?”
She tells me she attends the college whose campus is located just blocks from uptown. Not too far from the G-Ring’s warehouse. But a world apart from where I grew up, even though my mom’s trailer park is just on the other side of uptown. In a not-so-up-and-coming area.
She turns to mount the bike again, before she whirls back to face me. “What are you going to do?”
Her tone, soft yet demanding, gives me the impression the answer to my question matters to her.
I lift a shoulder and let it drop. “Don’t know yet. Right now, I’m going to get you home.”
Her eyes narrow. “And then what, Ace? Do you have anyone who can help…with what just happened? Maybe the police?”
The snort is out there in the air between us before I can stop it, but I manage not to roll my eyes. “No.”
She takes a step closer, studying my face like she’ll be able to read the answers there. “No, you don’t have anyone to lean on? Or no, the police won’t help you?”
Shaking my head, a wry smile tweaks my mouth. It’s probably a little sad, a little wistful. “No to both, angel.”
Her mouth opens again before she shuts it. “Then come with me.”
What does she think is going happen when she goes strolling back into her normal life with me tagging along?
I cock my head to one side. “I’m taking you home. And then I’m going back to my place. I need to think this out. Alone.”
Alone is what I’ve always been, expect for my uncle. He’ll hear about this as soon as I can get to him, and he might have an idea of who the Suit owes. The fact that a man is probably still dead inside my ring is kind of a problem, but knowing my uncle, all it’ll take is a phone call to have that cleaned up, too.
Just because he went straight after prison doesn’t mean he doesn’t still have contacts he can trust.
“We can call the police together.” Naima’s voice is low.
Shaking my head, my tone is harder than I mean it to be when I growl. “Hell, no. You realize my ring’s illegal right? That a dead body laying inside means I’m guilty no matter what?”
Now it’s her turn to pull agitated hands through her hair. “Well, what then?”
Her thick, black lashes are spiked with the moisture clinging to them. Her voice trembles just the slightest bit, just enough to let me know she’s freaking out.
Finally. The girl held it together like a pro all night, and now she’s cracking.
Amen. It means she’s normal. And still so much tougher than any woman I’ve ever met.
Without thinking about the action, my hands cup her face, covering her velvet-soft cheeks. She stills, staring up at me while I look down at her. “Naima. This isn’t your problem, okay? I’m taking you home, and you’ll never see me again. You need to forget this night ever happened. Yeah?”
Her plump bottom lip is sucked into her mouth, her teeth scraping the skin I’m sure is so damn soft, her eyes darting around my face. I can’t help it. I’ll never see her again. My body moves on its own.
Leaning down, my lips collide with hers.
Nine
NAIMA
So this is what my parents meant all the times they told me the streets aren’t safe.
Standing here on the side of the road, my lips melting against the heat of Ace’s…it’s the definition of not safe.
His hands are warmth on my cheeks, his lips are fire on my mouth. I’ve kissed a lot of guys…because at parties what else is there to do? But this kiss is flying up past all the others to smash the number one spot on the list.
Ace is physical. It’s clear by the way his hands leave my face to caress my neck, stroke my shoulders, and slide down my arms. When he reaches my hands, he grabs on tight, linking our fingers together and pulling me flush against him. My chest, breasts heaving with the force of my breaths, melds to his ribcage. His hips press into my stomach, his arousal evident against me.
And the closeness steals my breath.
I don’t know how much time passes. A minute? Ten? Twenty? All I know is that he has the ability to create a new reality for me, right out of the one we’re actually living.
Our tongues tangle, a moan escaping my mouth that he swallows with a groan of his
