Betrayed

Ace

The first month was incredibly trying with Maria's constant belittling, defiance and sabotaging. She never missed a chance to mention how sexually satisfied she was and loved draping herself all over Gabriel when he did show up to eat with the guys. Those moments were far and few between but it always created a very tense atmosphere when he did.

I began obsessing about the lump in my throat as the sensation of suffocation woke me up each night. I had mentioned it to Matteo who urged me to see the ENT again to get more answers about my situation. I finally gave in and called Dr. Helm who agreed to book another ultrasound and biopsy. I drove out to the city with Matteo and went through the whole process again. The two of us shared a hotel room for the weekend and gorged ourselves on take out Chinese and pizza.

Matteo mentioned that Gabriel was at a different work location for a few weeks and I immediately felt the tension in my body melt. I ran the kitchen nearly single handedly as Maria took Gabriel's absence as a paid vacation. I worked my hands to the bone each day but I knew the guys really appreciated the effort I put into their meals.

"Supper was delicious, Harper," one of the new recruits said one night, bringing his dishes into the kitchen. I looked up to a blond giant with green eyes. He was smiling shyly at me as he handed me a stack of plates. I was elbow deep in hot water and suds but I reached for the pile of dishes and washed them right away.

"Thank you very much," I smiled.

"Can I help you dry the dishes?" he asked, timidly. His shyness clashed with the sheer size of him, clearly over 6" tall and nearly as wide as the door frame; he looked rather imposing, a gentle giant no doubt.

"Sure!" I replied. It wasn't unusual for some of the old crew to help out, but this was the first time I was getting help from the new crew. I handed him a clean tea towel and he got straight to work. "What do you do here Ace?" I asked, trying to start a conversation.

"You know my name?" he asked, stunned.

"I know all the men's names," I said with a knowing smile.

"That's impressive, I'm a welder, and I do a bit of mechanics too," he said.

"Oh, I thought you were a laborer, you look far too young to be a tradesman" I said.

"I could say the same about you, you're far too young to be the head cook at a workcamp" he replied with a sly smile.

"What can you do when you are blessed with this much talent?" I jokingly bragged.

"There you go, we're one in the same," he said with a crooked smile. We finished the dishes, teasing each other back and forth the whole time. He helped me wash down the tables in the hall and put away the bread and condiments. "Where's Maria?" he asked as we closed down the kitchen.

"Don't get me started," I said, rolling my eyes. He gave me a knowing smile and let the subject go.

"Do you want to go for a quick dip?" he asked. I froze for a moment but he noticed. "Or not, that's okay too, it's just Matteo said you enjoyed being by the river."

"Matteo talks about me?" I asked, surprised.

"He keeps telling me what a great girl you are... as if I didn't already know that" he scoffed, then caught himself and looked down at his rather large boots.

"Yeah okay, let's go down by the river, but I'm not going to be swimming" I said, let me just grab some things. He nodded as he waited a safe distance away from my cabin.

I was intrigued that Matteo was talking about me to this particular guy and wanted to find out why. I put on a one piece bathing suit just in case, covering up with my usual jeans and baggy t-shirt and opting for flip flops instead of my heavy work boots. I grabbed a couple towels and met up with Ace just outside my cabin. I led him down to my favorite hangout spot feeling that I was betraying Matteo a little but it was his fault I had accepted going there with Ace in the first place. Ace undid a few buttons of his work shirt, kicked off his work boots and sat a few feet from me watching the river intensely.