Falling For Ace

Ten

I V Y

"Last night was fun," mom spoke as she took a bite of her pancake that I made for everyone since she wasn't able to cook. Her hand was in a lot of pain so I thought, 'why not be nice and cook?' Just kidding, Mason made them.

Dad hummed in response, shoving a piece of his breakfast in his mouth, "I shot Aich was choing cho schtay for breakfasht."

There was a moment of silence. We tried to make out what he said. 'I thought Ace was going to stay for breakfast.' Mason swallowed the food in his mouth before replying, "he had to leave early. Something came up."

"What thing?" Mom asked out of curiosity. Mason shrugged, "something, mom. He didn't tell me nor did I ask. Next time when you see him, you can ask him."

"Chill—" I muttered, raising my brows at my older brother, "did your girl break up with you already?"

"Shut up, Ivy," Mason rolled his eyes.

"You woke up on the wrong side of the bed?" I asked to which he let out a sigh, "Isabelle called me and told me that she won't be able to come for the next three days."

"Who's Isabelle?" I knitted my brows in confusion at the unfamiliar name.

"My girlfriend," Mason replied with a hint of proudness in his tone, "Isabelle Hawks."

"Ivy, sweetheart, your birthday is in two weeks!" Mom reminded with a grin, "we're going to have a blast. My baby's turning twenty!"

I haven't celebrated my birthday in two years. I wasn't sure how I felt about a birthday party. My parents liked doing things grandly, like they'd invite a lot of people, probably the whole neighborhood.

"Mom's right, we're going to have a blast!" Mason joined in, nodding his head while flashing me a smile. Dad, on the other hand, stared at me, probably noticing that I wasn't as excited as they were, "what's wrong?"

"I don't want to have a birthday party." I blurted out, "I don't want to celebrate anything. Just a cake will do, no party, no music, no decorations and no guests. Just a cake and us four."

"What?" Mason frowned, "why not? We used to celebrate your birthday every year. We didn't get to celebrate it the past two years but that's okay. I thought we were gonna catch up."

"It's fine if you don't want to," mom quickly added, "we'll just have a small party in between us. Okay?"

"Okay," I nodded, smiling, "just between us." I turned to look at Mason, "what are we doing today?"

"I was thinking of taking you with me to the underground club," he replied, grabbing his glass of juice, "you in?"

"Underground?" I repeated, "it's illegal?"

"Yup," he nodded before drinking his juice. When he was done, he stood up and looker at me before asking the same question he asked earlier, "you in?"

"As long as I don't get arrested," I stood up, "I'm in."

"Be careful." Our parents said at the same time.

M A S O N

I don't know what took over me to take her to the club. It was a very dangerous place but I knew everyone there and they knew better than to mess with me. So, as long as Ivy stood by my side, she risked nothing. Besides, I had nothing to do so why not clubbing?

The club was a very fun place to hang out. You could drink and get drunk, fight, race, bet, literally anything. But of course, there were certain rules like you can't bring just anyone without the owner's permission. The golden rule was;  you tell any outsider of the existence of this club and you die. Good thing I didn't have to follow those rules; the owner is after all, my best friend.

I held Ivy's hand tight as I made my way inside the huge and crowded place. Music filled my ears and my eyes fell on people dancing, singing, drinking and the colorful lights flashing in every direction.

My eyes scanned the place, looking for Ace but he was nowhere to be seen. I felt a tap on my shoulder making me turn around. I thought it was Ivy but it wasn't. It was Drake Anderson, one of Ace's father most trusted man. Ivy stared at the man, confusion clear on her face.

"Who's this?" Drake questioned, looking at my sister who carelessly replied, "I could ask you the same thing." Drake's mouth twiched, glancing at me before fixing his gaze on Ivy again, "your sister, I presume?"

"Ivy, Drake. Drake, Ivy." I introduced the two. Drake was a man in his early fifties yet he appeared as if he was only thirty.

"The famous Ivy," Drake let out a chuckle, forwarding his hand for Ivy to shake, "I've heard so much about you, kid."

"I've heard nothing about you," she shook Drake's hand, "it's nice to meet you."

"Drake's a good friend of Ace's father. He's like an uncle to him." I explained to which Drake nodded, "and to Mason. I'm like an uncle to Macy too."

Ace made everyone call me Macy because I told him Ivy would call me that to annoy him. I don't even know why I told him that.

"Where's Ace?" I questioned to which Drake shrug, "probably fucking someone somewhere. Does he knew you've brought your baby sis here?"

"Baby sis?" Ivy repeated with a groan, "for the love of god, I'm turning twenty in two weeks, okay?" Drake smirked at her, "still a baby."

"No I haven't," I replied to Drake's question, "he wouldn't mind, anyway. I'll go in the VIP lounge. Hey, if you see him, tell him to come there, yeah?"

"Sure thing."