Till Death - Ace Merrill (BOOK 2)

Dinner duty.

Charlie quickly held the door open for Oceane to climb out as she joined the others in looking around.

They'd parked up outside Ace's old place and each cobra took a small nervous breath as they looked around.

Naturally people that were walking past all stopped to stare and quietly talk to themselves. No-one had heard from the cobras since they left with her and now they were back, but they were different.

"Charlie are you nervous?" Oceane asked quietly as she reached out to shut her door, watching as his own fingers began twiddling and tugging at each other.

"No ma'am." He mumbled as his head constantly looked around.

Oceane stared at him with a raised eyebrow. "Are you lying to me?"

"Yes ma'am." Came his quiet response.

Oceane reached out and gently let her fingers slip between his as he finally noticed. He gave her a small smile which she returned before turning back to the rest of the guys.

"Why don't you all go see your parents? I'm sure we'll be fine alone." She offered as she released Charlie's hand and walked over to Eyeball, who was holding Austin perfectly balanced on his hip.

She reached up and gently stroked her baby's cheek before turning back to Ace.

"Tell them." She begged him slightly to let the others go, she could see it written all over their faces.

Ace gave them a small nod as he sighed. "Be back here tonight."

They all nodded as they slowly dispersed, except her, Ace and Eyeball.

"You not going?" Ace asked him as he gently stood beside Oceane, an arm automatically going around her waist as she leant into him.

Eyeball shook his head. "Can't imagine dads gonna give a shit and can't really imagine Chris giving a shit either." He mumbled in response as he kept his attention and focus on gently bouncing Austin on his hip.

"You're on dinner duty then." Ace ordered as he took Austin from his grip.

"Hey we're the same level now, joint heads bitch!" Eyeball snapped back.

"Oh I'm sorry," Ace replied sarcastically, "and what's your security clearance?"

Eyeball opened his mouth to argue back but then shut it again. Ace smirked at him triumphantly.

"Dinner duty." Ace repeated his order.

Even Oceane couldn't hide her smile as Eyeball slowly trundled off down the street.

"Shall we?" Ace gave her his cocky smile.

Oceane laughed and nodded. "It's like you've never left."

Ace shook his head as he took her hand in his other free one and the pair happily walked up to the house.

Yet Ace stopped as Oceane unlocked and opened the door.

"What is it?" She questioned him.

Ace didn't reply as he looked up and down the street before back at the house. He shrugged slightly.

"Just feels weird without the guys." He mumbled.

Oceane laughed slightly. "We only sent them to go see their family, they'll be back ton-"

"Not those guys." Ace quickly interrupted.

Oceane fell silent, her old agents. Marco, Nico, Evans, Skylar, Seth and Bruce had been transferred to her father's security team, Hugo had taken early retirement to help look after Austin and Salvatore had been transferred to a higher position where even Ace wasn't allowed to know.

Salvatore was at security clearance level 8.

"I miss them too." Oceane mumbled.

Ace gave her a comforting smile as he led the way inside.

"Place looks like it's falling apart." He mumbled as he held his son closer to his chest.

" I guess after you all moved home with me no-one really wanted to take on the Merrill residence." Oceane said as she shut the door and followed him into the kitchen.

"It's needs a good clean before we stay that's for sure." Ace said as he pulled out two chairs and sat down on one.

"Oh and you're offering?" She asked as she sat down herself.

Ace scoffed and shook his head. "The hell do we pay those guys for?"

Oceane laughed. "Baby, last time I asked Charlie and Billy to clean the kitchen, I walked in half an hour later and saw Billy had taken the head off the mop, put it on his own head and was showing Charlie how to pole dance with the mop."

Ace burst out laughing as he gently bounced Austin.

"Okay but you have to admit, it was funny as hell!" He said between laughs.

"Oh yeah real funny, when one of my dads business partners walked in with me!" She snapped but couldn't hide the smile on her face.

"Okay well at least here, the only people in the house will be us." He calmed down.

Oceane gave him a smile. "Like the good old days."

He smiled back at her. "Like the good old days."

"Except now there's a baby." Oceane nodded down at Austin.

Ace nodded as he looked down at Austin on his lap.

"Sounds like the start of a shitty romantic movie." Ace scoffed out.

Oceane somewhat glared at him. "We're meant to be getting married Ace."

Ace nodded quickly. "And so it will be a great romantic movie." He quickly blurted out as he stood up, placing Austin on her lap and walking out the room.

Oceane sighed as she looked down at her son in her arms.

"Your dad's a pain in the ass." She mumbled as he just stared up at her, waving his hands around.

"Grubs up!" Eyeball's shout was heard from the hall.

Ace reappeared beside him as the pair got out the dinner Eyeball had picked up.

Within 20 minutes the three were sat around laughing together as they spoke about when Oceane first came to town and Ace discovered her lost, battered and bruised.