Shaded ✔️

CHAPTER 9

"Can I help you with something?" the guy at the counter looked somewhat friendly, despite the tattoos and piercings on his face.

"Um, I'm not really sure. I think I want a tattoo." He gave me an understanding nod.

"Let me go get Ace." A couple minutes later he came out of the back, another guy following him. He was wiping his hands, so I couldn't really see his face. His arms were covered in beautiful pieces. He looked up and caught me staring at his ink and gave me a smile. He was stunning. His blue eyes glowed against his tan skin. I could see pieces of dark brown hair peeking out from under his backwards baseball cap.

"I'm Ace."

"Scarlett."

"Do you know what kind of piece you're looking to get?"

"Not really, no." he chuckled. He had one of those laughs that made you smile.

"Come on back." After an hour of showing me different ideas we settled on a flower design for my hip. We talked about nothing and everything. 3 hours later he was finished. He asked me what I was doing that night.

"Honestly, I have no idea. I guess I should probably find a hotel to stay in."

"The only motel is about 30 minutes down the highway."

"Fuck."

"I have an extra room in my apartment, if you need a place to stay." I wanted to be creeped out, but something about Ace was comfortable. I looked at him and felt safe, even though I had known him for a grand total of 4 hours.

"I don't want to intrude or anything."

"The only thing you would be intruding on is a long night of Netflix. I don't want to sound like a creep and force you or anything, it's honestly up to you. I just figured I would offer. Better my couch than a shitty motel, you know?" Crashing on strangers couches was not something I normally do and I don't know why, but I nodded.

"Ok. Thanks." He smiled and I felt warmth.

"Ok. You hungry? I don't want to traumatize you with my cooking, so we can pick something up if you want?"

"Sure." We ended up getting burgers and watching TV for a while, until his phone rang.

"Dom, what's wrong?" he rolled his eyes at the person's response. "Well you only call me if there's something wrong or you're drunk, I'm guessing it's the latter." He sighed. "I'll be there in 20." He hung up the phone, raking a hand through his dark hair. He gave me a sorry smile.

"So I have to go to my brother's club. We don't see each other very often, so when he calls I try to go."

"No worries. If you're not cool with me staying here I can just go grab a coffee or something until you get back?" By coffee I meant alcohol, obviously. I'm sure there was a bar around here somewhere.

"No, no it's not that, it's just, uh-"

"Look Ace its fine, I understand if you don't want a complete stranger alone in your house. It's not a big deal, honestly."

"No Scarlett, seriously it's not that."

"Then what?"

"Do you want to come with me?" His brother's club probably meant free alcohol.

"Sure." He smiled gratefully.

"I'm not exactly on the best terms with my family, so I'd rather not go alone."

"No worries. You can buy me a drink." I smirked and went to my bag, grabbing clothes to change into. I put on some ripped jeans and a fitted long sleeve shirt, throwing my hair into a high ponytail.

As Ace pulled into the club, I realized that it wasn't an actual club but a clubhouse, similar to the one waiting for me at home. Motorcycles were parked outside and I realized for the first time that this was King's territory. As I looked at the familiar sight, I felt the memories of my brother try to surface, but I shoved them down. Once we got in we were greeted by Domenico, Ace's older brother. He was almost as beautiful as Ace, but I was a sucker for blue eyes. I let Ace talk to his brother and headed to the bar. A couple drinks later and Ace finally joined me. He looked sad.

"You good?"

"Yeah. I just miss life before all this bullshit got in the way." I nodded my head in agreement.

"You never told me your story. What brought you to this shitty town?"

"You don't want to know, trust me."

"I do." His eyes were so sincere. I grabbed a bottle and 2 shot glasses from behind the bar while the bartender wasn't looking and I told him everything. He listened, running a hand over mine as I told him about Nate and Stas. He didn't say anything, just listened.

I don't know why I told him. I didn't tell anyone. I hadn't spoken to someone like this since Nate died.

By the time we got back to his apartment we were both plastered. He groaned as he looked at the spare room.

"I fucking forgot to set up the goddamn bed for you. Just sleep in mine, I'll take the couch." He brought me to his room. His bed took up most of it. There was a couple beer bottles and clothes lying around, but it was surprisingly clean. I flopped on the bed, not even changing my clothes. He laughed and threw a pair of boxers and a big t-shirt at me that had the King's Ink logo on it. Everything smelt like him. Like clean laundry and cologne. He moved towards the door, about to turn off the light.

"You can stay if you want. I don't mind." My voice slurred, half asleep. He didn't say anything just turned off the light and crawled in beside me. A moment of awkwardness passed before I turned to face him. He was facing me, his dark hair falling into his eyes.

"Thank you Ace." He smiled, his hand coming up to brush a piece of hair out of my eyes. His hand traced down my face, his thumb brushing against my lips. I leaned in a little. So did he. I blamed it on us both being drunk. His lips met mine and he was perfect. Gentle but rough at the same time. His hands moved down my body, pulling me until I was on top of him, straddling his hips. I let my hands go to his hair, tracing down his chest. I pulled away from him, tracing my lips down his neck, to his collarbone. He groaned, his hands tightening on my waist. I wanted more, but for some reason I pulled away to look at him. I wanted him, but I wanted to know him more than I wanted him to just be a one night stand.

"Shit Scarlett I'm sorry. This isn't why I invited you here, I just-"

"No it's okay. I want this, honestly I do. But, is it weird that I kind of want to get to know you first?" he laughed and I covered my face with my hands. He pulled them away, bringing my hand to his lips and kissing my palm.

"No, you're right. I don't want this to just be a one time thing." I smiled at that, my eyes forcing themselves shut.

"Night, Ace."

"Night, Scar."

We didn't talk about it after that night. He tried to bring it up sometimes, but I always avoided the conversation. It was never awkward, I just decided for both of us that we were better off as friends. He was too good and I was too fucked up. He was going to get out, and I was stuck here.

Dom's snoring broke me out of my memory. Ace would hate me for this. I hoped it would give him a reason to forget about me, to get out of this town and move to the city. That was the life he deserved, not stuck here trying to fix me. No matter how much I hated it, Dom had a point. I was leading him on, even if I hadn't meant to. The truth was that I could never leave that fucking town. The only life I had ever known was there. My family was there. My brother would never get the chance to leave, and so neither would I. I felt tears well up in my eyes as I looked at Dom, peacefully asleep with no idea what he had done to me or to his brother.

I knew one thing was for sure; I really fucked up this time.