Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 98023 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 490(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98023 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 490(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
I look at Finn and he looks at me, and it’s all the confirmation I need. I don’t know what’s rolling around inside Ace’s head, but I know he’s in the middle of quite the crisis and he needs a minute. Like, right now.
I grab Finn’s shoulder. “Hey, uh, why don’t you hold down the fort here with the girls while I take Ace outside for a minute?”
Finn nods, understanding immediately, getting up to position himself in a seat where he can see the whole club. He’s in charge of protection now, and quite frankly, I can’t think of anyone more capable of the job.
“Hey, Ace, come on, bud.” I put my hand on his shoulder. “Come with me for a second. I want to show you something.”
When he doesn’t move, I step forward and help him, guiding him out of the VIP booth area of our group, down the steps, and through a crowd of writhing bodies. A few women brush up against us on our way out, but I push onward without making eye contact.
Ace’s body is pretty heavy for the first half of our walk, but as we approach the front door, his legs finally start to work again.
We walk down the long hallway to the front door and step outside, moving down the sidewalk toward a group of people who’ve come out to smoke their cigarettes.
My phone buzzes from my back pocket, but it only takes a quick glance at the screen for my chest to deflate when I see it’s not Lexi. Yes, I’m aware it’s fucking pathetic to be thinking about her when my friend is in the middle of a breakdown, but I can’t help it. When I realize it’s just a text inside the ongoing group chat with a few of my fellow teammates, where we mostly just send one another funny TikToks and shit, I confirm it can wait.
Once I find a spot away from the drunk chain smokers, I guide him to relax against the wall of the building.
“Take a breath, Ace,” I instruct, clamping my hands on his shoulders and squeezing. He’s still staring off into the distance, but so far, he’s not showing any other signs of life. “Come on, buddy.”
With a shake of his head, his shoulders rise and fall dramatically as air finally fills his lungs. He starts to pace the space in front of me, eventually spinning in place and putting his hands atop his head.
He’s a tall guy, so I have to work to get a read on his upturned face, but based on body language alone, I’d say we’re right smack in the middle of a life-changing epiphany, and it has everything to do with his best friend Julia.
“Dude, are you okay?” I ask, waiting for his eyes to meet mine again.
He shakes his head, four times back and forth in short, manic shakes, and I nod.
Yep. It’s just as I thought.
“Blake.” His eyes peer into mine, as if he’s waiting for me to confirm his feelings. His feelings about Julia.
“Yeah, buddy.”
“Blake.”
“Yep.”
“I…Jules…me…her.”
My head bounces up and down once again. He’s almost there. Just a little bit more and he’ll be capable of full sentences again.
“She’s… I… My heart…might explode.”
“Okay, buddy,” I comfort, stepping forward again to push him even farther down the sidewalk past a new batch of smokers. “Just relax and breathe. I think you’re having a panic attack.”
He lets out a scream out of nowhere and I check around us, but no one is looking. One good thing about New York—you’ll never be the weirdest person in any given area, no matter what you’re doing.
“I…Julia.”
“Yes,” I agree. “Julia.”
“Me and…Julia.”
I laugh, but it’s not mean-spirited. Ace can seemingly tell, rubbing at his eyes with the heels of his hands and breaking into his own chuckle of sorts. It’s not exactly carefree, though. “When she said she was pregnant, I…saw red. And then black. And then blue and green and every color of the rainbow. Fuck, I might have seen my own fucking stomach at one point. I always thought… I thought we were just friends. I thought…”
I smile. “Oh, I know. We know what you all thought, but we also know you thought wrong.”
“You’ve known?”
“Oh, Acer, we all know, buddy. You and Julia are the only people who don’t know, and I mean that with every literal fiber of my being.” I point back down the street. “You see the security bouncer guy?”
He nods.
“Even he knows.”
“Well, fuck! What am I supposed to do now? Just go back in there and act like everything is the same as it’s always been?”
I shrug. “That part is up to you. How do you handle being in love?”
He scoffs. “If I fucking knew that, I wouldn’t be asking you. I mean, what would you do?”
I say the only truth I can and the first thing that comes to mind—Lexi.