His Greatest Pain (3 page)

Chapter
Three

He
was angry, fucking enraged that this little prick thought he could touch a
woman that clearly didn’t want to be touched. Not only that but Ace was pissed
that he thought he could touch his woman.

She isn’t your woman. She isn’t
yours.

Maybe,
but he also didn’t give a shit. This asshole was going to learn some respect,
and Ace would get this frustration out.

The
guy turned the corner and walked toward the side of the building. Ace followed.
He rolled his head around his neck, cracked his knuckles, and told himself he
should have turned and gone back to Lauren. She shouldn’t be in there alone,
but then again he’d seen her following him, and knew she’d come out here sooner
rather than later. But even if he hadn’t seen her follow him it was hard as
fuck to turn and leave, not when the darkness consumed him right now. He’d been
jonesing
for a fight since he’d worked out and gone
to her house days ago. Being with her helped, but right now he was at the
breaking point.

The
guy stopped, placed his hand on the brick wall, and proceeded to get his dick
out and piss. Ace clenched his hands into fists, took in a deep breath, and
without making this situation worse because Lauren was here he went to turn and
go back to her.

“Hey, you trying to look at my
cock, motherfucker?” the guy slurred out.

Ace
rolled his head on his neck again, clenched his jaw, and faced the guy once
more. “What did you call me?” Oh, he would have backed off, but he was barely
on a razor’s edge as it was, and with that asshole calling him a motherfucker …
he wasn’t backing off now.

Ace
took a step closer, and curled his nails into his palms, breathing out slowly
through his mouth. “I asked you a question.” His blood was pumping, his body
growing warm with the increased blood flow. This was going to be good, really
fucking good.

The
guy tucked his shit back in his pants, turned, and grinned. “I asked if you
were trying to look at my dick. Are you gay or something?”

Ace
moved closer still. The streetlight illuminated the side of the building in
colors of muted yellow and orange. “You should have kept your hands to
yourself. When a woman says stay the fuck back, you do that.”

The
guy swerved, braced his hand on the wall, and narrowed his eyes. “Who the
fuck are
you to tell me what to do?”

“I’m
the guy that’s going to kick your ass,” Ace said in a low voice, seething with
anger and ready to fuck this asshole up so he’d remember who in the hell he’d
crossed.

The
other guy blinked a few times and then started laughing. He still had to brace
his hand on the wall to stand upright, and the glossy look in his eyes told Ace
he was pretty far gone. But that wasn’t going to stop this from happening. It
sure as fuck didn’t stop this guy from going up to Lauren and thinking he could
touch her just because she was dancing.

“Are
you for real right now?” The guy hiccupped after he spoke. “The bitch was
alone, so unless you’re some punk that left her at that shitty bar unattended,
you got no claim on this, man.”

Ace
curled his lip, his rage rising, and moved another step closer. This asshole
was fucking stupid, especially when it was clear Ace outweighed him by a good
fifty pounds of solid muscle, and was six inches taller than he was. But
alcohol usually had men growing balls of steel.

Hell,
Ace had his fair experience starting shit with some guys bigger than he was. He
might have come out the victor only because he trained, was in shape, and knew
how to handle himself. But he also wasn’t the one that got their asses kicked
because he had enough anger and violence seething in him to take out a damn
semi truck.
But even if Ace had been drunk as fuck he would
have been able to take this dipshit.

“Just
go back inside,” he said, squinted his eyes,
then
straightened from against the wall. “If that bitch was in there alone, which
she was when I went up to her,” he slurred, “
then
she
was free pussy, man.” He turned his head to spit. “Get the fuck out of here with
that shit.”

Ace
grinned.

The
guy narrowed his eyes. “Man, this
ain’t
funny. You
come after me and I will retaliate.”

The
guy couldn’t even stand up straight, let alone remember what in the hell
happened after he spoke. Still, he was about to get his ass kicked. This
motherfucker thought to call Lauren a bitch and free pussy?

Hell.
Fucking.
No.

He
took a step closer, and the guy shook his head.

“Just back off.
I have friends that will beat
your ass bad, man.”

Oh,
this bastard was dead. He couldn’t even back up his own shit, but had to
mention his friends? Ace charged forward and slammed into the asshole’s body,
both of them crashing against the side of the bar. The other guy started
swinging, but he was slow, his actions sloppy. He did manage to clip Ace in the
mouth, the lucky strike having blood burst in Ace’s mouth as his lip split
open.

All
Ace
could see was black, a dark, pitiless blackness
that was eating him up. Nothing else mattered at the moment except connecting
flesh with flesh, and making this the only thing that he could focus on.

Ace
brought his fist up, slamming it into this motherfucker’s jaw. The guy turned
his head from the force, blood and saliva spraying out of his mouth from the
action. Ace wanted to punch him so many times his knuckles bled and his heart
felt like it would burst right through his chest.

He
was pumped with adrenaline and endorphins. The sound of the muted music coming
from the building could be heard, but all Ace could focus on was hitting the
guy over and over again, and that was just what he did.

“Ace!”

The
sound of Lauren calling him pierced through the cloud of rage he was currently
filled with. He hit the guy again and again until he fell to the dirty ground,
braced on his hands and knees, with blood pooling from his nose and dropping to
the concrete.

“Ace,
stop, you’re going to kill him,” Lauren shouted

“Listen
to that bitch,” the prick sputtered out

Something
dark, deadly, and so fucking dangerous rose up in Ace. He grabbed the guy by
the back of the neck, hauled him up, slamming his back up against the wall
again. “If not for her asking me to stop right now I could have easily killed
you, and it still wouldn’t have been enough to make me feel that I gave you
what you deserved.” He punched him in the side of the jaw for calling Lauren a
bitch for the second time. The guy groaned, his head lolling forward.

“You
fucked with a woman that I care a hell of a lot about.” Ace leaned in closer,
grabbed the guy’s face, and lifted his head. “Do that again and I will kill
you. Do you understand?”

The
guy took a moment, but then he finally nodded.

Ace
let him go, and the guy fell to the ground. Ace turned
around,
saw Lauren standing there, her coat and purse slung over her arm, and a hand
over her mouth. Her big blue eyes were wide, and he felt like the scum of the
earth. This wasn’t the first time she’d seen him like this, angry, his hatred
filling him.

She
lowered her hand to her side, and he saw her swallow. “Ace,” she said in a soft
voice.

He
felt this guilt, this massive, lingering guilt that always stayed with him, but
grew even after he was done fighting. He might feel this momentary pleasure of
giving and receiving pain when he fought, but the guilt that he couldn’t
control himself, that he needed to fight to release his aggression, made him
feel like a failure, a fucking waste of space.

She
moved closer to him and looked over at the guy on the ground, groaning, trying
to stand. Lauren reached out and grabbed Ace’s hand, and he let her, let her
lead him away from the carnage he’d caused … the destruction that he’d never be
able to walk away from.

Chapter
Four

Lauren
took Ace back to his place since it was closer to the bar. She hated seeing him
like this, even after the numerous times she’d seen him fight, and knew that he
needed this on occasion to release the emotion he had inside of him.

They
stepped into his living room, and she forcefully pushed him onto the couch. He
breathed out, but let her lead the way. Going into the bathroom she grabbed the
few first aid items he had, a small basin, and a washrag. Filling the basin
with warm water, she grabbed the rest of the stuff and walked back to where he
sat. He was leaning forward now, his elbows braced on his thighs, and his hands
clenching at the short strands of his hair.

She
moved toward him and got on her knees in front of him. He let go of his hair
and lifted his head to stare at her. “Want to tell me what caused you to go
after him?” She had an idea, and assumed it was because the guy had gotten a
little too aggressive with
her,
even if he’d backed
off in the end. Ace was fiercely protective, especially if he thought someone
was messing with her when she didn’t want that. But she let him talk to her
about it. If he wanted to tell her how he felt, try to work through his feelings,
she was here to listen, not push.

He
didn’t speak for several moments, then exhaled and closed his eyes. “I’m sorry
you had to see that … again.” He scrubbed a hand over his face, and then winced
as his hand went over his busted lip, like he’d forgotten it was there.

“Don’t
be sorry, Ace.” She grabbed a strip of gauze and dipped it in the water. “Let
me clean that.”

His
anger evaporated right in front of her. It was enough to have her heart racing
and her breath stalling. She dabbed the cut on his lip, swallowed harshly when
she felt his gaze right on her, and her heart stopped when she looked at him
and saw he was staring at her. Lauren cleared her throat and poured a little
peroxide on the squares of material. The scent of that antiseptic slammed into
her nose. She was trying to focus on other things besides the scent of Ace. He
had this richly dark cologne on, and that coupled with scent of the peroxide,
and the sight of the blood on his mouth, had her feeling lightheaded.

For
the next few minutes they stayed silent as she cleaned him up, wiped away the
blood that had landed on his chin and neck, and looked at the redness that
splattered onto his white shirt in droplets. He watched her as she worked on
him, but she kept her focus on his cut, not making eye contact.

She
couldn’t help but think about the electricity she felt pounding between them,
or the fact that she felt so warm, so freaking hot she thought she’d pass out.
Was he feeling this intensity and connection as well? Surely it wasn’t one way.
It couldn’t be, not after all these years. But he’d never given her any
indication that he ever wanted more, and she’d been too much of a coward to
tell him how she felt.

What
was bad was that even in his current state she had this intense need to just be
with him in every way, to thrust everything aside and throw
herself
in his arms. It was maybe not logical after what happened to him in his life
and tonight, or maybe, just maybe, it was the most rational thing she’d ever
decided on doing with a man?

“You
know why I did what I did,” he said in a hard, yet softly toned voice.

She
nodded and continued cleaning his skin to rid it of the dried blood. “I guess I
do, but I hate that you let yourself get to that point where you can’t control
yourself.”

“I
may not be able to control myself with others, but I always have control with
you. You have so much power over me, Poppy.”

She
looked up, stopping what she was doing, her heart thundering hard in her chest.
“Ace…” She didn’t know what she was supposed to say to that. Hell, she didn’t
know what to think about that.

“What
are you thinking about?” he asked in this deep voice. He looked at her eyes,
and held her gaze for a moment with his own.

She
licked her suddenly dry lips, looked down at his lip, and started dabbing the
ointment on the part that was cut. She could see the way his breathing changed,
the way he swallowed, and she wondered what
he
was thinking of.

“I’m
not thinking about anything,” she said just as softly.

“I
don’t believe you,” he said.

She
didn’t respond, just started cleaning up her mess with the first aid supplies.
He leaned back on the couch, stared at her, and she couldn’t help but look at
his chest, at the way his t-shirt, even with the droplets of blood on it, made
him look so powerful and in charge. And his tattoos, the ink that covered his
arms and chest, even the majority of his back…God, he was a work of art.
He
was art, but deadly, violent and
dangerous. God, he always looked so full of authority, so controlling, and she
wanted all of that masculinity that poured from him, all of that control and
dominance that seeped from his pores covering her. Lauren wanted
him
all over her.

“What
are
you
thinking about?” she asked
him this time, not sure if she really wanted to know, but wanting him to talk
to her regardless, and, she hoped, take her mind off things she shouldn’t be
thinking about.

He
didn’t respond right away, just stared at her for a few moments. He reached
out, surprising her, and touched a strand of her hair that brushed her cheek.
His touch was gentle, soft.

“A
part of me is thinking how I’d like to go back to that motherfucker in the
alley and kick his ass until he’s unconscious.”

She
swallowed at the darkness in his words.

“Even
for just thinking he could touch you he deserves
that,
and so much more, Lauren.” The violence and menace in his voice had a cold
chill moving through her.

She
clenched her hands into fists on her lap, licked her lips slowly, and knew that
although this man tended to her,
protected
her like no other, he was dangerous on every level. He’d been brought up
that way because of the abuse he’d endured, wrought to be the deadly machine
that had hate and violence inside of him. He’d probably never get rid of it,
but she knew that going into all of this, and accepted it.

“But
another part of me, a selfish part, and the part that loves you so damn much,
thinks something totally different.”

Oh.
God.

The
way he looked at her right now, leaned in closer, and how his pupils dilated,
told her that this situation had gone to a totally different level. It was a
level she’d been dreaming of, thinking about since the moment she realized she
loved Ace … was
in
love with Ace.

“And
what part is that? What are you thinking?”

Did
she even want to know?

Yes.
God, yes, she wanted to know.

He
leaned forward another inch, and the scent of him made her drunk. “It’s the
part that wants to kiss you right now, really fucking badly.”

And
then he leaned in and did just that, and the world moved out from under her.