“IS THERE SOMETHING GOING ON with you and my sister?”
Ace looked up at me, an amused expression playing across his face. “Is that why you wanted to talk to me?”
“That’s part of it.” I shifted, trying to get more comfortable on the sofa. Birdie had made a quick trip to the grocery store for me, and I had a limited window of time to have this conversation with Ace.
“I have a girlfriend,” he muttered. “I’m not interested in your sister.”
He said it like she wasn’t even a blip on his radar, but I saw the way he looked at her sometimes when she wasn’t paying attention.
“Well, I just think you should know that Birdie isn’t as tough as she seems, okay? She’s fragile, and I don’t want anyone using her, you included.”
A shadow passed over Ace’s face as he growled out his response. “I would never use your sister. I told you, I’m not interested in her.”
“Well, let’s just say in case you ever do get interested,” I said. “You shouldn’t start anything with her you can’t finish because Birdie is hard work. She’s vulnerable, and she deserves someone who can see past her when she gets angry. She needs someone who’s rock solid, and if you can’t be that, then just don’t even think about being a part of her life, okay?”
Ace dragged a hand over his face and sighed. “Yeah, okay. I get it, but like I said, I have a girlfriend.”
“Well, I’m sure she just loves you being over here all the time,” I mused, “which brings me to my next point. I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me over the past few months. I know we aren’t really friends and the only thing we have in common is that we both cared about Lucian, but your presence has meant a lot to me.”
“It’s not a problem, really,” Ace said with a mildness he rarely displayed. I’d come to learn that despite his exterior, he was really just a gentle giant.
“We’ve come a long way since you first held a gun to me,” I joked.
He smirked and scratched at his beard. “Yeah, I guess we have.”
“Anyway, I’m not going to say that I’m fine because I don’t think I’ll ever be that again, but I’m not a complete mess incapable of taking care of myself anymore. And I want you to go back to living your life and doing whatever it is you do.”
Ace gave that some thought before he nodded. “Well, you know I made Lucian a promise. I’m going to look after you no matter what. I’ll be checking in from time to time, but that doesn’t mean you have to wait to hear from me. If you ever need anything, night or day, I want to know about it.”
I dipped my head and nodded. “Thank you, Ace. That means a lot to me.”
We were quiet for a minute, and I was sure he felt like he needed to go drink a beer or do something manly after that conversation, but I wanted to ask him one other thing. “You know the project I’ve been working on?”
He nodded.
“Do you think Lucian would hate it if I published it?”
Ace considered it for a minute before he answered in a way that put me at ease like nothing else really could have. “I think he would hate it if you didn’t publish it after spending all that time and dedication working on it. What have you got to lose at this point?”
“Thanks, Ace,” I said again. “I can see why Lucian liked you so much.”
After calling Kate with the news that I wanted to go ahead with the book, she was elated to tell me that she’d already been secretly working on it with Kal, just in case. Everything happened at lightning speed after that, and I was amazed at the efficiency of it all.
“Things go much faster with small publishers,” she told me. “Kal only takes on a few books a year, but he gives them his all. You won’t regret it.”
I looked over the cover we’d decided on, my fingers brushing over the glossy paper. It was a simple design—a white background with red and black font that displayed the title and tag line next to it. Kal explained that it was current with industry standards, and even though I initially wanted a photo of Lucian on the front, he would never be narcissistic enough to want that. He was a simple man, and this simple cover suited him perfectly.
“LUCIAN,” I read the big block letters. “The man behind the mask.”
Kal eagerly pointed out that there was also a picture of Lucian inside the cover.
“I can’t believe I’m holding it in my hands.” I turned it over and examined it. “It seems so surreal.”
“It’s just a proof,” Kal explained. “But we’ll host a local event the week before release, and the preorders will be ready. We’ve already started marketing, and the response has been incredible so far.”
“What do I need to do?” I asked.
“Well, there really isn’t much at this point,” he said. “My publicity team has your social media up and running now, so that’s all taken care of. Other than that, we’ll just need you ready with a speech for the event, of course.”
I was nervous about the prospect of showing my face in public where there would be photos printed in the media. It was a complete one eighty from the way I used to live my life, and even though I’d published under the name Gypsy West, there was always a chance something from my past could come back to haunt me. It was a risk, but in this case, I wanted to believe the reward outweighed that.
“I’ll be there.” I smiled. “Rain or shine.”