Chapter 14
“Jason, I need you to take care of it.” Cruz’s voice was hard and low, but Ace could hear it across the room where he was training. There was a tension in his voice that Ace hadn’t heard for a long time. He seemed to be getting really worked up about this fight, and Ace felt sick thinking about how much money was probably riding on it. He thought about his own savings account and determined that he could probably live on it for a few years, if he didn’t support anyone else, or try and pay for an education.
The few courses that he had completed got him nowhere close to the degree he eventually wanted to get, but they were a start. Still, without money, a degree was completely out of his reach, and he needed an education, then experience, in order to earn real money.
He sighed and got back to work, trying to tune out Cruz’s angry voice and work through his own chaotic thoughts. It wasn’t until he heard mention of a reporter that he started listening.
“She’s getting too damn close, Jason. Find out who it is and teach her a lesson.”
Ace felt ice slide down his chest and into his heart. A reporter? What if Cruz was talking about Christie? If they roughed her up, even just gently... Ace shuddered at the realization of what that could mean.
She could lose the baby. He could lose his child. The sudden thought shot through him like lightning. Ace swallowed the panic in his chest. He couldn’t let anything happen to Christie, but he couldn’t just jump down Cruz’s throat, or he’d know she was close to him. As casually as possible, he stretched and made his way over to the two men.
“Trouble?” He looked as disinterested as possible, even when his heart was pounding in his chest and making him feel sick.
Cruz glared at him and Jason just shrugged, “A reporter has been sniffing around and she is getting way to close for comfort, you know?”
“Yeah.” Ace nodded, “She know about the fight or something?”
Cruz nodded and looked more than just a little uptight about it, so Ace tried a different tact, “Look, I know some guys at the bar who work close to the big newspaper offices. I might be able to put out some feelers if you leave it with me.”
Cruz relaxed a little and Jason grinned, “Saves me trying to find her on blind luck. Sure thing.”
“Make sure you do it soon.” Cruz snarled, “She better be out of the picture before the fight, and I don’t care how you do it,” he said as he stormed off.
Ace felt a huge rush of urgency in his gut. He couldn’t let Christie get hurt because of him. Not now, not ever. With determination in his heart, Ace followed in Cruz’s footsteps. He needed to fix this and now, and he finally had an idea of how to do it.
He just hoped that Christie would listen to him after all he had done.
***
Ace raced out of the club as quickly as he could, feeling a burning sensation in his chest as he thought through it all. He couldn’t let them hurt Christie. She was sweet and was working hard to make sure that she did the right thing. She wasn’t the kind of person who deserved to be hurt.
Ace was a different story. He fought for a living, cheated, lied and hurt the people who cared about him. He deserved to be hurt, but not Christie. Not Christie and certainly not the baby. His baby. His guts twisted and he felt sick. He shook his head and jumped in a taxi.
He swallowed, feeling almost lightheaded at the rush. Why did she have to chase this story? The thought left him feeling a rush of anger inside his chest. He understood that she was serious about her job, and that she needed to keep it, but it wasn’t worth putting herself in danger.
And, okay, he knew that reporters often didn’t care about putting themselves in danger, and that was something that he could understand, in a not so distant sort of way. But what he couldn’t understand was the fact that Christie was willing to put the baby in danger. She had been so protective, so determined to make sure that the baby was safe. The thought of her putting that same baby in danger seemed unfathomable to Ace.
And then it hit him, tumbling down like a ton of bricks and slamming him on the head. He felt nauseous, and he swore under his breath. Of course. It was because of the baby. Ace remembered, with a sudden and vivid clarity, the pictures that she had painted him about her family and home life. She had not been supported or believed in when she spoke of her dreams. No one had wanted her to leave the town and go to work in the city. No one had believed that she would make it.
If she was to go back home now, pregnant and without a husband, she wouldn’t have achieved her dream, and would have returned as a failure. Her friends and family would not have been kind about it. And they would consider the baby to be illegitimate. At best, they would take her back in and she’d never escape the shame that she would be constantly reminded of.
She was doing what she did because she had very little choice. She needed to make sure she got a great story; a story that would support her and her unborn child. Ace felt a pain within his stomach. He had put her in danger. He stared out at the darkening sky. Until he found a way to put a plan into motion, he couldn’t be around her, or expose her to any more risk.
But at the same time, he had to try and get her to accept his help, let her know that, financially, she didn’t have to do this alone. He’d help. He would support her and the baby, financially at least, even if it cost him all he had. He couldn’t promise more than that. Not yet. Life was still too unstable, but he could promise her at least that. Ace felt an odd sense of nerves in his gut and he pushed it away. Now wasn’t the time for nerves. It was do or die time, and like he had done dozens of times before, he got ready for action.