CHAPTER THREE – GOT YOU

BRIAN

I threw my jacket on the floor. 

Keys next. 

They skidded across the table and hit the wall.

Ace wasn't here yet. 

Good. I needed the space.

I poured myself a glass of whiskey. No ice. I downed it in one go, my throat burning.

My phone buzzed. My father. I ignored it. Poured another.

The penthouse stared back at me. 

It was sleek, expensive and empty in a way that had nothing to do with square footage. 

My mother's photos were everywhere. On the walls, the shelves, the nightstand. 

Forty million dollars of glass and steel, and none of it filled the hole she'd left in me.

I picked one up. 

Her, smiling. 

Before the late cancer. Before all of this. Before her hair fell out in the sink and she still tried to laugh about it so I wouldn't cry.

"I miss you." 

Barely a whisper. 

"I miss you so much."

I set it back down as my hands shook.

I wanted to break something. Wanted to put my fist through the window, through the wall, through anything that would make the noise in my chest stop for five seconds.

I didn't.

I gulped more glasses instead.

—

The door opened. 

Ace walked in, duffel bag over one shoulder.

"You're late," I said, not looking up.

"Getting my things."

"I'm your things now." I didn't hide the bitterness. "Your responsibility. Your burden."

"You're not a burden." Ace slowly set the bag down. "You're a job. Told you already."

I laughed and grabbed the bottle. I drank straight from it.

"You drink a lot," Ace said from the doorway.

"Observant." I wiped my mouth. 

"That's why they pay you the big bucks."

"My job." Ace stepped further in. 

"So know I'll be watching you. All the time."

"Watching me?" My laugh went sharp. 

"Like I'm some kind of prisoner?"

"Like you're a danger to yourself. And I'm the only straw keeping you from getting yourself dead."

The air in the room went thick. His woodsmoke and pine filled every corner.

"What if I don't want to be saved?"

"Then you'll make my job harder." 

A beat passed. 

"I'll still do it."

I took a long pull from the bottle. My eyes stayed on Ace the whole time.

"You ever been with an Omega before? A real one? Or do you just fuck your wife and pretend the rest of us don't exist?"

Ace's face didn't move. But something dark flickered behind his eyes. There and gone. Barely a heartbeat.

"My wife is none of your concern."

"I think she is." I smirked. 

"Since you're going to be living here. Watching me sleep. Watching me shower. 

"Watching me…" a slow grin "...do all the things I do when I'm alone."

"Don't play games with me." Ace's voice dropped low. "You'll lose."

"I love games." 

I stepped closer. 

"I love winning even more. And you? You look like a man who's never lost anything in his life. That's going to make beating you so satisfying."

Ace's jaw tightened. A small crack, but I saw it.

"Go to bed. You're drunk."

"Maybe." I leaned in, close enough to feel the heat off him. 

"But I'm also right. You're going to want me. You're going to crave me. 

"And when you finally cave…" I dropped my voice to a whisper. "I'll be the one laughing."

I walked off toward my room. 

Behind me, Ace stood frozen, chest heaving.

I stopped at my door. Without turning around.

"Your room's down the hall. Don't bother me. I'm busy."

"Doing what?"

"Forgetting you exist." 

I paused, then turned. 

"Unless you don't want me to."

I disappeared inside.

A chuckle escaped me when I saw Ace's jaw tighten again, harder this time.

He hadn't moved since I took my first step. 

—

I lay in bed. Body aching. Heart hammering. 

I couldn't stop replaying it.

The way Ace's voice had dropped, the way his control had cracked, just barely, right at the edge.

He wants me. I felt it. He's just pretending he doesn't.

I touched my own lips. Imagined someone else's mouth there instead. Bit down, smirking into the dark.

I'm going to break him. Going to make him want me so bad he forgets his wife. His control. Everything.

I closed my eyes. Let the plans take shape, one by one, sharp as knives.

Ace was married. 

He had a daughter. 

Ace had a whole careful life built on control and duty and doing the right thing.

And I, I'd spent two years learning exactly how to take a careful life apart.

Piece by piece.

Until nothing was left standing.

I almost felt sorry for him.

Almost.

—

Morning came too fast. 

I padded into the living room in nothing but boxers.

Hair a wreck. Scent thick in the air like honey and cinnamon. No blockers yet.

Ace stood guard at the window. 

Coffee in hand. Unmoved. Or trying to look like it.

"Sleep well?" I stretched, slow, deliberate. "I did. Had a dream about you, actually."

"Don't need to know." Ace didn't turn around.

"You were naked." I moved closer. 

"And I was…" I flashed a wicked grin "...you know. Maybe I'll show you later."

Ace's eyes flicked down, just once, before snapping back to the window. 

"You looked," I said. "Good. Very good."

"Get dressed." Ace's voice went firm. "You have an appointment with your father."

"Appointment? I'm not some—"

"You are. Get dressed. Or I'll dress you myself."

Heat flashed through me at that. I pictured Ace's hands on me. Rough. Certain. 

I felt my own pulse answer before I could stop it.

"Yes, sir." A mock salute. "Whatever you say."

I walked off slow, hips swaying, knowing exactly what I was doing. 

Behind me, I heard it. 

The sharp catch of Ace's breath, the one he couldn't quite hide.

Got you.

I shut my bedroom door and leaned against it. 

The smirk slipped off my face like it had never been there.

My heart wouldn't stop pounding. 

Not from the win.

From something I didn't have a name for and didn't want one.

I pressed a hand flat against my own chest, like I could hold whatever it was still.

It didn't work. It never did.

I knew I should be getting dressed to go meet my father. 

This was just a game.