CHAPTER TWO – I DO

BRIAN

I got in the car, not waiting to warm up the engine. 

I peeled out of the driveway so fast the tires screamed against the gravel.

I drove too fast down the estate road, weaving through the dark, and knew I should slow down. 

I didn't. 

I couldn't stop replaying it.

The way Ace had looked at me like he already had my whole file memorized. Like there was nothing left to hide.

My knuckles were white against the wheel.

He thinks he's better than me.

He thinks he can't be broken. He has no idea who he's dealing with.

My phone buzzed on the seat. 

Felix.

I hit the speaker. "What?"

"King! Where the hell are you? We're at Venom. Rico says tonight's the night. The big race."

My mouth went curving, slow and dangerous. 

"I'm on my way."

Then I hit the gas. 

The Porsche surged into the dark, and for the first time all night, something in my chest loosened.

I was going to show them all. That I'm untouchable. That Brian Kingsford can never be tamed!

“Vroom!”

---

I screeched into the Venom lot and killed the engine hard. 

Bass thumped through the concrete before I even opened the door. 

Red light. Blue light. Purple.

A sea of modified cars, their engines still ticking hot around me.

I stepped out. 

Cool air hit my face. I breathed it in like oxygen after drowning.

“This is it!”

This was where I belonged.

Ace's SUV rolled up beside me. Same second. Like he'd been glued to my bumper the whole drive.

My jaw ticked. 

I stormed to his car.

"You're not staying here. This is my life. You're not welcome in it."

"I'm staying." 

Ace didn't blink. Unmoved. 

"Part of the deal. And if anyone's making rules tonight, it's me. You shouldn't be here at all."

"The deal." My laugh came out sharp. 

"Did you seriously just call me a ‘business transaction’?"

"You're one." Ace stepped closer. Too close.

"You're a job, Brian. Nothing more. And I'm very good at my job."

My eyes dropped to his mouth. One second. Maybe two.

I caught myself and looked away fast.

"This," I smirked, "is going to be entertaining."

I walked off toward my friends.

Felix. Rico. Jax. 

All in leather jackets. Waiting by the door like they always were.

Felix, tall and dark-haired. Rico, shorter, stockier, with calculating eyes. Jax, lean and menacing.

"King!" Felix grinned. 

"We thought Daddy finally locked you up for good."

"He tried." I smirked. "Didn't make it."

"Heard you got a new bodyguard. Ex-military. Special forces or some shit."

"He's a pain in my ass."

"Sounds like exactly what you need," Rico said.

I shot him a look. "I don't need anyone."

"We know." Jax slung an arm around me. "That's why we love you."

We went in. 

Ace followed. Furious, and not bothering to hide it anymore.

"You're not going in there."

"Watch me."

I pushed through the door, bass swallowing me whole. 

Bodies pressed together. 

Sweat. Liquor. Want, thick enough to taste.

Strobe lights carved the dark into pieces. 

The rush hit me instantly. The good kind that made everything else go quiet, if only for a few hours.

Ace's hand closed around my arm.

"We're leaving," he said, low.

I ripped free. "No. I need this. I need to forget."

"Forget what?"

A short laugh. Bitter. 

"Everything. My dead mother. My ice-block father. His bitchy girlfriend. The fact that I'm a fucking Omega playing Alpha just to survive."

I didn't wait for a response.

I swaggered deeper into the crowd.

—

Fourth drink in. 

I still didn't feel it. I never did. 

I wasn't chasing drunk. I was chasing the numbness.

Felix leaned in over the table. "Race’s in an hour. You in?"

"Always."

"New route." Jax grinned, sharp as broken glass. 

"Through the city. Down the bridge. No rules. No limits."

"Perfect." My mouth curved.

Rico wasn't smiling. 

"King. This is dangerous. Even for you. Cops are watching. Your father's got connections—"

"I don't care!" I slammed my glass down. 

"I want to feel something. I want to feel ‘alive.’"

My eyes swept the room. Landed where it wanted and stopped on it.

Ace. 

In the shadows near the wall. Watching. Not moving.

I felt the fire burn through my chest.

He's watching me. He's obsessed. I don't fucking believe he isn't!

I smirked.

A slow thrill curled through me, dark and dangerous. 

Fine. If Ace wanted to watch, I would give him something worth watching.

—

I climbed the stage. 

The crowd roared before I even got started. 

Bass and sweet chaos mixed up.

I stripped off my shirt, proudly displaying my body.

I had it all. A lean, toned, perfect body that lit gold under the lights. 

I tousled my dark hair back and took my time as I made a ‘leaning back’ pose this time. 

I gripped the pole and moved my body as my teeth bit down to my lower lip.

I felt the crowd ‘want’ me.

My hips began to roll as I moved against the pole. Slow. Enticing. 

Hands slid down my own throat, my head tipped back, showing the vulnerable part of my throat.

The crowd screamed, fiery eyes groping me. They always did.

But my eyes never left Ace.

Break, Alpha. Break for me.

Something shifted in Ace's face. Dark. Hungry. Just for a second, but I caught it.

I climbed down. 

The crowd parted like water. I walked straight for Ace, slow, deliberate, breath still ragged from the stage.

"Did you like the show?"

"We're leaving." Ace's voice came out a growl. "Now."

I leaned in. "Make me."

Ace's hand shot out and closed around my waist, yanking me in.

A gasp came through my grinning lips.

"You're playing with fire, Brian." Right against my ear. Low. Rough.

My whole body lit up.

"Burn me, Alpha."

—

Outside, the cold was a caress. 

Ace pushed me against the brick wall, hand bracing beside my head, and his scent flooded in.  

Woodsmoke, pine, pure Alpha, drowning out the music still bleeding through the door behind us. 

My hands came up. Not to fight. To pull him closer. Inviting.

"You're so predictable," I panted.

My nose took in his scent. I already had mine shut down with pills in the car.

Ace caught my chin. Forced my eyes up. "What do you want from me?"

"You." No hesitation. 

"I want to see you lose control. I want to watch you break."

"I'm married." Ace's voice cracked down the middle. "I have a daughter. I'm not playing your game."

"Liar." I bit my lower lip. 

"You're already playing it."

"Do you have any idea what you're doing? About what you're risking?"

"I don't care." Barely a whisper now. 

"I don't care about anything."

"You should." Ace's grip tightened on my jaw. 

"You should care about yourself."

He stared deeply into my eyes. His face slowly changed. Softened subtly for one impossible second.

Suddenly, my eyes burned. 

I blinked and turned away. A bit irked. 

I bit the inside of my cheek. 

"Why do you care? No one else does."

I couldn't read his expression. Ace kept his softened eyes steady in mine.

"I do."

I froze. 

For one second, my mind went completely blank.

Then the walls slammed back into place… on both of us.

"Get in the car." 

He stepped back, releasing me like I could burn. 

"Now."

I obeyed as my heart pounded.

Hope, stupid and dangerous, bloomed in my chest anyway.

I shouldn't want this. 

A married man. An ex-soldier hired to babysit me. A man with a wife who probably made his lunch, a daughter who probably called him ‘Daddy’ in that voice kids use before the world ruins them.

None of that mattered right now.

Not with Ace's hand still ghosting where it had gripped my waist. Not with that one word, ‘I do’, still echoing, refusing to leave.

I pressed my forehead to the cold window as his SUV pulled out of the lot.

‘I do.’

Two words. That was all it took to crack something open in me.

Something two years of parties, pills, and strangers had never scratched.

I almost laughed. Almost cried.

I didn't know which one scared me more.