Page 69 of Sweet Temptation

Ace has been pacing ever since he entered the condo. Literally fucking pacing our kitchen like he has something terrifying to tell us. Did he kill someone he shouldn't have? Did he fail to tell his best friend he runs with the big boys now?

Did the coach kick him off the team? Like Jesus, this guy is stressed. "What's going on?" Sam asks, tilting his head. His blue eyes crinkle as he glances at Ace with a questioning look.

Ace's head shoots up, his lips start moving but no words are said. Damn. I've never even been that stressed out. What's going on with him? Maybe we introduced him to this world too soon? He shakes his head and charges up the stairs, his bedroom door closing behind him.

Alrighty, I guess that's the talk. Sauntering over to the sofa, I plant my ass down, taking one of the PS4 remotes from Sam. "What are we playing?" I ask, turning my head toward him.

"COD. What other games do you see me playing?" He lifts an eyebrow my way. Chuckling under my breath, I press the home button, quickly switching the game to NHL 2020—a game I know Delgado hates with a passion.

His lips curl up in rage. "What! No. You're going to kick my ass," Sam complains. Damien chuckles under his breath as he types something into his phone. What is with these fuckers being so secretive all the sudden? I know he fucked the she-devil, but in all honesty, he doesn't need to have secrets.

Picking the Pittsburgh penguins, I press play on the game. Pressing buttons on the controller so fast you'd think all I ever do is play games, but that isn't the case. My life is not normal, and I don't have time to play fucking games.

It's a rare moment if I ever sit down with the boys, holding a controller in my hands. "Dammit!" Sam bellows as one of my players slaps the puck into the net. A grin covers my face as I tilt my head toward Sam.

"Awe, you poor sport." Damien chuckles, taking a swig from his beer.

"I'll show you a poor sport when my gun is under your chin," Sam snaps.

Chuckling, I click pass on the controller again, shooting the puck into Sam's net. "What the fuck!" he growls, tossing the controller at Damien. His rage clear as day on his face as he sits there sulking.

"Poor sport." Damien grins at our blonde friend. Sam shoots daggers at both of us before he steals my controller. His satisfaction pulls right into a smile as he keeps the remote. Clenching my jaw, I shoot him a glare.

"Now what?" I grin at him. Mocking his little tantrum just to get a rise out of the fucker.

Sam huffs, switching the channels from ps4 to Edmonton vs San Diego. A smile covers my face as I shove my arms behind my head. "Now this is something I can work with." Sam shoots me another glare before shoving a handful of potato chips into his mouth.

Damien's laughter shakes the walls as he watches Sam. "You're such a baby, man. For a made man, you do an awful lot of whining."

Sam's face twists in horror. His body flies off the couch toward Damien and before I can register it, the two of them are scrapping on the floor. A chuckle escapes my lips as I watch them wrestle on the floor in front of me.

The sound of footsteps causes my lips to twitch. "Sam doesn't like video games unless he's winning, mafia or not." Ace's voice sounds from behind us, a grin laced in his tone.

All three of us turn toward him with a questioning look. "Are you ready to have an actual conversation?" Damien grins at his friend. This will turn out to be good. It's either really bad or just general stupid stuff.

Sam shoots off the floor, settling himself beside me, his head still turned toward Ace. He watches us with a blank expression before he steals Damien's seat and settles himself down, a look of anguish on his features.

"Okay, we need to talk because I'm going out of my mind and I need to talk to someone. It has nothing to do with the mafia world," he mumbles. Tilting my head toward him, I stare, dumbfounded. "Scratch that… a small part of the conversation is mafia."

Ace stares for a long moment before his lips actually move. Words actually hitting the air this time. "It's about Bailey," he whispers. A smirk covers my lips as I watch him. I like where this is going… though, I also don't like where this is going.

"In all honesty I thought it was a fling, but when I realised it wasn't, I was already the makings of a made man and she had already worked her way into my soul," Ace growls. Sam wiggles his eyebrow toward Ace and smirks.

He sighs, running a hand over his face. "She's mundane, the hockey coach's daughter, and flat out fucking impossible for me to ever keep."

Sam's laughter racks through his body as he holds his stomach, wheezing. "Your upset because you can't fuck someone?" Sam cackles. Shaking my head, I turned toward Sam, silencing him with a glare. He clearly had fucked her, but it isn't about sex anymore.

Damien chuckles lightly before he presses his lips together. My eyes find my brother's and he shrugs, his eyes saying everything his lips won't. Ace can tell her the truth and keep her as his girl, but in the end, if she has to die, then Damien will kill her.

None of us really need the death of a normal girl on our consciences—a girl who did nothing to deserve the wrath of this world.

Ace swerves his head toward me and stares at me blankly again. "She wants to be friends with benefits," he growls. I understand the anger. Alex had been cheating on her for years and now she doesn't want her heart broken. Yet he also knows she is in danger every moment she spends with him.

Ace sighs, grabbing a fistful of his hair and pulls. "I want her, I need her. But I can't be with her and not tell her the truth, relationship or not…" The words leave his lips before he can stop them. I nod in understanding that's how I felt before I knew who Hanna really was.

Damien sits quietly, smoking a joint and giving nobody his opinion, but I know his opinion and Ace won’t like it. "You either tell her and get to have her, or you don't tell her and you let her go. Either one comes with prices," my brother speaks up.

Ace glances at Damien with his lips in a thin line. "If you decide to tell her, she will always be in danger—she'll be a weakness you will end up killing for—or you let her go. The decision is yours to make." Damien pushes up off the sofa and disappears out the front door, leaving Ace with a confusing situation and a decision only he can make. The real question has to be, what will he choose, and will he choose the option he should be or make the same mistakes I did?

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