Page 14 of Babe

I scoffed. “Actually, no, I wouldn’t,” I retorted. “Because you guys always treat me like a little fucking kid, so I would’ve been at the back of the line and the last one through the door. Like always,” I bitterly reminded him.

Jax sighed and draped his arms over the back of the chair he was sitting in, frowning at me through his thick beard. “You’ve always been the one we protect the most, Ace,” he quietly reminded me. I knew that. Jax had always gone out of his way to stay in touch with me, even when he was in prison. When everyone else left and lost all contact with me, Jax had stuck around, even from behind prison walls. And when my foster home had been investigated and my foster parents had been charged with child abuse, child pornography, child neglect, sexual assault, and a slew of other charges, Jax had been the one to call Shaw and Konrad, which led to Konrad gaining custody of me so I didn’t have to go to another group home.

I tried my best not to be snippy with Jax because of how much and how long he’d been there for me. Because he’d always been the one constant thing in my life. The one person who didn’t abandon me.

“You need to come home,” Arlo said.

I glared at him, my hands tightening around my coffee mug. Gunner let loose a low, displeased growl that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I bit out, glaring at him. “I’m staying right here. With Gunner.”

Arlo scowled at me. “Ace?—”

“No,” I snapped. “I’m staying here. I want to stay with Gunner. You can’t make me come home.”

“What an adult response,” Cameron said, rolling his eyes.

“You got anything to truly contribute besides snide fucking comments?” Gunner finally snapped, looking at Cameron. Cameron’s upper lip curled at him in disgust. I tensed. Cameron was a hothead, and while I was angry with my brothers, I didn’t want Gunner to hate them. And I didn’t want them to fight. “Ace has had a rough couple of days. The least bit of decency you could show is shutting the fuck up unless you have something to actually contribute.”

Cameron jerked to his feet, but Jax stood as well, shoving him back down onto the couch. Cameron glared at him but didn’t say a word. If there was anyone all of us dreaded actually going against, it was Jax. The way he could just shut his emotions off was eerie and disturbing. The only person he truly felt anything for was Blakely, and even then, I was pretty sure some of what he should have been feeling for her was like… muted or something. Like he couldn’t feel love all the way.

“Can we all be adults here?” Shaw asked, sounding exasperated. He looked at me. “You know you need to come home, Ace. We have… things to deal with. Tensions are… high.”

I shook my head and set my coffee aside, tension thrumming through my body. “I’m not coming home. I’m not leaving Gunner. What part of that don’t you get?” I was beyond frustrated. Everyone had taken so well to everyone else’s significant others, and I knew if any of them asked to leave the club, they’d go. Without hesitation. Especially Konrad. He loved Blu and Grey more than he loved any of us. So, why was it so damn difficult to make them see and understand that I wanted to be with Gunner?

“Kid…”

“Stop calling me kid!” I snapped, finally losing my cool. “I’m not leaving him. You can’t make me. You can’t sweet talk me into leaving. I’m staying here. I’m happy here. Why can’t I just be fucking happy?!” I yelled, my throat burning with tears.

“Easy, Ace baby,” Gunner murmured. He moved around so he was in front of me, blocking my view of my family. My chest heaved. It felt like it was going to cave in. I reached up and clung to his shirt, anchoring myself to him. Like I was afraid they might snatch me away and force me to leave him.

“I don’t want to go,” I croaked.

He tenderly cupped my cheeks, stroking his thumbs beneath my eyes. “No one is going to force you,” he assured me. “Over my dead body will they make you do anything you don’t want to do.”

“That can be arranged,” Cameron snarked.

“Cameron, shut the fuck up,” Konrad growled. “You’re making shit worse.”

Gunner kept our eyes locked. “You hear me, baby? Only over my dead body.” I sniffled and nodded, willing my tears to remain in my eyes. Papa was here. Papa would keep me safe. Keep me with him. “Why don’t you go upstairs and unwind for a bit? I’ll be up shortly. I just need to talk to your brothers first, okay?”

I nodded again. He pressed a tender kiss to my lips before gripping me under my arms and hauling me up. After he gave me a tight hug that seemed to squish me back together, he sent me on my way. Once I was upstairs and burrowed beneath the blankets, surrounded by Gunner’s scent, I heard him begin to speak.

“Look… I know you guys are protective of him. I know a lot of this is alarming for you. But Ace has… latched onto me. I soothe something inside of him. He needs me, even if none of you want to admit it or face that fact. If you force him away from here, he’ll hate you—the kind of hate that never goes away. And I’m not letting you take him.”

Someone sighed. “I get you two are attached,” Konrad began. “I do. I swear to fucking Christ, I get it more than anyone. I’ve got two partners of my own who latched onto me like leeches, and I can’t imagine my life without them. But we need him home. We have shit we’re working on—something huge. And now is the time to band together. Not be apart.”

“Tell me what’s going on,” Gunner demanded.

“It’s club business,” Shaw said, his voice hard and firm.

“Yeah, but clearly, he’s here to stay,” Jax grumbled. “Might as well tell him. He’s the only chance we have of getting Ace back home.”

Shaw sighed, sounding defeated. “There’s a sex trafficking ring back home that we’re trying to dismantle. We’ve finally got the bigger players, and we’re working on a plan to take them down. This is going to be an all-hands-on-deck matter. We need him home.”

“And we need to know he’s safe,” Cameron added, surprising me. “He gets on my nerves like no other, but Ace is our brother. These last two days have been goddamn hell on all of us. We had no idea if he was dead or alive. All we found was the SUV. No sign of him.”

“I get it,” Gunner said, his voice all low and rumbly in that way that made me feel all warm and safe. “I’ll talk to him. But if he still doesn’t want to leave…” He paused, letting that hang in the air for a moment. “No one will be forcing him.”

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