Morozov

Chapter 5

The evening went good. The men played cards and because Ace had his one arm resting on the back of my chair, I could easily look into his cards. He was a very good player, which was ironic considering that he was named after a playing card.

In the meanwhile they discussed the separation of certain parts of America. They obviously all wanted the biggest territories so they didn't really come to a conclusion.

"I definitely won't give you parts of my territory just like that," Ace cussed, his voice deep and demanding but with a pinch of humor in it. "Ace, you own over 80% of America. Adding on that you have Europe, Canada and half Asia so I think it will be no harm if you leave Mexico and the surrounding states to us." "No matter what you're willing to pay, I have my best resources over there so no," Ace stated finally before playing his card.

I couldn't help but grin at their conversation. Jack, who I caught inspecting me the whole evening, seemed to have noticed my amusement. "What are you grinning at?" he snapped at me.

Suddenly, all eyes were on me. "Don't talk to her like that," Ace gave him a deadly look and then turned to me, waiting for an explanation.
"I- It's nothing," I tried to brush it off but they insisted I tell them what I was thinking. I turned to Ace and quietly asked "Can I talk to you in private?"

"It's just- Why are you only concentrating on Mexico and the surrounding states? You might as well just sell Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota and Illinois to them. It would be right in the north-eastern center so they won't be able to extend their supply chains because the surrounding states would belong to you. They also wouldn't have bad recourses over there so they're more likely to buy for more money and it sounds like more but in percentage it's less than Mexico alone," I explained, keeping my voice low, as we were standing in the hallway.

Ace just looked at me, too stunned to speak. "What? Surprised that a girl just solved your problem?" I teased him but he didn't smile - which I was used to because he barely showed any emotions. "You just earned yourself a shopping tour," he said impressed, causing me to furrow my brows. "What makes you think I want to go shopping?" "I don't know. Isn't that what girls do?" he asked confused and I scoffed in disbelief. "Seriously? You clearly have no idea how to treat a girl," I complained as I crossed my arms. That was such a cliché statement of him. "Let's go inside again," he rolled his eyes and put his arm around me, then gestured his head to the door.

Everyone was fine with the concept and Ace sold his states to them.

I was sitting in my chair, sipping from my wine with Ace's arm resting behind my back again when I suddenly felt his thumb stroke my bare shoulder. The feeling of his skin touching mine gave me goosebumps and for some reason, I felt comfortable with it.

I was getting used to his gentle touch when I started to feel tired; it was already one a.m. and we all drank a lot.

"Can we leave?" I whispered as I turned to Ace. He turned to me and looked me in the eyes, our faces inches away when his gaze shifted down to my lips. He licked his lips and looked up to my eyes again.

"Yeah" he nodded before turning away from me and announced that we'll leave. Our chauffeur drove us home.

On the drive home Archie sat opposite to Ace and Ace sat next to me. They talked about the meeting and the Mafiosi that were there. The only person that they completely ignored was Jack.

I started to doze off so I rested my head against the cold window, making it fog up from my breath. The next thing I noticed was Ace pulling me towards him and resting my head on his lap. Then I fell asleep.

As we walked up the stairs I stumbled causing Ace to catch me almost by reflex. He had is one arm around my waist and held my arm with the other.

"Take it easy, I don't want you to break your neck" he said in a serious tone once again and I started to giggle.

"That was too much of the wine I guess." "Yeah I think so too. Do you want to eat something?" I gave him a surprised look at his offer but didn't decline.

I sat down in the kitchen and he cooked some spaghetti for the both of us while I watched him. As the pasta was cooking he sat down on a high chair opposite to me and looked at me.

His gaze shifted to my arms that were covered in goosebumps since I was really cold. "Wait a second" he jumped up and rushed out of the kitchen.

A minute later he came back with one of his hoodies. "Take that" he handed it to me and I put it on. It was way too big. The sleeves were reaching like one hand length over my fingertips and it even covered my ass. The dress underneath was nowhere to be seen.

Ace got up to serve the pasta. As I rested my head on my covered hands I noticed that the hoodie smelled like him and I really liked the smell.

Benjamin suddenly came to my mind and I wondered if putting on another boy's sweater and enjoying the smell of it was considered cheating. But to be honest, I was engaged to someone else so what is cheating anyway in this case?

"What do you want with your pasta?" I snapped back to reality, realizing that Ace was watching me the whole time.

"Do you have butter?" I asked earning a confused look. "What?" "Butter?" I inhaled dramatically "Don't tell me you never had pasta with butter before" I asked in shock with a smile on my widely opened mouth and eyes, covering it with my hand. "Why would someone have butter with their pasta? Who even comes up with something like that? It's crucial" Ace asked in shock.

"Oh shut up" I stood up and grabbed the butter out of the fridge to put a scoop of it on each plate.

"Now wait until it's melted and then try it."
He gave me a confused look with a hint of disgust on his face.

"Cheers" I said as we both brought our forks together and took our first bite. The disgust on his face slowly turned into surprise as he chewed on it.

"Wait that's actually not bad" he said stunned forcing a proud smile on my face "See."

As we ate in silence, Benjamin came to my mind once again. "What's wrong?" Ace seemed to have noticed my concerned look.

"It's nothing" I tried to shove it off but he insisted that I would tell him. "Is it because of that high school softie boyfriend of yours?"

My gaze snapped up to him in shock. "What? Did you not think about if I'd check everyone in your circle? Because if not you're very naive." He had a point. Why did I not think about this before?

"I feel kind of bad for him. Am I cheating on him?" "I'm gonna stop you right there" he said with a more serious expression. "He tried to push you into having sex with him without respecting any of your boundaries. He's not good for you."

"Wait how do you know about that?" "I have my connections" he winked at me before taking our plates and putting them into the dishwasher.

"Anyways, he's not good for you" he repeated himself before brushing it off. "Let's go to bed now. And you're not the one doing anything wrong, trust me."

What did he mean by that? We went to our rooms and to sleep.