An Ace Of Hearts (Book #1) (Completed)

Chapter 30: Baiting The Sharks

JACE HYDE

I leaned back on the couch, blowing out the smoke in my lungs. It coiled in the air in front of my face and I blocked the world out. The house was silent. Kiara had gone over to a friend's house tonight, a little sleepover they had been planning for the past few days. I had the house to myself and I decided to chill out tonight.

Kiara's first ultrasound was scheduled for the day after tomorrow and I was equal parts nervous and terrified. Shit was getting too real and I was freaking out. I didn't know if I would be a good father. I couldn't even be a good boyfriend. I didn't know how on earth I was going to take care of the child Kiara was going to bring into the world.

My vision was hazy, thanks to the blunt and vodka I had laid on the coffee table in front of me. I was taking full advantage of having the house to myself. I was loving it, too. Kiara's constant nagging was absent tonight and it was a welcome relief. She was becoming too much like how my mother was with my father. The only time we were not at each other's throat was in bed and right after I had fucked her.

Was this how a healthy relationship was supposed to be like? I was constantly asking myself the question these days. But I never found an answer. Tariq's query the other day had gotten under my skin because I was questioning my relationship with my girlfriend at every step right now.

I took another drag of my blunt, closing my eyes. The darkness behind my eyelids gave way to peace and my chest heaved, shuddering. I was not in my head. I was suspended in a void. And how I liked the feeling of being nobody.

I was still descending further into the void in my own head when the sound of my phone ringing jolted me. The peace slipped through my fingers, shattering as my head filled with sounds once again. The buzzing of the refrigerator in the other room, the sound of a car engine as it raced past my house, but most of all the godforsaken ringtone.

I groaned as I reached for it, patting the couch beside me in an attempt to find it without having to sit up. I was content being slumped on the couch. Moving seemed like a task at the moment.

I reached a little farther and my fingers brushed against the cool surface of my phone. I pulled it toward me, grabbing it and answering it. I didn't bother to look at the Caller ID as I brought the device to my ear.

"Am I speaking with Jace Hyde?" A deep, male voice asked right away, no greetings and I blinked in confusion.

"Yes." I managed to get the word out without slurring. I blinked several times through the haze my mind was in to try and recognize the person on the other end of the line.

"I believe you were the one Kyle gave my number to, Jace?" The man asked.

"Who are you?" I questioned instead of answering him. What number was he talking about? Did Kyle give me a number? I shouldn't have accepted the call when I was so hammered.

"Sheriff Davis this side, Jace. Do you remember me?" The answer jolted me upright. Yes, I did remember Davis. He was the sheriff of my hometown, New Mulliton, the man who kept us safe or at least, claimed to.

"Sheriff? Of course, I do." I rubbed my eyes as if it would make the high go away. "To what do I owe this pleasure?" I added, hoping my words made sense. I had never talked to Sheriff Davis one-on-one even back home. He was always just a figure I had heard of a few times from my mother at the dinner table when she had guests over and they talked about the news, mostly about theft, murders, etc. My mother had a strange obsession with the crimes going on in our town.

"Ahvi is a friend of yours, right?" The sheriff asked, his voice curious. Ahvi's name made me pause. My hand fell away from my eye, the stinging sensation in it vanishing.