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

Chapter 50: An Ace Of Hearts

"Why are you really here, Jace?" He asked when he was settled on the couch again. His piercing eyes seemed to look right through me and although I tried, I couldn't bring myself to look directly into them.

"I told you. I needed to get away after the whole thing with Kiara. The reporters were starting to get nosy and-"

"Bullshit." Kyle cut me off, scoffing. "New Mulliton is not the town to come to when you are trying to escape from tragedies. This is a town built on them. I want to know the real reason." He added.

I chewed on my bottom lip as I tried to muster up the courage to look at him again. I felt like a thief sitting here on his couch and lying to him. But what else could I say? The truth maybe, but even Ahvi wasn't ready to hear it yet and I didn't care about anyone's opinion on the matter as much as I did hers. Not even Kyle's. Not even Ren's.

"I told you the reason." I answered, grimacing. I forced myself to look at him now, meeting his accusing gaze head on. "I don't know what you expect me to say."

"This is about your friend's sister, isn't it? Ahvi Takeda?" He cocked an eyebrow at me. "I have seen her around town in the past week. She's here and so are you. Now spill."

"I know Ahvi is here but my visit has nothing to do with her." I lied. Pushing myself off the couch, I extended a hand toward Kyle. "Can I have your bike? I want to go out for some time." I swallowed as I watched him look at me with a knowing look in his eyes. I didn't fall for it, the accusation or the fact that he took his sweet time fishing his bike's keys out of his pocket and handing them to me.

"Be careful," He said as he leaned back on the couch, watching me walk to the door.

"I will. Thanks," I said as I walked out. I didn't know where I was going to go but I knew I needed to distract myself. I needed to come up with a way to convince myself that Ahvi would be fine because if anything happened to her...I knew I wouldn't be able to take it. I would die with her. To finally let her know what I felt for her. How much I felt for her.

>.<

The park was mostly empty. I parked the bike outside before walking inside, burrowing the keys in my pocket. A couple of children played in one corner, their parents watching from the benches, chatting with each other.

I looked around the park, searching for the bench near which we used to play when we were kids. The guys and I and sometimes, Hailey and Ahvi. My gaze snagged on our spot and there was the bench, sitting there, waiting for me. I strode toward it, my footsteps hesitant. It was as if I was scared of what I would feel or remember when I reached the bench.

But only a sense of nostalgia took hold of me when I finally sat down on the seat, looking around the park that held so many of my childhood memories. I could almost see me and the guys walking around, fooling with each other, annoying each other. There was always a sense of safety and security with them, even as a child, I felt it. This inexplicable surety that nothing bad would happen to us as long as we stuck together, so we did.

And now I was dating Ren's little sister. Not dating but we were something. We were seeing each other and for the past two nights, I had not let go of her. I had held her as I slept and I was going to be very fucking honest, it was the best sleep I had ever had in my life, maybe because Ahvi was with me or because I finally found myself the surety that had been missing from my life for all these months.

When we were teenagers, the guys and I would play cards, sitting on the blanket Ren brought with him from his house in a corner of the park after a long day at school. It was tattered and in terrible shape but we still preferred to sit on it than buy a new one. It was his family's, back when his mother wasn't a druggie and his father was still alive.

We would sit under a tree and laugh and play cards as if we had no other care in the world. I was already a playboy by then, given the title by the other kids in town and the girls I had been with. Tariq was the only one bothered by my promiscuity. He didn't say it outright but it was in the way he sometimes looked at me, with this disappointment in his eyes as if I had failed him somehow. It was the reason why I stopped looking him in the eye altogether because every time I did, he reminded me of the mistake I was making.

He never said anything to me though, but during one of our card games, he won the hand by an ace of hearts. As he reshuffled the cards after the game, he said, "An ace of hearts is enough to win a game, you know. Even if you have the whole pack, the ace is enough for you."

Now, his words came back to me as I sat on the park bench. I had tried the whole pack, several packs in fact. I had been with so many women, I had lost count. Always moving on so I didn't have to put my heart on the line, so I didn't have to look inside and ask myself what I truly needed. But never did I find the peace I was looking for and dare I say, love.

But then there was Ahvi. She was just another woman but she seemed to bring with her a peace that I didn't knew existed before. She was difficult and stubborn and she seemed to want to kill me every time I pissed her off, but she also looked at me tenderly. She understood me. She heard me.

And maybe it was that moment or a sum of many other small moments like these with Ahvi, but I finally understood what Tariq had been trying to say. Ahvi Takeda was my ace of hearts. For me, she was enough.

I rubbed my face with my hands, wondering if I should go check up on her. I knew she would probably cut my balls off but I wanted to. I sighed, straightening and pulling my phone out of my pocket. I checked the notifications to find a few messages from the guys but nothing from Ahvi. There was also a missed call from Eman. I must have missed it since my phone was on silent mode.

I pulled up her number and called back, leaning back and draping an arm across the back of the bench. Watching the kids playing in a corner, I waited for her to pick up. She did on the third ring.

"About time you call me back." Eman Hashim snapped and I was taken aback by the bite in her voice.

"He-hello?" I stuttered because even though she was the sweetest one of us all, Eman scared me at times. I was pretty sure the others felt the same way. None of us had the balls to tell her so though.

"Where are you, Jace?" She asked, ignoring my greeting.

"On vacation?" The words came out as a question. I didn't know where she was going with this but I had a feeling I was in for an earful.

"I didn't know Miami changed its name to New Mulliton." She responded, ignoring my response once again. So she was mad mad. I rubbed the back of my neck as I chewed on the inside of my cheek, wondering what to say to her.

"So, Ahvi told you?" It was the only thing I could think of saying. When Eman was pissed, you didn't try to sweet talk her.

"Darn straight," She replied and if it hadn't been for the rage seeping through the speaker, I would have chuckled at her alternative for the word 'damn.' "I also know that the two of you did the deed. So tell me, Jace Hyde, what are your intentions with my best friend?" She asked. I swallowed. This was going to be a long conversation.