Ash could deal. Of that Jace was positive. But the unknown in the equation was Bethany. How would she react to Ash? Did she have feelings for him? Did she still desire him? It was obvious she had been turned on by both men when they’d had sex with her. Would Jace have to always worry that Bethany would be looking in Ash’s direction or that she’d even pursue him?
It was enough to drive him crazy and it was stupid to dwell so hard on that. He wasn’t being fair to Bethany. It was obvious she was freaked out by that night and the fact she’d had a threesome with him and Ash. He couldn’t assume the worst about her and be suspicious before he ever gave her a chance. Their relationship would be doomed by jealousy and mistrust before it ever had a chance to get off the ground.
“Jace?” Ash asked in a quiet voice. “Why’d you let it happen, man? I don’t get it. You have to know I would have understood. I would have been surprised as hell, but I would have absolutely backed off. I’d never let a woman come between us.”
But Jace had. Hell, he’d put Bethany between them because he’d been desperate and he’d seen her waver. He’d been so afraid of having her walk away that he’d hastily agreed to something he was vehemently against.
It hadn’t been fair to Bethany and it sure as hell hadn’t been fair to Ash.
“I fucked up,” Jace said in just as quiet a voice. “It was completely my fault. I thought at the time it was what I had to do. Before I could step in and put an end to it, she agreed. And once she agreed, I didn’t feel like I could say never mind, we’re not having a threesome, but oh by the way, I still want to take you home and fuck you. And then she seemed to have second thoughts and I panicked because I didn’t want her to walk away. It was all so goddamn fucked up and it got out of control before I could fix it. And I regret every single minute.”
Something flickered in Ash’s eyes and he went silent. He settled back in his chair and looked away.
“Is this going to change things?” Ash finally said. “Between you and me? You sound like Bethany’s going to be around a long time. What does that mean for us because of that night?”
Unease crawled over Jace’s skin. If only he could go back to that night, he’d never say a goddamn thing to Ash. He’d have never brought Bethany to his attention. And he damn sure would have never fucked her with Ash.
And now Ash was voicing the same concerns that Jace had himself. This was huge. He could not let his relationship with Bethany ruin his relationships with the people who meant the most to him. But neither could he let her go. He had to make this work, which meant handling the entire situation as delicately as possible.
“All it changes is that you’re not sleeping with her again,” Jace said with more confidence than he felt. He hoped to hell he wasn’t deluding himself. “I’m sure the first couple of times that we’re all together will be awkward. But it’ll only stay awkward if we make it that way. You’re both in my life, man. I’m not choosing between you. I hope to fuck I never have to. All we can do is make sure it doesn’t become an issue. But I need your help. Your . . . support.”
Relief simmered in Ash’s eyes. “You going to name your first kid after me?”
“Jesus. Now who’s moving fast? Pump the brakes, Ash. I’m not marrying her.”
“Yet,” Ash muttered.
“There’s a hell of a lot we have to work out,” Jace said in a grim voice.
“Anything I can help with? You asked for my support, but man, you gotta know you have that. You’ve always had it. That’s not going to change.”
Jace hesitated for only a moment, relief buzzing through his blood like potent alcohol. Then he related the entire chain of events involving Bethany from start to end. When he finished, Ash’s face was contorted into a fierce scowl.
“Motherfuckers,” he swore. “They beat up a helpless woman because her asshole brother borrowed money he had no way of paying back? And the little bastard hung her out to dry? Jesus, my family may be batshit crazy but they’ve never sicced a bunch of street thugs on me.”
Jace snorted. “Not yet, anyway.”
A glimmer of amusement lighted Ash’s eyes. “True. Give them time.”
There was a lengthy pause. Silent understanding.
“I don’t like you getting involved. I know some people. I can get them on it. Make sure the assholes get their money and a message not to fuck with Bethany again,” Ash said. “That is, if that’s the way you want it to go down. I assume you want that debt paid.”
“You know people?” Jace said incredulously. “What the hell, man? What kind of people do you know who would handle a situation like this? And yeah, whatever it takes. I want the debt to go away. Not because I give a fuck about her asshole brother but because I want Bethany safe and I want her removed from any possible situation that threatens her.”
Ash shrugged. “Never know when you might need these kinds of people. They owe me a favor anyway. I gave them good stock tips. And I comped their stay in one of our hotels.”
“I’m not even going to ask . . .”
“Better that way,” Ash said cheerfully. “Not people you’d invite to Thanksgiving dinner anyway.”
“I’m getting that,” Jace muttered.
Ash’s expression became more serious. “How much money are we talking here?”
“Five thousand.”
“That’s all?”
Jace sighed. “It’s a fortune to Bethany. As she said, it may as well be a million. She was going to fucking peddle to raise the cash.”
It still scared the hell out of him to think what could have happened if Kate hadn’t called him the day Bethany wandered into the shelter. Or what would have happened if Bethany hadn’t gone back. That she could even now be on the streets and vulnerable to God knew what . . .
“Fuck,” Ash bit out. “Jesus Christ. Peddling?”
“Yeah, that pretty much sums up my reaction.”
“She needs a fucking leash,” Ash muttered.
“Figuratively, she’s going to have one,” Jace said calmly. “She’s not going anywhere without the men I hired to protect her and when she’s not with them, she’ll be with me. Hopefully once you arrange for her debt to be paid that threat goes away. But I still have to address the issue of Jack.”
“Well, and it doesn’t appear that she’s sold on the idea of you two as a couple yet,” Ash said dryly.
“She will be.”
Ash lifted an eyebrow. “You sound confident.”
“I won’t entertain the alternative.”
“And that is?”
“Her not being a part of my life.”
There was a pregnant pause and Ash shifted uncomfortably. “Look man, I’m way overstepping my boundaries here.”
“As if that’s stopped you before,” Jace said dryly.
Ash chuckled. “True. Not a fan of boundaries, particularly where my family is concerned.”
Again that word. Family. And yeah, Ash, Gabe and Mia were his family. He’d said that Mia was the only family he had and that wasn’t true. Gabe and Ash . . . They’d been there. Always been there. Stepping in when his parents had died. Steady, unwavering loyalty the likes of which Jace had never imagined.
Maybe he’d taken it for granted over the years. It had been a huge mistake. Other people didn’t have this. Unconditional support. He was lucky.
“How is this going to work?” Ash asked. “You and Bethany. I know you, man. You and I, we’re alike. Hell, so is Gabe. Cut from the same cloth. We like control. Dominance. Not the pretend kind. We can play it light, but that’s all it is. Playing. At the end of the day, you and I both know that any serious relationship is going to be about ultimate control.”
Jace nodded. He didn’t even attempt to deny it.
“So how is this going to play out with Bethany? Is she ready for that from you? Is she prepared? Does she even have a fucking clue how it’s going to be? Because with another woman, she gets freaked out, she doesn’t go far. Back to her apartment. You know where to pick up. You call her or go see her. Work it out. That isn’t the case with Bethany. She freaks, she runs, you may never see her again.”
“Fuck, don’t you think I know that?”
It came out more explosively than he intended but it was a testament to the uncertainty he felt when it came to this woman. How fucking helpless he was and how Ash had managed to voice his biggest fear.
If he didn’t play this just right. If he came on too hard. If he did anything to scare Bethany, she could bolt. Back into the night. Back onto the streets, where those assholes—and a million others—waited. Where he couldn’t protect her. Couldn’t take care of her. Where he’d be absolutely fucking helpless to save her from the dangers of being alone and vulnerable.
“So what are you going to do?” Ash asked quietly. “How you going to play this?”
“I don’t know,” Jace said in resignation. “Fuck if I know. I know what I want. I just have to hope like hell that I play it right. And I have to hope it’s what she wants and can accept from me.”
Chapter seventeen
Bethany submerged in the huge sunken tub and blew gently at the suds foaming close to her mouth. She felt positively decadent. Like someone from a movie. She’d piled her hair on top of her head in a messy arrangement that she thought looked rather sexy. Pinned-up tendrils floating down. Suds climbing from the water and candles lit around the perimeter. It was perfectly cliché, but she didn’t care. It gave her a whimsical delight and she’d learned a long time ago to enjoy simple pleasures, however they came.
The hot water surrounded her, comforting and making her loose and limber. Jace’s sister obviously had a love for candles. Girly candles that smelled wonderful. And they were pretty. Fancy candles that were likely expensive. Not the cheap kind you got at a dollar store.
And the bubble bath. She’d been positively gleeful when she’d found it in one of the bathroom drawers. It too was expensive. A name brand she recognized. At first she’d hesitated to use it, but the temptation had been too great and she’d delightedly dumped it into her bath as it was drawing.
She cupped a handful of the suds and then blew them across the water, laughing as they scattered and drifted like leaves in autumn.
“You’re so fucking beautiful, you make my chest hurt.”
She gasped and automatically sunk lower in the water, her gaze jerking to the doorway where Jace leaned, his eyes on her. His hands were shoved in his pockets and his lazy gaze drifted up and down the bathtub.
“When did you get here?” she squeaked. “I didn’t expect you for another hour, at least.”
He grinned and pushed off the doorframe to saunter across the bathroom until he stood next to the tub, looking down at her.
“Are you saying you wouldn’t have been in the tub soaking if you’d known I was going to be here this soon?”
“N-no,” she stammered.
“Pity,” he murmured. “I could get used to finding you this way.”
He sat on the edge of the tub and reached out to touch her cheek, rubbing his fingers over the curve and then down to her jaw.
“Everything go okay here?”
She nodded, still unsettled by his presence in the bathroom. She was in a vulnerable position and it made her uneasy.
“Kaden and Trevor give you any issues? Are you comfortable with them?”
She shook her head and then nodded, answering both questions before sinking lower in the tub. So maybe she wasn’t completely comfortable with having two hulks in her living room, but they hadn’t been a bother and they’d tried hard to be as obscure as possible. Or as obscure as two mountains could be anyway. And she didn’t want to come across as ungrateful. That Jace was going to such lengths to make her feel safe overwhelmed her. People just didn’t do things like Jace did. Nothing in her experience with the human race had ever led her to believe that white knights like Jace existed.
Jace chuckled. “Baby, if you go any lower, you’re going to drown.”
He dropped his hand down, delving into the water. She sucked in her breath when he curved his fingers underneath her breast and then thumbed over her nipple. It responded immediately, puckering as a delicious thrill coiled in her belly, spreading lower to the juncture of her thighs.
Her clit pulsed and ached. All the man had to do was touch her and she was a wreck. Her breaths hiccupped erratically from her mouth and the warm water suddenly seemed unbearably hot.
“Is there room enough in there for two?” he murmured.
Her eyes widened and she stared up at him, unsure of whether she’d heard him correctly. Guys like Jace didn’t crawl into girly baths complete with suds and candles. Did they? And did she want him to?