Chapter 19

“Hello, Ace,” the woman said when she reached their table. “I thought I might find you here tonight. You’ve always been so generous when it comes to helping the less fortunate.”

“Unlike you who would stoop so low as to steal the money out of a cup from a blind man sitting on a corner hoping for people to drop coins into it.” He had witnessed her doing that firsthand once when they were out. He felt bad and tossed a few dollars into the man’s cup.

“Oh, darling, I was just kidding around.” She looked over at who he was with and back at Ace. “So who are these people? I don’t believe we’ve ever met.”

He rolled his eyes—he didn’t want to introduce them, but it would be rude to the others not to. Clarice gave Eve and Brett a smile, but even they could see it was forced.

“Congratulations on your engagement.” She then turned her attention to Rosalee. “So are you two dating?” she asked, pointing from her to Ace.

Before she could answer Clarice, Ace spoke up. “She’s my personal assistant.”

“Oh, that’s good because she’s really not your type.”

“You didn’t let me finish, she’s also the woman I love.”

Clarice laughed. “Love, darling, you don’t know how to love. Be honest with the girl and tell her you’re just using her for sex.”

Ace slammed his fist on the table and glared at her. “Why don’t you go back to the cave you flew out of and leave us alone.” He could hear the others snickering when he made that remark. “Fuck,” he swore when none other than Evan showed up and put his arm around Clarice’s shoulder.

“Hey, bro, good to see you again.” He then smiled at Rosalee. “Hey beautiful, you look hot enough to fuck, what do you say, want to go out back?”

Ace jumped up and pushed Evan. “You shut that fucking mouth of yours.”

“Oh, someone’s jealous so I guess you’ve been eating her pie. Tell me, how does it taste?” He ducked when Ace took a swing at him.

When Brett saw that a fight was about to break out, he got up and stood between the two men. “Ace, ignore him, he obviously has no class and is not worth wasting your time on.” He understood how Ace was feeling; if the guy had said that about Eve, he would have put him in the hospital.

Just then, security came over to make sure there wasn’t going to be a fight.

“No trouble here, me and my girl were just going back to our table,” Evan said with a smirk on his face and winked at Rosalee.

When Ace sat down, Rosalee placed her hand over his arm. “Are you okay?”

He looked at her and then at the others. “As you can gather, that was my ex-wife, and I’m sorry she had to come over here and spoil our night. Maybe we should go home.”

Brett shook his head. “Ace, she and your so-called half brother are quite the pair, and they sure deserve each other. But if I were you, I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of knowing that they chased you away.”

Rosalee nodded her head in agreement. “Brett is right, don’t let them spoil our night out. We will sit here, we will drink, dance, and have a good time and ignore them.”

He took her hand in his and kissed it. “You’re right, why should I let her spoil my night out with the sweetest girl in the world? Okay, we’ll stay and show those two that they don’t bother us.”

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Over at Clarice and Evan’s table: “Did you see the look on Ace’s face when he saw us together?”

Clarice placed her hand on his thigh and began rubbing. “I sure did, but what’s up with that vanilla pudding he’s with?”

“I think she’s cute and so adorable. I think my brother is lucky if he’s screwing that little piece of dessert. I wouldn’t mind having a piece of it myself.”

“You just keep your mind on our plan, if we play our cards right you just might get a chance at her.”

“You never told me why you want to do this, it’s not like you didn’t get a fortune for your settlement.”

She scoffed and moved her hand from his thigh. “I should have gotten twice what I did, even more than that. What about you, why should you take scraps when you should have half of the business and the money?”

“Okay, calm your jets lady, I’ll go along with you but don’t you forget that you owe me,” he said, putting his hand on her leg and moving up. He knew what an evil and conniving bitch Clarice was but she did let him fuck her, so he wasn’t going to complain too much.

They both looked across the room at the table where Ace was seated with the others. It pissed her off that he was having so much fun and not once looked over at her.

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A woman in her late fifties walked up to Ace's table and introduced herself. “Mr. Thatcher, I hope you remember me. I’m Emily Stevens, head of the committee in support of the homeless. I’m so glad you were able to make it and I do hope that you and your guests are having a good time.”

He stood up to shake her hand and introduced her to the others. “Yes, we are. This has always been a very good charity to donate to.”

“I’m so glad to hear that and I do hope that by the end of the night you will be very generous when you pull out your checkbook.”

"Oh, you can count on it, Mrs. Stevens." After chatting with her for a few more minutes, he sat down after she left.

Rosalee was very impressed when she heard that he was always so generous when he gave to different charities. It made her love him all that much more to know what a kind and generous man he was. When he got her up on the dance floor once again, she was floored at what a great dancer he was. And then later when Ace and Eve got up and did the tango, she was amazed at how he could move.

When they came back to the table, she stared at Ace with admiration. "I knew Eve could do those types of dances, but I would never have expected you to be able to. If I knew how to do that kind of dance, I would have loved to be the one doing it with you."

"I can teach you, I can teach you that and some of the other dances I know. When I was younger, I took dance lessons, the waltz, and a few others."

It was time for Rosalee to use the ladies' room, and she asked if Eve would like to go with her. This gave the two men the opportunity to go outside and smoke a cigar, something they rarely did but it was given to them when they entered the hall. All the men had gotten a very expensive Cuban cigar, and the women were all given a single red rose with a tiny bottle of perfume.

After using the ladies' room, they came back to their table and started chatting and sipping on their champagne. They weren't worried about where the men were because they were good enough to let them know they would be outside.

“So ladies, we meet again, and I hope you're having a good time tonight.”

Both Rosalee and Eve looked up at Clarice, who without invitation sat down at their table.

“We are having a fabulous time, and if you will just go away, we will have an even better time,” Eve said in a very snarky tone.

But of course, Clarice ignored her and paid her attention to Rosalee. “I just want to warn you, dear, about Ace. You might think that he is a wonderful person, but soon you will find out that he has an evil and dark side.”

“He is a wonderful man, and there isn't a dark side to him. If anyone has a dark side, it's you. You cheated on him and took half of his money even though you didn't deserve it,” she snapped at her.

“Well, of course, he would tell you lies about me. I guess that's what all men do.”

“Oh, please, you cheated on him with his own brother.”

Clarice's face turned red. “Okay, I admit it, I slept with Evan. But what your precious Ace didn't tell you was how he worked 24/7, going away on business trips for days at a time, leaving me home alone. Even when he was home, he barely looked or talked to me. I was lonely, so yes, I turned to another man. You're his personal assistant, so you will be with him all the time, but just you wait, it won't be long before he starts to ignore you and goes away on business trips, leaving you behind. He will get bored with you, and before you know it, he'll stop having sex with you, you'll never see him. I wouldn't even be surprised if he fired you just to get rid of you.”

“He would never do that, we are in love, and I'm moving in with him.”

“Girl, you are making a big mistake, and so is Ace,” Clarice said angrily.

“The only mistake he has made is believing you when you said you were pregnant just to trick him into marrying you.” She got up from her chair and stood right in Clarice's face, who also stood up. “You are an evil and cruel bitch who is just trying to cause trouble between us with your lies. Let me tell you this, lady, you can say and do whatever you want, but you will never break us up or make me believe your lies. Now get your stinking ass and your fake, exposed boobs out of my face before I punch you and mess up that makeup that must have taken you hours to put on.”

Well, of course, Clarice's face turned bright red, and she felt her blood boiling. No one had ever dared to talk to her in such a manner before, and she didn't like it one little bit. “You little slut, you are going to regret the way you just talked to me. I'm going to make it my mission to make your life a living hell. Wherever you go, I will be there, every time you look over your shoulder, you'll see me.” Giving Rosalee a shove, she turned and walked away.

Eve got up and went over to her. “Don't let that cow get to you. If she causes any problems, I'm sure Ace will put a stop to it.”

“I want to go home,” Rosalee said sadly. As brave of a front she had put up in front of Clarice, she was trembling inside.

Eve placed her hand on Rosalee's shoulder. “The men are outside, let's go to them.”

When they stepped out onto the patio, they saw Ace and Brett talking, and they were barely touching their cigars.

Ace had gotten to know her pretty well and could always tell when she was upset, no matter how hard she tried to hide it. “Sweetheart, has something happened?” He asked when the girls got to them.

“Yeah, that bitch of an ex of yours,” Eve said before Rosalee could answer.

Not wanting him to cause a scene, she placed her hand on his arm. “It’s nothing, I would just like to go home now.”

He wasn’t going to walk away without knowing what had happened. “Rosalee, I want you to tell me what she did or said, and if you don’t, then I will go ask her myself.”

She knew that if she didn’t tell him, he would go to Clarice and cause a scene, and that was the last thing she wanted. So reluctantly, she told him everything.

He placed the palm of his hand against her cheek. “I’m so sorry for what she said to you, she is only trying to cause trouble. I’m going to go and set her straight once and for all.”

She grabbed a hold of his hand. “Please, don’t make it any worse than it is. Let’s just go home and forget about her. If you say anything to her, it’s only going to make her angrier, and then God knows what she’ll do. I’m sure she was just trying to scare me.”

“Ace, you should have seen how Rosalee got right in her face and basically told her to fuck herself. I think you would have been very proud of the way she stuck up for herself.”

He smiled at Eve. “I am always proud of her. I guess I better take my woman home. If you two want to stay, I can arrange for a cab to pick you up, or I can give you a ride home now.”

“We’re ready to go home,” Eve replied and saw that Brett was agreeing with her.

After dropping off the two, they headed to Ace’s place, which was now going to be her home. It was still bothering him the way Clarice verbally attacked the woman he loved. He was not going to let it go; he was going to find a way to get her and his so-called brother to back off.

When they got home, and he turned off the car, she turned to him and smiled. “I still can’t believe that I’m going to be living here, with you.”

He took a hold of her hand and kissed it. “Believe it, this is our home. Welcome home, sweetheart,” he said, leaning over as he kissed her. After the kiss, he got out and went over and opened the door for her to get out. When she did, he picked her up in his arms.

“What are you doing?” she asked when he carried her to the door.

“I’m carrying you over the threshold to your new home. Not only that, I’m going to carry you straight upstairs to our bedroom, remove your clothes, and ravish you until you can no longer take it. So I suggest when we get up there, you remove your dress, or it will be removed for you. And believe me, it will not be in one piece.”