ACE

I hadn’t stopped thinking about her. Not when I got home that night and not when I was snorting copious amounts of coke to numb my senses. And… definitely not the next morning, when I woke up hungover and coming down off all the shit I’d taken. She was still there, the first thing on my mind the second my eyes opened. There was no other choice. I had to get back there and talk to her.

The guys didn’t get it. They were content to take any woman to bed. And there was hardly a lack of them. Groupies and fans were a dime a dozen most days. It was actually harder to keep them out of our beds than get them in. But it was always the same story. They loved the band; they wanted to be a singer or an actress. And of course, the inevitable Could we help them, or maybe lend them some money to get them back on their feet? Or it was that they were just doing it temporarily until they’d saved up enough for college. It was always the same story, and I was sick of it. I’d fallen head over heels more times than I could remember and in the end, all they ever wanted was to ride the coattails of my success. You’d think this would leave me jaded about love. Unable or unwilling to even try. Nope. This old heart still had hope. And right now, that hope came in the form of a girl whose real name I didn’t even know.

The guys, of course, had spent copious amounts of time reminding me of all this, and I knew they were right. This wasn’t my first rodeo… so why didn’t I follow my own advice? Why was I obsessing over this blonde-haired beauty from Sunset Dreams? I had no idea. But I was a big believer that things happened for a reason and, if only for that, it was enough to make me pursue things further.

So, I went back.

I was at the door by 4pm when the club opened and in complete undercover gear. Jax knew where I was, but he was sworn to secrecy. If Devon found out that I was alone, all hell would break loose, and that was the last thing I wanted. Sometimes, I just wanted to be a regular guy and today was that day.

Hopefully, my attire would work to my advantage again. Baseball cap pulled down low over my eyes, sunglasses, jeans and a black t-shirt. I could have been anyone, but hopefully no one. Except I was the only one there at that hour, so maybe it was too obvious. In an attempt at being conspicuous, I took a seat in one of the more hidden booths in the back, ordered a beer and settled in to wait. Several hours and too many beers later, I finally asked the waitress. “You know if that Candy girl will be here tonight?” I asked casually, taking a swig of beer and trying not to slur my words.

Shit… drunk was not how I wanted to present myself.

The girl smirked. “Got a thing for her, huh? You and everyone else.” She laughed before walking away.

Everyone else? What the hell did that mean? Just the thought of other men asking for her by name, made my blood boil. I wasn’t like them.

“What’s her real name?” I called out.

The waitress laughed over her shoulder. “You’ll have to ask her that.”

Fuck.

I settled myself back into the plush velvet, lit up another cigarette, and took a long drag. I sat there a long time that night, but she never showed.

***

A few days later, the guys and I were heading out after rehearsal when I suggested going back to Sunset Dreams. I’d been back one other time since that first night by myself, but it hadn’t worked. The first time she hadn’t showed and the second, that sleazy Ron guy told me she was with other clients and would be unavailable after stage time. I’d tried twice and twice no luck. Maybe I needed my crew with me.

“Aw look…” Gage chuckled. “Ace can’t wait to get his hands on that stripper again! Are you in love with her?” he teased.

“Shut up.” I grumbled.

“Fine, we’ll go there, but only for a bit. It’s not my favorite place.” Rocco complained. “I liked our old spot better,” he grumbled. “Good thing I’ll do anything for you, my friend.” He continued, slapping me on the back.

“Thanks, my friend.” I acknowledged.

It was already late, but as soon as we got to the club I knew it was useless. Once again, she wasn’t there. This time we took a booth in the back and the girl subbing for her had Jax by the balls within minutes. They headed off to the private room in the back and I sighed.

“That was supposed to be me and that Candy girl tonight,” I said wistfully.

“Shut up!” Rocco laughed. “You don’t even know her real name and you’ve only watched her dance, what… Once? Twice? Have you even talked to her yet?”

“Fuck off Roc…” I grumbled. “You may be right, but I know that there’s more to her than just this.” I motioned around the club. “I felt it that first moment I saw her. I’m gonna find her.”

Gage and Devon laughed. “What a romantic! What will we do with this guy?”

I guess maybe I was.

Unfortunately, this lifestyle wasn’t conducive to what I wanted and the couple of times that I thought I’d found love, I’d been burned badly.

Sarina had been my last girlfriend. We’d met when she was temping as a secretary for our last manager. She was like a sexy librarian with her glasses, messy up-do and miniskirts. She’d had me all twisted up and panting like a puppy within days of meeting her. We’d dated for six months. And almost the entire time, I was funding her life. It had started out slowly with spotting her for cash here and there. Then her mom needed hand surgery and her insurance didn’t cover it, so I did. Then her credit cards had an issue, and she was hard up for money. Or someone in her family needed liquid assets and their money was all tied up. It was always something. And it was always a story about why she couldn’t pay me back. Not that I needed to be paid back, but soon it became par for the course that I would always pick up the tab for everyone and everything in her life. When she wanted to be part of my contract negations with the label, that’s when I knew it had gone too far. I voiced my concerns and as I did; she became more and more aggressive and demanding. When I hesitated to pay for a spa weekend around the same time, she’d freaked out on me. But after she maxed out all her other credit cards, my refusal to open another for her prompted a public retaliation. Soon, she was verbally attacking me for everything and I was at a loss as to how I’d even gotten to that point.

I was out of fifty grand by the time our six months together were up. There was no choice but to let her go. It had become far more than I was willing to spend on love.

Sarina had gutted me and left me for dead and in the process, she’d ruined any will I had left to trust. It took me almost a year to even entertain the thought of love again. Who knows, maybe fame and love were not things that could go hand in hand. I still wasn’t sure, but for this new girl, I was willing to at least try and find out.