Page 38 of The Fire We Make

Not the color or shape but the fire and the shadows within them.

Ace wanted to know what had put them there.

Staring at Joy, Ace vowed to uncover what secrets lay behind her eyes. He was drawn to her in ways he’d never been to any other woman and her presence didn’t feel like that of a stranger.

He was attracted to her, yes. The way his pants tightened in her presence made that clear. But more than that he was intrigued. She was beautiful, delicate in ways she tried to hide but protected by the prickly thorns she surrounded herself with. Speckled with red, he likened her to a rose.

Pretty and prickly.

His pants tightened uncomfortably at his crotch at the memory of how her lips tasted. How her lush body felt in his hands. It had been difficult to put the memories out of his head before but now that she was close enough to reach out and touch again, his body recalled everything his mind tried to downplay.

Ace’s thoughts were interrupted by Senior starting the staff meeting. With one last glance, he broke he and Joy’s staring competition but not before mentally promising to learn more about the woman with danger in her eyes and anger rolling off of her in waves.

That evening, the soothing melodies of John Coltrane’s saxophone floated through the speakers in Ace’s office as he poured himself three fingers of scotch.

Amos Toussaint had left not too long ago and Ace needed a moment to decompress and cleanse his space of the tension and business that still lingered. Amos was understanding of the issue with the ports but Ace sensed that a notch of distrust had been marked against him.

He knew that he’d only be extended so much grace as a new Boss before questions were raised about his fitness to rule. He needed to ensure problems such as these never arose again.

As soon as he got comfortable, his office phone rang on his desk.

“Yeah?” he answered.

“Mr. King, Mr. Kincaid is here to see you,” Jess said on the other end of the receiver.

Ace sighed. “Send him up.” Clearly, his break time was over.

He threw back the rest of his drink and a few moments later, a knock sounded on his door before it was pushed open.

Isaac walked through the door. When he reached Ace’s desk, he extended his hand and without standing, Ace dapped him up. They hadn’t spoken since their exchange of words at Ace’s party a few weeks prior.

“What can I do for you?” Ace asked, waving towards the empty chair across from him.

Isaac sat with a small smile on his face. “You know why I’m here, man.”

Ace chuckled. “You a persistent motherfucka, huh?”

Isaac chuckled nervously with a shrug. “I want you to know I’m serious about this. I heard about what happened with the shipments and figured I could help. Maybe if I take over handling the relationships with the docks and facilitating the pickups, there can’t be any more confusion.”

Ace leaned back in his seat, pulling his lighter from his pocket.

“Let’s bring it up at our next meeting,” Ace proposed. He still wasn’t completely sure about integrating Isaac further into the business. He was as flashy as Von, possibly more, but whereas Von kept his connection to the family and legitimate businesses out of the public eye, Isaac wanted the best of both worlds and that was dangerous.

Isaac smacked his lips. “There you go with that shit again. Is you the boss or ain’t you? What, you gotta run it by daddy first?”

Ace did one long blink, then looked down into his empty glass. “I must be drunk and hearing shit,” he mumbled to himself.

He looked up at Isaac. “I’m drunk and hearing shit right?”

“Ace I’m just⁠—“

“Because talking to me like that would be crazy and you know that.”

“My bad man. For real. I’m just tryna pull my weight and continue my grandfather’s legacy, same as you.”

Ace’s temper cooled a bit but he was done talking.

“I’ll see you at the meeting and we’ll talk,” Ace ended the conversation.