Aced by Ella Frank, Brooke Blaine Read Free Book Online

shape, but once we hit day three and had to take what we learned and do it in a fake storm, my stamina was beat to shit. Thank God we had the weekend off before shooting began on Monday.  
    I tipped back my sports drink, taking long pulls of the cool liquid. It wasn’t just my thirst that had me drawing out my exit to get a start on the weekend—I was also half hoping a certain someone would move in my direction.  
    After Ace had shut me down fast earlier in the week, I’d kept my distance, since that seemed to be what he said he wanted. Emphasis on said . What he did , however, was a different story. He had no shame in watching me when he thought I wasn’t looking, and fuck if that wasn’t a stroke to my ego.  
    Someone’s always watching.
    Wasn’t that the goddamn truth. I could tell you where he was in the room without even turning in his direction. Like now. He was near the exit door, gym bag over his shoulder and talking to Ron.  
    Jesus, this is pathetic. Just go talk to him.  
    After tossing the empty bottle in my bag to reuse later, I yanked the zipper up and turned to leave, but Russ stepped in front of me and I halted.
    “Hey,” he said, giving me a shy smile. “You have plans tonight?”  
    “Actually, I was thinking a date with my bath and a bag of Epsom salt sounded pretty damn good.”
    “Oh. Right. Yeah, that doesn’t sound too bad after this week,” he said. It looked like he wanted to add something to that, but instead he shoved his hands in his pockets and looked down at the ground.  
    I waited for him to continue, but when he didn’t, I said, “So you’ve got a hot date or something?”
    His head snapped up. “Me? Uh, no. No hot date, I just… Well, my roommate mentioned there’s a new club that just opened in West Hollywood.”
    “Yeah?”
    “Yeah. So I was just gonna say if you aren’t busy you should join me, but I mean, if you’ve got plans already—”
    “I’m free tomorrow.”
    “What?”
    “Tomorrow,” I said, my lips quirking up. “If that’s good with you.”
    Something akin to relief swept over Russ’s face. “That would be cool. Yeah, tomorrow works.” Then he pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to me so I could type in my number. “Make sure to rest up,” he said, and when my eyebrows shot up at the insinuation in his words, he blushed. “I mean for dancing, not… Anyway. I’ll call you.”
    “You do that.” I watched him as he hurried out the door, and it was then that I noticed Ace must’ve left.
    Well, hell. There goes another wasted moment. I shrugged my bag up my shoulder and trudged toward the exit, letting the door slam shut behind me.  
    “So do I get your number too?”
    When I turned around, Ace was leaning against the building with his thick arms crossed over his chest. A sheen of sweat covered his tanned skin, most of which I could see through his white tank. Dear God, why couldn’t you give me this guy as my grappling partner?  
    “ You want my number?”  
    “You seem to be giving it away pretty freely, so…” He shrugged. “Why not?”
    “Ah, okay. So this is about you feeling excluded.”
    “No, it’s about safety.”
    “Safety?”
    “Well,” Ace said, and rubbed his chin. “What if there’s an emergency?”
    I laughed and shook my head. “Yeah. Right.”
    “So you’ll give it to blondie, but you won’t give it to me? Hardly seems fair.”
    “You watching me?”
    “Didn’t I tell you, Dylan?” he said, pushing off the wall and letting his arms drop to his sides. “Someone’s always watching.”
    I looked around the empty lot and then back at him. “I don’t see anyone around, so why don’t you just ask me for what you really want?”
    “What did blondie want?”
    “A date.”
    “So you’re going out with him, then?”
    “Tomorrow. He doesn’t seem to have the same policy as you have when it comes to kissing. So why not.”
    “Huh.” Ace tossed his keys up in the air and caught