Top of Your Ambitions

“I literally do not know what to do.” Ace sighed as she plopped down on the sofa seat next to Rian.

The drummer continued to stare his best friend down in alarm. Everything she told him about Wallace Poulsen is so extreme that it just sounds fabricated to him. The only reason he believes the facts to be, indeed, true, is his trust in Ace. She is a professional detective who would not involve her personal life into her professional life. Her distaste for Wallace is not enough to make her wrongfully prosecute the model.

“You are a detective, follow your instincts.” He said, just as lost.

Acacia sighed, nodding in agreement. Her first action would be to think like a homicide detective. This is literally how she defines herself; her personal life decisions are mostly influenced by her professional opinions. If she is going to solve this problem, she is going to have to take the approach of a cop.

“You know what you have to do.” Rian said, “even if you do not like it.”

She made a sound of affirmative, letting him know that she does agree with him.

“I’m going to have to keep the confidentiality between myself and Wallace. I’m going to have to keep all of this away from Zack, even though I really want to tell him, so very badly.”

Acacia thought over this scenario several times ever since her talk with the redhead. A very selfish part of her imagined telling Zack the whole truth about Wallace and he breaks up with the model after feeling distraught about learning her identity. Then after the break up, Zack will come running back into her arms. It is the perfect plan, because the only thing preventing Zack from giving himself over to her is his relationship with Wallace.

She is not that kind of person; she is a homicide cop. Honesty and living by the law is something she respects a lot.

The sound of the lock being turned echoed through the entire living room area, snapping the detective from her selfish train of thoughts. She almost jumped at the sound and instinctively turned to the door. Rian chuckled beside her as the door opened abruptly. Behind the door, Alex and Jack stormed in with huge smiles on their faces. Well, at least for Jack’s smile.

She nearly forgot that Rian invited the pair over for dinner. Correction: Rian invited them over to hang out and eat Chinese takeout. Either way, Ace is not sure how she feels about seeing Alex again, especially after leaving him behind with Liezel and Tomas. She studied him to figure out his emotions towards her.

Alex shot her a small smile, but it did not convince her. There is some uneasiness in his expression that worried her. She opened her mouth to ask him about it but he already beat her to it. He held out his hand and beckoned for her to follow him. She did not know what to do; Alex can be extremely furious with her or extremely vulnerable in front of her. There is no middle ground.

“I need to talk to you for a second.” He said.

“Sure.”

“Privately.” He specified.

Ace shot Rian a brief look before getting up from the couch. The singer turned from her and started heading toward the kitchen. She followed behind him without missing a beat, mentally praying that she will not be having another argument with Alex on this very night.

When Alex reached to the edge of the kitchen, he stopped and turned to her. There’s a sad smile on his face, which answered her question about his mental state.

He is definitely vulnerable.

“Are you okay, Alex?” Ace asked, sincerely concerned for his wellbeing.

Ever since Liezel’s departure from his life, he has been a ticking time bomb. He has been an absolute mess when it comes to his emotions.

“Why didn’t you tell me, Ace?”

“What?”

She is confused.

“I thought, all this time, that maybe there was a chance that I’d get her back.”

“We’re talking about Beckett right?” She scowled at him, trying to figure out where he is going with this.

Alex sighed loudly with his shoulders slumped.

“This one time we broke up and it was during the French Open; she slept with that Czech bastard.”

Acacia nodded in agreement.

“They had hot shower sex.” She noted.

When his eyes widened, she quickly shot him an apologetic look.

“Okay, I did not need to know that.” He held both his hands up, almost defensively.

Ace managed a mini-chuckle before pulling her serious face again. Alex is not in the right emotional state of mind, and laughing and joking about the sexual nature of his ex-girlfriend’s relationship with her current boyfriend is not the way to go.

“Liezel would never do anything of this nature with him unless she legitimately believed that their relationship will work. All this time, she knew that she would have this chance to be intimate with him. She believed that she would end up with him.”

“That’s not true, Alex… it was just a fling.”

“No, she doesn’t do flings with freaking Tomas Berdych; anyone else during our breaks, yeah! But not him.” Alex said defiantly.

“Alex, listen to…”

“You knew she had a sexual relationship with him and you didn’t tell me. If I had known, I would’ve given up on her. It would have been easier to let go of her.”

Ace placed a hand on his shoulder, feeling actual sympathy for him. She understands the nature of Liezel’s strong friendship with the Czech before all this. The tennis starlet would never allow meaningless flings to ruin their tight-knit friendship; so yes, the fling did represent the promise and belief that they will end up together.

“I’m so sorry, Alex. But I can’t exactly tell you every past relationship she has ever had that you knew nothing about. Every fling and hook up that I have knowledge of… that’s just weird. You are her ex boyfriend and I am her friend.”

He raised his eyebrows at her.

“So you are saying that you know something else?”

“Well… there’s this one thing, freshmen year October…” Ace trailed off, scratching the back of her blonde head nervously.

Alex leaned in closer to her, anxious and desperate to attain new knowledge. It is hard for Acacia to pinpoint what Alex is feeling right now. His words are telling her that knowing that Liezel held belief that she and Tomas would have a chance helps him move on from her. With the knowledge of the two never having a chance together again, it is easier for him to stop fighting for her. But they had more than a ten-year relationship; it is hard to just let go.

She is not convinced that he is completely capable of getting over her.

“Well?” Alex tapped his foot impatiently.

Sighing, Ace dropped her head.

“Beckett is going to kill me…”

“We’ve broken up so why does it matter?”

Ace bit her lips, shaking her head profusely.

“Don’t be mad, okay?”

Alex opened his mouth but she held a hand out for him to close it. He did quickly.

“Rian has no knowledge of this…”

“Damn, shit’s serious.”

She can choose to keep this information from Alex since she made a pact with Liezel to never speak of this event. But she felt so bad for Alex that she needed him to know. It will help Alex move on from Liezel, maybe it just will. Alex has lived through the years getting used to the thought that he is her only one and first choice.

It is not the case in truth.

“I don’t want you to get mad.”

“Just tell me, Ace, please.”

Nodding, Ace decided to just tell him, but gradually.

“Beckett and I actually knew each other in middle school. Well, we were definitely not friends. Obviously we ran with different people, her with her tennis people and me with my preppy honors people—wow that sounds so cliché.”

Alex cleared his throat.

“As you were saying…?”

“Oh okay, it was established, solely between the two of us, that we were interested in the same guy. She knew I wanted the D and vice versa…” She chuckled at the way she worded everything.

The singer is shocked to find that he is not the first person Liezel had yearned for, but maybe it is just a stupid, silly middle school crush.

“We didn’t tell anyone about this, well because we kind of wanted the competition to be fair. Whoever he chooses would win fair and square. I do not know why we worked like that, maybe we have some sort of respect for each other and even for ourselves.”

“So what happened?” Alex asked.

“So we tried talking to him and befriending him throughout the last year of middle school. Neither of us seemed to be making much progress. Then, freshmen year, we decided to come up with something drastic… so very drastic, I almost still regret it to this day.” Ace nearly shuddered at the memory.

She did not want to tell it because she is so embarrassed that this even happened at all. The teenage version of herself is definitely not the sharpest tool in the shack.

“You are making me nervous, Acacia.” He sighed.

“We planned to both seduce him, under wraps and all at his place. The plan is to do it at the same time, let him experience the two of us together so it will rush and make his decisions a lot easier.”

Alex’s eyes widened and a flicker of hurt appeared on his face before it disappeared to slight amusement.

“You and Liezel had a threesome with this guy?”

Biting her lips, Ace nodded.

“So like you guys like all made out and shit?”

“Oh my god, I am so embarrassed right now. Why did I even bother telling you this?” Ace covered both her hands over her face.

Alex grinned at the thought of his ex-girlfriend making out with another chick, the attractive one standing in front of him. It is such a tragedy that he did not hear of this story until now. Another, more crucial part of him is hurt that Liezel would go through drastic measures just to win some other guy over.

“So was Liezel a good kisser back then?” Alex asked to cover the somber part of his emotions.

Sighing loudly once again, she nodded.

“She was great in fact.”

“Damn.”

“For the record, whatever you have seen and done with her body—been there done that way before you did, so technically, I win. But now this shit is so awkward to think about, considering the fact that Beckett and I are great friends now.”

Alex chuckled, patting her shoulder slowly.

“Alright, who is this lucky guy?”

“Do I have to tell you, Alex?” She groaned loudly.

“Yeah! You can’t just tell me that you’ve had sex and made out with my ex-girlfriend and not give me the extra details! Leaving a man hanging like that, come on, Ace!”

She shook her head profusely, covering her face with both her hands. Maybe it is a good thing to tell Alex everything because then it will give his relationship with Liezel some type of closure, something she never had with Zack.

“Well, Liezel fell madly in love with you and I with Zack, so… it shouldn’t matter, this other guy I mean.”

“Wait, so Liezel had a threesome with you and two months later, she’s dating me?”

Acacia laughed.

“Well, after that night, he established the fact that he does not want a relationship with any of us. So I made a pact with Beckett to pretend that none of this happened.”

“Who is the guy, Ace?”

“Do I have to tell you?”

“Ace.” He stared at her sternly.

She let out a loud groan once more and dropped her hands from her face.

“Jack.” She said.

“Who?”

“It’s Jack.”

Notes

Thanks to SarahBethBarakat for commenting on last chapter!