Top of Your Ambitions

Acacia entered the loft with her younger teenage sister, Breck in tow. Rian invited them both in graciously and accepted a nice gift bag from the high school girl. The blonde detective straightened out her thigh-length black dress while placing her large bundle of gifts on the floor.

“Merry Christmas, Rian!” Breck exclaimed enthusiastically.

The drummer pulled the girl into a hug, kissing her forehead affectionately. Rian had always been a better parental figure to her than Ace can ever be, and it is obvious that Breck preferred his company over her own sister’s. Because of her job, Acacia did not have much time to spare for taking care of her younger sister. Rian usually stepped in and took responsibilities for the seventeen year old girl.

Ace and Breck’s parents died about seven years ago, right before Acacia went off to University of Pennsylvania for college. Ace intended on going to UPenn’s Wharton School of Business, but the death of her parents inspired her to divert her attention to law. That is how she ended up focusing on law in the university and pursuing a career as a law enforcer.

Unfortunately, during Acacia’s absence, Breck was sent away to their aunt in California for four years. Acacia claimed responsibilities for her own sister right after she graduated and accepted a job at the Baltimore precinct.

“Merry Christmas!” Rian gestured for the two of them to walk further into the living room.

When they walked into the living room, Ace noticed that everyone had already arrived before they had. The detective greeted everyone, trying to avert her gaze from Zack and Wallace Poulsen. The couple is situated on the sofa, cuddled together too closely for Ace’s comfort. She ignored them and approached Jack and his supermodel girlfriend, Dale Levine.

Dale Levine is the face of the Lockheart Empire, frequently headlining their fashion shows and representing the industry in magazine spreads. She is the most desired model in Lockheart Empire. Loki Lockheart, an aspiring lawyer who never expected to inherit such a household name, currently heads the empire.

When his father, Conrad Lockheart, headed the company, he groomed his eldest son, Raphael to inherit the company. However, Raphael died in a car accident while he was in a damaged vehicle with Dale, who was his fiancé at the time. Unfortunately, family tragedies do not end with the death of Raphael. Just this August, Conrad Lockheart was shot during a Lockheart fashion show. Ace herself led the investigation and eventually found the murderer.

Their prime suspect was Jack Barakat at the start, but eventually, they’ve recovered evidence that proved that gossip blogger, Lily Segat was in fact the perpetrator. Because Ace and her team solved such a high profile case, they’ve been invited to Lockheart events frequently due to Loki’s generosity and even got a raise from their captain.

“Hey Ace!” Jack greeted excitedly.

“Jack!” Ace walked over to the guitarist and pulled him into a hug.

Dale shot the detective a small smile. The two do not get along as well; the supermodel still blames Ace for arresting Jack for the death of Conrad Lockheart. The fact that Ace released Jack on the second day did not make amends for making him a prime suspect in the first place. Acacia awkwardly returned the smile before gesturing for her sister to sit down.

Rian patted down on the seat next to him for Ace to take and she did without hesitation.

“Where is Carol on this fine holiday?” Acacia noticed that Rian’s girlfriend is nowhere to be found.

She was supposed to arrive this morning.

“She’s not going to come.” Rian scowled.

“And why is that?”

“It’s not that important.” He brushed the topic off much too quickly for Ace’s liking.

She did not like Carol as she should for being Rian’s best friend. The woman is a bit paranoid and uneasy when it comes to her friendship with Rian. Carol always felt threatened by Ace when it comes to Rian no matter how many times she’s assured his girlfriend that she has absolutely nothing to worry about.

“Ace, I got you a Christmas present!” Alex brought up from the other side of the sofa.

Ace raised an eyebrow. They had done secret Santa as they had for the past decade, but Alex had never been the one to bring it up before the exchange began.

“You are my secret Santa?” Ace asked.

The singer nodded, getting up from the sofa seat. He showed up at this mini-party alone and he is not very happy about it, Ace can tell. Ever since their freshmen year of high school, Alex had been dating a woman by the name of Liezel Beckett. She is his high school sweetheart and a top ranked tennis player. The two had been going through some relationship difficulties during the fall season, and eventually they broke up when Liezel caught him cheating on her with Loki’s sister and Dale’s best friend, Kaya Lockheart.

Liezel eventually left him for Chicago—and she began dating a fellow tennis player.

“Even though I am still not very happy with you…” Alex pulled out a box from underneath the Christmas tree, “I thought that you deserved to have the present of your dreams!”

Acacia rolled her eyes at the lead singer. He still blamed her for what had happened with Liezel. The detective encouraged the tennis player to run off to Chicago with her now-boyfriend—and Alex is really bummed out about that.

When she opened the box, she removed the nice thin paper and frowned at the framed picture inside. Her head shot up as her eyes narrowed. This guy needs to give it a rest.

“Are you fucking kidding me, Gaskarth?” She growled.

Jack laughed, not understanding the seriousness of this situation. He covered Breck’s ears humorously.

“Shh, just pretend that your sister did not just cuss.”

Alex and Ace stared each other down for several moments, both eyes narrowed and lips curled into bitter snarls. It is obvious that there is high tension between the two and neither is willing to forgive each other.

Rian placed an arm on Ace’s shoulder in concern.

“What is in the box?” He asked softly.

Sighing in frustration, Ace picked up the framed picture from the box and held it out for everyone to see. Gasps and awkward cleared throats spread throughout the room when the revealed picture consisted of the current power couple of tennis on the red carpet. Liezel Beckett is dressed in a beautiful black dress, the body con shape doing her curves justice. The most beautiful thing about her isn’t the black dress but her smile. Her brown eyes sparkled and signified real happiness.

Beside her is Tomas Berdych, Liezel’s best friend in the industry. Now they are dating, to Alex’s absolute dismay. Tomas’s mesmerizing blue eyes is the only other color in the photograph aside from the red colored carpet. He is wearing a black tuxedo and white tie, an arm snaked around her waist with an equally compelling smile.

“Alex, you need to grow up.” Rian remarked.

He felt so cynical over the new coupling that he had to torment Ace over it; she was the one who allowed Liezel to run off with the Czech tennis player.

“So I’m supposed to be okay with the fact that the love of my life is dating some replica version of herself?”

There was an awkward silence that followed. Dale is uncomfortable in her position because Kaya is her best friend and Alex’s affair with Kaya was the reason why things went sour between all parties. She glanced at Jack helplessly, silently pleading for him to end this agony.

Ace shook her head at the singer in disbelief, getting up from her seat on the sofa. However, Jack is the one who decided to speak up.

“Well, I guess that Beckett finally found her Czech-mate, yeah??” He tried at a pun.

Breck suppressed her laughter, lightly punching the guitarist by the arm. She immediately stopped when she noticed the hurt expression on Alex’s face. After shooting him an apologetic look, she looked back down on her lap.

“Jack.” Zack warned, shooting his friend a hardened look.

He noticed how serious Alex felt about Liezel and understood that Jack’s attempt of a joke did not lessen the tension in the room. He placed a hand on Alex’s arm in comfort but did nothing to help.

The blonde detective shook her head again and dropped the box onto the floor.

“Unless the exchanging ceremony is going to pick back up from here, where the hell is the food?” She asked impatiently.

Rian got up from the seat as well and led her straight to the kitchen. He noticed how uncomfortable Alex is making her feel, deciding it is best to give her some time to cool off—away from Alex.

“That son of a bitch needs to realize that Beckett is dating that sexy Czech man because he let her. It is not my problem!”

Rian placed both hands on either side of her arms, trying his best to shush her. He whispered for her to calm down and she finally allowed herself to do so after he soothed her.

The drummer opened a pot of potato salad and reached over for a plate. He knew that Ace liked her potato salads, and not for health reasons—she just really likes them.

“Rian?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for backing me up out there.” She said quietly.

“I got your back anytime!” Rian chuckled as he dumped contents of the salad on the plate.

After he was done, he placed it in her hands. She took them and reached for a set of silverware before walking back out to the living room. Fortunately for her, the topic of interest is no longer on her friend Liezel and her new boyfriend.

“Loki Lockheart did not invite me to the New Years Eve party!” Jack said, offended.

Ace sat back down on her previous spot and watched as Rian retook his seat beside her. The chatters filled the room, immediately lightening up the mood in the room. The dozen people inside the living room no longer remembered the previous conflict between Alex and Ace, to her absolute relief.

“You did not get invited because Loki Lockheart does not give a shit about you.” Dale teased.

Jack pouted, shaking his head in disbelief.

“However, as I am a Lockheart model, I get an invite to the party and a spot for my plus one… so who do you think I am going to give the invite to?”

Jack’s face lit up again and he wrapped both arms around his girlfriend.

“I want to go too!” Breck exclaimed from her seat beside Jack.

“I can get you an invite if you want, Breck, but you need your sister’s permission because you know how these end of the year parties go.” Dale said.

Breck rolled her eyes as they landed on Ace, who is trying to hide the fact that she is glaring at Zack while in her conversation with Rian. She shook her head in defeat before turning back to the Lockheart model.

“Yeah, I don’t think I’d be able to make it to the party if I need herpermission.”

Ace is still unaware of the fact that there is a whole other conversation about her, immersed in a conversation with Rian.

“You know, I have a present for you that I need to give you later.” He said.

“Really? I got something for you as well!”

“I knew you’d get me something!” Rian feigned excitement.

Acacia rolled her eyes.

When their conversation subsided briefly, her eyes wandered over to Zack and Wallace. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly as the two smiled at each other in their conversation. Zack has an arm around his girlfriend and she looks beyond happy to be in his presence. Just by observing them, Ace knows that Wallace will never take him for granted.

They have such a wonderful relationship that it made her upset.

“Ace?” Rian cleared his throat.

The blonde quickly averted her gaze from the couple. She broke into a smile to cover the discomforting feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“You really need to take more time out of your work to date.” Rian suggested.

She laughed at him, making a sound of disagreement.

“I do not need a man to make my life; I am too busy with my job to date people.”

“Oh please, if you give it a chance, it’ll happen. If you change your mind, I definitely have a list of bachelors lined up for you!”

“Only you, Rian, only you!”

Ace knows that her best friend understands the real reason why she did not go out more and find time to date. But neither of them is willing to verbally admit it aloud.

The honest truth is that Acacia does not want to date just anyone, she only wants to date him.

Notes

Comments?