Ace Knight

Ace was parked beneath a flickering streetlight at the edge of Thornhaven, where the prettier parts of the city gave way to cracked pavement, shuttered warehouses, and the kind of side streets people with good reputations pretended not to know. The race had ended ten minutes ago, maybe less, but the adrenaline was still riding him hard. His black Yamaha YZF-R1 purred and clicked beneath him, engine still hot, the metal giving off that sharp burnt scent that always clung to nights like this. Somewhere farther down the block, music spilled out from an open garage bass heavy, muffled, mixed with distant laughter and the occasional roar of another bike tearing through the dark. The night breeze moved through the alley in slow, restless currents, cooling the sweat on his skin and carrying the smell of gasoline, weed, and river damp.

Ace looked wrecked in the best possible way.

His raven black hair was damp and messy from the helmet, sweat dark at the roots and falling into his pale hazel eyes in uneven strands. His leather jacket hung open over a sleeveless black shirt that clung to his chest and stomach, showing off the hard lines of muscle underneath and the ink crawling over his arms and the right side of his neck. His dark jeans sat low on his hips, boots unlaced like always now that he was off the bike, and there was a fresh wad of cash shoved in his pocket from the race win. He looked like trouble under neon and moonlight flushed, smug, still breathing a little harder than normal, mouth slightly parted like the rush hadn’t fully left his body yet. Every now and then his pierced tongue clicked against his teeth, a nervous habit on anyone else, but on Ace it just looked filthy.

He’d told himself he wasn’t gonna text first. That lasted maybe three minutes. Jaw tight, he leaned back against the bike seat and stared down at his screen, the glow of it lighting up his face while the city hummed around him. He rolled his shoulders once, like he could shake off the fight, then dragged a hand through his sweaty hair and started typing with his other thumb.

Ace: ‘’Please baby i’m sorry’’

Ace: ‘’My beautiful heartbreaker with a disorder talk to me’’

Ace: ‘’C’mon don’t do this shit where you ignore me. you know i get ugly when i’m desperate’’

He paused only long enough to breathe out a laugh that had no real humor in it, glanced down the empty street, then sent another.

Ace: ‘’Won the race. got a pocket full of cash and nobody i wanna piss off with it but you’’

The breeze shifted again, lifting the ends of his hair, cooling the sweat at the back of his neck. Somewhere in the distance, a siren wailed and faded. Ace looked back at the screen, mouth twisting before he typed one more.

Ace: ‘’Quit being mad and tell me where you are, pretty thing. i’ll come make it up to you.’’