Ace (Cerberus MC Tennessee Chapter Book 2), page 1
Table of Contents
Ace
Copyright
Cerberus MC
Synopsis
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Social Media Links
OTHER BOOKS FROM MARIE JAMES
Ace
Cerberus MC
Tennessee Chapter
Book 2
Copyright
Ace: Cerberus MC TN Chapter Book 2
Copyright © 2024 Marie James
Editing by Marie James Betas & Ms. K Edits
EBooks are not transferable. All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded, or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale, or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Cerberus MC
New to Cerberus MC? Every book is about a new couple! They’re best read in order so you can experience the growth of these characters in chronological order, but it’s not necessary!
Cerberus MC began with KINCAID in the original New Mexico chapter!
There is also a prequel novella that explains the VERY BEGINNING of the club. You can grab that HERE on my website!
Cerberus Gatlinburg, TN Chapter
Hemlock
Ace
Jericho
Synopsis
It's not hard to see how weak love makes a man.
He watched that love flow from his best friend's body; the crimson flowing out around him like a river.
If love leaves you on the business end of a knife, then he has no interest.
And that's how Eddie "Ace" Yarrow has lived his life for the last ten years—independent and alone.
But honestly, it goes back further than that.
He left Cerberus over thirty years ago because he wanted to make a difference closer to home.
And although he made great strides in his career, a man always tends to go back to his roots.
His forced vacation from ICE has left him working a job for Cerberus.
Cora Preston isn't trying to make his life harder, but she doesn't understand why they're not getting results.
Cerberus is taking too long to find her missing sister, and inserting herself into the investigation is her only choice.
The two butt heads more than once, and neither of them can predict just how close this investigation is going to bring them together.
Prologue
Ace
"Is he going to live?" Mike asks the second I walk into the living room of the house ICE has us in while working these cases with the Cerberus MC.
"It won't be the stab wound that kills him," I mutter as I grab a bottle of water from the fridge before plopping down on the sofa opposite the one Mike is sitting on.
We hadn't crossed paths in a few days, and a lot has happened since New Year's Eve.
"Again with this shit?" Mike groans, leaning his head back on the couch and looking up at the ceiling as if there are answers to unspoken questions there.
"Explain to me why some people just can't get laid without falling in love?" I challenge. "He's no different from the rest of them. A damsel in distress is all it takes to make even the hardest men turn soft and fucking gooey. I thought he'd be different. They never are."
"It's not the end of the world."
"It could be," I argue.
Plenty of good men have been taken down because of this concept of love and thinking that's all that matters, but I've seen time and again how destructive even the idea of it can be.
"This new group was supposed to be different. They were solid hard-asses that see nothing but the job in front of them. I blame Hemlock's brief stay in New Mexico. He clearly drank whatever was in the fucking water over there. He couldn't make it through one fucking case before he got heart eyes and started seeing rainbows and damn butterflies and shit."
Mike chuckles, and I know he might be getting a little frustrated over the number of times we've had to have these conversations.
"I fully understand why you see life through this broken lens, man, but most people aren't built to be alone. Isn't it human nature?"
I side-eye the man, wondering just by his tone if he isn't thinking of someone special.
I shake my head. "It's biological. It's attraction and that animalistic need to mate, nothing else. Humans are just stupid and they can't separate the two."
I take a long drink of my water, wondering how so many people get it all wrong.
"Maybe you just haven't found the one yet," he argues.
"The one?" I scoff. "I'm fifty-nine years old. The one doesn't exist."
"You're just not looking hard enough."
"I'm not looking at all," I counter. "If someone told me this so-called soulmate was right around the corner, I'd turn and book it in the opposite direction. I've got no need for distractions and complications. They're a waste of time, and, in our field of work, they're dangerous."
I know that more than he does, probably, but I wouldn't wish my experiences and failures on anyone. The demons of regret are hard to shoulder a lot of the time.
"So you're saying Hemlock took a wrong turn? I've met the guy. I don't think he was looking either."
"I don't know what happened with him, honestly. I met Zara, put myself in her path to try and figure out what was so appealing. I mean, the woman is a knockout, but burning a career over her? I just can't see it."
"I don't think it would ever happen while you're working. Knowing your ass, you'll fall in love when you're in a nursing home or on your deathbed. I think you'll regret not jumping on the train sooner."
I open my mouth to argue, but there's a knock on the front door.
Mike and I both look at each other, both our heads shaking to confirm that we aren't expecting anyone. Each of us pulls out a firearm as I cautiously make my way to the door. You can never be too safe in this day and age, especially when we both have a lot of irons in the fire and have such a dangerous job. Getting lax and distracted is what can get you killed.
Relief washes over me when I look through the peephole, smiling when Kincaid, founder and president of the New Mexico Cerberus chapter, gives me a little wave as if he can sense me on the other side of the door.
"I expected you sooner," I say when I pull open the door. The man never did know when to leave things alone. He's more likely to want to sit down and treat a situation like a therapy session, not wanting anyone in any given situation to walk away feeling like they were mistreated. I know exactly why he's here, and, honestly, I knew we'd have a conversation like this at some point while trying to get this endeavor off the ground. I'd just hoped it wouldn't have had to come so damn soon.
Kincaid holds his hand out, and I don't hesitate to shake it as he steps into the house.
Once upon a time, I, too, was a Cerberus member. It feels like a lifetime ago, and I've always wondered how things would've turned out if I hadn't left. I've spent many years wishing things were different, wondering which decision I made that took me down the path I ended up on. So many things could've been different, but living in the what-could've-been is dangerous, and deadly if I let them get too tight of a hold on me.
"Micah asked about you the last time he and Lucy came to visit."
Micah Cobreski. When I was a Cerberus team member with my best friend Noah Upton, he was known as Snake. I guess a couple of decades out of the club transitioned him back to his given name rather than the nickname he picked up in the Corps.
"I hear he has a few grandkids now," I say, trying to keep up the small talk, even though it tends to grate on my nerves.
"He does," Kincaid says with a smile as he drops his ass onto the couch.
"I'll give you guys the chance to catch up," Mike says, dipping his head in a quick hello to Kincaid before leaving the room.
"Where's your sidekick?" I ask, feeling like a
"Hound? He's back at the house with the other guys."
"He traveled with you because he's your son-in-law?"
Kincaid watches me as I take the seat Mike vacated, and I can't determine how I feel about the scrutiny. The man has always had an uncanny ability to read people.
"I'm grooming him to take over."
I tilt my head. "Take over? Cerberus? Why?"
Kincaid chuckles. "I’m fucking old, man. I want to live a life of luxury."
"You'll never fully retire," I say with disbelief.
"Probably not," he quickly agrees.
The man was born to lead that club.
"Have you thought about retirement?"
My first inclination is to reject the idea, but the thought has crossed my mind more than once in recent months. I think it has more to do with burnout than a real need to step away indefinitely.
"I've been thinking about retirement since the day I signed on with ICE."
We both chuckle, knowing the strain bureaucracy can have on someone. Add in oversight, politics, a nation that thinks it deserves an explanation on everything, and keyboard warriors who think they could do a better job than trained professionals, and it makes for a very stressful career, governed more by what might happen than focusing on getting results. It's why this idea of a joint sort of task force with ICE and Cerberus made so much sense.
"Were you able to talk some sense into Hemlock?"
After the man came home, holding his mark captive, I knew I wouldn't be able to get through to him. But I also knew things could go in either direction when Kincaid arrived. I didn't stick around to watch the fallout.
"No need," Kincaid says, a slight smile playing on his face. "He had his mind made up. I asked him to lead the new chapter."
"President?" I ask, unable to hide the surprise in my voice.
He dips his head. "Did you want it?"
I tilt my head to the side, glaring at him as if he's crazy. Being a handler and supervisor for ICE is one thing. Trying to control and organize a group of bikers who love to live just outside of the law when taking down criminals would be impossible. I'd have an ulcer by lunch on the first damn day.
"I think you'd be great coming back into the fold with Cerberus."
I shake my head, unsure what that hint of emotion is inside of me. Am I jealous? Do I feel like I'm missing out on something?
"I thought this new organization was going to be different from New Mexico," I remind him. "No hierarchy, no connections. Just a group of men and women working to take down pieces of shit."
"What kind of life are we expecting these people to have, Ace? It's not humane, and it certainly won't last long. They have to have more than a job to live for. Now, I'm not trying to be an asshole, but we agreed about how this was going to go. ICE is here to assist Cerberus, not the other way around. This is still my club."
He's putting his foot down, telling me how it's going to be, but he doesn't do it in a way that pisses me off. I guess I knew deep down that he'd let me try it my way first, but he also knew it would be a failure.
I wanted no connections outside of work. I wanted people who could work and not let emotions carry them away. I needed men and women who could do the job without forming bonds with people so they couldn't be manipulated and hurt. I didn't want them to sacrifice themselves because they were emotionally attached to another person.
"You have to do what you think is best," I tell him, feeling like just one more cog in the machine I was just mentally bitching about. "The only problem I see going forward is the folks who are coming in have been told it was going to be one way, and now that's changing."
"No real changes," Kincaid counters. "They just don't have to choose between loving someone and working for the club."
"They aren't Marines," I argue. This was always a requirement for access to a Cerberus membership.
"This isn't New Mexico, either." Kincaid gives me another soft smile. "We have to be different to make a difference. When it all boils down, that's what all of us want. We need to make a difference in this world before we're no longer a part of it."
We shift gears and speak more about the cases and the new wave of guys moving into the house in a few months. Kincaid is giving me the opportunity to accept the way things will be because I don't really have a say. I'm not the one who can make the call about these changes. I'm simply the person chosen to manage this endeavor. The higher-ups at ICE aren't going to care whether the people working these cases have a personal life or not. Honestly, they'd expect it from almost everyone. They just want to make sure the people working under ICE's umbrella of protection keep their shit together and do a good job.
Even as we talk, I still can't see how this is going to work. There is no chance the Gatlinburg chapter of Cerberus will be successful operating on cases in the United States. If they don't fail altogether, then they'll end up looking exactly like New Mexico, working cases outside of the US to stay in business.
Chapter 1
Ace
I'd rather be anywhere but here.
This house was supposed to be the start of something great. It was supposed to be a hub of the best men and women we were able to find who are willing to make great sacrifices to fight the abductions that are fueling the sex trafficking industry. We were supposed to do good, to make a change, and I used to feel excited to come here and get updates. Now, all I feel is dread.
The one thing I didn't want to happen occurred in record time, and with Kincaid naming Hemlock as president of this chapter of the Cerberus MC, it sets a precedence for everyone else.
When folks joined this group, I didn't ask that they sever connections they had. We wanted people who didn't have those connections, people who weren't prone to get close to people. The attachments are dangerous. They're a weakness, and I know more than a lot of people that a weakness like that can get you killed.
I pull in a deep breath as I climb out of my car in front of the Gatlinburg home base cabin.
The thing is massive, bought by Cerberus. The turnkey property was exactly what we needed. It has a ton of bedrooms, each with its own en suite bathroom, and enough space for people to spread out. The common areas are massive, and if this endeavor grows, there are other properties close by that can be procured to expand, although the original plan was to start other chapters around the United States.
I blow out a breath as I walk toward the front door, my breath thick, the proof of the chill in the air trailing behind me as I climb the steps.
It's been a couple of weeks since I've been here, but updates with my guys tell me what I'll find.
Although I don't live here, I don't bother knocking. I use my personal code on the front door and enter. This is a place of business, and I refuse to treat it as anything other than that.
Movement in the kitchen draws me in that direction, and I find Zara, Hemlock's woman, there.
"Good morning," she says with a quick, easy smile.
"Morning," I return. "Your man around?"
"He'll be down in just a minute. Can I make you a cup of coffee?"
"That'd be great. Thanks."
I take a seat at the long breakfast bar, and I find myself watching her as she works. I honestly feel sorry for her.
There's more of a chance that this woman will end up being targeted and possibly hurt or even killed because of her connection to Hemlock. His job is dangerous, and the men and organizations we're trying to dismantle will stop at nothing in order to keep their businesses running, even if that means killing innocent women and children.
A glint of sunlight reflecting off the snow outside pulls my attention to the enormous window at the back of the house. The view from up here is phenomenal. I imagine I can see for miles and miles, and it makes me stand, the beauty of it all pulling me in that direction.
Cerberus didn't spare a penny with this house, and I can only imagine the price tag that came along with it. This property was used for short-term rentals, designed to house large groups of people for retreats or vacations. Just the sheer profitability of it would've driven the cost of purchasing it up.
Gatlinburg is the perfect place for an operation like this. Every neighbor for at least a mile is temporary, giving the men and women who will work here a sort of cover. The people vacationing at the next house will assume that the people here are also vacationing, and their vacation will end before they can even bother being suspicious.
