Page 57 of Ace

Ace grunted. “You mean if they were smart, they would not want to fight with us. Problem is, we already know they’re not too smart.”

“So we know what you don’t want us to do,” King said. “What do you want us to do? Should we start driving by Lizzie’s the way we are Christine’s?”

“No need. Lizzie will be moving in here with me. Starting tomorrow.”

His announcement was met with raised eyebrows, elbow jabs and good-natured ribbing, but it was clear that not a single one of them was actually surprised. Apparently, the only one who hadn’t known that he and Lizzie were a perfect match was him. But he knew it now. And he planned to keep her as his Little girl forever and do whatever it took to keep her safe.

Chapter 21

Lizzie

“What about my lease? I have like three months left on it.” Lizzie fussed as she packed her most important belongings into a suitcase while Ace stood looking out the window. Not that he needed to. Axel and Bear were parked in the lot below.

“It’s not like living at Utopia is gonna cost you anything. Keep the apartment. I don’t care if your name is still on the place. It just needs to look like you are not here, and you need to not be here.”

“I guess.” She stuffed a few more pairs of underwear and some random odds and ends into her luggage and slammed it shut. Zipping it closed, she asked, “Are you sure this is even necessary? It’s Thursday now, I’ve been at Utopia almost a week, and Joey has known we were together for the same amount of time. Nothing has happened. Heck, you said they’ve even stopped driving by Christine’s all the time.”

“Yeah, because we found a cop with a daughter Angela’s age willing to listen to us and review the evidence we had and give the guy a warning to stay away.”

“And that worked, and it’s been quiet.” Lizzie lugged her two suitcases and her duffel to the front door of her tiny apartment, and into the walkway, while Ace locked up, constantly looking over his shoulder.

“Too quiet,” he grunted in response to her observation. “When it comes to groups like the Vipers, quiet isn’t always a good thing.”

“I guess.” She let Ace cart her luggage out to her car, and climbed into the driver’s side while he loaded the trunk. Then, he walked around to the front, checked her buckle, kissed her cheek, and climbed onto his bike.

She was being given an escort back to Utopia not just by him, but by the other two men as well. She’d have gotten her stuff and officially moved in days ago, since it’s not like Ace had let her go home anyway, but they’d insisted she wait until they could go with her, just in case. Because being with Ace, and having a big bad, overprotective biker Daddy wasn’t enough, somehow she’d ended up with six big, bad overprotective biker uncles as well, she thought, rolling her eyes as she slid the key into the ignition, checked her mirrors and pulled out of the lot with the three men on bikes close behind her. Who was she kidding though, with her fake annoyance? As overbearing as Daddy and her “uncles” were, she absolutely loved it. And when she didn’t, she loved to hate it.

The drive across town to The Strip didn’t take long, and they’d stayed within spitting distance of her car at all times. And of course, nothing happened. That didn’t surprise her in the least. She’d told Ace he was overreacting; she wasn’t in danger and he didn’t need to be so overprotective, but she also wasn’t surprised when he hadn’t listened. When they finally pulled into the Utopia parking garage, she parked her car on the employee lot across from their bikes and by the time she was out of the car, they’d already unloaded the bags from her trunk.

“I could get one of those,” she huffed, secretly thankful for the way they all doted on her. She especially loved it when she was in her Little space. She wasn’t at the moment. She’d just gotten off work before meeting Ace and the guys at her apartment and the transition from Big girl who delivered liquor to biker bars and drove a giant truck around the city into Little girl who wore her hair in braids, submitted to her Daddy, watched Disney movies and had a whole gaggle of stuffed animals was always a tough one. Walking into Utopia after work and getting up to their suite was always the least favorite part of her day. As they reached the side entrance into the casino, Ace shifted the suitcase he had and took her hand, holding it as they walked through the door, as if he could tell she was tense.

As it always was at this time of day, the place was crawling with hyper, wide-eyed curious Littles. And as they always did, most of them, at least the ones who didn’t know her, stopped and stared when they saw her, probably wondering if she was in the wrong place.

She was dressed in a yellow T-shirt with her company’s logo, a pair of ripped jeans, and a trucker hat with her hair pulled into a messy bun. She didn’t look like anyone else at Utopia. She didn’t look Little, but she didn’t really look like any of the Bigs either. And so they stared.

Just like she did every day, she tried to ignore it, looking straight ahead with her head held high. She understood their curiosity and didn’t begrudge them. Utopia was their safe space, a place to be themselves, fully and without judgment. And she didn’t look like she belonged.

She kept her gaze straight ahead and ignored the stares, but Ace noticed. “Do I have a booger hanging out of my nose or something?” he whispered.

She shook her head and giggled, immediately feeling better. “They’re staring at me. Trying to figure out if I’m Little or Big and what I’m doing here.”

“Is it always like this?” he asked, as they reached the elevator. They usually took the stairs but since they had a bunch of luggage, they weren’t today.

“Pretty much. It’s annoying, and it makes me feel yucky, but I get it. This is their safe space.”

“Yeah. That makes sense.” He pushed the button for the second floor and they were stepping off the elevator a minute later, heading down the hall to the suite they now shared.

“Is that why you always have a hard time adjusting into Little space when you first get home?”

“I mean, that’s not all of it, but yeah, it doesn’t help the situation.”

He hummed as he unlocked their door, took the luggage from Bear and Axel who had followed them up, and nodded at them as they left.

Pushing the suitcases into the room, he grabbed her and scooped her into his arms, actually carrying her over the threshold like she was a bride. “Can Daddy help you find your Little space?” he asked, even though he always helped her find it. He’d made it a rule, after all. But she appreciated this new understanding of how hard it actually was for her.

“Yes, please,” she whispered, snuggling against his chest.

Without another word, he carried her into the bathroom. “Do you need to go potty?” he asked, before setting her on her feet.