Page 5 of Ace

Lizzie smiled. She kind of hoped they were. Outside of pictures online and naughty books she sometimes read, she’d never seen a Little before Luna. She felt enraptured by the young woman, so freely herself, comfortable in her own skin, hiding nothing from the outside world. Lizzie wondered what that would be like.

She also realized she didn’t want to leave. Of course, she had to, she still had deliveries to do, and it’s not like Ace was going to be her Daddy.

They reached a room at the end of a pink-carpeted hallway, and Ace dropped her hand to dig his wallet out of the pocket of his vest. He slid a key card from the slot and waved it beneath the lock, pushing the door open when the light blinked. She’d expected green, but instead, the light was pink.

The room was nothing like the rest of the hotel, not really. The furniture was the same high quality design, and the carpet was the same pale pink plush, but the rest of the room had Ace’s handprint on it. A black comforter adorned a four poster bed. Framed pictures of Ace on his bike and Ace with his friends graced the walls, and a large worn recliner sat in the corner of the room, pointed toward a massive TV. Next to it was a mini-fridge that was clearly old, adorned with stickers from rock bands and biker gatherings. Ace had put his mark on the place for sure, but there was still an air of Daddy about it. A wooden chair in the corner that looked like it was perfect for sitting in long timeouts. A long dresser with a flat top that had guards and a pad on top. A crib large enough for an adult.

Her eyes lingered on it, and Ace followed her gaze.

“I tried to make the place mine, but… it came with certain things. Couldn’t ask him to get rid of it, so I just use it in different ways.”

She noticed then what she hadn’t before. The stacks of magazines on top of the changing table. The crib railing lowered with the mattress tucked underneath, a cardboard coaster on the wood base. A case of bottled beer beside it.

The additions made her heart sink. It seemed Ace was not interested in being a Daddy. Like, at all.

“Come on.” He pushed open a door at the far end of the large room, and stepped inside, flicking the light on. She held back a gasp as they stepped inside a spacious bathroom. The tile matched that in the lobby. The lights still looked like bubbles. A massive, ornate, gold-framed mirror covered the wall above a marble countertop that held two sinks and fancy glass jars stuffed with essentials like Q-tips and cotton balls. A claw-foot porcelain tub wide and deep enough for at least two people sat against a huge glass-encased shower stall with golden fixtures and double showerheads.

“Wow,” she said, turning in a circle as she took in every detail.

“Yeah it’s… not exactly my style,” Ace grunted. “But not gonna lie. The tub is nice, and the shower isn’t bad either.” He pushed a button on a control panel beside the light switch. “The floors heat up.”

He pushed another one and low mood music filled the room. A third and the lights over the tub dimmed. Then he pushed all three again and the magic was undone as he pulled open a drawer and extracted a small red plastic case, beat up from years of use. He started to open it with his still good hand, but she grabbed it before he had a chance.

“Let me.” She popped it open and looked at the contents of the well-stocked case. Bandages of all shapes and sizes, numbing cream, first-aid ointment, several different antiseptic creams, ibuprofen and… super glue?

She grabbed the tube and held it up.

“Super glue? Why is this in here?”

He plucked it from between her fingers. “We’re gonna need that.”

“What? Why?”

“Because the cut on my lip is deep. I’m not going to the hospital, a butterfly bandage isn’t going to work on my lip, and this works way better than that liquid stitches bullshit they sell.” He twisted the top off and squeezed a drop onto his finger. “It works better than the shit they use at the hospital too.”

She took the tube from him with one hand and his hand with the other. Stopping him before he could apply it. “Is that even safe?”

“Well, I mean I’ve never put it on my lips before, but in general, yes.”

Holding the tube up to eye level so she could read the tiny print, she skimmed the warning. “Well, it’s non-toxic, so I guess it’s okay. Just don’t get it in your mouth. Be careful not to use too much.” She tried to hand it back to him, but he didn’t take it.

“Maybe you should do it then, just to be safe.”

His eyes were dark, glinting with something she couldn’t read. Amusement? Curiosity? Fear? It looked like a mix of all three.

“Fine.” Lizzie squeezed a dab onto her fingertip. She had to stand on her tiptoes to reach his lip. How had she never noticed how tall he was? Or how soft and supple his lips were? She held her breath as she pinched the skin together and brushed a thin layer of glue over the wound. Why was her heart racing? Why were her palms sweating? She was supergluing his busted lip, a lip that had gotten busted while he beat the crap out of some scumbag in a suit.

She knew the reputation of bikers, and the rumors of exactly what had caused King’s Tavern to be burnt to the ground, but seeing Ace beat the crap out of someone had opened her eyes. She’d never really pictured him as the dangerous type. Of all the guys in the club, he looked the least like a biker. He was lean and fit, and beneath his leather vest, he usually wore a crisp button-down, with the top three buttons gaping open to reveal a thin gold chain. She’d seen him in the club, perusing paperwork or club business files and she knew he had glasses he wore when he read. Thin square black plastic frames. He wasn’t your typical biker dude, or what one would picture when they thought of one anyway, but he was still goddamn sexy. And she was closer to him now than she’d ever been. Close enough to smell him. A mixture of mint, sweat and blood filled her nostrils. It was uniquely but not overtly sexy, just like him.

“I think that’s good.”

He caught her wrist and she realized she was still dabbing glue on to his lip.

“Oh. Sorry.” Her eyes met his and her heart skipped a beat. Not for the first time, she wondered what she was doing here, how she had allowed her day to go so sideways and why she didn’t seem capable of making good life choices when he was around.

Tugging her wrist from his grasp, she grabbed his, and inspected his bloody knuckles. “You need to get this cleaned up. You’ll scare the Littles.”

She amazed herself with how easily the term rolled off her lips. He looked surprised by it too.