Page 43 of Ace

“I feel that,” Ace commiserated. “Honestly, it’s not my forte either, but I bet I can have one of the guys come over and get it set up if that would be okay with you.”

“That would be wonderful! Thank you!” Christine gushed.

Ace nodded. “I’ll talk to them and give you a heads up when I know they’re on their way. And I am going to take a cab home and leave my bike here. Maybe I’ll come get it later, or maybe I’ll just have one of the guys come grab it for me. Anyway, we’ll do what we can to send the message that this family should not be messed with, and we’ll catch him in the act if we have to. I’ll have my guys drive by every so often and just check on things.”

“Thank you so much.” Christine gave him a quick hug. “I really appreciate you. Thanks for coming over so quickly and I’m sorry again for messing up your date.”

“Don’t worry about it,” they both said at the same time.

Ace hugged Angela once more, told Christine he’d be in touch and took Lizzie’s hand as she stood, keeping hold of it as they walked out the door. “I’ll be in touch soon,” Ace called over his shoulder.

When they got outside, Lizzie noticed that he’d moved his bike so instead of being parked in the street it was at the top of the driveway. “We getting an uber?” she asked.

“Nah.” He shook his head. “Axel is having Baze send a car.”

“Wow,” Lizzie said, surprised and impressed. “That’s a rough life you fell into.”

“I know, right?” Ace grinned. “Can’t complain. But Baze and the guys there, Jilly and all the Littles… they aren’t so unlike us. We are all found family with major similarities connecting us. And now, it seems our two families are meshing together. It’s a match I wouldn’t have seen coming, but you know what they say… opposites do attract.”

As they waited, a car turned onto Christine’s street, slowing when it got near to the house. Lizzie’s stomach sank, and beside her Ace actually growled.

“There they are again.” He followed the car with his eyes, staring directly at the driver, Mr. Alley Pedo himself. Lizzie did the same.

“Who’s that in the car with him this time?” Ace asked out loud, though she was pretty sure he was speaking to himself. “Is that…? That looks like one of the Viper crew? Or am I just being paranoid?”

Lizzie squinted into the passenger side. Her stomach sank when she recognized the lean, younger tattooed biker on the other side of the businessman. Joey. “What the heck?” she wondered out loud.

“Shouldn’t be surprised,” Ace grumbled. “Lowlifes, the both of them, and you know how the saying goes: birds of a feather flock together.”

“Uh-huh. It looks like he hired protection after you beat his ass in the alley. Pussy.”

“Watch your mouth,” Ace warned, and all of a sudden, just like that, Lizzie was back in Little space, remembering the spanking she’d been promised. Suddenly, heading back to Utopia didn’t sound like such a good idea.

“Sorry, Daddy,” she whispered.

“Uh-huh,” Ace hummed, his gaze still following the sports car down the street. “I’m pretty sure that’s one of the Vipers. I’m gonna have to do some recon on that. Little one?”

“Yes, Daddy?”

“When we get back to the resort, Daddy might have to take care of some business for a bit. I know that wasn’t part of the plan. I promise not to be long.”

“Don’t worry about it, Daddy,” she replied. “This is important work you are doing. Our date can wait.”

She meant it too. She wasn’t mad at all and, in fact, was grateful for the delay to the reckoning she figured she had coming.

Chapter 16

Ace

“So, fill us in,” King said, leaning against the makeshift bar in their basement clubhouse. Knox was upstairs tending bar so King could have a break from bartending to attend to club business. Grant, a sous chef for Chef Graham was helping in the kitchen so Bear could be there too.

“I will when Lucky gets here,” Ace grunted, glancing at the clock. Damn Lucky. That kid was always running late.

“Yeah, but you said the Vipers were involved?” Axel spoke gruffly. If looks could kill… Axel’s might have. Of course, Ace understood, and didn’t blame him. The Vipers, at least two of them, were responsible for the rape of Axel’s little girl, Jilly. Jilly was doing better now, in therapy regularly, and thriving under Axel’s care, but to hear her tell it, she’d been a zombie for almost a year afterward, in a near-catatonic state.

When Axel and the rest of them had found out about it, they’d extracted a very special kind of justice, and the Vipers had burned down King’s bar for revenge and managed to get Ace fired from his job. Those things still stung, even though their circumstances didn’t.

The door to the basement storage room they’d converted to their clubhouse swung open and Lucky entered, breathless. He looked like he’d just woken up, but the reality was he’d probably been in bed for a different reason. “Hey, sorry I’m late.” He grabbed a beer from the state-of-the-art fridge and slid into a chair at the diner-style table. “What’s the urgent meeting for?”