Page 20 of Ace

Lizzie gasped far louder than she’d intended to and clapped her hand over her mouth. A playdate? With the Las Vegas Littles? She couldn’t decide who she was more excited to meet. Would it be Luna, the Little she’d met on the stairs yesterday, the one who had captured Baze Patrick’s heart and drawn up the plans for Utopia in crayon on the walls of a conference room? Or Margo—the precocious Little who had been quoted as saying spankings were her love language? She knew there was also Mariah, who met her Daddy, a chef ,while working in the kitchen here, Jade, a Middle who had married a pastor who moved to Vegas from the south, Ellie who lived as an adult baby with her Daddy, Sam who was Luna’s manny, Tessa, who had hit the jackpot with two Daddies whose names she couldn’t remember and of course Jilly who was with Axel, the president of the Sin City Saints.

“Daddy,” she whispered as the elevator stopped on the top floor and they stepped out, “Who is the playdate with?”

She was hoping for just two or three of them but she couldn’t decide which two or three.

They walked to a door and Axel knocked, and she immediately heard dance music blasting—a song she knew and loved—and she couldn’t help but bop in place as they waited.

They didn’t have to wait long. The door flew open and the same Little they’d encountered on the stairs the day before grabbed their hands and pulled them in. “Lizzie!” she yelled over the music. “We’re so happy you are here! Especially since it gave us an excuse to beg my Daddy to let us have a pizza and dance party. He said yes by the way.”

She was dancing as she spoke, flinging her hair from side to side as she bounced and twisted and bopped, still holding Lizzie’s hand. “Anyway, come meet everyone.”

As soon as she said that, they were surrounded by Littles. Luna made introductions and Lizzie got to finally put faces to the names she knew so well. Margo and Mariah both had curly red hair, but Margo’s was short with bouncy ringlets and Mariah’s hung in long spirals. Jade’s black locks hung in long braids down her back and Tessa and Ellie were identical except for their haircuts. Ellie’s pale blonde hair was long while Tessa rocked a pixie cut and Jilly had shiny chestnut waves. They were all beautiful to begin with, but their personalities made them electric. They welcomed her into the fold without question.

She barely had time to glance over her shoulder at Ace before they dragged her away to the playroom.

The door had not yet closed completely behind them when the questions began. They sat in a circle on the floor and she joined them not knowing what else to do.

“So is Ace your Daddy? Jilly said he wasn’t one. Was she wrong? He always kind of seemed like one to me.” That came from Margo, who leaned forward, her eyes sparkling with interest, like she was waiting for the good gossip she knew was coming.

“I…” Lizzie frowned. She wasn’t sure how much Ace wanted his business spread around and she hadn’t been expected to be inundated with personal questions straight out of the gate. She was tempted to tell Margo to mind her own business, but she really wanted them to like her, and Ace was the one who had brought her here, knowing what the girls were like. He had to have known what would happen, and if he didn’t, that was on him.

“I think he’s kinda new maybe, but he’s really, really good at it.”

“Are you a little Little?” Ellie asked that, and Lizzie figured she was hoping for a Little who was as Little as she was.

“I don’t think so. I’m just kind of figuring it out right now, so I don’t know what my Little age is.”

“It takes a while sometimes,” Ellie agreed. “It can be hard to figure out who you are. We all had to struggle with it. Some of us more than others.” She and Jade shared an understanding look.

“So what is Ace like as a Daddy?” Jilly asked. “I always thought he would make a good one, but Axel—that’s my Daddy—said he wasn’t sure.”

Lizzie sighed. This was all so new to her, it was hard to talk about with others when she barely knew the answers herself. “He’s good,” she said. “He’s very attentive and patient and understanding and generous, but it’s new to him too. We are figuring it out together.”

“That’s the best way to do it,” Jade said, reaching out to squeeze her hand. To the others, Jade said. “I know you’re excited about a new friend, and we all love Ace, but Lizzie came here for a playdate, so let’s play instead of giving her the third degree.”

Lizzie had never loved anyone more than she loved Jade in that moment, and like she had waved a magic wand over the band of inquisitive Littles, they all jumped to their feet and ran to various areas of the playroom. Luna ran to a boombox and cranked the music. Ellie clutched a baby doll in one hand and a stuffed elephant in the other. Tessa and Margo sat down on the floor with a case of Legos, and Mariah and Luna ran over to a massive dollhouse. Jade sat at a table with a coloring book and crayons and everyone looked at Lizzie to see what she wanted to do. The room was massive, filled with all sorts of fun toys and games and there were way too many options to choose from. She wanted to get to know Jade better, but she had already colored today, and she wanted to do something else, so she slowly made her way to where Margo and Tessa were sitting with a pile of Legos in front of them and plopped down onto the floor between them.

“What are you building?” she asked.

“Dunno yet,” Tessa replied. “Maybe a pirate ship.”

“Probably just like a tower or something,” Margo said. “I like Legos, but I’m not really good at them.”

Growing up with older brothers, Lizzie had played with a lot of Legos in her lifetime, and her brothers always lost pieces and instructions, so she was pretty good at making it up as she went along.

She sat in comfortable silence with her new friends, fitting pieces together in no particular pattern until she’d created a really cool piece of abstract art.

“What’s that?” Margo asked, her frown distorting her face as she pointed at Lizzie’s multi-color creation.

The thing Lizzie had been so proud of moments ago suddenly disgusted her and she quickly tore it apart, her fingers working in a frenzy to create recognizable shapes. Without even looking at what she was doing, her hands worked from muscle memory, creating a boat first and then a cat. She was absentmindedly creating a tower while she waited for inspiration to strike when the door creaked open.

“Girls! Time for Pizza!” Baze, Luna’s Daddy, was the epitome of tall, dark and handsome as he peeked his head in the door of the playroom and announced that it was time for dinner. His proclamation was met with raucous cheers.

“And a movie!” Luna cried, her tone making it obvious that that had not been part of the original negotiation.

Baze raised his eyebrows, smiled indulgently, and gave in, just like any good Daddy should. “One movie, a cartoon movie, not full length. No more than forty-five minutes long.”

Lunas’s response was to heave an overly dramatic sigh and shuffle her feet. “Fine,” she conceded, “but I get to pick it. Ice cream?” she asked hopefully.