Page 39 of Ace

“Uh-huh.” His jaw ticked. “And what did you think was going to happen when you did?”

“Well…” She cuffed the toe of her sneaker against the sidewalk. “I figured it could go one of three ways.”

“And what would those three ways be?”

“Um…” Her cheeks burned with shame and she didn’t want to look him in the face because it was so embarrassing, but she forced herself to make eye contact and not break it.

“Well, the first way was that you’d understand, because while lying isn’t cool, I had an understandable reason, and we weren’t in a relationship, so we didn’t have any rules and I wasn’t technically doing anything wrong by lying at that time. So the first outcome was that you told me you were unhappy but that you understood and conceded that I hadn’t done anything wrong or broken a rule that didn’t exist at the time.”

Ace nodded curtly, his face giving nothing away. “Uh-huh. What’s option two?”

Her cheeks burned. She started to look down at the ground and stopped herself. “Option Two is that you decide that timing doesn’t matter and… spank… me for it anyway.” The word spank was delivered in a whisper with long pauses before and after.

Ace just nodded. “Okay, go on.”

“Option three…” A tear ran down her cheek and she angrily wiped it away with the back of her hand. “Option three is that you decide the technicalities don’t matter and you can’t be with someone who lied to you and say that you never want to see me again.” A second tear fell, and she wiped it away also.

Ace took a deep breath, uncrossed his arms and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Let’s take option three off the table.”

Relief soared through her so strong that she actually thought she might pass out. “Okay.”

“Let’s say we are going to go with option one-point-five.”

Her eyebrows knitted together as her nose scrunched in confusion. “What’s option one-point-five?”

“That’s the option where I concede that no rules existed between us at the time, and though lying is never good, I understand that you didn’t technically do anything wrong. It’s the option where I choose to be a little flattered that you missed me enough to go to such lengths just to see me.”

“Oh,” she breathed, nodding. “I did miss you.”

Ace continued, “It’s also the option where I tell you that though I do understand the circumstances at play and acknowledge that things have changed, I tell you that I can’t move past it without dealing with it the way I normally would.” He crossed his arms again, and she tensed. “It’s the option where you consent to taking a spanking you don’t necessarily deserve for the sake of our future relationship. It’s not ideal, and it’s probably not fair, but it is what it is. That’s what I need to move past this. If you can’t accept that, well, then I guess that’s a decision I’ll have to accept and a talk we’ll have to have.”

He seemed like he was expecting her to stomp her foot and say how unfair it was, and break up with him, but in reality, she couldn’t agree fast enough.

“Yes,” she breathed. “I accept, I consent, I’m okay with it, as long as we can move on from it and move forward.”

“You’re sure?” He cocked a brow, and took a step closer to her, his voice a menacing whisper. “It won’t be an easy spanking to take, sweetheart, and it will make the one you took earlier seem like a goddamned birthday party in the park.” He chuckled. “You don’t have much of a pain tolerance.”

She gulped and tried to imagine a spanking worse than the one she’d already taken. She knew in her head that as far as spankings went, it probably hadn’t been that bad, but tell that to her aching ass. “I’m sure.” The words came out cracking but she still meant them. “I want to move past it, and I suspect taking a punishment for it will make me feel a lot better too. After a while at least.”

They stared at each other in silent understanding, wondering if everything that needed to be said had been said and out of the corner of her eye, Lizzie saw the door to Christine’s house open again and her come rushing toward them. Turning she pasted on a smile she didn’t feel and tried to keep her heart from hammering out of her chest.

“I don’t know what to do,” Christine said breathlessly. “She thinks something is up because you are here and I made her go inside. She’s starting to freak out a little bit, and I can’t help her because I’m freaking out myself. And I ruined your date. I’m so sorry! I really just didn’t know what else to do.”

“Christine.” Ace turned to face the woman and used his sternest voice as he placed a hand on each of her shoulders. “You did exactly the right thing and you didn’t ruin my date. I brought Lizzie along because she is good with teenagers, and so she’s gonna go inside with you and help distract Angela while I stay out here and just keep an eye out for a few. If he drives by again and sees me, maybe he’ll get the hint that you are under my protection and back off.”

Christine exhaled, nodding slowly, and looked at Lizzie curiously as if waiting for something.

“Oh, I’ll be right in,” Lizzie assured her. “I can’t wait to meet Angela and I’m sure we will have lots to talk about.”

“Okay.” Christine exhaled again and hesitated for only a second before heading up the walkway to her front porch.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Lizzie turned on Ace with her hands on her hips, half fuming. “Excuse me? What was that?”

“What was what? And watch your tone, young lady.”

“That! That… double standard. You just lied to that woman!”

“How did I lie?”