Page 9 of Ace

Knox had a tone that was all Daddy and brooked no nonsense. Even Ace had to admit he was very effective. Would he ever be able to pull that off?

Chapter 4

Ace

He felt like an idiot as he poured out his heart and the events of the day to the burly, bald, biker-looking redhead in front of him. Knox wasn’t part of their original club. He was a construction foreman who had done all the work on Utopia, and Daddy to Luna and Jilly’s friend Margo. But he and the guys in the club had instantly bonded and he was working on joining.

“So… I’m in it now,” Ace finished. “Unless I back out.”

Knox rubbed his beard. “Do you want to back out?”

“Not at all.” It wasn’t even a question. Ace felt totally lost and out of his element but he wanted this. More than he’d admitted to Lizzie. More than he was currently capable of admitting to himself. “I just… it’s all new to me and I don’t wanna…” He coughed, clearing his throat. “You know, fuck it up.”

Knox nodded, cupped his hand into a sideways fist and smacked it on the table top. “I have been there. When I met Margo, I was new to all of this too.”

Ace blinked. He had not been expecting that. Margo was a handful and Knox was so good at dealing with her, taking it all in stride and knowing when to come down hard.

“The main thing,” Knox continued, “is to not get hung up on the fact that it’s new. You can’t think about that. You have to feel comfortable stepping into the Daddy role, and you have to lean in. Play the role like it’s the one you were born to play and you might just find that it really is.”

“Okay.” Ace was nodding along with Knox but Knox may as well be speaking a different language for as much as Ace could picture himself doing that.

“You have to believe you’re a Daddy or she won’t.”

“Right. That makes sense.” It did, but how?

“Say it,” Knox commanded, his fist changing into a finger gun that he pointed in Ace’s direction.

“Sorry?”

“Say it. Say you’re a Daddy. Over and over again. Loud and proud until you believe it, until you feel that shit in your soul.”

Ace glanced around the crowded bar, thinking there was no way in hell he was pronouncing his Daddyness in a room this packed with people, then he remembered exactly where the fuck he was. “I’m a Daddy,” he said. It wasn’t as hard to say out loud as he thought it would be and he wondered how long he’d been thinking of himself in that way.

“Again,” Knox prompted.

“I’m a Daddy. I am a Daddy. I am the Daddy. I am Lizzie’s Daddy.”

“Good good. Now yell it. Growl it. Add in some qualifiers. Cross your arms. Get the Daddy glare down. Roll up your sleeves, stroke your chin, and oh, put your glasses on and then pull them down a little bit. Littles go gaga for that shit.”

Trying not to laugh at the excited conviction in the other man’s voice, Ace grabbed his glasses from the case in his pocket and slipped them on, before pulling them down to the middle of his nose with one hand and looking at Knox over the tops of them. “Like this?” He felt silly as fuck, but if Lizzie was a Little and as Knox said, Littles liked this shit, he wanted to do it.

“Heck, yes.” Grabbing his phone off the table, Knox pointed it at him and took a picture, then smiled at the image on the screen. “Yes. That’s good. And you’re wearing a dress shirt. That’s even better. Roll up your sleeve and pose a bit. Something that will show off your hands and forearms.”

Again, Ace glanced around the bar, and when he was satisfied that no one was looking at them, he did what Knox said. He felt like a tool, but he also had to admit it was making him feel like a Daddy. Like Lizzie’s Daddy.

He let Knox direct a few more photos for the impromptu photo shoot, and when they were done, he put his glasses back in their case and frowned. “Okay, I think I have the look down, and I believe that I can be a Daddy so that’s progress, but the real question is ‘how do I do it’?”

“Nah.” Knox waved his hand. “That’s the easy part. That’s the part you two get to figure out together. There’s no right way to do it and every couple is different. Just remember communication and consent are key.”

“Communication and consent,” Ace mused with a nod.

“If you remember those two details, the rest will fall into place, I promise.”

“Okay.” Ace wasn’t so sure. He was about to ask another question when Knox pulled to his feet, strode across the room up to the bar, and returned with two more beers.

“Drink,” he commanded, and even though Ace hadn’t planned on having another beer, he popped the cap and put the bottle to his lips, taking a swig that half emptied the contents.

“Finish it.”