Ace of Clubs [C]

Story by AllisonTowers on SoFurry

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Part 1 of a two-part story commission for AceWolfy1996!

Ace runs a bakery in town to share his delicious treats, but he's about to learn what happens when he can't afford to repay a loan from some of the town's shadier businessmen...

I love Ezra, even though he's a villain and stuff. He looks so awesome in those fancy clothes of his!

Ezra is (C) AllisonTowers

Ace is (C) AceWolfy1996

Benny is (C) Benedict-Blitz

Written by AllisonTowers based on AceWolfy1996's ideas.https://www.furaffinity.net/user/allisontowers/https://www.furaffinity.net/user/acewolfy1996/https://www.furaffinity.net/user/benedict-blitz/


 The denizens of Tigertail Lane knew well the

gentle smell of freshly-baked cakes and bread as it rolled down over the

cobbles. The odour trail originated at the doors of Ace's Cakes, a bakery owned

by Ace himself. Ace was well-known around town as the owner of the bakery and

art gallery on Tigertail Lane and for being as friendly as possible to everyone

he met. Ace loved to have a laugh with everyone who came through his doors. He

saw himself as a purveyor of happiness first and confectionary second.

 At the end of a long Saturday when Ace was

just about to close up the bakery, he heard the bell ring to signal the arrival

of a new friend to serve. He gazed at the door as it drifted shut and around

the room, but there was no sign of anybody.

 'Hmm...' Ace thought as he went back to his

business.

 "Hey!" he heard. "Down here!"

 Ace leaned over the counter and sure enough

there was a short fennec fox in a brown turtleneck sweater looking up at him.

 "Sorry Benny, I guess I didn't see you down

there!" Ace said, not wanting an awkward atmosphere.

 The fennec simply grinned and remarked that it

was a common occurrence. Soon enough they were giggling together about it while

Ace looked over the Special Order ticket the fennec had brought with him.

 "Oh yes, the chicken cookies. It's a good

thing your master orders these every week. Business has been a bit slow

lately." Ace sighed as he bagged up an order of cookies specially made in the

shape of little roast chickens.

 Benny dropped some coins on the counter and

made off with the special chicken cookies. Ace followed him to the door to see

him off.

 "See you next week, Benny!" he cried as the

fennec scampered away.

 Ace returned to the counter and popped open

the cash register. It opened with less of a chink than he'd hoped; there wasn't

much coin or notes in there this week. The sun started falling down in the sky

as Ace counted up towards his target, but unlike the sun, Ace was stopped

short.

 'Not enough...It's okay, maybe they'll be cool

about it. It'll be okay.' Ace thought as he stepped towards the door.

 He changed the sign on the door to Closed and set to work pulling in all

the furniture from the outdoor seating area. He huffed as he got the last chair

inside and went to push the door closed, but it was stuck. He thought he'd be

safe if he closed as fast as possible and got out of there, but looking down he

saw a well-polished shoe jamming his door open.

 He gulped and opened the door, letting the man

enter. He saw the familiar but foreboding face of Ezra the lynx, a collector

from a specialist agency of questionable legal status who had given Ace a loan

some time ago.

 "You're closing awfully early. I hope you're

not trying to avoid me, Ace." said Ezra with a devious grin. His fur was a dark

charcoal colour, with silver shards breaking the darkness on his cheek tufts.

 Ace laughed nervously. "Of course not! We're

still open, it's just...private service for VIPs like yourself."

 Ezra smiled as he pushed his pince-nez up his nose.

He took off his bowler hat and blazer and hung them by the door, dressed down

to his specially elasticated shirt and waistcoat and his 'trademark' teal

string-tie. "That's good to hear, but I'm not here for cakes."

 "Then to what do I owe the pleasure?" Ace

asked, using a friendly smile to distract from his shaking knees.

 "You've been behind on your payments,

Acey-boy. If it was up to me I'd give you more time, but my higher-ups are

pressing me to collect the deficit." Ezra reached behind the counter and helped

himself to a slice of tiffin and taking a small bite.

 "About that...I-I actually don't have-"

 "Oh, this is good!" Ezra said, guzzling the

rest of the tiffin slice down in record time. Ezra stood out among the agency's

debt collectors for his appetite.

 Ace rubbed his sweating hands on his apron,

ending up with flour stuck to his pads. He took the apron off and cast it

aside, seeing if he felt more confident displaying his favourite blue t-shirt

and grey cargo shorts.

 "Ezra. I don't have the money."

 Ezra stopped licking his fingers and shot a

look of disappointment at Ace. "Oh, Ace. Lysander won't be happy. And it's

difficult for people to remain unharmed when my boss isn't happy."

 Ace gulped.

 "You're part of his special club now.

Lysander's Proprietor's Club. We don't call it a triad or other dirty words,

because we're all friends. We're all friends in our own little club especially

for proprietors of businesses under Lysander's protection." Ezra's smile

dropped away abruptly. "Perhaps it's time you visited the Clubhouse, Ace."

There

was a pause.

"Come,

come into the back room with me and we'll talk business." Ezra said, walking

behind the counter and through the door, needing no invitation to pass beyond

the Employees Only sign.

 Ace followed and tried to speak, but could

only find himself stammering. He let his shoulder-length black hair fall from

its hairnet and into his hands, pulling at it.

 "Sit down, Ace." Ezra said, perching himself

on the edge of the table and offering one of Ace's own chairs to him.

 In his anxious state, Ace threw himself down

on the chair a little too hard and felt it topple backwards. He kicked his legs

out and felt his ankle grabbed by Ezra, stopping him before he hit the floor.

 "Steady now!" Ezra said as he gripped the

ankle. "You...have very fine paws, Ace."

 Ace was taken aback at the sudden compliment

and blushed, still stuttering incoherently.

 "I know what will calm you down." Ezra said,

pulling up another chair in front of Ace and pulling Ace's paws into his lap.

Despite being barefoot all the time, Ace's paws were pristine. Ezra's thumb

rolled over the surface of the wolf's pawpad and he wondered at the silky feel.

He repeated the movement with his thumb and pushed a little harder this time,

feeling it squish Ace's big, blue pad. With both thumbs he kneaded each pawpad

like that, watching for Ace's reaction.

 Ace had melted. Ezra's experience was clear

and it was hard to keep his guard up through such an expert pawrub. The wolf wriggled

his toes and Ezra responded by squeezing and rubbing those too.  "Y-you know,

this isn't going to make me able to afford the payment..." Ace whimpered.

 "Oh, I know." Ezra said. "This isn't related

to business."

 Ace nearly fell off his chair when he felt

Ezra's warm tongue gliding over his foot, from the heel all the way to the

toes. He grinned, seeing an opening in Ezra's steel façade. He pressed his foot

against Ezra's face and curled his toes around the lynx's nose. Ezra blinked,

but continued working his tongue at the soft blue pad, worshipping the wolf's

sexy paws.

 Ace kicked back and enjoyed watching the

fearsome debt collector reduced to a paw-slave. He'd found a way to get the

better of Ezra and he might even be able to use the leverage to weasel his way

out of the 'Proprietor's Club' he'd mentioned.

 "Keep tasting those paws, lynx!" said Ace

confidently. "They're the sweetest treat in the whole shop."

 Ezra went to move to the other foot, but Ace

pulled them away. This was the moment when he'd show Ezra who's boss.

 "I'll let you keeping playing with my paws,

Ezra," he said. "If we can forget about this silly loan business."

 Ezra frowned, his tongue drawing back from the

pad it was lapping at. "Sorry, Ace. You're in the Proprietor's Club and the

first rule is that you always pay what you owe."

 Ace yipped as he watched his whole foot

suddenly disappear into Ezra's mouth, followed swiftly by the other one. Ezra

was holding the ankles in place with one hand while his other deftly removed

his string-tie and set it aside - which could only mean one thing.

 Ace tried to struggle free, but the slippery

confines of Ezra's throat were surrounding his feet. The lynx kicked his chair

away and kneeled for a better angle, swallowing the feet he had just worshipped

and following it up with Ace's lower legs. Ace whined as he felt his legs

locked together by the strong oesophagus, the heat coming from those walls

incredible yet strangely soothing. Ezra stretched his mouth into a grin and Ace

could see into the corners of his wet maw, all the space taken up by his own

knees. The lynx moved up faster and faster, easing him in like a snake would

eat its prey. Ezra's prey whimpered and tried to cling to the chair, but there

was nowhere he could go. Soon enough he felt his feet no longer as tightly

confined and knew that the first part of his body had entered Ezra's stretchy

stomach.

 Ezra suddenly yanked Ace from the chair and

stood him up almost straight. It was a strange experience feeling himself

standing on the bottom of Ezra's stomach, supported by the oncoming throat. He

thought he could keep himself stuck like this, but Ezra's swallowing was too

strong and combined with gravity, he had nowhere to go but down into the fleshy

cavern of Ezra's maw. His body started to curl up inside Ezra as his arms were

trapped in the throat. He pawed desperately at the walls, to no avail. To his

dismay it wasn't long before he had to watch Ezra's lips closing tight behind

him, leaving him in the dark but short journey down to the stomach. He curled

up, now fully inside the predator's stomach and whined to himself. It looked

like he would be visiting the Clubhouse after all.

 Ezra stood up and straightened his shirt,

happy that his meal wasn't squirming too much. After collecting his string-tie,

coat and hat, the lynx set off, stopped only briefly by the beginnings of a

stomach-ache.

 "I shouldn't have eaten all that tiffin." Ezra

winced, carrying on nevertheless to deliver the latest addition to his list of

prey.