Chapter 10

I was doing up my tie, the steam from my shower still clouding the edges of the mirror. I heard the door to the master bedroom open but didn’t glance around.

“Kenz?” I called. I cursed softly as my fingers fumbled the tie again. “Damn it.” Barbara had always helped me out with this. I’m a grown man, and I could get it done by myself, but it was always a nice little ritual — Barbara would finish my tie, give me a peck on the cheek, and tell me how handsome I looked.

Of course, I’d never looked as handsome as I did tonight.

It was Friday, the night of Aaron Burns’s big company party, and I felt like I’d been prepping for weeks. With McKenzie’s help, I’d chosen a new haircut, something crisp and dapper. I’d continued working out and my jawline was coming in sharper. My old suits had all been slightly too big, so I’d bought one special for the occasion. It tapered down my sides and gave me a look of masculine elegance, but I was still big enough to have an appearance of burly muscle.

“Yeah, Daddy?” My stepdaughter breezed into the bathroom behind me and I stared, fingers frozen on my tie.

Usually, in her tight shorts and cut-off tops, McKenzie looked stunningly hot. But this evening she looked simply beautiful. The 18-year-old had gone shopping yesterday with several of her friends and returned home with several paper bags from brands I didn’t recognize. She’d kept them hidden until tonight.

Her slim figure was draped in a lilac cloth. It fell down her sides and legs in an elegantly sensual curve. And it was open at the broad curve with a neckline that narrowed and dipped between her breasts. She exuded a magnetic aura that came from a mature charm, without trying too hard to disguise her luxurious figure.

“Woah...” I blinked several times, then raised my eyebrows and pursed my lips in a confident smirk. “You clean up nice, angel.”

Her eyes flashed teasingly but I thought I could see a slight blush as she bit her lip. Then, she stepped forward and brushed my hands away from the tie. Her hazel eyes glanced up into my darker ones and she smirked back. “You’ve got to let me fix this,” she joked.

I breathed out a short sigh and nodded, lifting my chin. “Alright,” I agreed, pleased and a little surprised.

McKenzie deftly tugged free my unfinished knot and began to manipulate the strips of silk.

“I didn’t know you could do ties,” I commented.

My stepdaughter leaned up without slowing and kissed me on the chin. “I learned just for you,” she said. “I spent 45 minutes earlier practicing.”

I felt a glow of pleasure radiate in my chest, pushing away at the cold anxiety that tried to nestle there. “Thanks,” I said simply, not sure how else to acknowledge such a gesture.

The brunette teenager pulled firmly at the silk tie, straightened it, and then tugged my chin down so my face was near hers. She pecked me on the lips, then laughed softly and said, “You’re welcome.”

Then, she turned around and I realized that her dress was even more alluring from behind.

“Will you zip me up now, Daddy?” she teased, flashing a quick, sparkling white grin over her shoulder.

A band of cloth rode across the backs of her shoulders and had an undone zipper at the nape of her neck. Then, the cloth curved away, leaving bare the smooth skin of her back all the way to the base of her spine. Just a few inches above the taut hemisphere of her ass, the dress zipped up a bit more.

I paused for a second, eyes tracing down miles of tanned skin. “Yes,” I agreed.

McKenzie shifted back closer to me and my hands instinctively fell to her hips. Then they brushed around and drifted over the bouncy globes of her ass. I squeezed gently and my stepdaughter blew out a soft huff of laughter. I tugged up the zipper, keeping it clear of her body. I reached up and did the second zip, then leaned forward to kiss her gently on the side of the neck.

But my mind had fallen back, remembering how many times I’d zipped up Barbara’s dress before a fancy party or a date night. I turned away from McKenzie, toward the door into the bedroom. I might be looking good as hell. My own date might be a smoking-hot, 10-out-of-10, barely-legal knockout. And I might be able to channel insane, Alpha Male abilities to make me socially unstoppable.

But I was worried.

Every day since my conversation with Oliver King, Mr. Silver Fox, I’d been struck again by the realization that Aaron Burns had used BDE products to steal my wife away from me. It was an incredible, unbelievable and unfortunate coincidence.

Barbara had been won over by his BDE charm just like McKenzie had been won over by mine. It was hard for me to imagine that Barbara wasn’t with him right now. And it was equally hard to imagine Aaron bringing someone other than her to his event tonight. Now, even if I showed up, I didn’t know if I could get her back. It was strange how unsettling and troublesome the feeling became.

I rubbed my hand across my face, ran my nails down my jawline thoughtfully. I suppose that I had just been so certain, deep down, that if I really wanted to do it I could go out and get Barbara back. But now I wasn’t sure. Would I be able to out-Alpha Aaron Burns? Would out-Alpha’ing him even be enough? I had no idea what to expect. No idea what it might take.

Even McKenzie’s gorgeous dress could only distract me for a couple brief moments from the doubt that was gnawing away at my confident attitude.

I sat on the edge of the bed and shot a look over at the clock.

Only 6:30. Another hour and a half before we should be arriving.

The bathroom door swung open and McKenzie glided out in her lilac dress. She drifted slowly across to the bed and sat down next to me. One of her small hands reached across and her slim fingers drifted across my forearm.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, giving me an encouraging smile. “Everything is going to go so well! By the end of the night, Mom will be back and things will be how they should be.”

“Kenz...” I laced my fingers, pressed my palms together and then released them. I let my hands drift apart. “You know how I have these ... abilities? These strange, unique traits that started popping up?”

My stepdaughter shrugged, her features forming a ‘so what?’ expression. “Right,” she said. “That’s why I first started noticing you.”

I nodded. “Yeah. Well,” I paused again, then scowled. “Aaron Burns can do the same things.”

The teenager hesitated for a moment, considering what that meant. “Huh,” she said. “Well...” She shifted, her hands curling together in her lap. “Is that what happened to Mom? Do you think?”

“Yes.”

She paused a moment more. “I still believe in you, Dad,” she said.

I blew out a soft sigh. “Thanks, angel.” Then I added, “I just don’t know what’s the best thing to do.”

McKenzie nodded, then brushed a fallen strand of hair from her eyes. She paused for a few seconds before glancing up at me. “Even if Mom doesn’t come back...” Her lips twisted in a half-frown.

I reached out and put my arm around her back, my hand curving easily around her hip and gently landing on her thigh. She didn’t have much wiggle room in her dress, but she leaned up against me.

Her slight weight was reassuring.

My stepdaughter turned under my arm and raised her face. Her hands pressed to my chest and her expression was earnest. “This is really nice, isn’t it?” she said. “What we have?”

I nodded, slowly. “It’s nice,” I agreed. “More than nice, angel.”

“And...” McKenzie hesitated. “We don’t really need anything else. Or anyone else ... Just to be happy.”

I furrowed my brows. “I suppose not...” I agreed. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try for them, right?”

The teenager nodded, brunette cascade swaying. “So what do you think you’ll have to do?”

I bit my lip pensively. I had planned that tonight would be the night I won my wife back, once and for all. But now I had to deal with the fact that Aaron Burns had the same BDE talents that I did. And also that Oliver King, a.k.a. Mr. Silver Fox, would be in attendance at the event. What if my wife’s lover had more experience than I did and knew exactly how to out-Alpha me? What if the presence of Mr. King, the original BDE-user, somehow disrupted my own magnetic, commanding aura? Another frightening thought struck me: What if I arrive with McKenzie and Aaron Burns somehow takes her away from me, too? I felt like a juggler with too many balls in the air.

“I have to take a shot at winning your mom back,” I told my stepdaughter firmly. I paused, then added thoughtfully, “If someone were to try and win you over, so that you left me, what would you do?”

“I wouldn’t,” McKenzie responded quickly, flashing a smile up at me. “I lo— Well, I mean ... I don’t want to be with anyone else.” She stumbled for a moment. But I was busy considering the issues ahead, too busy to notice.

“I mean,” I clarified. “What would they have to do to succeed?”

The 18-year-old screwed up her face thoughtfully. I tried not to get distracted by how cute the expression looked.

“Aaron Burns has been using his new talents for longer than I have,” I continued, thinking out loud. “He probably has more experience than me, and since he’s spent more time on it, he may have unlocked more of his potential.” I don’t think McKenzie knew exactly what I was talking about, but she nodded along.

“So if he’s ‘stronger’ than you,” she used air quotes around the word ‘stronger,’ “then your only choice is the most classic method. David and Goliath. You’ve got to be cleverer. How can you do that?”

I spread my hands uncertainly. “I have to...” I shrugged. “Outdo him, I suppose. Show your mom that I’m worth coming back to. And do it without confronting him directly, without making it a contest of will.”

McKenzie nodded. “So you just have to figure out that and you’re golden.”

I blew out a sigh, leaned over and gently kissed her on the temple. “Thank you, angel,” I muttered. “I’m glad I have you here. I’m glad you’re coming with me tonight.”

The teenager bit her lip, shrugging. “Sure, Dad,” she said. She lifted my hand from her leg and gently kissed my knuckles. Her lips were soft.

I felt the tension leaving me. I didn’t have much of a plan, but what I had was better than nothing.

I sighed more of the stress out of my chest and felt McKenzie’s hair brush across my forearm as she lifted her head. My stepdaughter turned and reached up, her hand stroking gently across my cheek. Her lashes fluttered. Then she was kissing me again, this time on the mouth.

I leaned into it, my lips parting and my tongue dancing with hers. She murmured softly, a contented purr, and my hand stroked up her bare back. Her skin was soft and warm under my palm and I pressed her closer to me, my fingers spread. I could feel the curve of her spine when she twisted and gripped my lapels, her shoulders bunching as the kiss became more urgent.

I groaned, feeling heat rise in my belly. It burned up through my chest, the nervous tension contorting into a fierce blaze of arousal. Between my thighs, my cock stirred to life and my fingers flexed against McKenzie’s back.

She pulled back a second later, breathless. Her hair fell around her face. Her eyes were bright and feverish as they met mine. “Before we go...” She looked uncertain.

“What is it?” I asked calmly, quirking a smile for her.

Her voice was hesitant. “Will I still be your number one?”

I blinked. “What do you mean?”

“Your number one girl.” McKenzie said it with a stumbling, coltish hesitation.

I hadn’t even thought about that. It had never occurred to me to wonder whether McKenzie might be jealous. Barbara was my wife, so of course I wanted to win her back. For weeks, though, I had been showing my stepdaughter that she was the one I wanted. Emotions, to be fair, are really confusing. But even though the question was unexpected, I responded smoothly. Thank god for my BDE confidence training. “Of course, angel.”

It’s moral to be honest. But sometimes, it’s important to tell people what they want to hear.

The hesitation seemed to burn away. McKenzie’s blush reached high up her cheeks as a darker color beneath her tan. Her eyes sparked and she licked her lips as she glanced down at mine. “Good.” McKenzie’s voice was low and syrupy. “Because I want to be the first in line to serve you...”

I realized, then, that my stepdaughter’s pupils were dilated wide and her sparkling eyes were glazing over. I wasn’t sure why, but she looked as if she’d just inhaled a deep scent of my cologne. “Kenz?” I asked.

“Yes, Daddy?” the teenager answered. Her voice was just as seductive as before.

I felt myself growing hard against the tight suit pants. I’d better remember not to get turned on at the party, because I could already tell the bulge was obvious.

The curvy brunette slid down onto the floor between my knees, her hands running gently down my inner thighs.

“What’re you doing?”

She glanced up with wide, adoring eyes. I couldn’t help but feel my need and arousal get turned up a notch, even as I wondered what McKenzie was up to.

“You just did up your makeup and everything,” I added.

McKenzie just kissed the inside of one of my knees gently and then wriggled the dress up her hips. The material bunched at the top of her thighs and gave her the freedom to kneel with spread legs. Her hands traced up my slacks and clinked my belt free with three deft twitches of motion. Her fingers slid under the fabric of my boxer briefs and her nails brushed across my skin as she pulled them down. My slacks, too, were around my knees.

My cock throbbed and swayed, hard and red with lust. I swallowed, started to say something, then broke it off in a low sigh as my 18-year-old stepdaughter lowered her mouth and wrapped her lips around the mushroom head. I groaned again as she slowly bobbed down, taking several more inches smoothly into her throat.

I realized that I was arguing to stop one of the hottest women I’d ever seen from blowing my cock like it was an art form.

Instead, I glanced down into McKenzie’s face. “What brought this on?” I asked. Then I groaned, my eyes rolling back for a second and my fingers curling against the edge of the mattress.

“I don’t want to think...” the teenager murmured, her tongue flickering as she moved her lips along the length of my shaft. “Just obey...”

“You don’t want to think?” I asked slowly, gently shuddering.

McKenzie’s fingers gently fondled my balls. “Don’t want to think...” she agreed. Her lips slid over the engorged head of my manhood. “Mmm...” she moaned.

I tried to enjoy her soft, pillowy lips on my cock and at the same time wonder why she had suddenly started blowing me. Not that I was complaining, but McKenzie was acting like I’d just hypnotized her using my inner Alpha voice. Like I’d done to Adrianna and Allison.

Only I hadn’t.

I felt my ass clenching as the tip of my cock passed into my stepdaughter’s throat and I gave up trying to riddle through her behavior. If there was something going on, I could uncover it later.

My jaw tightened and my hand drifted up McKenzie’s shoulder and into her hair, pulling it back from her face. Her expression was rapt and excited, her eyes bright with lust and her hot mouth enthusiastic. Her light eyes bored into my darker ones with gratitude for letting her pleasure my body with hers.

McKenzie was bobbing up and down again, slowly, one hand stroking my shaft and the other playing with my balls. Her entire focus was on my pleasure, but still she moaned and writhed her hips like there was a vibrator pressed to her clit. I felt my fingers clutch tighter in her hair.

My teeth bared in a gasp as a shock of bliss coursed through me. She had swallowed around my shaft and it felt like a dozen small hands were massaging my cock at once. I pulled her head down onto my length and she swallowed again reflexively. I groaned and then began to thrust in time with her movements.

Any worry and anxiety in my mind I channeled into my hips, controlled but swift. It was like my gorgeous stepdaughter was sucking my stresses away between my legs. I felt the tension curl up through my feet and calves, the rising wave of hot pleasure.

The lithe brunette shifted, the lilac dress twisting and shimmering on her body. She looked like either a fashion icon or an incredibly expensive escort. I couldn’t decide which idea was hotter. Her cheeks hollowed and I felt my balls tightening. My cock throbbed and pulsed, then I reigned myself in.

“Mmmm...” McKenzie sighed happily, her lips never leaving my shaft.

I let her take control for a moment, groaning as the warm, twisting ecstasy wound through my body. Her mouth went up and down on my cock and her tongue bathed my length devotedly. The teenager alternated between pushing me deep into her throat and then taking just the head between her lips, flicking her tongue around and around.

I finally grunted, my toes curling. “I’m gonna cum,” I groaned.

“Mhmm...” McKenzie’s eyes were still wide and glazed, even as they blinked up excitedly into mine. Her pink lips were wet and soft. I realized, looking into her hot, smoky gaze, that she was close to orgasm herself.

The thought that she was getting off just from sucking my cock was the final wrench that twisted me over the edge. I tumbled into pleasure, my body coursing with it. McKenzie’s lips sealed around my shaft and she gulped down strand after strand of my hot, sticky spunk. I could feel her throat closing around the tip of my length with each swallow, begging me for more.

She began to moan louder, the sounds vibrating around my prick and spurring my own pleasure even further. The teenager was climaxing from the taste of my seed. My head fell forward and my eyes squeezed closed for an instant before I heard the soft pop of McKenzie’s mouth releasing my steel hard length. My eyelids blinked up and I saw the sculpted features of my stepdaughter, a contented smile on her face as she leaned against my knee.

Her eyelids were closed and dark bronze with makeup. Her lashes were dark and long and fluttering slightly as she tensed again and sighed with aftershocks. Her light purple dress was bunched around her hips and I could see the sheen of wetness between her thighs. She panted gently, the curves of her perky tits rising and falling beneath the taut fabric.

She was stunning.

I thought, for an instant, that even if I didn’t win Barbara over from Aaron Burns, I might be happy just like this. But then I remembered.

I am a Man. I am an Alpha Male. I do not accept failure. I will win. I deserve to win.

I didn’t accept failure. I deserved to win, and I would.

I ran my fingers through McKenzie’s hair gently. “Thank you, lover,” I murmured softly. “I feel a lot more relaxed now.” I paused. “I think I know what to do...”

My stepdaughter rubbed her cheek gently against my thigh and blinked her eyes open. Her gaze was sharper now, aware, like whatever had gotten into her head and turned her into a horny blowjob machine had dissipated. She bit her lip and smiled up at me cheerfully. Her hand traced down the thick muscle of my quadriceps. “Mmm, Daddy,” she murmured. “I can already tell.” She seemed no longer worried about the pending return of her mother and the future pecking order, just as I was no longer worried about getting Barbara back. I knew it would happen. How could I doubt myself?

I bent at the waist, took McKenzie’s hand and pulled her up to her feet so she stood in front of me. I gently tugged down her dress so it fell to her shins. She winked at me cheekily but didn’t say anything until I stood and pulled my slacks up, redoing the buckle. I realized that I’d flipped my tie over my shoulder at some point and I tugged it back down.

“Silly,” McKenzie muttered. She bit her lip and straightened the tie.

I checked the clock and nodded to her. “We have time.” I said, then sat back down on the edge of the bed and glanced at her. “Just enough time to clean up and go over the plan.”

McKenzie nodded. “The plan,” she said, somewhat dubiously.

I smiled. “Well, what I’ve been able to come up with...”

It was impossible to miss the other couple. Well, if I could consider them a couple without a twist of unpleasant tension in my gut. Aaron Burns and my wife, Barbara, standing side by side, greeting the arrivals along with two other couples.

Since the company was Brown, Burns and Keohane, I assumed the first and the last names were the other men — a shaggy-haired man just a tad overweight and a shorter guy who looked like a frat boy who’d aged 20 years, badly. It was evident that work colleagues were used to seeing Aaron and Barbara this close together. Saying hello, one of the women leaned in to kiss each of them on the cheek.

“Steady, John,” McKenzie warned, her warm expression wavering as she pressed gently on my forearm.

I took a breath. “I’m good,” I affirmed. “Remember your role?”

She nodded.

Arm in arm, we walked toward them.

Aaron Burns and the other heads of the company were impossible to avoid. All of us guests were funneled to the double doors of the ballroom-style hall where the party was taking place. At the entrance, the three couples held court and greeted their employees. We merged with the line of incoming guests, other men in suits and women in slinky cocktail dresses. I hadn’t spent enough time around Barbara’s company to know any of them, and none of them acknowledged me or McKenzie.

The greeting committee was occupied with each individual and couple as they entered, so it wasn’t until McKenzie and I were right at the front of the line that Barbara and Aaron noticed us.

“John!” Barbara’s reaction wasn’t what I expected. I would not have been surprised by anger or shock. But, at most, my wife seemed only mildly surprised to see me. “And McKenzie,” she turned to her daughter with a smile curving across her full, red lips.

My wife was leaning against Aaron Burns’s side, with a familiar arm behind his back and curving around his hip. Her spectacular body was sheathed in a light blue cocktail dress. It clung to her breasts and hips, falling in several folds that looked simple but were probably a wonder of modern fashion. The dress looked so perfect for her that I could only imagine it was outrageously expensive. Was I imagining it, or did her eyes look a little glazed, unfocused? Was her voice more monotone?

“Hey, Barbara,” I answered. I hadn’t anticipated how strong my reaction would be to seeing her. I could feel my body responding, my heartbeat quickening and a heat flushing my neck and face. I could smell her perfume, sweet and inviting, hovering in the air around her like an aura of seduction. But I could also smell something else, a sharper scent. It wasn’t entirely unpleasant but had an edge like vinegar. Everything, the sensations and the situation, hit me at once in a jumble. I wasn’t ready for it, and I was probably going to say more, something unplanned and unhelpful, but luckily I was interrupted.

“John.” Aaron Burns’s hand slid into mine before I could react. Then, he was pressing my palm warmly and clasping his other hand around it. “So pleased you could make it,” the charming salesman told me, the perfect gentleman. “And...” he raised his eyebrows, glancing at McKenzie. “With such a stunning ... date?”

McKenzie gripped my forearm a little harder.

Aaron Burns knew my family well enough to know McKenzie. I wasn’t sure what he was playing at — Trying to put me off balance by asking if I’m here on a date with my stepdaughter? — but I knew that if I was going to beat this man I had to be smart.

What do you say in that situation? When you’re talking to the man who stole your wife. I wasn’t sure. But my only advantage, I thought, is that he doesn’t know that I have the same tricks he does. So I just laughed gently.

“No, no,” I explained. “Just here to spend time with my stepdaughter and maybe run into Barbara.” I tried to come off as unthreatening, like I’d accepted the fact that Aaron Burns had taken my wife. Like I wasn’t resisting the urge to try and win back my woman right then and there. I tried, in other words, to push down every Alpha instinct that was rising in my body. Every instinct that told me I wanted to assert dominance over Aaron Burns, every word and facial expression and twitch that wanted to convey my inner strength.

But I had to ignore them. I had to play the beta male, the beaten man who just accepted his lot.

“Ah, of course,” Aaron Burns nodded, his tone smooth. He gestured vaguely to the side. “I don’t think you’ve met before, so let me introduce my business partners. Teddy Brown and Jude Keohane.”

At the wave of his hand, the other two men stepped forward. Maybe my personal transformation had made me more attuned to these things, but it was obvious to me that Brown and Keohane were under Aaron’s Alpha thrall. Their body language was more submissive, and I could tell that they were both eager for Aaron’s approval. Usually social situations like this make people nervous, almost subconsciously uncomfortable, but either Brown and Keohane had no idea that I was actually Barbara’s husband or they did and were completely immune to societal conditioning.

The overweight man muttered, “Teddy,” and shook my hand briefly. His hair was speckling with silver at the temples. It might have looked distinguished but his face was too round and jowled.

The other man looked a little more energetic, and he smiled as he pumped my hand up and down several times. “Jude Keohane,” he said, his grip firm. “Happy to meet you. You know Aaron and Barbara, do you?”

Hearing it that way, Aaron and Barbara, was another sucker punch to the gut. But I just had to bear it. “Actually,” I said, giving what I hoped was a sheepish smile and not a sick grimace. “Barbara is my—”

“I’m sorry,” Aaron interrupted, patting me on the shoulder in a friendly way. “But we’ve got to keep you moving. More guests to greet, and all.” He gave me a handsome smile that looked welcoming on his lean features. “But hopefully we bump into each other later.”

No one else seemed bothered by the fact that Aaron had interrupted and rerouted the interaction. Jude Keohane and Teddy Brown melted into the background as Aaron once again took center stage, Jude not even seeming to notice how easily his business partner interrupted and moved him around like a chess piece.

McKenzie was holding my forearm in a tight grip while we walked on, her fingers digging into the fabric as we skirted around the edge of the hall looking for a table or place to stand. There were a bunch of round, white-clothed tables scattered across the floor and along the walls were taller, smaller tables for the cocktails we hadn’t yet retrieved. In three of the four corners I could see bartenders in shirtsleeves behind tall wooden bars. Arriving guests were heading straight for the booze, so men and women in evening attire were stacked two or three deep around the drinks station.

My stepdaughter still hadn’t spoken, but once we were several paces beyond the doors her hands relaxed around my arm. She blew out a sigh.

“So? What did you think?” I asked, leaning down a little so my normal speaking voice could be heard over the background chatter of dozens of conversations. From a safe distance, I took a minute to look Aaron up and down. He was taller than average, and fit, two qualities that were clearly accentuated by his tailored grey suit. His hair was dark, like mine, and also cropped relatively short, but unlike mine his facial hair was sculpted into a brief beard that clung to his cheeks. It gave his jaw a rough, manly look.

I glanced back as dark-haired teenager shook her head and glanced up into my face. Her expression was concerned, her pink lips parted. “Wow...” she managed to mutter, then blinked several more times.

I raised my eyebrows. McKenzie’s first part to play in my, admittedly not-so-elaborate, plan was to try and gauge Aaron Burns’s relative levels of Alpha-ness. If it was possible, I had hoped that she might be able to sense the invisible strength of his personality and dominance. Like how they use canines to detect drugs. “What does that mean?” I said.

McKenzie wet her lips nervously. “He’s...” she trailed off and I could tell she was resisting the urge to glance back over her shoulder. She swallowed and then said, “Like a magnet. I can feel this pull toward him. Stronger than anything else in the room.”

“Even me?” I asked.

My stepdaughter looked uncomfortable. “Well...” she muttered. “Yeah...” She glanced up into my face helplessly. “I don’t want to want someone other than you,” she tried to explain. “It’s just like my body and brain are fighting me, making me—”

I held up a hand to interrupt her before she got too upset. “It’s okay, angel,” I told her, nodding. “I expected this.” I wasn’t sure exactly how much longer Aaron had been using his BDE products than me. But given how much progress I’d made in a few weeks, even if the other man had only had a month or two to get a head start ... I was in trouble.