Heartache Spoken Here

  “Go on out the door, honey. Car’s unlocked.” He stopped at Tracey and waited for the front door to close behind Emma. “Get your car keys and start loading. You’re going to help me move her stuff to my house.” He used Dom tone, too.

  “I’m—”

  “Going to do what I fucking say, Tracey, or my next call is to my attorney and Child Protective Services. Just try me. I dare you. She’s almost sixteen. You’ll be lucky if I can even convince her to visit you after this stunt. It would greatly behoove you to not piss me off anymore than I already am right now.”

  She swallowed hard again but this time headed over to where she kept her purse and got it and her keys.

  Twenty minutes later, all of Emma’s stuff was loaded into both vehicles.

  Pat had made one more appearance, while they were loading the last bit in Tracey’s car. He’d opened the front door and peeked out. Brandon stood there, hands on his hips, glaring, silently daring Pat to start something.

  Pat turned around and headed back inside the house.

  Once they were on the road and Tracey was following them, he took a deep breath and looked at Emma.

  “What happened, sweetheart?”

  “Dad, I didn’t know it was a religious thing, I swear. If I’d known, I would have called you and begged you to talk to her about letting me stay with you.”

  “I know, sweetheart. Tell me what happened.”

  “Mom told me not to bring the seasick meds with me. I ignored her, of course, because I’m not stupid. Then the Goober saw me with them in the cabin and ratted me out. Pat took them from me and flushed them. Told me they were nothing but a placebo effect, and that since his parents were going to be there this weekend, he wouldn’t have me ‘ruining’ things for him.”

  “Then what happened?”

  “I placebo-effected all over Pat. I thought he was going to hurl. The Goober did.”

  He couldn’t help it. He reached out to fist bump with her. “That’s my girl.”

  “I couldn’t keep anything down, so I decided that since Pat was going to be a dick, so was I. Well, you know what I mean. He ordered me to go to dinner with them Friday night. So I went with them to the dining room and proceeded to throw up all over his mother. After I ate two helpings of red Jell-O.”

  Brandon didn’t even bother trying to hold back the laughter or scold his daughter for the playfully evil gleam in her eyes. “You could have had a serious problem. You know from swim training that you have to stay hydrated.”

  “I know. But at that point, it was the principle of the matter.” She studied her fingernails. “I might have fudged a little to the nurse this afternoon and told her I hadn’t kept anything down, including water, in forty-eight hours. I actually did keep some Gatorade and water down, but I was probably borderline dehydrated.”

  “I’m surprised they had a nurse on board with it being a church thing.”

  “It was a charter cruise. I asked her about that when she was checking me out. The nurse was an insurance requirement the company had, and she works for the charter company. She wasn’t one of them. She was really nice. I think she’s married to like the captain or something. One of the crew. She seemed to know them pretty well.”

  He wasn’t sure if he should be proud of her, ground her, or both.

  He opted for the first one. “So how’d you like your first helicopter ride?”

  “It was fun. I think Mom was scared shi-poopless when she had to ride in the basket, too. They hauled me up, then her. Oh, Dad, the guys were hot. I’m talking they were smokin’ hot.”

  “Well, they’re Coasties, sweetheart. They have to stay in shape.”

  “You should totally try to date one of them.”

  Maybe he’d fallen asleep in front of the TV and was dreaming this. But he surreptitiously pinched his inner thigh at a red light and realized, nope, wide awake.

  It was after ten o’clock when they finished unloading Tracey’s car. She left without saying good-bye to Emma, or bothering to help him finish unloading his car.

  “She’s gone,” he yelled out to her. “You can stop faking it now.”

  Emma bolted out of her room and nearly tackled him by the front door. “I love you, Daddy!”

  “What happened to the deal we made?”

  “Yeah, well, they totes deserved this. Try to tell me they didn’t.”

  He headed toward her bedroom with a load of her stuff. “Next time, how about we try a less…diabolical option?”

  She grinned. “Yeah, but do you know how cool it’ll be for me to tell everyone at school tomorrow I got air-lifted?”

  “Let’s leave out the Machiavellian aspects, huh?”

  “Yeah, obvs.” She sank onto the end of her bed. “So do you still have to hire the lawyer to do the paperwork about me living here?”

  “Why?”

  She shrugged. “Maybe it’ll save you money if you don’t. Plus you won’t have to pay Mom child support anymore.”

  He stared at her, everything falling into place. “You set the Goober up to bust you, didn’t you? You knew Pat would take the meds from you when you figured out it was a religious thing.” He extended the thought. “And you seized the opportunity to deliberately set your mother up to basically be at my mercy in court to save me money.”

  She stared at her feet for a long, quiet moment. “Am I in trouble?”

  “Not if you tell me the truth, no. This is fuc—frigged up all the way around, at this point. I just want the whole truth from you.”

  Mostly so he’d know what he was up against when she started dating.

  I wonder if you can privately buy one of those ankle monitoring bracelets as a parent?

  “It didn’t make sense to me why Mom was being weird about the meds when she hasn’t before. I mean, I’ve puked on her. She knows this. I figured there had to be a reason, and when I heard Pat talk about his parents were coming, too, I kind of guessed this was more than just some family bonding thing. I did a quick Google search on my phone, found their church’s calendar, and saw the thing listed.”

  “So you knew before getting on the boat?”

  “On the way there. In the car. I swear not before.”

  “Why didn’t you call me?”

  “Because at that point, I was pissed off. Sorry, I mean I was mad. I knew if I snuck the meds, I wouldn’t get sick, and then they’d just say see, you were faking it before. Or worse, claim prayer healed me, then I’d either get in trouble when we got back for lying about taking the medicine, or they’d think I was lying to them then. Lose-lose. I’d get in trouble either way.”

  He nodded. “Keep going. I’m listening.”

  “I figured like what you’ve always said, carrot and stick. Or, in this case, sick. It was worth being miserable for a couple of days to tell them ‘I told you so’ about me being seasick.”

  “How many people puked in the dining room after you did?”

  “Oh, like five. Another couple of people ran out of the room.” She grinned. “I got it all over her, the table, it was awesome.” With her hands she mimed a fountain exploding in slow-motion from her mouth.

  “Red, huh?”

  She shrugged. “I figured go big, or go home.”

  * * * *

  While Emma was in the shower, he pulled up the group text thread between him, Stuart, and Jeff.

  Unexpected development. Emma is now living with me full-time, as of about fifteen minutes ago.

  Their replies arrived almost simultaneously.

  Jeff: What happened?

  Stuart: What’s going on?

  He typed the bare-bones basics of what happened without giving away Emma’s secret, and promised to update them both tomorrow.

  Stuart: If you want to cancel this weekend, I understand.

  He thought about it. Let’s play it by ear. She’s plenty old enough to be alone for a few hours. I’m not canceling automatically.

  Jeff: Is there anything we can do?

  I might en
d up taking you both up on your offers to help me with the house. Especially when my kitchen cabinets come in.

  They both sent him thumbs-up icons in response.

  Emma knocked on his bedroom door after she finished her shower.

  “Come on in.”

  She did. “Are you mad at me, Daddy?”

  He’d been sitting on the bed, still texting with Jeff and Stuart. He set his phone aside and opened his arms to her. She stepped in for a hug.

  “We will have to have a future discussion about the ethical issues of you going so far as to enlist the United States Coast Guard without their consent to help teach your mother a lesson I’m almost certain she will not forget.”

  “That’s a no, right?”

  He laughed. “No, I’m not mad at you, sweetheart.” He made her look up at him. “My rules now, though. Not going to go easy on you.”

  “I know. I promise.”

  “What time do we have to be out of here in the morning?”

  “Five, Daddy. Same as always.”

  “You’re killing me, Smalls.”

  She laughed. He wasn’t sure it might not be the best sound in the world.

  “I love you, Daddy.”

  Okay, maybe that was.

  “Love you, too, kiddo. Get to bed. Morning will come early. Set your alarm.”

  She headed to her bedroom and closed the door.

  I am going to have to step up my game to stay a step ahead of her.

  Chapter Ten

  With the change in Brandon’s living situation, it brought about a blessing in that Brandon would be able to go out with them for a few hours Saturday night.

  Meanwhile, their plans for a naked pool party were put on hold, although Brandon still wanted to have individual date nights with the men on Monday and Tuesday.

  They texted and talked and even managed to get together for a quick cup of coffee Wednesday evening to see each other for an hour.

  And they were using the time apart with texts and e-mails to more clearly define some of the things they were looking for, or wanted to try. Brandon was interested in learning as much about them as possible so he could make the best use of their limited time together.

  It came as a pleasant shock to Stuart to read that Jeff wanted to explore receiving DP from them, if or when they got to the point where they were sexual with each other.

  Stuart masturbated more over those days than he had in the past couple of years.

  Friday night, Stuart nervously sat on the end of the bed and watched TV while he awaited Jeff’s arrival. He’d have to buckle down and really start looking for an apartment this weekend, now that he was into a routine at work.

  It felt strange in a good way to have someone coming to pick him up for a date.

  It felt strange in a good way to be going on a date, period.

  It felt strange to feel…good.

  No guilt, no secrets, no dodging questions or ignoring snarky comments from his family, comments designed to dig under his skin like porcupine barbs.

  No having to hide who he was or what he wanted.

  Jeff and Brandon appreciated him for himself. They didn’t expect him to be anything other than the person he was.

  There was something very freeing in that, something incredibly blissful in being able to give his submission.

  The embarrassing catfishing incident aside, he couldn’t be happier over how this had all worked out. He wished Brandon could join them tonight, but understood and respected his need to spend time with his daughter.

  Just more proof the man was a good man.

  He jumped when he heard the knock on his door. A look through the viewfinder showed it was Jeff.

  He opened the door for him. “Hey.”

  “Hey.” Jeff smiled and leaned in to kiss him hello. “Ready for our date?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So how long are you staying here?”

  “I don’t know. Hopefully not long. I need to look for an apartment. They’re paying for two more weeks. I checked the price, and it’s actually not bad compared to some of the apartments I looked at when I figure in utility deposits.”

  Jeff had dressed nice, a button-up shirt and slacks. Stuart almost felt frumpy next to him in his jeans, although he was wearing a button-up shirt. They headed to dinner, to a nice restaurant, not too expensive but a little toward the higher end than Stuart might normally pick for himself.

  “This is my treat, by the way,” Jeff said.

  “What?”

  He arched an eyebrow at him. “My treat. I insist. And I don’t expect you to pick up the bill for me in the future, either. Brandon got to buy your membership last week. Consider this a welcome-to-the-kinky-world gift, if you want to.”

  Stuart finally laughed. “That’s not a thing.”

  “No, it’s not, but I’m going to enjoy being toppy with you sometimes.” He leveled his hazel gaze at Stuart. “This is one of those times.”

  Stuart found himself nodding, entranced.

  Jeff grinned. “Good boy.”

  His cock instantly hardened, and he knew by Jeff’s playful smirk that the man, somehow, knew that.

  Jeff leaned in and dropped his voice. “If you think that’s spooky, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

  * * * *

  Jeff was enjoying the hell out of this. He still didn’t want to be toppy all the time, but he’d privately discussed this with Brandon, who had no problem with him doing it.

  When they were together, the three of them, Jeff would absolutely be in subby mode, unless Brandon wanted him otherwise. He could freely disengage his brain then and let Brandon be Brandon.

  But for now, until they settled into something permanent, Jeff was free to get toppy with Stuart if he felt like it. More for Stuart’s sake than for Jeff’s, since the guy was so new to all of this.

  Still, every time he had two seconds to himself, Jeff’s mind drifted to last Saturday night, to how it’d felt leaning back against Brandon while surfing his endorphin rush.

  Actually feeling a deep endorphin rush the likes of which he hadn’t felt in pretty much ever.

  It spoke a lot to the fact that he had that kind of rapport with Brandon that soon.

  “You know, I have an idea.”

  “What?” Stuart asked.

  “If you have trouble finding a place, you’re welcomed to stay with me. Pay rent and help with chores. No security deposits needed. Then you can move when you find the right place.”

  Stuart studied him, and for a moment, Jeff wondered if he’d pushed too hard, too fast.

  “Really?”

  “Well, you’d need to look at it first. And I’m not saying you have to. It won’t hurt my feelings if you say no. I get that after staying with your cousin you might want privacy for a while. I’m just putting it out there as an option.”

  Stuart thought about it. “We’d need to ask Sir.”

  That was something else adorable about Stuart. He’d fallen into calling Brandon Sir immediately. It was almost weird to hear him refer to Brandon as anything but Sir.

  “That’s fine. On the way back to your place, we can stop by and I’ll show it to you. And you can see the Edsel.” Stuart had expressed an interest in the old car.

  “Okay.”

  Under the table, Jeff edged his foot closer to Stuart’s, touching, leaving it there while smiling at him over the table. “We are going to have so much fun with you,” Jeff softly said.

  Stuart pressed his foot closer to Jeff’s. “You’re not the only ones.”

  * * * *

  Stuart thought the evening flew by way too fast. When it was time for Jeff to take him home, it felt more than natural to lay his hand on Jeff’s thigh as he drove.

  And his cock throbbed when Jeff laid his hand over Stuart’s and squeezed, leaving it there.

  Jeff’s house was older, and small, but clean and tidy. “No storage in the garage for you, sorry. That’s the Edsel’s home.”

  “That’s not a
problem.” The bedroom was about the size of the bedroom area in his hotel room. The hotel room was bigger only because of the small kitchen and dining area in the back.

  “Take your time, no rush. Ask Brandon what he thinks. It’s a backup plan for you so you don’t have to feel stressed.”

  “I appreciate it.”

  Then Jeff drove him home, walking him inside and leaving him with a good-bye kiss that took Stuart’s breath away and left his cock hard.

  Jeff smiled at him. “I know what I’m going to do when I get home.”

  Stuart smiled. “Me, too.”

  Jeff’s gaze searched his face for a moment. “I think the hardest rule will be waiting on sex. I know he knows what he’s doing, and I agree it’s better to wait.” He leaned in, touching foreheads the way they had that night at the club. “But you are gonna get ridden so fucking hard when he lets me at you,” Jeff whispered before he kissed him one last time.

  Stuart tried to follow when Jeff lifted his lips from Stuart’s. “I need to go before I break a rule,” Jeff said. “I don’t want to mess this up, and I’m going to be Sir’s good boy, too.”

  Stuart let him out, locking the door behind him and watching through the viewfinder until he couldn’t see Jeff’s truck’s taillights anymore.

  Then he turned and stared at the room. Temporarily home.

  Except…

  Now it felt lonelier than ever without Jeff or Brandon there.

  He sent Brandon a text.

  I’m home, Sir.

  He was surprised when his phone rang a few seconds later.

  Brandon.

  “Did you have fun?”

  Stuart lay back in bed and closed his eyes. “Yes, Sir. We had a good time. I missed you.”

  “I miss you guys, too. Sorry I couldn’t make it out tonight, but I’m exhausted.”

  “Will you still be able to come out tomorrow night?”

  “You can count on it. I told Emma I’m going on a date, and she’s about ready to shove me out the door.”

  “That’s…good, right?”