3. Colin
Chapter three
Colin
Daddy hunting and apartment hunting had left me less than satisfied. I had gotten nowhere with either of them. I stared at my body in the mirror. I had dropped a quick five pounds in the past week since finding out about the move out deadline. It was only a start.
I did twenty squats, taking Andy’s advice, and then turned to look at my ass in the mirror. It was shaping up, but still not enough to land someone like Rourke. I did twenty more, then hit the shower. Despite all my extracurricular activities, I still had to get to work on time.
When I got there, I opened the back door to Koffee Kraze and called out, “Andy, I’m here.” I punched my card at the old-fashioned time clock. The system was ancient but still worked for our small store, so why spend money to change it? Couldn’t blame the owners for that.
Andy came from the front and whistled sharply. “You’re looking good, Turtle.”
“Thanks. I’m running out of time, though.” Two weeks left. “Unless you want me sleeping on a cot in here, I have to get my ass in gear.”
Andy shuffled closer and smacked me on the butt. “That ass is getting cuter. We’ll have to go out tonight after work.”
I huffed. I didn’t want to. I was exhausted already, and my day was only getting started. What choice did I have, though? “Guess so.” I needed to turn on my slut-mode and actually find a daddy.
“Unless you want to get with Vick Petrov?”
“No, thank you.”
Andy laughed. “Okay. Open these boxes and stack this stuff, I’m opening in…” He looked at his fancy watch. “Two minutes.” He flipped his wrist back and forth, making a show of it.
“Okay, I give, where’d you get that?” It looked expensive.
“I subbed for this guy a few weeks back. Met him at Afterglow. He liked me. A lot.” Andy winked.
“That’s great. For you. But I need more than a fancy watch.” I should have added I’m not subbing for anyone, but I kept my mouth shut. Maybe I shouldn’t take that off the table.
“I’m sure you’ll get it, Turtle-shell. Stick with me.”
“Turtle-shell?” I shook my head. “Just don’t with that.”
“Whatever.” He snapped his fingers, did a fancy turn, and then headed to the front to open the shop. I didn’t understand Andy sometimes, but he had a point underneath that ostentatious air.
I so needed to find a daddy to take care of me.
I had applied to a few jobs, but none had bitten. I scoured Craig’s list for apartments and roommates, but when I did the math, nothing added up. I was actually bad at math, but I could add and subtract, and I knew how much income I needed in order to afford a place on my own, and I didn’t have that. There were exactly four bucks in my savings account.
With a huff, I grabbed the box cutter and got to work, trying not to think about it.
At the end of my shift, I went to the front to tell Andy I was leaving. I waited as he served the last customer in line, and then he turned to me with a sad face. “I have bad news. Well, good news for the long run, but not for you right now.”
“What are you talking about?”
Andy sighed. “Afterglow is closed. I mean, not permanently. They’re doing renovations, fixing it up, but it’ll be closed for the next few weeks. That means no hunting for you.”
I rolled my eyes. Of course, that was how my life seemed to be going. Downhill fast. “Is there anywhere else we can go?”
“Maybe.” Andy bit his lower lip. “Might not be as good. I don’t want to take you to a seedy dump. Afterglow is classy. Nicest place I know of.”
“But I can’t wait. I can’t end up with Vick. He makes my skin crawl.”
“He’s not that bad.”
“Then you fuck him.”
“Shh…language, Turtle.” Andy glanced around the café. There were a few people at the tables, but none of them were paying attention to us. “I’ll figure something out.” He flashed his fancy watch again. “Come by at five when I get off. We’ll go to my place and figure out a game plan.”
“Okay, fine. See you then.” I waved and went out the front door. I had a few hours to kill and figured I better keep looking for another job. If it came down to it, Andy might let me crash at his place temporarily. But I didn’t want it to come to that.
I got a lovely surprise when I arrived back at Koffee Kraze. Since I wasn’t working and arrived early, I went through the front doors. Levi was at the counter ordering drinks for him and his friend. Levi used to work at Koffee Kraze with us before he got a daddy. And…my lightbulb went on. I could totally ask him how he got his daddy. After Andy made Levi’s drinks, I grabbed them and took them over.
But the conversation was disappointing. Levi reminded me that he got his daddy by accident, and his friend, Danny, said he met his daddy at Afterglow. So I was back to crash and burn.
I waited around in back, feeling stupid and low, until Andy finished and closed up. “Okay, Turtle. Let’s head to my place first. We have a few choices for where we can go. Right, most have go-go boys, and you do not want to compete with that. So, I think Magnolia Underground is best. And it’s in Ybor, so not too far. If we want something better, we’d have to go across the bridge.” That meant into St. Petersburg, which was a no on a work night. And on most nights. It had to be a special occasion to go that far.
But it wasn’t like I’d been to any of the clubs. I had no idea why Magnolia Underground was better or worse than any other. “I’m not exposing my ass.”
Andy clucked. “Don’t judge. Get in, loser, we’re going daddy shopping.”
I huffed but got in his car anyway. It wasn’t anything fantastic. Certainly wasn’t what Rourke drove, but any car was better than what I had—no car. And Andy kept it nice and clean. And it drove well, all the way to his place. Where we once again played dress up with Andy’s clothes which were too small for me.
Andy searched his closet, muttering, “Blue, blue, blue.” Then he grabbed something and turned. “This is perfect.” He flung the shirt at me—if it could be called a shirt. “It’s a tease. Like peek-a-boo. Come on, put in on.”
It was lace and mesh in a neon blue. I pulled off my tee and put on the fancy shirt. It wasn’t as snug as what I expected Andy to give me, and the lace parts hid a lot, including my nipples. “It’s got a button thing here.” I held up my hair so Andy could do up the little buttons at the neck.
“Okay. Turn around. Let me see.” He looked me over while I spun. “You need leather pants with those, but I don’t have any that will fit. Oh, I know. Georgie!” He ran out of the room while I examined my reflection in his full-length mirror.
He came back with his roommate, Georgie, who was more my size, though his bulk was from muscles rather than pudge. He held out a pair of black leather pants. “These aren’t real leather, but they might look good. You’ll probably want to go commando.” He handed me the pants and raised his eyebrows.
“Yeah.” Self-conscience nerves threatened, but we all had the same equipment. I swallowed hard and stripped off my jeans. And boxers. Then, slipped into the faux leather. They were tight, but not as tight as the other shit Andy made me wear. And in fact…they hugged my ass nicely, making it look better. “I still only have my sneakers.” This outfit begged for something else. Chucks would not do.
“Wait. Uh, what size?”
“Nine and a half or ten, maybe?”
Georgie rushed out and back quickly. “Try these. They’re Carl’s but he said it was cool, as long as you bring them back. Same goes for the pants.”
“Of course. Thanks.” The shoes were some type of oxford in black and fit about as good as they could for being someone else’s shoe. “This work?”
Andy fluffed my hair behind me, then turned me around and swatted my ass. “Looking good, Turtle.”
Georgie finally cracked a smile and nodded.
“Thanks, y’all.”
Then Andy pulled on a black mesh top with tight black pants and his combat boots. He added a silver chain that hung across the top of his pecks. He looked good. He finger-combed his short blond hair and sprayed it with some product. “You totally don’t need any of this. You have the best hair.”
“So you say.”
“Pshh…come on. Let’s get out of here. See you, Georgie.”
“Does he want to come?”
Georgie glared at Andy. “I have homework to do. Some of us actually care about our grades.”
Andy flipped him off, but they both laughed, so I figured they weren’t fighting.
Then Andy drove us to the club.
The bar was about what I thought it would be like. Lights flashing, tons of people of many varieties, wearing all kinds of different clothes. Some wore tank tops and shorts, while some wore hardly anything. One big, muscular guy wore nothing but a kilt and combat boots, showing off his bare chest. At least I didn’t feel out of place. But there were tons of people, and the music was loud. How would I meet anyone?
But then, maybe I didn’t have to. As we made our way to the bar, I spotted a loan soul near the far side. Rourke . He sipped a drink and stared off into space, not the least bit interested in anything else going on around him. Certainly not the dance floor where all the hot bodies gyrated, bounced, and…whatever that guy was doing. Ugh! I left Andy and made my way over. I could do this. “Hey, you. Fancy meeting you here.”
His eyes grew wide in surprise, then he smiled, and it didn’t look as shark-like as it had the last time we met. It felt genuine, not forced. “Colin.”
“Yep. Me. What’s a cool dude like you doing in a crazy place like this?” I couldn’t hear his response, so I leaned closer. “What?”
“Getting out of here.” he practically yelled. “Come with?”
I bit my bottom lip, thinking about it. I could seriously ditch Andy and go with him, but…
Rourke reached out and touched my mouth. “Don’t do that.”
I didn’t know if I should apologize, but it was my lip. “I’m here with Andy,” I said instead.
“So?”
“Can’t go.”
“Your loss.” He slammed back the drink and walked off toward the front exit. Rude much? He could have stayed with me. We could have danced. I guess we’d already done that, though. I hoped he wasn’t driving.
Ugh. Why did I care about him? I yanked at my hair and then went to find Andy. Of course, he was on the dance floor, sandwiched between two muscular dudes. Why didn’t I go with Rourke? Andy did not give a shit. And I spent the next few hours having that point reinforced. I sipped drinks. Andy danced. I wondered why the hell I didn’t get Rourke’s number. No hot daddies approached me. At all. Or anyone else. I probably looked like a fool. The long-haired, chubby dude wearing clothes he couldn’t quite pull off. The night was a total bomb.
Eventually, we left, and I got a nice lecture all the way back to my Uncle’s house. “Seriously, Turtle. I saw you hanging around the bar. You didn’t even try. I’ve been going out of my way to help you, and you pull your same shy act. You have to step up if this is going to work.”
“You like totally ditched me.” I didn’t tell him about Rourke and how I could have left with him. Why ruin my fantasy?
“I was trying to give you space. I didn’t want anyone to assume we were together. That would have been totally discouraging for anyone who wanted to meet you.”
“Nobody thought that, and nobody wanted to meet me. This whole thing is ridiculous. I think I’m done searching for a daddy.”
“What are you going to do then?”
“Fuck if I know. Something. I’ll get a second job somewhere. Maybe a midnight shift warehouse job like Levi did.” That was how he found his daddy—mistaken for a rent boy. Yeah, I didn’t want that but…
Andy pulled up to the curb beside the house. The light in the living room was still on. “I hope you’re right, Turtle-Dove.” He put his hand on my head. “You deserve to be happy, you know. You’re a good person.”
I shrugged. I didn’t know. Harmless didn’t always mean good. Neither did loser. “Thanks, Andy. I do appreciate your help with this. I’ll bring the clothes back on my next shift.”
“Don’t worry about it. Bye.”
I walked up to the front door and since the light was on, tried the door before putting my key in. It was unlocked. Dark foreboding rolled over me. Uncle Edgar shouldn’t be up. “Uncle?”
He was sitting on the couch with the lights of the tree off. “Hey, uh. I waited up for you.” He wiped at his face.
“What’s going on?”
When he looked up at me, I knew it had to be bad. “Bobby. He’s, uh, he’s taken a turn for the worse. He…he can’t stay at the hospital anymore. Hospice is arranging to move him here. Tomorrow.”
“Oh. Okay.” I felt like a shitbag. He was dying, and I was complaining. Over what? “You need to go to bed, Uncle. You need your rest. I’ll be out of here. It’s okay. Let me call Andy.”
Of course, Andy answered right away. He probably hadn’t even made it out of the neighborhood. “What’s up, Buttercup? Did you get locked out or something?”
“Uh, no, but…Bobby’s coming a lot earlier than expected. Can I, can I…”
“Crash at my place?”
“Yeah? Can I crash there? On the couch or something?” Their couch was admittedly not too comfortable, and their living room, hell, the entire apartment, was tiny. Andy had his own room, but it wasn’t more than a closet. “Just until I figure out what I’m going to do.”
“Sure, man, pack a bag. I’m on my way back.”