The Daddy He Needs (Boys In Need of Saving #4)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

OWEN

My roommates were all out on the dance floor, but thankfully, it seemed like they hadn’t noticed that I wasn’t following. Or that, instead of just grabbing another drink first, like I’d told them I was going to, I’d awkwardly set up camp on a bar stool and planned to stay for a while.

Not that it had been a total lie.

I did order myself another drink.

My second of the night.

And I wasn’t actually trying to dodge them, or the dancing, it was just that I was a total lightweight who didn’t normally drink much, and I actually wasn’t sure if I could stand up without swaying at the moment.

Well, okay. Maybe I was dodging the dancing.

And the whole, you know, socializing with strangers part, too.

“But tipsy or not, I’m really not drunk enough for all that yet,” I murmured under my breath, feeling a little guilty that I wasn’t having a good time when that was what my roommates had dragged me out here for.

Well, even though they hadn’t exactly said so, I figured they’d really dragged me out to cheer me up after getting dumped by Hannah, which had happened weeks ago. I was actually over it, but I guess they didn’t see it that way.

But it wasn’t her that had me down lately. It was everything else. Regular stuff that felt too pathetic to whine to anyone about, but that still felt like a lot.

I gulped down the rest of my drink—all of it, all at once—then immediately choked a little because wow, that was a lot, too.

“Oh God, I’m pathetic,” I mumbled once I could breathe again.

The bartender leaned over the bar, cupping his ear. “What was that? Another?”

“No, but thank you,” I shouted back, embarrassed that he’d caught me talking to myself. “It’s just that this isn’t really my scene, and I was feeling a little…”

I trailed off, blushing hard.

He’d given me a curt nod as soon as I said no to the drink, and was already walking away. I guessed that meant that the whole pour your heart out to the bartender and get some good advice thing in shows wasn’t real?

Or at least, not in a place like this.

I nibbled on my lip. That was fine. What would I have told him, anyway?

That adulting was hard? So I was falling behind in my classes at college.

Having second thoughts about whether I was actually cut out for my major, despite being only a year away from graduation and having known I wanted to be a vet since I was a kid?

And yeah, the stuff with the house was pretty stressful and it sucked having to collect rent from my roommates, especially when they were always late with it, but who could I complain to about that since they’d become my friends, too?

So, okay, it might have been a little bit nice to talk to someone about some of that, but I was pretty sure none of it fell under the category of the kind of advice bartenders generally gave out, anyway.

As if my gloomy thoughts were some kind of parental bat signal, my phone vibrated with an incoming message.

I pulled it out, then grimaced when I read it.

I’d texted them earlier today asking them to front some money to the house maintenance account so I could get someone to come check out the weird noises coming from the water heater. I wasn’t really surprised that their answer was no, but it still made my stomach clench tight with anxiety.

So maybe I should get another drink? It might help?

Or maybe I should just go.

I sighed, shoving my phone back in my pocket, then spinning my empty glass in my hands. I didn’t really think the guys would mind if I left since they were all otherwise occupied, but springing for an Uber all on my own instead of splitting it four ways felt irresponsible.

Before I could weigh the pros and cons, someone spun me around on the barstool.

“Owen! My man!” Tyler, one of my roommates, shouted in my face. “You’re still sittin’ over here?”

“Um, yes?” I said as he threw an arm around me, leaning against me so heavily that he almost knocked me right off the stool.

I shoved him off, and he grinned at me, swaying a little. “You’re never gonna get laid if you don’t get out there. If you don’t wanna dance, at least come mingle!”

I shook my head a little frantically. “No, thank you.”

He snort-laughed like I’d just said the funniest thing, then grabbed my arm, yanking me off the stool. “Come on, brother! I’ll find you someone hot.”

“Oh, um, I don’t think I’m actually ready to sleep with anyone new yet,” I said, pulling away from him in a bit of a panic.

He stumbled, then caught himself by grabbing my face in both his hands, squishing my cheeks together the way my late grandmother used to.

“Ty-wer?” I asked.

He stared at me drunk-solemnly. “You gotta get over her, man.”

“Who, Hannah?”

“Yes, Hannah!” he shouted, thankfully releasing my face so he could flail his hands around dramatically. “You gotta get back out there, O! That’s why you’re here tonight! She dumped your ass! Block her number and move on!”

I blinked. “I don’t think I really need to block her, though? I mean, we haven’t really been in touch since we broke up.”

He gave me a disappointed look, shaking his head. Then he grabbed my ass.

“Tyler!” I snapped, swatting at him before I realized he was just stealing my phone.

He waved it in my face. “Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt, my man. I saw you.”

“You saw me what?”

Tyler flung an arm out—thankfully not the one holding my phone—and pointed toward the other side of the bar.

“I was right over there, getting my flirt on with this badass domin… domo… domino… you know, chick dressed in leather who looked like she’d get off on spanking me, and I saw you.

Hannah messaged you.” He shook my phone at me.

“I saw this light up. Then you read her message and got all constipated-looking.”

“Oh, that wasn’t—” I started, about to explain that it hadn’t been Hannah.

Tyler cut me off before I could.

“Block that bitch, O,” he said, grabbing my cheeks again. “Seriously, she doesn’t deserve you.”

“Um, thanks?”

Even though he was wrong about me needing to block Hannah, it still made me feel kind of warm and fuzzy inside that he cared… unless that warm, fuzzy feeling was from the drinks?

Drinking the second one so fast definitely had me swaying on my feet.

“No prob,” Tyler said, clapping me on the shoulder with a grin. “I’ve got your back.” Then he waved my phone in front of my face again. “Unlock it for me.”

I pushed his hand away before he took out my eye. “What? Why?”

Tyler leaned in, his alcohol-scented breath wafting over me. “Unlock your phone,” he enunciated carefully. “And I’ll do you a solid. Told you, O. I’ve got your back.”

“Um, okay?” I was still confused, but maybe it would just be easier to go along with it.

I steadied his hand, then let the phone scan my face.

He snatched it back with a gleeful chortle, shoved the sleeve of his shirt up, then rapidly tapped something out on my screen.

I leaned closer, trying to see. “What are you doing?”

He thrust his arm out at me. “All for you, my man!”

A sloppily written phone number was scrawled over his skin in Sharpie.

“Whose phone number is that?” I asked, getting a sinking feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach.

Tyler gave me a slightly manic-looking grin.

“The hot girl in leather I told you about!” He flapped a hand in the direction he’d pointed to before.

“You know, the domino-matrix chick! She was a little scary, but maybe that’s what you need after Hannah, right?

A little kink to snap you out of your funk! ”

My eyes went wide, and I started shaking my head. “I… you… that doesn’t sound… I can’t. Besides, she gave you her number.”

“I know, I know,” Tyler said, slinging his arm around my shoulders again. “I was trying to close the deal for myself, but the way you’ve been pining lately, you need the hook-up more than me.”

I really, really didn’t.

I opened and closed my mouth a few times before I managed to get anything out. “Did you seriously just message a total stranger from my phone?”

“She doesn’t have to be a stranger for long,” Tyler said, waggling his eyebrows at me.

Oh God. He’d really done it.

He squeezed me against him in a clumsy bro-hug as he went on. “But not just that, my man. I blocked Hannah for you, too. You’re welcome.”

“Oh my God,” I wheezed, shoving him away and then snatching my phone back.

I didn’t care about him blocking Hannah. That was whatever. But sexually harassing a stranger from my phone? Because this was Tyler. Drunk Tyler. So even though it hadn’t been a dick pic or anything, I was pretty sure it wasn’t going to be pretty.

I cringed inside as I closed out my contact list and opened my messages to see what he’d sent her, and… oh shit.

“Tyler,” I hissed, feeling light-headed and a little bit nauseous. And this time, I was pretty sure it wasn’t from those two drinks I’d had.

He slow blinked at me, still smiling. “Yeah? Did she reply yet?”

“I’ve been a bad, bad boy. Will you come spank me if I promise to call you Mommy and suck on your—” I started to read the text he’d sent through clenched teeth, but broke off to glare at him. “Are you serious right now?”

“Yeah!” He grinned even wider. “Like I said, she seemed like she’d be into that shit. And it’ll be fun! I don’t know how kinky you and Hannah were—”

“Not even a little bit,” I mumbled.

“Then you’re due, O,” he said, nodding at me solemnly. “Trust me, you don’t know what you’re missing until you hook up with a girl who kinda terrifies you.”

“Oh my God. I can’t even with you,” I muttered, every word out of his mouth making me panic even more.

I fumbled my phone, almost dropping it as I tried to type out a decent apology text.

Tyler peered over my shoulder. “You already chatting with her? Get it, my man!”

“No, I’m not… you can’t just… I don’t want… ugh, Tyler,” I sputtered in frustration, those two drinks I’d had impeding my ability to both yell at him and get my thumbs to work at the same time.