Chapter 13
Chapter thirteen
Drake - Miami
The guys and Matty set up a small tree in the huge upstairs living room.
It was a cool bonus area to relax and hang out comfortably.
Now the tree was decorated, with plenty of presents stuffed under it.
So we invited some people over to have a party.
Since it had an entertainment center, complete with a video game console, an old-school pinball machine, and a pool table, there was something for everyone to do.
The room even had a wet bar with a drink fridge, so we didn’t have to keep going downstairs to the kitchen.
Both the Midnight Hunt and Bramble Punk guys came by with their partners, and we played a few rounds of pool, and a few guys started up a Mario Kart game on the console.
Kay and Donny hauled Matty over to the pinball machine.
I honestly liked their daddy. Saxon was softspoken, kind, and it was easy to see how much he loved those guys.
Since no one batted an eye at their unconventional relationship, I felt a lot more comfortable with mine.
Hell, I only had one partner, but Matty was a lot to handle sometimes.
Tonight, he promised to keep his clothes on.
Which I reminded him of with a pointed finger when the three littles started dancing.
He answered the warning with a cheeky grin and a few sexy stripper moves, but the clothes stayed on.
Thankfully. The last thing I wanted was Christmas Eve nakedness in front of Midnight Hunt.
After a while, people trickled out with other plans, leaving our band and Matty to finish the evening.
“Guys.” Gonzo held up a nice wooden box and opened it. “Cigars.”
“Hell, yeah. But we better go outside.” Finn grabbed a stogie and headed down the stairs.
Tank headed to the bar and perused the liquor. “I’ll be right down. Grab glasses, Drake.”
“I’ll help, but I’m not smoking one of dem stinky things.” Matty grabbed two glasses, and I grabbed three. Matty might not drink anything, but I didn’t want him to feel left out.
In the backyard, we sat around a firepit that Gonzo and Finn had started and lit up the cigars. “What are we drinking?” Finn grabbed one of the glasses.
Tank cracked open the bottle he chose. “Brandy. Because it’s mother fucking classy, assholes.”
Everyone cheered and held out glasses for Tank to pour. Even Matty, though he pinched his fingers close together to indicate he only wanted a little, and Tank gave him just a bit. Enough so he could sip it and feel like part of the gang. Because he was.
The Brandy had a fruity taste and an oaky finish. Matty asked for more, so I figured he liked it. Something I noted for later.
“This is nice.” Finn blew smoke out of his mouth.
“Everything is going great for us right now. We really need to celebrate.” We finished our album, and the Midnight Hunt guys—or I should actually say MH Management, and that included more than the original band members—were lining up the next steps in our career.
Kai, the marketing and social media guru, was finalizing the cover, including the logo. We were on our way.
“Fuck…we all need to get our new logo tattooed.” Gonzo held his cigar in his mouth and pumped a fist in the air. The guys cheered, except for Matty, and I caught his eye roll. I couldn’t see him getting any tattoos ever.
“Hell yeah.” I took a puff. It was a good cigar with a sweet note. I hadn’t had one this nice in a long time. “Thanks for the stogies, man. Very nice.”
“Yeah, I splurged a little, but you know, like Finn said.” He gestured his cigar toward Finn.
“Besides, this is what my dad and his brothers used to do when they got together. Hang out away from the women and smoke. It’s what I know.
” He shrugged. He didn’t talk a lot about his family or his past. All I knew was that they had been well off, but not rich, and that they lived in Vegas. He’d been born and raised there.
“That’s not a bad tradition. We should do this every year.” Finn gave a chin nod in appreciation. The rest of us agreed. I already thought of these guys as brothers. Except Matty, obviously.
“Growing up, we always had hot cocoa on Christmas Eve.” Gonzo squirmed a bit in his chair, but I didn’t have a clue why. “This is better.” He held up his glass. “Think I’d rather start our own traditions. My folks were assholes.” Ah-ha. Probably that.
Finn patted his arm. Of all of us, I thought Finn would understand asshole parents since his mom was the worst. “Sorry, man. Pour me.” He held his glass up, and Gonzo poured. “When I was a kid, I loved Christmas. In good years, we opened a present on Christmas Eve, but it was usually pajamas.”
“Or socks and underwear,” Gonzo added with a snorted laugh.
“How about you, Matty?” I wanted him to feel free to jump into the conversation.
“I don’t like to think about the past. But. I guess the best thing was that Mom and her sister, Aunt Sophie, always took me to see the Nutcracker. Every year.”
“Did you ever dance it?” Tank asked. I hadn’t thought the guys would care much about Matty’s dancing, but they did know he was classically trained in ballet.
Matty shook his head. “No. Uh, I tried out one year but didn’t get it.
They pulled most of the dancers from their own company, and I wasn’t a part of that.
I was dancing in another competitor group.
Rivalries.” He waved his hand. “Divas.” It was too dark to see his eyeroll, but I imagined it clearly.
Those green and brown eyes were as sassy as the rest of him.
“Maybe I’ll take you to see it next year.” I didn’t know for sure where we would be or even if he’d want to go.
“Thanks, Daddy.” He leaned over and kissed my cheek.
Of course, Finn started with the aww and the guys followed with more teasing. Matty flipped them the bird, then had Gonzo pour him a little more Brandy. “You feeling good there, Matty?” he asked as he filled Matty’s glass.
“Yep. Nice and warm.” That might have been the brandy talking, but it wasn’t cold out. Hell, it was even warmer than what we would have if we were still in Vegas.
The guys continued talking about traditions and family, but I thought about one tradition in particular that I’d always loved as a kid, and one I was going to pull for Matty this year for sure. I already had it set up.
My dad had been mostly great. Hell, still was.
We didn’t talk a lot or get together much, because he was getting older and didn’t really travel.
I’d been focused on my music, never making a lot of money.
To be honest, I’d gotten into a funk the last few years.
I was on a bad downward cycle. Drinking, partying.
Playing for drinks in dive bars. Sure, it was fun, but it wasn’t getting us anywhere.
I wanted to be better than that. For myself, but also for Matty.
He deserved better than me. A loser who couldn’t commit to him.
And why? Because I had nothing to offer him.
My grumpy ass had been a shithead. And it was extremely difficult to think about myself in any other way.
But now…with MH Management behind us and the guys getting as serious as me, I did have something. I was becoming a better person, and I wanted to share it with Matty. And maybe prove to my dad that I could be a good man. I was going to do everything I could to be worthy of Matty’s love.
Finn lifted his glass and stood. “I’m going to do a toast. To us. And I hope that we will do this every year going forward. No matter what, on Christmas Eve we get together and spend time like this as brothers.”
All of us, even Matty, stood and clinked glasses.
It was nice. We went back upstairs after that, having finished our cigars.
The brandy was traded for beer, and I think a few shots were going around.
Matty had one of those sparkling water drinks he liked instead of alcohol.
Gonzo and Tank were getting loud around the pinball machine.
It was cheery and festive, if not the traditional things to do on Christmas Eve. It worked for us.
Then Matty turned the music off. “Hey, guys. I’d like to hear some of your new music. I haven’t—”
“Fuck yeah! Oh, sorry.” Finn dashed across the room and grabbed his guitar. “Let’s do it.”
Tank grabbed his bass and plugged it in.
Gonzo crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not dragging drums up here.”
“That’s okay. We’ve got this. Just count us in.” Finn plugged the guitar in. “What are we playing?”
I wondered only briefly if this would wake the neighbors, though the other houses weren’t that close to ours.
“How about Jaded? It’s brand new.” I didn’t have a mic, but I was generally loud enough to hold my own.
“Cat turned us onto this one, Matty. It’s from a band they want to sign up in Ohio called Lythium Madness. ”
“I got this.” Gonzo tapped out a beat on the back of the couch and kept going. Finn picked up the melody, and Tank pounded out the bass line, though they had turned the amps down lower than we normally did, evening out the overall volume. So, I belted out the words.
Jaded as the snow
My heart bleeds
Against the white
My black heart
Not willing to let go
Jaded…
Jaded as the snow
There was fresh green grass in the valley
Stars glittering in the midnight sky
We lost that ground when you failed to believe
You walked away and never said goodbye
You never ever told me why
Jaded
Jaded as the snow
My heart bleeds
Against the white
My black heart
Not willing to let go
Jaded…
Jaded as the snow
Crushing my life without words
You turned me from the world of lies
I lost my heart when you failed to believe
Now I’ve gotten wise
I don’t need to know why
We ran through the chorus one more time. The song was loud with a soulful melody. But the words…I hoped like hell Matty didn’t think it was him who inspired that song. Hell, we didn’t write it, which is why I’d pointed out where we got it.
After the chorus, the song turned faster, and Matty started dancing. Before I realized what was happening, he flung his shirt off. Fuck me. We should have stuck to Christmas Carols.
Finn stopped playing. “Whoa…this ain’t the strip club, dude.”
Tank set his bass back in the stand, purposefully looking away, while Gonzo covered his eyes with both hands as Matty shed his pants.
“Clothes are uncomfortable, especially for dancing. I’ve been good all night, Daddy.”
What the hell with the clothes? We were going to need a long talk about it. Again. “This isn’t music you dance to anyway, Matty.”
“I do.” He spun around. With his cock out. Geeze. He was so gorgeous, but I did not want my band brothers to see his private parts.
There was no choice. I grabbed him and threw him over my shoulder, hauling him off to our room. Down the stairs I went with Matty, giggling the entire way. He was so cute, I couldn’t even stay mad.
“I think you need a shower.” Maybe that would help sober him up.
I turned on the water and put him in it.
He wiggled and danced around under the water.
I wasn’t sure how drunk he was. He’d only had a couple of brandies, and they were small.
But he didn’t normally drink, so they were probably strong for him.
“Daddy. Watch me.” He turned and stuck his butt under the water, wiggling it. “I’m cleaning up.”
“Use soap.”
“Oh, yeah. Soapies.” He squeezed his body wash into his hand and lathered up his arms and chest.
“Are you okay in here alone?”
“Uh-huh. Go. Go.” He shooed me away.
I pulled down the covers and found the lube and a condom. Damn, I wanted to fuck Matty all the time. I got on the mattress and stroked my cock a few times, waiting. “Hurry up, boy.”
“Coming, Daddy. Jusaminute.” He ran the words together, but they weren’t slurred, only in his little persona.
I waited, imagining what we were about to do. How did I want to take him?
Finally, he came out and climbed right on the bed beside me, on his hands and knees. “Already slick and stretched. Let’s go, Daddy.”
“Damn, boy.” I pushed him over on his back. “I want to see you.” He had a very expressive face, especially when he was horny. My sheathed cock slid right in; he must have really worked himself open.
“Daddy…” His eyes rolled back, and his mouth fell open with his tongue sticking out. I hoped that meant I was hitting his prostate. I wanted it to be good for him.
“You like?” I grunted, fucking into him harder.
“Yes…” He put his feet on my shoulders, which lifted his ass a little higher, giving me a better angle, but also allowing him to control it, so I was nailing his spot with every thrust.
It didn’t take long for him to come without even stroking his cock, and he was so fucking sexy that I came only seconds behind him.
I waited for us to relax before pulling out and cleaning up, and afterward, I crawled beside him, surprised he was still awake.
“Christmas is tomorrow, my little sunshine. Let’s get some sleep. ”
I expected him to complain or ask for his paci, but he didn’t. He turned into me, snuggling close. “Yes, Daddy. Sleepy.”