Chapter Two #2
Rhodes visibly deflated. “I should’ve fed you before bed last night. Sorry. Guess I kind of suck at being a daddy.”
Cairo swiped at his face. It was time for him to be a big boy. He climbed onto Rhodes’ lap. “I know I’m a mess, but that’s not your fault. Please don’t be sad.”
Rhodes wrapped his arms around Cairo and snuggled him.
“I’m not sad. I’m fucking pissed. You have no idea how much I want to go beat the life out of Hugh.
” Cairo felt Rhodes’ muscles relax. He looked guilty.
“I guess I am a little sad too. When you popped up in my life last night, it was just in time to save me from drowning.” The discomfort in Rhodes’ voice sounded like embarrassment over baring a weakness.
“Now I know how badly you’ve been hurt, and I realize you deserve to be free.
You definitely don’t deserve to be stuck with me, or need another daddy, especially one as moody as I can be. ”
Cairo wasn’t the Little now. He was a terrified man who’d had one amazing night and now watched it slip away. “What are you saying?”
Rhodes didn’t meet his stare. “There are plenty of rooms around here. I think you should pick one of them and restart your life. It sounds like you’ve been through a lot.
If you choose to stay with me, you’ll come out the other side of this one of these days and see me as dead weight.
You’ll see me as the person keeping you from your freedom. I want better for you than me.”
Cairo couldn’t believe his ears. It was as if Rhodes didn’t see him at all.
“I watched you for days before approaching you.” It was hard for Cairo to admit that, but he honestly believed Rhodes needed him too.
“Admittedly, one reason it took me so long is because you were always surrounded by other daddies. I was too embarrassed to approach you with witnesses. But mostly, I was just in observation mode. I saw the way you looked at other couples, and I thought, ‘He sees it too. He sees the way everyone else has more, and their relationships don’t look like my life with Hugh.’ I chose you.
” Cairo realized he made himself sound like the prize with that confession, but he knew Rhodes understood what he meant.
They were alike. Cairo had chosen the one person in that club who needed love as much as he did.
“Did you find something to eat?”
A smile snapped to Cairo’s lips at the way Rhodes still thought of only him. “Kylo fed me.”
Rhodes nodded. “He’ll make a great playmate for you.” He visibly hesitated. “That is, if you’re staying.”
Cairo was scared to hope. “What about Hugh? He doesn’t really want me, but he won’t let me go. I’m dead if he gets his hands on me. He’ll hurt you to get to me.”
“Beau is handling it. As long as you’re part of Beau’s household, he won’t let anything happen to you. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Cairo licked his lips in his nervousness.
He wasn’t good at having adult conversations.
Life was so much simpler when he got to play the baby.
“Are you asking me to stay? With you,” he clarified, since Rhodes had said part of Beau’s household.
Rhodes hadn’t said his household. He had a bad feeling Rhodes still meant to set him free.
“Yes.” Zero hesitation. Full eye contact. Steady voice. Rhodes meant that shit. He wanted Cairo.
Cairo needed Rhodes to understand he meant this shit too.
“I’d like that. The staying with you part.
” He over thought for a second. “And the playing with Kylo part too. We had a tea party with his bear friends.” Excitement filled Cairo the more he spoke.
He bounced a little on Rhodes’ lap. “Did you know Kylo is a ballerina? Like, for real. He was on stage and everything. Of course, I don’t know if they call men ballerinas, but he’s a very pretty princess, so it fits. ”
The way Rhodes smiled filled Cairo with so much hope for the future, he thought he would explode. “He has an extremely famous mom too. You’ll meet all types here. We’re an eclectic bunch.”
He was really serious. Rhodes wanted to keep him.
Cairo had begged the universe so hard for a savior.
He had pleaded for a real daddy for him and only him.
Not a man he had to share who didn’t need an excuse to abuse him the way Hugh had.
Yeah, he understood that was some full-on Stockholm syndrome shit, but things were how they were.
He had given up hope this life would find him.
Realistically, he understood Rhodes could turn out to be just like Hugh, but Cairo doubted it.
Rhodes was too much like him: starved of love.
“What should we do first?”
A huge grin spread across Rhodes’ face. “If you’re staying, you’ll need some clothes and toys.”
A wave of sadness washed over Cairo. “I had to leave everything behind when I ran.”
Rhodes kissed the tip of his nose. “Don’t worry. I’ve got you. I’ll give you a good life.”
Cairo knew that. He had seen all the bad and evil. Rhodes was the opposite of all that. That was exactly why Cairo had picked him. He looked like someone Cairo could love.