Chapter 7 September
Chapter seven
September
How could I not call? I wasn’t sure Vince was a daddy, but he was cute and wealthy.
I looked him up and he was also famous. Sort of.
He raced cars. Or did. I could see why he was so young to retire now.
Apparently, a racing career was over at thirty, and he’d raced longer than that, retiring after he won a championship.
Good for him. He was thirty-three, according to his profile on the racing site.
So maybe not a daddy, but he was five years older than me.
I waited, though. Two weeks. I wanted to get my shit together first. I hadn’t been myself that night. I felt feisty and fierce, but he seemed to like me anyway. Would he like me when I wasn’t so flirty? Did it matter?
Finally, I gave in and texted him a few times, giving him my social media channels. That would be telling. If he saw my online profile and was still interested, maybe there was something there. At least potential.
Vince texted me back after viewing the sites.
Yippy! What next? He was worth it, but was I? I’d feel better if I had a job. I had gained two new sponsors, so I could at least pay rent for another month. But I mostly felt like a failure at life.
I grabbed my blankie and crawled into my closet. I put the blankie over my head and sucked it up. In my comfort zone, I called.
Vince answered right away. “Joey?”
“Yeah. It’s me.”
“Wasn’t sure you were ever going to call.”
“You had my number after I texted. Why didn’t you call me?”
His rumbly chuckle sent chills down my spine. “It was your move. Now that you made it, I’ll be calling all the time. Hope you’re ready for that.”
Was I? “I don’t know. We don’t really know each other. I mean. Online profiles aren’t real. Right.” Hadn’t he texted something like that? “I know about you, but I don’t know you. Who you really are.”
“Very astute coming from a social media influencer.”
“I’m not—”
“I’d say you are. Maybe not at a national level, but you’ll get there. If that’s what you want.”
Wow. How did he read so much into me with so little information? I needed to find out. “I think you need to take me on a date, Daddy.”
“I’d love that, but Joey, explain this daddy-thing first.”
Oh my. How the hell did I do that? “That’s not a phone call thing. Let’s get together and see how it goes. I’ll fill you in as needed.”
“As needed? You are going to be a handful, aren’t you?”
I couldn’t hold back my laughter. He had no clue. “You’ll see.”
“I’m looking forward to it. Text me your address, and I’ll pick you up tomorrow around three.”
“Three? In the afternoon?”
“Yes. Any later and there’s all this traffic.”
“Ah…you’ve already figured out rush hour around here.” It started at four or earlier and lasted until after six. Friday afternoons were the worst. I’d been stuck in my car for over an hour on a fifteen-minute drive before. “Fine. See you tomorrow.”
Tomorrow.
I had a date.
“Wait. Vince?”
“Yes?”
“What do I wear? Where are we going?”
“Mm…not sure yet. I’ll text you.”
“Fine. I’m going now.”
“Bye, Joey.”
“Bye, Daddy.” I couldn’t resist calling him that, even though he didn’t know what it meant to me. Yet.
First, I was late. Fucking traffic. It made me want to pull some racing moves and dodge these slow pokes, but laws.
So no. Thankfully, I wasn’t terribly late, but I had to drive through downtown Tampa since he lived way out on the east side in Ybor City.
Popular place, and not too far from Afterglow, but still far enough away from Davis Island to have shitty traffic.
The apartment building where Joey lived was a huge, gorgeous brown-brick building that had once been one of the famous cigar factories.
Black iron balconies crawled along its exterior, looking like it should have been in New Orleans rather than Tampa, but I could certainly see the charm.
After parking in a nearby garage and walking over, which took even more time—yes, I practically ran—I stepped into the lobby and called him.
“Hello,” he answered so sweetly.
“Are you ready?”
Joey snorted. “Are you here yet?”
“Yes…” I rolled my eyes. “In the lobby. Sorry. Traffic.”
“No worries. I’m coming. Getting on the elevator now. See you in a sec.”
“Great.” I hung up and took a better look around at the bright, sunny walls and sat in a comfortable club chair in a sitting area. The carpet patterns clashed a bit with the furniture, but it was still nice. I liked the security of the place more than anything else.
“Hey,” Joey called, stepping off the elevator.
And holy shit did he look good. The purple in his hair was vibrant, as if he’d just dyed it, and it matched his sneakers.
His jeans were black, and his tight T-shirt was powder blue with an anime character on the front.
The whole thing made him look very young, and I hoped people didn’t think he was my son.
But damn, I wasn’t even going gray yet. The difference in our ages was only a handful of years, though, and I wasn’t going to let it bother me. “You look great.”
“Thanks. You too.”
I glanced down, not thinking I looked all that special in blue jeans and a black golf shirt. “You ready?”
“Sure, where we going again?”
I’d texted him to wear casual clothes since we wouldn’t be going anywhere too fancy. “Two choices. Everyone talks about the Columbia.”
He squinched his nose up. “Everyone does that. Boring.”
“Or…there’s this place called Motorworks. It’s a sports pub, but they have locally brewed—”
“You picked somewhere called Motorworks? Geez. Is there going to be race car décor all over the place?”
“Snarky much?” I shook my head and put my arm around his shoulder to walk him out the front door. “And no. It’s called Motorworks because the brewery started out in an old nineteen twenties auto dealership. But that’s in Bradenton. This place is in south Tampa and it’s just a taproom.”
“So bar food?”
“Elevated bar food. It’ll be good. Unless you have other ideas.”
We turned into the parking garage and Joey’s head swiveled, checking out the few cars on the first floor. “No. That’s fine. Where are you parked?”
I beeped my key fob and pointed in the right direction.
“Whoa. This is yours?” he asked, circling the Bentley.
“It is. Get in.”
He whistled and got in on the passenger side. I couldn’t blame him; it was a sexy car, inside and out. “This is super nice, Daddy. I mean, knew you had money but sweetness…”
“Daddy again, huh? What’s the story, Joey?”
He tapped his fingers on the center console. “Come on, you know. Daddy-kink. I’m into that. Like, uh, really into it.”
“I got that much, but what exactly does that mean to you? And what’re your deal breakers?”
“Wow, you jumped right into that. You a Dom or something I don’t know about? Setting up a contract?”
“What? No. But, I mean, you’re serious and you go to Afterglow, so I figured we should start there before we waste each other’s time.”
I glanced over to see him cross his arms over his chest and scowl. I looked back at the road but blindly pushed at his arms. “Stop. Stop that.”
“You’re already trying to find reasons to dump me, and it’s the first date.” He swatted me off and turned toward the car door.
Had someone done a number on him? I didn’t know his story. Yet. “Joey. It was more like, can I give you what you need. That’s the most important thing to me. I want you to be happy.”
“Whoa. Did not see that coming.”
“You should have. You should demand being given what you need, and you should break up with anyone who can’t or won’t.”
“Right,” he scoffed. “As if it worked that way.”
I put my hand on his knee. “It should.”
“Okay, Daddy.” His voice was soft and maybe a bit introspective.
We sat quietly while I waited for him to continue. I’d give him whatever space he needed. I pulled onto the expressway and kept driving.
Finally, he sighed. “Do you know a lot about kink and BDSM and all that?”
“No, not really.”
“This is going to be a long conversation.”
“Then you better get started. We have about ten minutes before I get off the highway.”
“Whatever,” he grumbled.
“I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable, Joey.”
“You’re not. I mean, I’m fine. I’ve just been struggling with things lately, and shit. That feels like an excuse. I don’t know. I’m trying to live as myself and most of the time, the world rejects that. Rejects me. But I don’t know how not to be me.”
“Who are you?” I waited, and when he didn’t answer, I needed to encourage him. “Joey. I’m not going to reject you because of whatever you say. Okay. That’s not how I work.”
“I’m struggling with that.”
I pursed my lips together. If I wanted him to open up, maybe I needed to open up as well.
“I need to know because I have zero experience. The whole Afterglow thing was through friends pointing me in that direction. But no. No experience with kink, but also with dating. I put my sexuality on hold for well over ten years. And I’m only thirty-three. Do you understand what that means?”
“Are you a virgin?”
“No, but it was one time with someone I thought I could trust. It was like twelve years ago, and he turned out to be a douche. That’s why I shut down. I couldn’t have anyone blabbing their story about me to the press.”
“Because you’re gay.”
“That’s the starting point, but it wouldn’t matter if I weren’t.
I did not need men or women claiming they had some kind of sorted affair or having a spiteful ex.
I couldn’t worry about that. I just couldn’t.
I had to focus on racing. If I were going to be the best. The rest would come after.
And now it’s after and…I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing.
I don’t know what I like, what I want. None of it. ”
“Oh. Guess I didn’t realize that. But…uh, you like me, right?”
“Definitely. That I know.”
“Okay. So…” Joey took a deep breath and gripped his knees. “I, uh, I’m what you call a little. I engage in age play. Really, more than that. I’d probably stay in that little headspace all the time if it were at all practical. And so far, it is not.”
“Hmm…” That wasn’t what I was expecting. Well, I didn’t know what I was expecting. “I didn’t realize that was a thing.”
“It is. Maybe you should ask your friends about it. You know, the ones that got you into the club, whoever pointed you in that direction.”
“That would be Hudson Cooper and his friend Larry Henderson. They encouraged me to go and meet new people. Do I give off a vibe, though? My real estate agent gave me a free pass, too.”
“Real estate? You mean Tyler Landry?”
“Yeah, you know him?”
He snorted. “Everybody knows him. He gets around. Calls it networking. But I’m being catty.
Anyway. Ty gives everyone guest passes, yeah.
But Hudson Cooper and Larry Henderson are a totally different deal.
They’ve only been around for the last year or so.
But yeah. Ask Hudson. Levi is a little. We play at Afterglow a lot. ”
“Play?” He was sleeping with my friends—what the hell?
“Not like that.” Joey swatted my arm. “Play in the little room. It means actually playing. Levi likes cars, so we play that a lot. It’s fun.”
That was a relief. “Oh.”
“And Hudson is his daddy. So that’s your best source, right there.”
I pulled off the expressway and circled onto East Jackson. “There will be a conversation with Hudson then. But so what? You go to the club, dance, and then go back into that Limit Room thing and play with toys?”
“No Limits. And yes. Pretty much.”
“Hmm…”
“There’s more to it, Vince, but uh, you should talk to Hudson before we continue this conversation. It’ll be easier. I think.”
“Maybe.” I guessed that was his way of changing the subject, but I was determined to get back to it after I called Hudson—in the morning. “Tell me more about your social media stuff, then. How’d you get into that?”
We talked about social media all the way down Meridian and over the bridge.
He became pretty animated when talking about some of the things he did, and I liked that part of him a lot more than the grouchy part.
Finally, we made it to the restaurant, and I was already captivated by his banter.
Once he relaxed and opened up, he was utterly enjoyable.
The atmosphere at the taproom was laid-back, casual, and warm, and the food was fantastic, as promised.
We had ricotta and honey bread, fancy salads, and Margarita pizza, stuffing ourselves so full that we had to skip dessert.
The best part of all was watching him indulge in the delicacies with delight. Every second of it made me smile more.
When the night came to an end, I took him home. “Do you want to come up?” he asked by the elevators.
“I do and I don’t. I enjoyed tonight. I want to see you again. But I don’t want to rush it.”
“I actually like that. Most guys—”
“I’m not most guys, Joey.”
“No. You aren’t. You’re like fresh air.” He reached up and fiddled with my hair at the back of my neck. It was starting to get a bit longer than I usually kept it. Then he stretched up on his toes, eyes closing, lips begging to be kissed. I could not resist.
I leaned in and pressed my lips against his.
Those plump, sexy lips that I’d watched all night.
Putting a bite of food in his mouth. Humming around a piece of bread.
Taking a sip of his drink. The whole time, wanting them on me.
I flicked my tongue across them, and he parted them.
He tasted tangy from the pizza as I brushed my tongue against his.
Too soon, he pulled away. The kiss was tame and short, even by my standards, and left me wanting so much more. “Joey…”
“I know, Daddy.” He pressed a quick peck against my lips. “Call me.”
Then the doors to the elevator opened, and he got on, waving with a wiggle of fingers as the doors closed.
I had to adjust my pants before walking back to the car.