Chapter 8 October
Chapter eight
October
We met at Afterglow, and Vince humored me in the Little Room.
I played with blocks and cars, while Vince sat beside me and zoomed the sportiest-looking car around my tower.
Until I smashed into them, making them tumble over his toy.
He laughed, and I did too. It made me happy that I might end up with a daddy after all—even if it was a first-time daddy.
Vince was sweet. But I didn’t want to get ahead of myself.
“I want to color you a picture, Daddy. So you can ‘member me.”
“Ah, Joey, you’re already unforgettable.”
I stuck my tongue out at him, then rushed to the table where books were strewn around. I found one that had a race car in it. “What color was your fastest car?” I pointed a red color at him.
“Mm…the one I just won the championship with was yellow and black.”
“Like a bee.” I made a buzzing noise and grabbed the yellow and black colors. Vince sat beside me and let me do my thing. When I was finished, I wrote my name at the bottom and tore the page out. “Here you go.”
“Very nice. Looks almost like my car.”
“It’s your car.” I held my hands up over my head. “Put it on your fridge at home. ‘kay?”
“I will.” He folded it into fourths and stuck it in his back pocket. I wondered what he really thought of the picture and of me.
That was a little too scary. “Let’s go dance now, Daddy.”
“Whatever you want.” He stood and grabbed my hand, helping me up, then led me out to the main club. We stopped to get our phones back, then headed out.
The music was loud, and we jumped around together.
Whatever he thought about me, he was being a good sport, and I had pulled out the little card for sure.
Not only did I drag him to the Little Room, I’d worn Dr. Marten shoes that looked like schoolboy shoes, long shorts with white socks, and another anime shirt.
This one had a crazy guy eating ramen. If that outfit didn’t send him running, I didn’t know what would.
And apparently, none of this was enough.
Not even dancing like a lunatic. He was passing the test so far.
But I was gun-shy and still expecting the worst.
After a few songs, we got water from the bar and went outside. The club was fun, but the music was too loud to have a real conversation.
“This has been fun. And enlightening.” He pulled me to him, hugging me against his body.
“You talked to Hudson, right?”
“Yep. And Levi. So I have a much better idea about all of this stuff.”
I pulled away to look him in the eye because this was the first moment of truth for us, and I wanted to see his face. “And you’re okay with all this?” I waved at the club.
“I’m okay with whatever you need. I told you I wouldn’t judge, and I’m not.”
Ready for step two? “And…about being a daddy?”
“I admit I’m still working on that, but I’m not saying no. At all.”
“I can live with that.”
He grabbed me and yanked me to him again. “Good. Then would you like to come over to my place?”
My internal little was jumping up and down and cheering, but I had to be cautious. “I don’t know.”
“Nothing will happen if you don’t want it to. I swear, I’m nothing if not a gentleman.”
Vince was going to make me crazy. “I like you but…there are things you don’t know. I probably want more to happen than you can imagine.” He had no clue how kinky I could be. And if he was going to be my daddy…well…
“Come over and tell me about it. If I can give you what you want, I will.” He brushed my bangs out of my eyes. “I told you; I talked to Hudson about what being little means. I think I have an idea about what you’re talking about. But you can help me with it.”
I rolled my eyes. He thought he knew. “I’m a fucking snarky hot mess of a brat. You don’t want me. You just don’t know it yet.”
“Yes, I do. And I don’t see that. Hot mess? Hot, yes. Okay, snarky too but I like that, Joey. And I’m kind of a mess right now, too. I just retired but I have a whole fucking life ahead of me. I’m only thirty-three. Actually, not even. I’ll turn thirty-three the first of next month.”
“Birthday party. Yay!” I danced around like a fool, unable to contain my little.
Vince laughed at my antics. “Tell you what. I’ll let you throw me a party, but I don’t have many people to invite. I’ve only been here a few months. And I don’t have much to do. Well, I do need to work on Sage.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s an LGBTQ Charity I’ve always supported. It’s for older people.”
“Oh. I can help. I mean, I can help promote it with social media and SEO marketing. In fact, I’d love to. Please?” That was the most exciting thing outside of finding my potential daddy that I’d heard all year. That might give me more work exposure as well as help the LGBTQ community. Win-win.
“I’d love that.” He hugged me and nuzzled the top of my head, and that did me in.
“Let’s go back to your place and talk. I mean it. Talk.”
The look on Joey’s face as he took in the first floor of my house was something I tried to memorize and store in my heart forever. He was in awe like a kid in a candy store. “Damn…this is nice, Vince. And Tyler found it for you?”
We’d come in from the garage, the door dumping us right into the kitchen. “He did.”
“This kitchen is beautiful.” He ran his hand over the porcelain countertop. It had muted veining that matched the cabinets and cascaded down the waterfall edges. Joey narrowed his eyes at me. “Do you even cook, Daddy? Hmm?”
“Not much. No.” I flashed him a smile. “Breakfast is my specialty.”
“I bet.” The saucy little thing.
“Are you angling for a spanking?” Hudson had said that’s something they played with every now and then, and I certainly wasn’t opposed to it, though I didn’t want to ever hurt him. Still, a little sting might go a long way.
Something in his expression was a clear change in his presentation. “No, Daddy. I’m a good boy.” And damn, his voice…that soft but eager tone.
“Good. Then let me show you around.” I crossed the kitchen and pointed at the doorway between it and the dining area.
“Bathroom is in there.” It was a simple powder room.
I turned around and pointed forward. “Living room. And another bathroom.” I pointed to the far end.
That one had a shower, and I’d had the designer rearrange it to open to the back patio for convenient access from the pool. “Bedrooms and such are upstairs.”
He examined the space, paying closer attention to the smaller details like the picture of me and Grant in front of my first racecar after I’d won that race. It set the tone for my entire career, really.
“Wine?” I asked, gesturing to the dry bar I had set up beside the patio doors.
“Sure.”
“We can go outside. White or red?”
Joey shrugged. “I’m not, uh…”
“Not big on wine?”
I could see the struggle on his face, though I wasn’t sure why. “Not experienced.”
“Okay. Let’s go with a dessert wine. It’s sweeter.” I poured two glasses, and after handing him one, I opened the patio. The door pushed wide, completely exposing the inside to the outside.
“Whoa. That’s cool.”
“I thought so.” It was essentially my first home, and I loved it so much that it would probably be my last. Pride didn’t begin to cover how I felt. “I’m glad you like it. Come on.”
We went out and sat in the comfortable chairs on the covered porch overlooking the pool. I flipped the firepit on, sending flames up across the blue rocks.
Joey whistled. “Seems like you thought of everything. Seating, fire, kitchen, pool.” He waved his hand around as he spoke.
“Haven’t used the kitchen yet. You’ll have to come over for dinner.”
“Want to grill out for your birthday?”
“Maybe.”
He sipped his wine, his gaze still darting around. “Tell me about the charity.”
“Straight to the point.”
“Well, it is why I came over.”
Even though I wanted him to be here for other, more personal reasons, I was excited about working with Joey this year on the benefit project.
I pursed my lips together, because I was hoping for more than talking about charity work.
Maybe afterward. “Well. Sage is an LGBTQ-plus organization that advocates for seniors. It’s a national charity.
I mostly did events wherever I was going to be, but this year I’m not racing.
I want to do something here and maybe make it an annual thing. ”
“When is it and what do you have so far?”
“Mid-December. And since it’s Christmas, I thought we could do a Christmas ball. I have a few places to choose from.”
“Where?”
“The first is Armature Works.”
“No,” he said without any hesitation.
“Why?”
“Vince…” he sighed. “It’s nice, yeah, but everyone has already done that. Trust me. I’m from here. I know.”
“Okay, where?”
“Where else did you pick?”
“Either the Marriott on Water Street or the Renaissance Tampa International Plaza Hotel.”
“Well. Renaissance is nice, but how about The Tampa Edition?”
“Where is that?”
“Channelside. There’s a pool, which overlooks the water. Extremely elegant.” He spread his hand out wide. “Hey, wait. Does this place have a water view?” He stood up and walked toward the pool.
I’d had the ugly secondary fencing removed but left the white privacy fence, which was shorter, making it easy enough to see over the top to the water.
I’d put in a gate, so I could go outside to look at the Bay easily whenever I wanted to.
“It does, but you can’t see much right now.
Mostly lights from buildings across the water.
Pretty but you can come another time.” I beckoned him back.
When he sat beside me again, he put his wine on the side table. “Right. Did you check out the Edition?”
“No, but I’ll call them in the morning. If we can get a decent date, we’ll do that.”
“It’s posh. A couple of hundred bucks a head.” He looked skeptical.
“That’s fine. I’ll probably charge double and still make decent money for Sage.”
“You know rich people then? From here?”
“I know rich people from all over the US. They’ll come. Especially since it’s here.”