4. Cage
Chapter 4
Cage
The evening air was hot and humid.
The streetlights were on full, their light radiating across the sidewalk and illuminating people’s hot and sweaty faces as they went about their business.
Cage had taken a big drink of water before he left his apartment. The glass had been full of ice cubes too. But it made little difference by this stage.
Cage was hot.
A glass of iced water wasn’t much competition to a city-wide heatwave that was going to go down in the record books as one for the ages.
Cage’s crisp white t-shirt was beginning to cling to his body. He needed to get to the bar and its all-out aircon as a matter of urgency.
But he was still three blocks away.
This was not great.
As he continued to walk, Cage heard his phone buzzing in his pocket. Stopping briefly, he took the handset out of his tight blue denim jeans and looked.
A message from his friend, Kane.
KANE: Yo, Cage! You nearly here? It’s my round. I’ll grab you a bottle. Leo’s already here. Move that cop ass of yours. Double quick time!
Cage rolled his eyes. Kane was a real stickler for time keeping. It was one of his things.
Cage wasn’t even late.
He had planned his departure from his apartment perfectly.
Oh well, there was no pleasing some people.
The knowledge that there was a beer ready and waiting for him was good motivation to walk faster, however.
Cage couldn’t deny that.
Above everything else, Cage truly valued the fact that he had such good friends as Kane and Leo. They had known each other for quite some time by this point.
Their friendships had been tested.
Ups and downs.
Stresses and strains.
But the one thing that had never come into question had been the true strength of the bond between each one of them.
Together, they were quite a formidable unit.
With this in mind, and despite the sweltering heat, Cage broke out of his walk and into a jog.
It was time to hit the bar and sink some brewskis.
‘Hey! Look who decided to show!’ Kane said, his larger-than-life voice crashing across the bar. ‘I would have bet my last buck on you getting here late. But this is crazy!’
‘Enough. Relax, I’m here!’ Cage said, a broad smile on his face as he embraced Kane and Leo one after the other.
The three amigos were reunited.
It felt great.
Kane immediately continued with a story. Something about a cute girl he had helped earlier that day.
Kane was a firefighter.
Meeting cute young ladies seemed to happen to him on a daily basis.
This wasn’t much of a surprise.
Even taking out the raw appeal of being a firefighter, Kane had the kind of extremely masculine face that young ladies seemed to love.
His twin dimples on his cheek were an unexpected bonus.
People went wild for them.
Other than this, Kane had the warm brown eyes and storytelling swagger that perfectly matched his wild yet caring personality.
He enjoyed gambling too.
As far as Kane was concerned, there was no bet he didn’t think he could find an angle on and win.
Maybe this was a strength.
Maybe it was a weakness.
Either way, it made him great fun to be around.
‘So, you going to call this girl?’ Cage asked.
‘ Nah . I don’t know. Maybe, maybe not,’ Kane said, shrugging his shoulders. ‘I’m busy. You know. Same old, same old.’
Cage suspected he knew what Kane was talking about, but before he could ask, Leo cut in.
‘Guys, we need to do our toast!’ Leo said, his green eyes seeming to sparkle even more than normal. As an emergency ER doctor, he had had yet another busy day and was now in the mood to unwind. ‘Even you Mr. Serious!’
Leo was talking to Cage.
‘I’m down to toast, don’t worry,’ Cage said, raising his glass. ‘One… two… three… Here’s to The Savior Daddies!’
The three of them toasted and took long gulps on their beers.
The name Savior Daddies was a kind of joke name they called their group. Each one of the men was a Daddy Dom and they also each worked in one form of the emergency services.
Cage was a cop.
Kane a firefighter.
Leo an ER doctor.
They’d all met at Littleverse Club in the city and yet to this day none of them had Littles in their lives. It may have been a combination of how busy their lives were and past dramas that made this the way. It wasn’t ideal. Certainly, each would have liked their own forever Little to call their own.
Whatever.
It didn’t affect their bond as a three.
Three Daddy Doms who enjoyed hanging together and shooting the shit over a few cold beers.
It was perfect.
After the toast, normal service was resumed.
It was time for Kane to tell the tale of another one of his stories. As well as being a firefighter, Kane was something of a computer whizz.
In fact, he was a white hat hacker.
This was a hacker who didn’t set out to steal from people or cause trouble to private individuals who had done nothing wrong. No, a white hat hacker was someone who sought to hack for ethical good.
And Kane was pretty damn skilled in this field.
‘You know, I was a click away,’ Kane said. ‘A single click away from the money reserve in the state department budget. I could have moved it all to some offshore account and retired to a secret island somewhere. Of course, what I actually did was contact that state and tell them that they needed to boost their security.’
‘Weren’t you tempted?’ Leo asked, a big smile on his face. ‘Just imagine how much money you could bet. Gambling from your own private beach too!’
The three men laughed.
Sure, there was temptation in life.
But they had each chosen a life of public service and they loved it.
Wouldn’t change it for anything.
The beers continued to flow, and the three Savior Daddies took turns playing each other at pool.
Leo was pretty decent.
Probably the strongest player.
His favorite way to relax during Med School had been to shoot pool at a local bar. Leo found it relaxing while at the same time gave him an excuse to let his perfectionist streak come out.
Leo always wanted to play the perfect game.
This wasn’t always possible of course.
But it didn’t stop Leo getting annoyed when he missed a shot.
‘Jesus!’ Leo bellowed as the yellow ball cannoned off the cushion and missed the hole by mere millimeters. ‘That was the beer. I’m better than that.’
‘Chill,’ Cage said. ‘There are worse situations in life than missing the occasional easy shot in pool. Trust me. I seem them every day.’
‘You think I don’t know that?’ Leo retorted. ‘I work in the ER of the city’s busiest hospital. I see things every shift that would make the toughest guy go weak at the knees with horror.’
‘Okay, okay, I think it’s fair to say that we all know how tough life is,’ Kane said, laughing as he took the heat out of the moment. ‘Moving on. What’s new with you Cage? Seen anyone who takes your fancy recently?’
Cage shrugged and took his shot.
He wasn’t giving anything away.
And as a detective with many years of experience he felt sure that if anyone of the three of them knew how to keep a secret, it was him.
But what he hadn’t counted on was Kane’s hacker’s intuition.
‘Hmmm, I’m not buying it,’ Kane said, placing his hand on the pool table’s green felted surface. ‘My senses tell me that this Daddy Dom has his eyes on someone. Tell me I’m wrong.’
At this point, the heat was very much on Cage.
Both Kane and Leo stared at him with serious intent.
They knew Cage was holding something back.
It was only a matter of time before he cracked…
‘Urgh. What the hell. You guys always get me to talk in the end,’ Cage said. ‘Yeah. Okay. There’s a girl. A very cute girl in fact.’
Leo and Kane high-fived.
They were pleased to have out-copped the cop.
‘Her name’s Katie. She’s super cute, very sexy,’ Cage said, his mind all over the place thinking about Katie. ‘Great body. Incredible face too. She’s sweet. But…’
There was a pause.
Cage wasn’t sure how much he should say.
He reminded himself to be professional.
Maintain Katie’s privacy.
‘Well, I can’t go into any specifics of course, but she came into the station with a problem,’ Cage said. ‘Hard to say how serious. Could be nothing. Could be something. Either way, I haven’t been able to get her out of my head. At all. I mean, you know those late-night moments, lying alone in bed…’
‘Yup, I hear that,’ Leo laughed.
‘Same,’ Kane added. ‘So, you going to reach out to this girl or what?’
‘It’s not just that I think she’s hot though,’ Cage said. ‘I do have a sense that she’s not entirely safe. A hunch. I’m not often wrong when my instincts kick in. Police work is in my DNA.’
Cage’s two friends nodded in solidarity.
They could see that he was taking this seriously.
‘I’m almost certain she’s a Little, too,’ Cage continued. ‘She’s the kind of young lady who needs protecting. She’s vulnerable. I can tell. Needs a real man to be her protector. This is a big, scary city at times. Littles need that guiding voice and protecting hand over their shoulder. Right?’
‘Agreed,’ Kane and Leo said simultaneously.
Despite none of them having their own Littles, each one of the three Daddy Heroes knew the importance of making sure that Littles were safe and well looked after.
Even if that mean administering some discipline from time to time.
Hell, that could even be the most fun part!
Leo took the needs of Littles very seriously. With Leo being a doctor, patient care was a big priority for him. As such, he had spent a lot of time learning about how different people have different needs unique to them. Littles were a group of people who typically needed a lot of reassurance, guidance, care and attention.
Leo stroked his big beard and flexed his huge arms.
He was deep in thought.
‘Hey, what’s the worst that could happen? A serial killer specializing in Littles?’ Leo laughed.
Kane and Cage rolled their eyes.
Leo had a wicked sense of humor.
Like gallows humor, Leo could go to some dark places.
But it was only because he cared so much.
‘Y’all know I’m joking,’ Leo said, arching his eyebrow. ‘I think you know what you need to do, my dude.’
Leo smiled reassuringly at Cage.
‘I’ve got a lot to think about,’ Cage said, his mind already beginning to do some calculations.
But before he got too deep into Katie’s situation, there was the small matter of finishing off the game of pool and then getting the next round of cold ones in.
After a few more games of pool, and a large glass of iced water to round the night off, Cage headed back in the direction of his apartment.
The night air was cooling down now.
It was a welcome respite from the suffocating evening heat.
All of the usual sights and sounds of nighttime were around Cage.
Street vendors selling their late-night snacks.
Couples walking happily, and sometimes not so happily, home.
Groups of friends enjoying their nights together.
Each and every citizen was on a different journey with a different outcome. It was what made the big city so compelling to live in.
No two individuals were the same.
Everyone had a story to tell.
Cage thought back to his first day on the streets as a beat cop. It was many years ago now, but his passion for helping people had not wavered. Even taking into account what had happened with his partner, Cage knew that the thing that drove him on in life was the knowledge that he could be of assistance.
The only problem was that there were so many people who needed help. Cage knew from experience that it was better not to over-think this.
All he could do was work with the tools he had been given.
One problem at a time.
It took a police siren in the distance to focus Cage’s mind.
I must do it. I know it’s a risk. But I just have to cross this line…
Before Cage could consider what he was about to do any further, Cage took his cellphone out and called the station.
He had to find out where Katie lived.
Cage may have been crossing a line, but deep down he felt utterly convinced it was the right option.
The only option.
Cage had to make sure that Katie was okay.
If she was in any danger whatsoever, then it was his duty to look after her and keep Katie from harm’s way.
It was his duty as a cop.
And it was his duty as a potential Daddy too.