Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
MICAH
“Hey, Micah, can you take out the trash for me? It’s overflowing back here.”
“Yes, Chef.”
“Thanks. You’re a lifesaver.”
Over the past several weeks, this had become my favorite part of the workday. Not because of the trash or because the night was over, but because, when the last guest left, there was camaraderie between us. We’d survived another shift and all the diners had left fully sated. With the glaring exception of the general manager, we all worked well as a team. Elliott, who ran the dining room, worked hard to ensure every guest was happy and ran interference as best he could.
“Uh, I’m not sure what to say to that.”
Chef laughed and returned to his work. It was only a matter of time before the GM came back here and started complaining, so I’d take the praise when it was offered.
Trash gathered, I let myself out the back door to the dumpster area at the back of the restaurant. I wished there were more lights in this area because it had become unnerving. It was angled away from the employee parking lot, and over the last couple of evenings, I’d heard rustling sounds at the far side of the building. It was probably raccoons or opossums, but I couldn’t tell for sure without the lighting.
I hefted the heavy plastic bags over to the dumpster and tossed in the first one. When I reached down for the next, I was shoved into the metal side of the container. My head banged on the edge, and I saw stars. From the ground, I looked up at the looming figure above me. He was close enough that the smell of Wild Irish Rose assaulted my nose. Tall and bloated, he looked like he’d aged twenty years in the last seven.
“Kyle, what are you doing here?”
“Me? What are you doing here?”
“How did you find me?”
My brother tried to kick me for my question, but I dodged most of it.
I hadn’t seen him since the last court date when I was sixteen. He’d told the judge he wouldn’t work the safety plan because getting me home wasn’t worth so many classes. His appointed lawyer used all the fancy language, but the bottom line was easy enough to understand. I wasn’t worth the effort. The judge said she’d commit me to the state, and that was that. My lawyer hadn’t spoken with me, so they nodded and agreed with whatever the other lawyers said. The least important person in the room had been me.
“I didn’t find you. Derek showed me a picture of you looking all fucking fancy. I can barely pay my fucking utilities, but you’re on the internet wearing a tux. Helluva way to treat the person who put a roof over your head and took care of you.”
“I haven’t seen you since I was sixteen.”
“You know where I live, and it’s not like I moved.” His words were slurred, and now that I’d pushed myself onto my feet, I could see his glassy, red-rimmed eyes. He’d probably been drinking all day.
“When I dropped off my high school graduation invitation, you wouldn’t open the door. How did you know I was here?”
Kyle’s long-suffering sigh echoed in my head. Now I was certain it wasn’t a raccoon or an opossum I’d heard in the dark.
“Your sugar Daddy’s address wasn’t hard to find, and then I waited,” he said with a shrug like he hadn’t just announced he’d stalked his own brother. “You must not be all that good at what he wants if he’s making you work in this dump.”
“It’s not a dump,” I bit out. He cuffed me on the side of my head. After the shove into the dumpster, it was enough to hurt and would likely leave a mark. “What do you want?”
“I already told you…you owe me.”
“Owe you for what?”
“Tell you what—I’ll come visit you at your sugar Daddy’s house, and we can talk about it there. That what you want?” His smug tone was the one I’d heard so many times as a kid, but it still stung. He knew he’d won, and I only had to wait to see how he’d take his pound of flesh. “Mom would be so disappointed in you. Brothers are supposed to help each other. I raised you, and you let me rot in a shithole house.”
It would have been better for him to punch me in the gut, and that’s exactly what he’d intended. There was no point in arguing his revisionist history. “I need to go back inside. What do you want?”
“Christ, you’re stupid. Money, you little shit. I need some money.”
“I don’t have any.”
“Then I guess you’d better find some by the time I return tomorrow. I’ll head over to loverboy’s house if you’re not here. Pretty sure he’d love to chat.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Then I guess you’re gonna be here tomorrow then, huh? I think three hundred will carry me over. See ya.”
Kyle faded into the shadows before disappearing around the corner. I waited a few seconds before following him. I’d never known him to drive.
Something close to relief rushed over me when I saw him climb into the passenger side of an older sedan. In the dark, it was hard to see who was driving, but likely one of his drinking buddies. He used to have a whole crew of them, but I didn’t recognize this guy. I watched long enough to see him negotiate the parking lot and the turn onto the road without any signs of swerving.
Looks like I was going to the bank on my way home.
“You’re home late. Extra busy in the kitchen?”
Daddy was right where I’d expected him to be. Waiting for me in the library like he always did. When I started working, he’d wanted to pick me up every night. I’d convinced him the less than ten-mile drive was good exercise. There was a bike path, and I wanted to ride before it got too cold to enjoy it.
I’d never admit it to him, but I wasn’t ready for anyone at the restaurant to know my connection to him. With them, I was anonymous. Heck, even the host hadn’t put it together that I’d dined there before. It took an entire week to convince Daddy my plan was perfectly safe.
Everyone on the staff treated me like I was one of them. After a lifetime of feeling like I was on the outside, I wasn’t ready to give up the connection of being part of the kitchen crew. Now that Kyle had shown up, I wasn’t sure how long it would last. Even as I stopped by the ATM and pulled out some cash, I was aware it wouldn’t end with a couple hundred. But giving in would buy me some time to figure out what, if anything, to tell Daddy about my brother.
“You must be exhausted if you’ve forgotten to answer.” Daddy looked at me with a bemused smirk.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I…I, uhh…yeah, I’m exhausted.”
Daddy unfolded himself from the couch and wrapped me in his arms.
“You should let me pick you up. Your bike can fit in the back of the SUV, and then I wouldn’t worry about you riding home alone at night.”
My coworkers accepted my story of tripping over untied shoelaces to explain the red mark on my face. I’d hoped it would fade by the time I got home, but we were about to hit the moment of truth.
“Little one, what happened?” Daddy turned my face this way and that to see the red mark from all angles.
“My laces were untied, and I tripped.”
“You need to be more careful. I don’t want to lose you.”
“I don’t think tripping over my feet will take me out.”
“If you’re tripping on your shoelaces, should you be riding your bike in the dark?”
“No one can miss me! I have every reflector known to man on my back, a reflective jacket, a light on my helmet, and a light on my bike. With the bike path to use, I’m not on the actual road. Even the guy from the bike store thought it was excessive.”
“It’s dark, and I want you to be seen. Now that it rains practically every day, you’re going to get sick.” Daddy had worked up a full head of steam and was on a roll. “This week. You have until the end of the week, and after that, it’ll be too cold and wet.”
“All right, Daddy, that’s fair.”
Of course, the person inside me who’d been caring for themselves since they were a kid wanted to argue that I knew my limits better than anyone. That part of me was shushed and quieted. Daddy putting aside his convenience for my safety made me feel tingly. Foolish, yes, but a tingle was a tingle.
“I’m aware you don’t want your coworkers to know about our connection.” I looked anywhere but at him. He was right, but I didn’t want to admit it. “I’ll park down the street and continue to be satisfied with takeout.”
“You don’t have to do that. I appreciate the offer though.”
“I’ll do it. Jamie told me that until you’ve worked on a crew, you can’t understand what it means to be part of one.”
“Jamie is incredibly insightful and intelligent,” I answered. “You should listen to such wisdom.”
“Is that so? I’ll never tell him you said so because his ego is big enough.” Daddy pulled back a little and softly kissed my upturned mouth. “I think it’s time for you to go upstairs and change into something more comfortable. Your cage needs to come off because I’ve missed my toy.”
My only response was a soft sigh given with a smile. Daddy captured it with his mouth while his tongue gently probed against my lips. When they parted, he dipped his tongue inside and curled it around my tongue. Each stroke sent a shiver through me, but my penis remained trapped in the cage I’d grown to love more and more each day.
Nothing about it hurt, and it wasn’t uncomfortable once I got used to the feeling of it. In the first day or three, I was aware to the nth degree that it was there. Now? Now I loved it. The cage was an ever-present reminder that Daddy was thinking of me. After spending so much time waiting for someone to notice me, the constant presence felt darn good. When we pulled back for air, Daddy put his hands on my butt and hauled me up so I was at eye level with him.
“Daddy, will you wash my back?”
“And your front too. Wrap your legs around me,” he ordered.
I complied immediately. Daddy took me upstairs while I clung to him like a spider monkey. I wrapped my arms around his neck for extra security. Daddy held me like his expensive clothes pressing against my grungy kitchen work clothes didn’t matter.
Once upstairs, he deposited me on the bathroom counter before turning on the water. Once it was at the proper temperature, he returned and pulled my T-shirt over my head. His elegant fingers traced over the tops of my shoulders, floated over my already tight nipples, and trailed down my stomach. It wasn’t as concave as it had been, but Daddy said he liked me softer anyway because it proved he was taking care of me. He undid my belt buckle with steady hands and pulled it through the loops of my pants.
I was always surprised when Daddy took off my shoes and socks. He’d done it several times, and it was the most intimate part of this ritual we’d developed. He was important, and I wasn’t, but he kneeled and took off my shoes anyway. I was humbled by his willingness to kneel for me.
Back on his feet, he undid my pants to push them down along with my boxer briefs. When the cage was revealed, Daddy’s lips had a ghost of a smile. “Christ, Micah, do you know how sexy you are like this?” All I could manage was a headshake. “You are so fucking beautiful. All I want is to hide you away from the rest of the world. You’ve turned me into a dragon with a hoard, except you’re the treasure.”
Daddy carried the tiny key that locked my cage on a chain around his neck so it didn’t get lost. I swooned the first time I saw it, and the second, and every time since then. He took off the necklace, opened the lock, and gently slid the silicone off me. It took no time at all for my peen to swell while Daddy inspected me to ensure there was no irritation or rubbing. When he rolled my balls between his fingers, I thought I’d come undone on the bathroom floor.
Daddy didn’t give me a chance to respond before he hurried me into the steaming shower. He’d stripped out of his clothes in seconds and joined me. The multiple heads had water splashing against every bit of my body. It was sensory overload until Daddy crowded me against the wall and my brain ceased to function. His warm, slick skin rubbed against mine with the most delicious friction.
Because I knew he liked it, I fisted my hands in Daddy’s hair and scratched my face with his scruff. When my nerve endings threatened to implode, I mashed my mouth to his and slipped my tongue inside. I swallowed Daddy’s moan while he let me pretend to take control of the kiss for a quick minute before he wrenched his mouth away because we were both gasping.
“Baby, you’re gonna kill me.” I heard the smugness in his voice.
“Don’t worry, Daddy, I’ll keep you around for a while.”
Daddy’s thick cock poked against my stomach. More and more lately, I was reminded I hadn’t been lucky enough to know what it felt like to be fucked by Daddy. He hadn’t pushed the issue, letting me set the pace. I was tired of waiting. It was only a matter of time before Kyle found a way to ruin this for me.
“Daddy?”
“Hmm?” he murmured against the sensitive skin at the nape of my neck.
“Are you interested in more than blowjobs?”
“Is that what you want?”
“It’s okay if you don’t want to go that far, and I know not everyone has tried anal or is into it…” I trailed off because I’d swerved a hard left into the most awkward conversation of my entire life, and it was being had while naked in the shower with the man I’d asked to have sex with me. Awkward .
“Little one, I’ve had anal before, and the hole works the same.”
“Oh. Okay.” No words that wouldn’t sound strange or forced came to mind, so I stopped talking instead.
Daddy fell silent, but the intensity of his expression was unmistakable. He scrubbed my hair and my body before making quick work of his own washing. In less than fifteen minutes, all my nooks and crannies were clean, and I was flat on my back in bed, with Daddy looming over me.
“Hi.”
“Hey, you.”
I stared at Daddy’s mouth until he dropped his head to kiss me. His tongue swept into my mouth and mapped every part. I used my legs wrapped around his waist to pull him against me. Our skin was still slick from the shower, and the friction hardened me. As much as I loved…liked…no, loved was the right word…when Daddy edged me, tonight I needed him. Now. “Daddy, please don’t make me wait. I need you inside me.”
“Baby boy, no one is waiting tonight.” He unwound my legs from around him, then leaned over to the nightstand to grab some lube and condoms from the drawer. “We’re both getting tested soon,” he rasped when he tossed the items on the bed next to us.
I nodded and waited for him to return to his proper spot between my legs. His sinful mouth found its way to my neck, where he sucked lightly on the pulse throbbing there.
“Daddy, Daddy, Daddy,” I moaned.
“I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.” He reared back so he could look directly at me. “Do you hear me? I’m not leaving.”
My brain couldn’t process his words and the feelings swirling inside me, but I could angle his mouth toward mine and pour the maelstrom of the emotions I wasn’t willing to label or explore into a kiss. So that’s what I did instead.
Daddy reached down and stroked my penis a few times. Without any lube, the friction was just this side of pleasurable. At my gasp, he cupped and massaged my balls to elicit a low groan. This man mapped every part of me.
It made no sense to me how he’d jumped into being queer after a lifetime of straightness, but I was eternally grateful for it. When his fingers made their way across my taint and to my pucker, I was already panting. He tapped against my hole but made no move to enter me. Instead, he seemed content to send jolts of pleasure through me.
“Daddy, you promised…” I was whining, but I was past the point of caring or being able to control it.
“Shhh, baby, I know. Your sweet hole distracted me.”
He groped across the bed until the bottle of lube and condom were found. I watched him with hooded eyes and a barely concealed urge to ask him to hurry. Once in hand, he opened the lube with a snick and poured a generous amount on his fingers. Daddy found my hole again and slipped the tip of his finger inside me. It wasn’t nearly enough. I bucked against his hand with my feet braced on the bed.
“More. More. More.”
“We have to prep you.”
Daddy leaned down and took my mouth in a burning kiss. His finger’s slow rhythm drove me wild while I panted through the intrusion. Any worries lurking in my mind had vanished as my body welcomed him to the deepest part of me. This was where I was meant to be. I was intended to belong to him.
Daddy added a second finger and curled them up, pressing against the magical spot that sent sparks flying through my veins. The holes might work the same, but the prostate was a gift from the universe. He scissored his fingers inside my channel to open me for his cock. Each pass sent a flame through me, but it wasn’t enough. I wanted to be on fire.
“Let me put some lube on my cock, baby, and then I’m going to fuck you until you don’t remember anyone but me.” Daddy fisted his cock over me and drops of lube dripped onto my stomach. My skin sizzled at the contact. “You ready?” I nodded because words weren’t possible.
The rustle of the foil packet being opened reverberated around the room. Daddy lifted one of my legs to his shoulder and lined up his shaft with my pucker. When his head pushed against the first ring of muscles, my gasp stilled him immediately.
“Don’t. Stop. Please,” I bit out between clenched teeth.
“It’s okay, baby. Bare down and exhale.”
His cock pushed past the barrier and slid slowly into my tight channel. He moved cautiously. Daddy paused at every sharp intake of breath, then moved again when I exhaled. The way his cock filled me was worth the burn. Once he was fully seated against me, Daddy kept still until I was ready.
Daddy nipped at one of my tight nipples and then the other. His teeth, followed by his laving tongue, distracted me from the burn his fat cock caused. Over and over, he bit and then soothed until I was begging for more.
The first thrust of his hips sent me soaring, and I never returned to earth. I climbed higher and higher until the clouds were below me. Daddy’s fingers entwined with my own, and our palms clasped together. Sweat beaded on us, but the salt tasted delicious on my tongue when I licked a stripe up his neck.
When he reared back for a deeper angle, Daddy grasped my shaft. It was small enough that Daddy could fist the whole thing with the head barely visible. While being railed, I got the double pleasure of being jacked. Never, ever had sex been like this. He’d said he wanted me to forget anyone who’d been before him. There was no chance of anything but that. I doubted there’d be anyone after him either.
“Baby, I’m gonna…” Daddy growled.
His words triggered my release, and it roared out of me. I spurted over his fist while he ground one final thrust against my hole. His dick pulsed, but the condom prevented me from feeling his hot cum in my channel. Yes. Test. Immediately.
When Daddy collapsed on me, I wrapped my arms and legs around him while we buried our faces in the crook of the other’s neck. The condom would end up leaking, but I didn’t care. His weight grounded me. Centered me. I never wanted to let him go.
“Hey, Micah, some guy is at the back door for you.”
“Yeah, okay. Thanks.” Ugh, so much for my fantasy that my brother wouldn’t come back for the money. Reality hit like a bucket of cold water.
Because he was so much older than me, I didn’t remember him living in the house with our parents and me. There were some vague memories at the back of my mind of my mom crying and my parents arguing over what to do about him. With a fifteen-year difference, he was more like a wayward uncle than a brother.
I grabbed the cash from my backpack and hurried to the back door. The chef gave me an odd look but didn’t stop me. It went without saying that visitors to the kitchen door weren’t encouraged, but we were in a lull.
The chill of the evening was like stepping into a brick wall. I glanced around, looking for Kyle, but he wasn’t there. Off to the side of the building, I heard an engine start and the slam of a car door. Kyle emerged from the dark like some sort of avenging demon, which, admittedly, was over the top. He wasn’t a demon, just a drunk who’d stumbled onto easy money.
“You’re smarter than you look.” Kyle chuckled cruelly at his lame joke.
With clenched fists, I drew in a deep breath. No matter what, I couldn’t let myself rise to the bait. This needed to be a one-time deal.
“Here’s your money, but I don’t have any more.”
“That house you’re staying in has plenty.”
“I don’t have access to it, and I wouldn’t do that anyway.”
“Oh my fucking god, so fucking perfect.” Kyle’s mouth was twisted in a cruel smile. “The goddamned golden boy. After you came around, I stopped existing. And I was supposed to take care of you? Fuck that. Seems like you did just fine.”
“Yeah, it was a piece of cake. Being in a group home was fantastic, and losing my scholarship was amazing. Homeless and living in a shed was exactly like a weekend camping trip.” My sarcasm didn’t register with him.
“Where’d you meet up with loverboy?”
“It was his shed,” I muttered before I shoved the envelope into Kyle’s hands. “Here’s your money. Consider this our last conversation because we have nothing left to say. I don’t have any more money.”
“They don’t pay you here?”
Crap.
“Yes, but I have to pay rent where I’m staying. It’s not a free ride.”
“Are you shitting me?” Kyle’s laugh was as mean as I remembered it. There had never been any joy in it.
“I need to get back to work.” I glanced behind me, hoping someone from the kitchen would materialize, but my luck was terrible tonight, and no one came outside.
“Enjoy that grind.” After his parting shot, Kyle returned to the vehicle, and whoever was driving gunned it out of the parking lot.
Please, please, please let this be the only time. I whispered a prayer into the universe, but I knew my luck. The odds of this being the only time were slim to none. It was only a matter of time before Kyle ruined this for me.