EPILOGUE
BENJI
Six Months Later
I’d timed everything to apply in the fall, hoping to get early admission at NYU School of Law, which was my first option.
It was close to the law office I’d still be working at, and if I got in, they’d give me additional funding, which took some of the strain off my savings.
The only issue now, I needed an incredible LSAT score.
I couldn’t even verbalize the number, just in case I jinxed it.
Daddy approached from behind, and his touch forced my back upright. I’d worked hard through summer, and I knew I could take the test again, but I’d timed it, and now, as I double-tapped the refresh button again, I waited for my fate to be decided.
“Whatever happens, you’ve got me.” He kissed my neck, rubbing his stubbly chin against me. “I love you,” he whispered, kissing me again, not trying to force me to turn my head. My eyes were locked on the screen.
The clock ticked over to 9:00 a.m. and I felt like I was on an episode of Jeopardy with the speed I hit it, and then timed stopped, just like it would as I searched for an answer, only for it to be out of my mind altogether.
Each inhale felt like wind screaming into an underpass, like trains shaking a nearby house. My entire body was in limbo, waiting.
Results appeared, and it didn’t register at first in my eyes, until Daddy squeezed me from behind. It was on a single line—LSAT information—and below it, the name of the test, when I took it, and where I took it. My eyes scanned across, and there it was.
“That’s amazing,” he said.
“One seventy-five.”
The tears came pouring down my cheeks. I’d done it.
He brought out a cupcake and a teddy for me. “I knew you could do it.”
“You didn’t have to take the day off for this,” I told him, wiping my eyes with the arm of my sleeve.
“Why would I miss this moment?” he asked, pulling part of his sweater across a thumb and helping to wipe my eyes. “This is important for you, so it’s important for me. You’re the only thing in my life right now that needs me, so of course I’m going to be here.”
I cuddled into his chest while he stood there, occasionally glancing back at the laptop screen and the results.
It meant I had a good chance of getting into NYU School of Law, and all my dreams were coming true.
I had a man who was hot, handsome, but best of all, he was a Daddy, and he knew just how to take care of me.
“So, was I going to get if I didn’t get the results I wanted?” I asked, looking up at him.
He lowered into a squat, looking up at me now. “To tell you the complete truth,” he said, and my heart skipped. “I knew you were going to do great, so I didn’t even think about the what if or not.” He gestured to the texts I’d used to study from. “You’re going to do great things, baby.”
We cuddled again, tighter now, the sobs coming right from the back of my throat, which was aching slightly. I’d worked hard, too hard, on everything to get here, and now it was all coming together, it was all happening. I was overwhelmed, but in the best possibly way.
“I love you,” I sobbed at him, squeezing harder.
“And I’ll never stop loving you,” he said.
I turned to laughter. “Oh my god, you know that meme gets me.”
He winked. “I do it just for that. So, should we head out for breakfast? I heard there’s a drag brunch going on across town.”
“I’ve gotta start preparing my application,” I said.
“No, we’re going to drag brunch,” he said.
And that was that. Daddy said it, so that’s what we did, and he knew best, because I needed time to celebrate, and perhaps my brain would burst if I didn’t take the day off.
It might even have broken if we didn’t go out, drink hella mimosas to celebrate, and let Daddy blow through a wad of bills for the drag queens.
I couldn’t believe how lucky I was.
This Daddy was mine. I chose him, he chose me.
Our bodies and spirits had already promised their forevers to each other.
There was no other explanation of how I felt for him; we were just meant to be.