Chapter Thirteen
“Are you sure it’s okay?”
I ask Carl, who checks himself in the full-length mirror and smoothes down his deep navy shirt. Another month has passed, and I’m virtually living in his apartment, only going home for more clothes.
“Yes, I’m sure. Anyway, I thought you and Nate were getting on well. Charlotte is looking forward to meeting you.”
I sit on the edge of the bed, biting my thumbnail. I doubt that very much. Charlotte brushed over any conversations about me, turning it back to her.
“We are, but there’s a difference between working at the shelter together and going out for a meal.”
I sigh. I shouldn’t have agreed to this.
“Why is it any different from me having dinner with your family?”
He walks over to me and tips my head up so I’m looking at him. “It’ll be good, I promise.”
“Okay, but only because I love you.”
The second I say the words, I freeze. Not because it isn’t true, but because we haven’t said the words to each other yet.
Carl stares at me, saying nothing. A smile spreads slowly across his face, lighting up his eyes. “I love you too, little one.”
“You do?” I squeak.
“I do. I have done for a while now. Why are you so surprised?”
He holds out his hands and pulls me upright.
“I don’t know. I thought that if you did, you would’ve told me. You don’t hold back with what you want, Daddy.”
He runs his hands over my arse. After he spanked me, a new part of us had woken up, a part we both love. Carl loves the control he has as he takes me higher and higher, and for me, submitting to him gives me a sense of relief I never knew I needed. To hand my body to him, to trust him to know my limits as well as his own, makes me soar.
The stripes he left after the first time he used the crop on me I wear with pride. If we’re staying in the apartment, I walk around in my jockstrap. With the red marks on display, he can’t stop touching me. Which leads to the hottest sex ever.
“I didn’t want to push you to say something you may not have been ready for. Spencer, I love you so much. I want you to live here with me, for real. I hate that you have your possessions still in your flat. Would you want that too?”
I nod, butterflies dancing in my stomach. The evening has taken an unexpected turn, a welcome turn, but we can talk this through at a later time. Now we have sexier things to do. He tightens his grip on my arse, pressing on the stripes. “Daaaaddy.”
“I know, boy. Are you too sore?”
he asks, and I shake my head. Yes, it hurts, but it’s a delicious pain. “We’ll finish this conversation later.”
I wriggle out of his hold, and he bends to take my mouth in a hot, hard kiss. “I love you.”
I float all the way to the restaurant, but his hand on my thigh keeps me in the here and now. We pull in at the trendy bar and grill, and I take a deep breath. “Let’s do this, Daddy.”
Nate hasn’t mentioned his sexuality again, and I haven’t brought it up. To my surprise, he’s chatting with an attractive man. They’re standing a little too close for it to be platonic, but as we approach, Nate takes a step back.
Nate gives Carl a hug. “Dad, you remember Morgan. We shared a house at uni.”
He moves to lay his hand on Morgan’s arm but withdraws at the last moment. “This is Spencer, my dad’s boyfriend. He’s the guy who works at the LGBTQ centre.”
Carl smiles and shakes Morgan’s hand. “Good to see you again.”
He turns to Nate. “Where’s your sister?”
Nate scratches the back of his head and pulls a face. “She’s not coming. I told her to call you.”
Carl tenses and balls his fists, then slowly relaxes them. His eyes still tight, he lifts one shoulder as if to shrug it off. “Well, it’s her loss. Let’s get to our table.”
He’s angry, and rightly so, but I’m not going to let her ruin our evening, and it seems that Nate feels the same way. He regales us with stories about his uni days with Morgan. It isn’t until Carl excused himself to visit the gents that I see my chance.
“What’s her excuse, Nate?”
“Her excuse or her reason?”
He looks as pissed off as his father. “Her excuse was that she had too much work to do, but her reason is that she’s a spoilt brat who doesn’t want anyone else to have her daddy’s affection.”
I splutter, and Nate grins. “Not that kind of daddy. That’s just you, Spence.”
“You know that?”
Hell if I’ll be embarrassed about my relationship with his father.
“Yeah, you called him that the first day at the centre. It’s cool and none of my business.”
“And what about you two? It’s obvious you’re not just friends. Are you going to tell Carl?”
“Tell me what?”
Carl returns to the table.
“Nothing, Daddy. Not my news to share.”
I grin at Nate, who scowls at me. It isn’t genuine, though, and Morgan chuckles. Carl widens his eyes at the pet name but then looks back at his son.
“Nate?”
“Fine. Morgan is my boyfriend. We dated at uni but drifted apart when we finished. We’ve just got back together.”
“You’re gay?”
Carl lays his hand on mine. “Did you know?”
Nate answers before I can. “I’m not gay. I’m pan.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Carl looks sad rather than angry. “After the conversation we had when you saw Spencer and me, you would’ve had the perfect opportunity.”
“I didn’t think it mattered. I knew you wouldn’t mind.”
“Of course I don’t mind, but I would’ve liked to have known. When your mum and I got divorced, I thought you hated me, that she encouraged you to stay away. I was so lonely, Nate. You must have known you weren’t straight, so why didn’t you want to tell me?”
“I couldn’t say anything. I didn’t feel like my friends. That boys interested me as much as girls, but Mum would’ve flipped. She blamed you for so much, and I didn’t want my sexuality to be another reason for her to hate you.”
“I would rather have taken that than not know and not be able to help you through your thoughts.”
He pats Nate’s hand. “Thank you for telling me now.”
“You can blame that on your boy.”
Nate laughs, and the tension between us vanishes.
“Hey, no picking on me. Daddy, Nate’s being mean.”
Carl grins and places a kiss on my pouting mouth.
The evening passes quickly, with lots of laughter and Carl and Nate sharing stories. When we say goodbye, all the doubts I may have still harboured about Nate accepting us have vanished. He’sonce again my friend, just like when we were fourteen.
Carl pulls out of the car park. “I’m sorry Charlotte cancelled. I’ll call her tomorrow.”
That’s not what Nate said. Should I tell the truth? That will hurt Carl, but excusing her behaviour will hurt him even more in the long run. “She didn’t cancel, Daddy. She didn’t show up, and that was rude of her. And if you call her tomorrow, you’re giving her bad manners the attention they don’t deserve.”
“Spencer, don’t be like that.”
“Why not? It’s the truth. She’s jealous that someone else has some of your attention. She wants you to call her and check that she’s okay, and you’ll probably offer to take her out for lunch when she’s not so busy. By not showing up tonight, she found a way of making it about her and not you. And definitely not me.”
Damn the man. Why can’t he see that? Sure, Charlotte is his daughter, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t without faults.
“That’s hardly fair, Spencer. I’m sure she had a perfectly good reason.”
“Fine. I don’t care, Carl. You believe what you want.”
During the remainder of the drive, we don’t speak. I look out the side window, where the trees and houses pass in a blur. Carl pulls into his parking space and switches off the engine but doesn’t get out.
“I’m sorry you feel that way, Spencer. I’m disappointed in Charlotte’s behaviour, and I’ll tell her she was wrong not to call me.”
I can’t believe it. He hasn’t listened to a word I said. “Carl, do what you want. I told you I don’t care.”
I get out of the car and hurry to the lift. I’m not going to argue with him. It’ll only end up with us being more pissed off with each other. I want to go to bed and forget all about this evening.