Chapter 23
NATHAN
Rage.
I had to trample it down as my boy climbed into the passenger seat, refusing to look at me.
At first, I thought it was because of our conversation.
It made me want to hunt down and kill every person who had ever hurt him, ever made him feel like he wasn’t worth the effort.
Like he wasn’t worth being taken care of.
As his Daddy, of course I was going to fucking pick him up and take him out for our date. It had never even occurred to me that people in his past would have expected him to drive himself. This precious boy deserved to be treated like he was special, like a prince.
For as long as he let me, I planned to be that person for him.
But watching him sit next to me, there was something different about him. I just couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
I reached over and gently took the seat belt from his trembling fingers, giving them a quick squeeze.
“Here, let me, little bird.” The words came out as a soft hush, as though a spell had been cast in the quiet of the car. I clicked the belt in place and smiled as his cheeks flushed.
“Thank you, Daddy,” he muttered, eyes focused on his hands that he had dropped to his lap. He went to bite his lip, but stopped himself.
My eyes zeroed in on the movement, always mindful of his lips, but curious as to what had halted his nervous habit. I noticed his lips were shinier than normal, and at first, I just thought it was from him licking them. But I leaned a little closer and got the lightest scent of cherries.
A smile spread across my face as I realized my little bird had put on lip gloss. I hadn’t known that was something he liked. The knowledge made me more curious about the way he had his face hidden from me.
I reached out and cupped his chin with my index finger, stopping when his body went rigid. My head cocked to the side as I watched him breathe heavily, in and out, in and out.
“Little bird, please look at me.”
He hesitated for a moment, but slowly, he turned his head to face me. His eyes were wide as he met my gaze and I offered him a soft smile. My brave, sweet boy.
My thumb stroked across his cheek, just under his eye. “You look beautiful. Thank you for trusting me. I know it must have been a lot.”
He nodded, almost biting his lip again and letting out a groan of frustration. I chuckled at his antics and put the car into gear just as his stomach growled.
“All right, let’s get that monster in your belly fed before it bursts through and eats us.” Aiden let out a laugh, his eyes sparkling, head ducking. I figured it was a job well done, a mission accomplished. Anytime I could make my little bird laugh and look carefree, I would take it as a win.
When we pulled up to the diner a few minutes later, I put up my finger, indicating for him to wait, when he moved to get out of the car.
He shot me a confused look, but I got out and made my way over to him, opening the door and leaning down to unbuckle the seat belt for him.
His cheeks flamed a brilliant shade of pink, and I wondered if it would be too bold to suggest him wearing more makeup.
I wasn’t sure what it was that drew him to it, or why it was something he had seemed to hide up until this point, and the last thing I wanted was to make him uncomfortable, so I didn’t say anything.
But a piece of my heart did thaw at the shy look he cast my way as I slotted our fingers together and led him into the diner.
Hopefully, this time we would have a much more pleasant experience, without any more secrets being exposed.
While I loved the way his mind worked, I couldn’t help but feel a little too seen with how keen his observational skills were. But still, I wouldn’t change a thing about him.
There was something special about him that I couldn’t help but cherish and want to watch blossom.
“Table for two, please,” I told the hostess, with a smile, when we got inside.
She showed us to our table and while he seemed uneasy about the makeup, especially when a few people he seemed to know gave him funny looks, breakfast had gone off mostly without a hitch.
Aiden had ignored the other patrons, not even giving them a polite greeting.
His focus was solely on me by the end of our meal, and I couldn’t say I was upset about that.
“Did you enjoy your pancakes, little bird?” I asked him softly as I drove across town to the theater.
His head lolled in my direction, with a wide grin across his face. I was sad to see the lip gloss was gone from eating, especially when I hadn’t even gotten a chance to taste it, but the eyeliner was still there, perfectly casting a slight shadow under his eye.
“I did. Thank you.”
I couldn’t help but wonder why he always looked so conscious whenever I did something or asked him something like that. But I didn’t want to draw attention to it and ruin the mood, so I let it go.
For now.
We continued on in a comfortable silence, and I let him control the music, syncing his streaming service to the radio so he could listen to his music. Again, the way his eyes went wide when I made the suggestion, made me want to go on a rampage and hunt down every man he’d ever dated before me.
I just had to remind myself there would be no one after me. I’d make sure of it.
The movie theater lobby was mostly empty when we got there, since it was early afternoon during the middle of the week, but that was fine.
It just meant that we would get the theater to ourselves.
I bought tickets for a rom-com I knew he would like, even though I wasn’t sure if he’d seen it.
But that was okay. Hopefully, we wouldn’t be watching much of the movie anyway.
“Popcorn?” I asked as we went through the gate, getting our tickets stamped.
“Hmm? Oh, yeah. Though, I’m not sure if I can eat much more.” Aiden patted his belly and gave a laugh.
I gave him a look in return. “Popcorn is a movie date staple, little bird.”
He rolled his eyes and wandered off to look at the rest of the goodies while I got the popcorn. While the girl behind the counter was filling up our bucket, I went up to him and put my arm around his shoulder.
“Did you want to get something else, baby?” I whispered in his ear.
When he shook his head, I leaned back and looked at him. His face had lost the carefree look and I didn’t like it. It also didn’t escape my notice the way his eyes kept sliding to the gummy worms.
Not saying a word, I reached in front of him, grabbed a package, and took them to the counter.
“Daddy,” he hissed, looking around as if suddenly remembering we were in public. “I said I didn’t want them.”
I looked at the bag of worms before holding them up.
“Oh, these? No, they’re for me. Low blood sugar,” I said with a wink.
Grumbling, he stalked over and grabbed the bag out of my hand, scowling at me. “Mine.”
Biting back a smile, I handed my card over to the girl who was patiently waiting for our antics to be over, before I pressed a kiss to his temple. “All yours, little bird.”
I gathered up our drinks and popcorn and ushered him to the theater, where we sat in the back. There were a few other groups in there with us, in sets of two and three, but I paid them no mind as I set our drinks in the holders and the popcorn on the seat next to me.
When Aiden settled into his seat, I tugged him in against my side, with his head on my shoulder. He let out a content sigh, and I wondered when the last time was that he had just let himself relax. Especially with someone else.
“Thank you, Daddy.” His words were quiet, and I almost missed them with the way his head was buried in my neck.
I squeezed his neck and he sat back to look at me just as the lights started to dim.
By the time the previews were over and the movie had started, his arms were wrapped around my neck and I was leaving love bites all along his jaw.
“We… we need, fuck. We need to stop, Daddy.” His words were breathy as he panted, practically moaning as I bit at the hinge of his jaw.
“Hmmm. Do we? I don’t see anyone complaining.” I licked a strip up his neck and reveled in the way he shuddered under me.
His eyes met mine and the way he tried to look stern was adorable. “Yes. I’m an officer of the law. I can’t get caught in the back of a movie theater like this.”
With a sigh, I disentangled myself from him because he was right. And the last thing I wanted was to make his life even more difficult than I already had.
I booped his nose, enjoying the shocked look on his face. “You win, little bird.”
Reaching over, I grabbed his bag of gummy worms and snorted at the betrayed look on his face. “Open up, little bird. Let Daddy bird feed you.”
While it was corny as hell, it made him chuckle, so that was all I cared about. And, of course, he promptly listened. His lush pink lips opened for me, wrapping around my fingers as I fed him the worm.
I leaned down and gave him a kiss, biting off a piece of the worm. “You’re trouble, little bird.”
“I know.” He smirked and snuggled back into my side as we sat through the rest of the movie, even though we had no idea what was going on. But it didn’t matter. All I cared about was spending time with him and that he enjoyed our time together.
When we walked out of the theater, I didn’t want to let him go, or leave quite yet. Plus, downtown painted a pretty picture with the snow on the ground from a few days back and the sun bright in the sky.
“I was wondering if you’d care to go for a walk?” My shoulder bumped his as we meandered around the front of the building.
He looked around and nodded. “Sure. That seems like it could be a good idea.”
“Cool.”
As we walked around the downtown area, looking at all the storefronts that had started to put out their Christmas displays, Aiden lit up. Each thing that brought him joy, I filed away for later. Everything he looked at with longing in the window became a potential Christmas present.