Chapter 29 Des
DES
Celebrations for me used to mean steakhouses and lounges with sleek pianos and gorgeous views.
But now I prefer Caroline’s, the greasy spoon diner in downtown Sourwood.
The six of us are seated around a table erupting in chaos. Lena is watching something annoying on her phone. Lulu keeps wanting to show me what she’s colored on the kids menu. Dean and Davy are flicking paper footballs across the table.
It’s madness, but it’s my madness. And in truth, it’s not so bad.
I used to look at families like these and pity the parents.
The loud noises, the stress. But I’ve learned that you get used to it.
You can start to predict their needs and their tantrums. I know that Davy and Dean will calm down once their food comes, and Lulu just wants to show off her artwork.
Maybe there is a method to this parenting madness.
Tanner and I lock eyes across the table. He has that tired but proud look. He is so hot in dad mode.
I nudge Davy with my elbow. “Hey bud, how about we get back on the ice and practice this weekend?”
After not making the team, Davy said he was quitting hockey. I didn’t believe it for a second. The game is in his blood.
He doesn't offer an answer.
“I’ll make a deal with you. We do one practice this weekend, and if you absolutely hate it—like, hate it more than going to the dentist—then you can quit for good. But I really need to see with my own eyes how much you hate hockey first. Deal?” I hold out my hand to shake.
It takes him a few seconds, but he eventually shakes. That competitive spirit in him can’t be held down.
Tanner shoots me a wink from across the table. He wraps his glass with a knife. “Everyone, raise your glass. We’re here to toast Uncle Des.”
We haven’t decided yet what the kids should call me now that I’m their permanent stepdad. Lena and Davy are probably too old to switch to calling me dad. I think dad is a label that will be earned in time. I’m happy to be Uncle Des for the time being; I’m just glad that I’m a part of this family.
“Daddy, I ordered strawberry lemonade. This is lemonade!” Lulu cries out.
“Can I get chocolate milk?” Dean asks.
“Negatory!” I shoot back. “You’ll get full on chocolate milk and won’t eat your dinner.”
“We’ll get you a strawberry lemonade, sweetheart. But let’s cheers to Uncle Des first,” Tanner says in a gentler tone than I could muster.
“Okay,” she says plainly.
We all raise our glasses.
“To Uncle Des, the new Creative Director of the Petty/Marsh Agency!” Tanner says. “Congratulations on Silq Cosmetics and the promotion. We’re so proud of our stepdad.”
“Woot woot!” Davy yells through his fist.
“Des for president!” Dean says. “I knew you could do it. I never stopped believing in you.”
“You’re still not getting that chocolate milk,” I say.
We clink glasses in the center of the table. I get some combination of water and Diet Coke on my sleeve. All in a day’s work.
“We love you,” Tanner says, raising his glass to me one more time.
I never realized being in a family meant having your own built-in cheer squad. I’ll take it. I keep my glass hoisted.
“We have some other good news to celebrate,” I say, pointing my glass at my husband. “Daddy got a great new job. He’s going to be a senior project manager!”
“What does a senior project manager do?” Lena asks.
“That’s a good question.” Tanner laughs, but he has the appearance of a deflated balloon sagging on the floor.
“We’re proud of you.” I wink at him. He pulls on a smile that has fake news written all over it and clinks glasses with each of his kids.
“It’s nice to be employed again. It’s a great company.” He raises his hand to get the waiter’s attention and immediately sets about putting this moment behind him to order Lulu a strawberry lemonade.
A little bit later, while we’re chowing down on our dinners, a familiar face strolls up to our table.
“Maya.” I look up from cutting up Lulu’s hamburger, stunned to see her here. She is equally stunned at the scene in front of her.
“Des?” She holds a to-go bag in one hand. “Funny running into you here. Are these your nieces and nephews?”
“No. Uh, they’re my kids.”
Her eyes fall to my wedding ring. Tanner waves at her from his seat. She takes it all in. The last time I saw Maya, she was on all fours on my bed. A few months ago, but also a lifetime ago.
An amused smile lights up her face. “Been a while, apparently.”
“A lot’s changed.” I nod my head at the table and the chaos of a family meal.
“Congratulations on Silq,” she says.
“Thank you for getting my name in there. Did you get my thank-you gift?”
A few days before the pitch, I sent Maya a basket of fancy jams. It’s something I saw Stan do whenever he was referred new business.
My wet-behind-the-ears self thought it was super classy.
He sent it before he found out if he won a pitch or not because he never wanted someone to think their help was only appreciated if he succeeded.
“Yes. That was too generous.”
“My pleasure.”
“Daddy Des, who is this?” Lulu asks, still remembering to call me daddy in front of strangers.
“This is my friend Maya.”
Maya gives a polite wave to the family. She and I trade a friendly, weighted look, one that acknowledges the past but doesn’t dwell on it. Life is just kinda funny in the way that it keeps moving forward.
“Being a daddy suits you, Des. Lord knows you have the stamina to handle four kids.” She shoots me a wink and exits the restaurant, taking with her my former playboy self.
After dinner, when the kids go to sleep, we sit on the couch folding laundry and half-watching a bloated limited series that should’ve just been a movie. We fold in comfortable silence.
“Hey, since we’re married, we can talk to each other about anything, right?” I ask.
“Of course.” Tanner makes quick work of pairing socks.
“How do you feel about this new job?”
He shrugs, doesn’t stop folding. “It’s a good job. I’m happy to be employed. Seems like a nice company.”
Tanner and I have discussed a myriad of topics throughout our friendship.
No subject was off limits. But I’m realizing that he rarely talked about his job or general career ambitions.
I could go on and on about my agency work.
I love it. Tanner never came close to showing the same fire for any of his jobs.
“Are you excited about it?”
“It’s a job, you know? It’s keeping a roof over our heads and putting food on the table.”
I take his hand, making him drop the fresh laundry. “Tan, have you ever had a job you loved?”
He squints his eyes, really thinks it over for a moment. “I loved being a counselor at this hockey clinic I worked at the summer between sophomore and junior year.”
“Of high school?”
He nods yes.
“That was like almost thirty years ago.” I rub his leg, a pang of pity shooting through my chest for my friend and husband.
“Look, some people have careers, and some people have jobs. I’ve never had a passion for the corporate business world. I love being a husband and father, which I know makes me sound like a Stepford wife. As long as the hours aren’t too crazy, and I work with nice people, then I’m happy.”
Something sparks within me, the pure joy that comes from looking out for someone you love.
“What if you didn’t have to work?” I arch an eyebrow, awaiting his reaction.
He laughs, takes out an assortment of shirts to fold. “That’d be nice.”
“I mean it.” I stop his folding hands. “I mean it, Tan.”
Beneath his dismissive eye-roll, a glimmer of hope twinkles in his sparkling blue orbs.
“This creative director promotion comes with a sizable pay bump. I can sell my condo and move in here permanently. We can make it work.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“What you love most: be a dad. Take care of the kids. Coach all the little league you can handle. Not spend forty hours a week sitting at a soul sucking job because you feel you have to.”
“You’re being serious right now?”
“I am. You have given me so much love and support throughout our friendship. You helped me get through cancer, for crying out loud! Let me do this for you. You deserve to be present for your kids. Fuck, Tan. I don’t know how the hell you managed to keep going these past two years.
Working full time and raising a gaggle of kids.
Constantly worrying about money. You deserve a break. ”
He throws a hand over his mouth as the reality of my offer sets in. Something cracks within him, a shackle being unlocked.
“Des…”
“I love you, Tan. I want to take care of you. If that’s what you want.”
He nods, his eyes watery.
I pull him into a hug. He wraps his arms around me so tight I may crack a rib.
“I promise I’ll keep this house spotless, and there will be a home-cooked dinner ready every night.”
“You don’t need to go full trad wife. Although, the idea of you wearing nothing but an apron is tempting.”
“Thank you.” Tanner wipes away tears welling in his eyes.
“Now be honest with me: how were you feeling about this new job?”
“Dreading it. I could tell my boss was going to be a micromanager. And I don’t even know what a senior project manager does!” His face splits into a wide, brimming smile full of relief.
“Who knows? Maybe you’ll discover a passion for something while you’re hanging at home.” I reach for a pair of black shorts that I instantly identify as Dean’s. Tanner rips them out of my hands and throws them back in the basket.
He grabs the laundry basket and puts it on his side of the couch. “You are not folding laundry ever again.”
“I’ll remember you said that.” I remove the shirts from his lap and lean him back on the sofa. “Speaking of taking care of you…” I palm his crotch. “My husbandly duties should start now.”
Tanner looks to the staircase as I massage his hardening cock through his sweatpants.
“Don’t worry, Tan. They’re all asleep,” I say.
“To be safe, we should be quick.”
“Luckily, I’m so good at what I do that we will be.” I wink at him. I know it’s wrong to be boastful, but I’m merely stating a fact proven out over the course of several sexual partners.
Though none of them can hold a candle to Tanner.
He arches his hips up, one eye still watching the staircase. “The second I hear a stair creak, this is done.”
“You got it,” I say. Although, the tent in his pants believes otherwise. I pull down his sweats, releasing his mallet of a cock.
I swirl my tongue around the crown, licking up his bitter precome. I decide to be antagonistic and slowly lower myself on his dick, taking my time down his shaft. He hisses with pleasure.
“Is this quick enough?”
“F off.”
I laugh against his erection, eliciting another hiss out of him. He’s warm and heavy in my mouth. His hips shift and buck under my touch.
I lick down his cock to his balls, taking them in my mouth.
“Yes,” he says, barely above a whisper.
I fist his shaft and stroke him as I tongue his balls, lapping up their sweaty taste. He is rock hard, pulsing against my hand. He humps into my fist, unraveling with lust.
“Faster,” he begs. If I tease anymore, he might scream.
And honestly, I’m kinda scared of one of the kids waking up.
I bob on his dick, taking him all the way down, letting him hit the back of my throat. Tanner presses a firm hand on my head, moves up and down with me like he’s dribbling a basketball.
My cock is ragingly hard; this won’t end at a blow job. I flip Tanner’s legs up and flick my tongue over his hot hole. He bites against his arm, restraining a moan I know he wants to let out.
“We can’t have sex, Des,” he says in a strained whisper.
“I think it’s already happening.” I swirl my tongue around his most sensitive area, opening him up. His mouth is saying no, but his ass is saying yes, please, and thank you.
“We have to be quick. Really quick,” he says.
“I’m going to be.” It’s difficult holding myself back with Tanner. He’s so damn hot. It’s a miracle I can last over a minute after sliding inside his warm opening.
I undo my pants and spit a few times into my hand. I coat my aching cock with nature’s lubrication. I lick around his ass a bit more to slick him up, too.
“You ready? I know this isn’t with lube…let me know if it hurts.”
Tanner’s pants bunch at his knees. His face is red with desire and want. And maybe a little discomfort. He’s so beautiful, so eager.
“I love you,” I whisper.
“Need you.”
I plunge inside, sinking into his warmth, keeping eye contact with him. I slide in and out, the sensation of tightness and release making me dizzy with lust. I’m slow but deliberate, pumping his cock, too.
“You feel so good, Tan. How is it for you?”
“Don’t stop.” Tanner bites his lip, holding back moans I know he wants to erupt. His restraint is a big turn on.
I look down at the pretty sight of my thick cock disappearing into his hole, watching Tanner take all of me. I brush my lips against his muscular thighs.
He throws his head back, flush with need, when I begin jerking his stiff cock. Precome leaks down my fingers.
“I love stretching you out. Are you gonna come for me?” I ask in a low voice.
He nods ravenously, his cock bulbous and red and on the verge of exploding. My ball draws up as I barrel closer to release.
I could luxuriate in Tanner all night, but he’s right: there could be a kid sighting at any moment.
The more Tanner twists under my touch, soft groans escape his lips, the harder I fuck him.
“Gonna come,” he whispers.
He desperately reaches into the laundry basket and grabs one of his athletic socks. His fingers scramble as if trying to dismantle a bomb. As the piece of clothing falls from his grip, I snatch it and hold it over his cock just as he comes.
I manage to get all of it in the sock. Even off the ice, I can still catch Tanner’s passes.
“Don’t put it back in the laundry,” Tanner says, heaving big breaths.
“Duh. I know.” I pump my hard cock into his ass, wanting badly to jackhammer him, but also wanting to be quiet. We’ll have lots more sex. It’s okay for some of them to be quick.
“Fuck. I need a sock of my own,” I huff out as the orgasm builds, making my whole body vibrate.
“No. Come inside me.”
Damn. Hottest thing Tanner has ever said.
I pull back until only my cockhead is in him, then plow back inside. He hisses with desire. I go dizzy as the need takes over me.
“Tan…” I empty myself inside his hole, filling him up like a gas tank. I stroke a lock of hair back from his face, admire how beautiful he is, his cheeks bright with color.
“A guy can get used to this regular stuff,” he says, pulling up his pants and catching his breath.