Chapter 8
CHAPTER 8
JAKE
I left Easton, Daisy, and Esme to their discussion in order to finish my rounds before heading to my office to finalize plans for the Parliament game. I was finally starting to feel more confident in my position and my understanding of the arena, so it wasn’t much more than a last look to make sure I’d assigned staff at every position and no one had called out so far that day.
It was a good opportunity to get my head on right after the closet encounter with Esme. If there was a more dangerous person to get involved with, I didn’t know of one. I wasn’t looking for a boyfriend. I was looking for a Daddy, and there were way too many ways that could go sideways, especially since we worked together.
Besides, what little I knew about Esme St. Claire told me no matter how gorgeous he and his dick were, or how mesmerizing it was to listen to his French accent, or what an amazing kisser he was, he was from a hockey team no one liked and more than likely had the arrogance to go with it.
Brax and Easton had both played for Boston. In the brief time I’d been in my position, I’d heard both bitch about how narrow- minded and old-school the Bulldogs organization was. Daisy had spent an entire afternoon arguing with them and repeatedly telling them he wasn’t like the rest of the Bulldogs team. The three of them bickering about Esme had only made my current situation more confusing. And his Grindr profile showed that he was painfully vanilla, not a Daddy, and definitely someone to keep my heart and libido away from.
But in the few short weeks I’d worked with him, Esme had been nothing but kind, though a little quiet. I didn’t think anyone at the arena knew he was bisexual, much less about what had happened between us over the summer. I hadn’t breathed a word of it to my colleagues, and since I hadn’t heard anyone talking about it, I guessed he hadn’t either.
Regardless of what my logical brain was telling me, I couldn’t help the way my body had reacted to him when we’d collided downstairs. He’d smelled citrusy and had felt so damn strong pressed against my chest when the door had closed behind us.
I ’ d have to be dead to not react to him.
I shook my head, silently chastising myself for even allowing myself to think about Esme in any way other than a coworker. I’d spent three weeks trying to avoid him, and a few minutes in the closet was threatening to undo all my willpower. What was it my grandma always said—don’t shit where you eat? I had to imagine that saying was created for situations just like this one.
But I guessed it didn’t take into account an intoxicating kiss in a darkened closet. I'd gone over the interaction countless times and still wasn’t sure who had moved to kiss the other. Secluded in darkness, it had been easy to forget about all the reasons I needed to stay as far away from Esme as possible—if not for my heart, then for the inevitable awkwardness that would transpire when he learned I was a little looking for a Daddy.
Nope. Not going there. Thank fuck my phone had pinged before the kiss had turned into something even more embarrassing.
My phone .
After we’d been found, I’d mostly focused on getting myself under control and hadn’t really read the messages my friends had sent me. By the time I’d been breathing normally and my dick had no longer been pressing against my fly, the group had been talking about the paint war of a few weeks prior, and then I’d forgotten about the texts as I slipped away to work.
I pulled my phone out and tapped on the screen. The messages had been from Larson, telling me he was coming downtown with his Daddy for the afternoon and asking if I wanted to get lunch while his Daddy grabbed a bite with a friend.
If you’re still looking for someone to go to lunch with you, I’ll be free from noon to one.
Larson’s text to confirm our plans along with a string of smiling emojis popped up seconds later.
Once I booted up my computer, I was lost in emails and messages until I heard Esme talking in his office. I didn’t know who he was talking to, but it brought me out of my concentration long enough to see it was time to leave if I was going to get out of the building and to PenAlety Box on time. I closed my laptop, shut off my light, and grabbed my coat, then headed out of my office and toward the stairwell past Esme’s office.
He was still chatting, his laptop screen open. It must have been a video chat because his smile was big enough his eyes had crinkled at the corners. His accent had become more pronounced and I was pretty sure he was using half French, half English as he spoke to them. There was no mistaking the look on his face as anything but fondness, if not pure love.
I reminded myself I didn’t have a claim on him.
We’d connected on Grindr and fucked less than two hours later. We’d kissed in the supply closet earlier in the day. After Larson had assured me Esme didn’t have a kid, I had basically forgotten about it. But he was clearly talking to someone he loved. If it wasn’t his kid, maybe he had a younger sibling or nibling somewhere.
The thought carried me down the stairs. The Internet could probably tell me more, but now that I worked with him, it felt wrong to snoop into his private life. I was not a stalker and knew I didn't need to know who he was talking to, but he sounded so sweet that I really wanted to know who made him sound like that.
Because he sounds like a caring Daddy , my brain told me as I turned to descend the last flight of stairs. And that was a thought I was not willing to entertain.
“Gah!” Frustrated with myself, I flung the door open on the main level and nearly took Easton out.
He jumped back in surprise and blinked a few times before narrowing his eyes at me. “Everything okay?”
I took a deep breath. Easton had no idea the crazy thoughts going through my head and he didn’t need to. He was the assistant coach, not my boss or even a friend. But if I didn’t calm myself down some before speaking to him, I was going to vent way more to Easton than he ever needed to hear.
I took a few deep breaths while counting backwards from ten. “Just frustrated at myself. Sorry. Are you okay?” My manners had finally kicked in when I’d remembered I’d pushed the door open in his face.
He gave a rich laugh that made me smile despite my mood. “I’m fine. Believe me, if a door is the worst thing that comes my way today, I’m good.” He looked me up and down, really studying me before speaking again. “If you ever do need to talk about anything , you know where to find me.”
“I do.” I smiled and tried to give him a reassuring wink. “You’re always wherever Tom is, bugging the shit out of him.”
Easton almost doubled over laughing at my statement. “You know me well. Someone has to keep the man from taking himself so seriously.”
His laughter was contagious and I realized I was laughing too. “You are either going to keep him from taking himself too seriously or give him a stroke. Not sure which.” My phone pinged in my hand and I knew without looking it was Larson. “I need to get going. I’m meeting a friend for lunch and I think he thinks I’ve forgotten about him.”
Easton waved me away, still grinning. “Have a good one, Jake. But I mean it, just find me if you need anything.”
I nodded and headed out of the building to find Larson across the street at the entrance of PenAlety Box. He waved and I jogged over, thankful for the lack of traffic now that the road had been permanently closed to cars. The change was partially thanks to the chief of police pressuring the city for years, though it had finally closed only the week before.
I’d worked at the arena for less than a day when I’d gained a new appreciation of the safety nightmare the street had been. There’d been barely enough of a sidewalk on either side to be considered a walkway and the one-way road was so narrow our traffic cops had been in constant danger of being hit, even on the sidewalk. After a few frustrated calls from me to the chief, who in turn had called the city planner to give him an earful of righteous outrage, the road had suddenly been closed to all cars with giant cement barriers on either end.
Larson and I were seated quickly and a server took our orders before Larson asked how the job was treating me. Instead of responding with something logical, I said the first thing that came to mind.
“You’re sure Esme doesn't have a kid?”
The big man stared at me as though I’d grown a second head. “Yeah. At least according to Seth and Brax and everyone else I’ve heard from. Why?”
“He keeps talking to someone over video chat. He gets the biggest, softest smile on his face and his voice is so sweet. I don’t know. It’s confusing listening to him.”
Dimples formed in Larson’s cheeks. “Ohhh.” Larson grinned at me. “I get it now. You’re trying to figure out if Esme’s Daddy material.”
“No!” I said a little too loudly and quickly to be believable. I cleared my throat and tried again. “No. No, I know better than that. Can you imagine how incredibly weird that would be? We work together! I am just confused… There was a moment between us this morning and my brain is being an asshole and not letting it go.”
Larson’s eyebrows shot upward with my statement. “Uh, I need more information than that.”
“That was it. We just had a moment.”
Larson sighed. “What was the moment? What led up to it? How did you end up having a moment? Come on, Jake, I need more details. And you know everyone else will too.”
“Only if you tell them!”
Larson’s grin was contagious. “You know if I don’t, you will.”
I rolled my eyes at the man across from me. He was a true gentle giant. A gentle giant with a penchant for teasing me.
I blew my straw wrapper at him. “Ugh, you’re impossible!”
Larson plucked the wrapper from his shirt and crumpled it. He didn’t bother shooting his wrapper back at me, more focused on bending the extended bendy straw into loops.
Since I’d met Aiden and Logan at DASH, my kinky world had become a lot bigger. It felt like everywhere I went, I either ran into someone from the club or met another kinky person. I’d recently realized the places we gravitated toward were almost exclusively queer and kink friendly. Even PenAlety Box was a safe space where we didn’t need to look over our shoulder all the time. Of course, we were careful about what we said and we never talked loudly or bluntly during a busy time, but when the place was quiet we were free to be ourselves.
It wasn’t like any of us were obviously little while we were in public places, but Aiden never thought twice about ordering chocolate milk, and the owner kept white grape juice in stock because it was Larson’s favorite. He’d even had “adult” kids’ menus made with more difficult word searches and games on them.
“I might be impossible, but you are dying to tell me.”
Rolling my eyes, I jabbed my straw into my glass of juice. “We were playing hide and seek this morning.”
“ We ?” Larson raised an eyebrow.
“The Parliament. And if you’re wondering, Connor is way too damn good at seeking.”
“Wasn’t wondering that. I just want to know how hide and seek ended up causing a moment . And, you know, what that moment looked like.”
“Ugh! We’d just started a round. I was about to duck into a supply closet beside the service elevator when Esme walked off it. I accidentally tackled him and we landed in the closet with my back to the door and him sandwiched to my front. When we first collided, I didn’t know who I’d tackled. Thankfully, his accent gave him away.” Someone needed to explain to me how people could have French yelps. I had no idea how, but I’d known it was Esme because the yelp had absolutely had a French accent.
Larson rolled his hand, signaling me to move the story along to the good part. “I don’t know what happened. It just did. I kept telling him to be quiet; he kept asking questions. Then the next thing I know we’re close enough I can feel the heat of his skin on my lips. We kissed, dicks definitely got hard, you texted me, Connor flung the door open, and boom, moment over.”
Larson nearly hissed, his surprise bubbling over “You kissed?”
I lifted a shoulder. “It just happened. I can’t explain it—it just did.”
“Dicks were involved.”
I had no idea how Larson made the sentence so quiet yet so demanding.
“We were clothed. But trust me when I tell you we were both hard as steel in our pants. Then you texted and Connor found us.”
Larson sat slightly slack-jawed for a moment, sobering. “You say this like it was both nothing and frustrating.”
“Because it is. I don’t want something to happen, but I do. He’s effectively a coworker. I wrote him a ticket!”
“You skipped over the part where he fucked your brains out and you haven’t stopped thinking about it since. Then you gave him a ticket.”
I didn’t have another straw wrapper to throw, so I tossed my napkin in his direction. “You’re impossible!”
The server brought over our meals before we could finish the conversation. We’d both ordered a burger and fries and each of our plates was adorned with a little dinosaur figurine.
Larson blushed to the tips of his ears before he managed to get out a thank you. She left and he turned back to me with a glower. “I don’t know if I should yell at my brother or one of you guys for this.” He handed over the pink triceratops that had been placed on top of his burger. “I think it belongs on your desk.”
I placed it and the rainbow pterodactyl I’d gotten on the table. “I don’t think Seth is one to tell your secrets. I’m guessing Logan’s voice traveled.”
We both laughed because Logan had a tendency to get louder than he realized and his already booming voice traveled farther than he’d ever believe. He didn’t mean to be loud, nor did he ever intend to make any of us uncomfortable, but he was the reason we gravitated toward more kink-aware places.
If I had to guess, our secret getting out here had probably happened the week I’d gotten the job and we’d decided to start trying places around the arena before I’d officially started. We’d all loved PenAlety box, but Logan had been pissed about the traffic flying down the narrow street and he’d loudly declared none of our Daddies were going to be happy when one of us got hit by a car.
We’d met the owner at the same time and he’d echoed Logan’s thoughts, saying his own Daddy was worried about it too. Two visits later, fun little toys had started appearing with our meals. And just like that, PenAlety Box had become our go-to restaurant when we were all downtown.
“I think they’re cute. And it’s a fun little surprise. They are never the same things. When one of your Daddies brings us kids’ meals from anywhere else, they all have the same toys. Here, we get different toys, but they are always the same theme.”
Larson hummed, his mouth full of a double cheeseburger, though I guessed he had a different opinion on our toys. To my surprise, he didn’t continue talking about the toys when he’d swallowed but turned his attention to the weekend. “Are you working the concert on Saturday night?”
“No. That’s my night off. And there’s nothing scheduled on Sunday. After the game Friday night, I’m free until Monday.” I swirled a fry in honey mustard before popping it into my mouth.
Larson turned his nose up at my dipping sauce. “We were going to go out for dinner on Saturday, probably early, then head to the club for the littles night.”
My eyes widened. “Littles night?” I’d never expected to find a group of friends at DASH, especially a group of friends I was comfortable enough with that I wanted to spend time with them outside of little space, but I somehow had and it was never awkward, little or not.
“New little joined. You know my dad and littles. For someone who isn’t a little or a Daddy, that man has a soft spot for all the littles and is always looking for an excuse to host a littles night.”
Larson’s family was even kinkier than our group of friends. Of course, Larson had eight siblings, and those siblings all had boyfriends, girlfriends, or spouses, and his parents owned DASH. It would be hard to be vanilla growing up in a house where sex and kinks were talked about freely, at least if the stories Larson told were even partially true. He had even been known to complain that his one brother was so vanilla it was embarrassing.
I kicked Larson under the table. “I can’t imagine why he has a soft spot for littles. It couldn’t be because his son is one or anything.”
My comment had Larson blushing once again and I grinned, holding up the two dinosaurs. “Playdate! Where are we going to have dinner at?”
Larson composed himself and grinned. “Everyone wants to come here.”
“Wonder if we should warn them?” I laughed at the thought of the group descending on PenAlety Box.
At least it wasn’t a game night.