Chapter 14 #2
Buddy Number Three wasn’t happy. “Man, I’ve had two drinks. I don’t wanna take the damn Metro.”
“And I don’t wanna get sued or go to bed with a guilty conscience,” I retorted. “Get the fuck out.”
My quest to crash the party continued, and I moved on to another crowd where I found the baby brother of Brent. Martin, who was in Dylan’s class.
“Martin, let me call your folks so they can come get you,” I said loudly, pretending to scan the contact sheet.
“Oh fuck, it’s—uh, hey, Mr. Riley.”
Someone tried to sneak by me with a bottle of cheap gin, so I took that too.
“Umm, I bought that, Mr. Riley—”
“Rat me out to your parents, Oliver. I fucking dare you.” I stared him down until he fled the scene.
Others followed.
I dumped the alcohol in the sink and heard someone hollering for Dylan.
God-awful music. Kids these days didn’t know a good tune if it smacked them in the head.
Once the kitchen was cleared, I repositioned myself in the doorway as more kids hurried to leave.
Looked like I didn’t have to do much else.
“I’ll take that.” Another vodka bottle.
“Hey, that’s mine!”
“Want me to call the police for you?” I drawled.
He wasn’t in Dylan’s class. I didn’t recognize him.
And now he was gone.
Hey, another cigarette—in my goddamn house. What was wrong with people? At least my brother and I had had the decency to cover shit up.
I put it out in a nearby bottle of who-the-fuck-knew.
The rush ended with Dylan appearing in the hallway, eyes wide—oh, he was lit. Fuck me, that pissed me off.
“Dad, w-what’re you doing home?”
“Wrong question,” I gritted out. I pointed toward the living room that was still packed with people. “You have twenty minutes to clear the house and get every ounce of booze and weed into the kitchen. Am I making myself clear, son?”
He nodded jerkily and disappeared into the crowd.
Rein it in.
I took a steadying breath and walked out of the house, pocketing the contact sheet on the way.
I didn’t wanna see the place right now. I’d give him the chance to take care of the worst, and then we’d talk and clean up together.
Noticing that James and Jordan stood on their porch, I trailed over there and did my best to shake my anger.
It was skin-deep, simmering on top of an ocean of indifference.
Mostly because this was what teenagers did, right?
Yeah, there had to be consequences, but I reckoned my biggest issue was simply watching Dylan leave his childhood behind.
I wasn’t ready.
In two years, he’d start college. He was looking at schools. He’d asked Nate to do a college tour along the East Coast.
“How happy are you that your nephew wasn’t here today?” I asked James, climbing their porch steps.
He chuckled through his nose. “Sadly, this little high school party would’ve been better.”
Yeah…that was another thing. I couldn’t be too angry. We hadn’t had many problems with Dylan.
“How’s it going over there?” Jordan wondered.
I glanced toward my house, seeing more kids head out. “I gave him twenty minutes to get rid of everyone and most of the evidence.”
“Aww, you’re a good dad. Lemme give you a healing hug.” Jordan closed the distance between us and threw his arms around my neck.
I laughed quietly and patted him on the back.
It felt a little too good, so I shifted where I stood to end the hug faster.
I missed hugs. I missed the times when Nate and I held each other so tightly that every crack felt mended.
“How is your dad?” Jordan asked next.
“He’s improving, thankfully.” I bobbed my head. “Domino’s is still open, right?”
“Yes,” Jordan replied right away. “We made peri-peri chicken with potato skins if you’re hungry.”
That did sound good, but I had a plan. “I appreciate it, but I think I’ll order a pizza. I’d rather ground Dylan’s ass over a friendly slice than in the middle of a fight. I wanna hear him out before I lay into him.”
Jordan let out a whistle. “Man, if my parents were like you, I wouldn’t have daddy issues.”
I winced and chuckled at the same time. “I hope that’s a joke.”
He shrugged and leaned against James. “It’s fine. They’re not really issues if you get off on them.”
Uh.
I lifted my brows.
James smirked and looked away.
Was that…? I mean, I had my suspicions about those two. I couldn’t quite place James yet, but Jordan struck me as a bratty Little. He might also have some switch tendencies, because he could be plenty bossy around James. I could sense some kind of power dynamic between them.
Actually, now I kinda wanted to know—and we were close enough that I could ask. They brought dinner over to my place about once a week, and they were caring as hell. They always asked how things were with the kids and whatnot.
“Are you two kinky?” I asked bluntly.
Jordan turned sly. “Maybe. And maybe we know you are too.”
What the— “How?”
“James saw you liked a post on Mclean House’s Facebook page last year,” he answered.
Oh, for chrissakes. So now I was being punished for not being on the Mclean app. Excuse me for liking a single update about a munch on Facebook.
They had to know about Mclean House in that case.
Because the only updates Mclean ever shared on social media were about a monthly “meetup.” Nothing kink-related whatsoever was mentioned there.
Which wouldn’t have been an issue, regardless; it wasn’t as if Dylan and Hallie wanted to be friends with their dads on Facebook. Talk about embarrassing!
“Are you members?” I asked.
James put his arm around Jordan. “He is, though only online.”
“Being part of a big community isn’t really our thing,” Jordan added. “But it’s fun to talk kink and make online friends.”
Huh. I would’ve thought Jordan, especially, would like to actually visit the house and see those friends in person.
“I guess it’s kinda private to us,” James finished.
Fair enough. I wasn’t going to push for more information either way. I missed kink enough as it was, and now to have it confirmed that my two new friends—who I really enjoyed hanging out with—were part of the lifestyle…? Like I needed more temptation.
“Dad?”
I turned toward my house and saw Dylan on the porch. “Be there in a sec, buddy.” I faced James and Jordan again and sighed. “Time to inspect the damage. Thanks for reaching out to me tonight.”
“Of course, anytime,” James replied.
I headed back to my own place and picked up the Solo cups on the porch before I went inside.
Dylan was busy throwing shit into a trash bag, and he wouldn’t make eye contact. “Before you ask, I locked the door to your bedroom and stashed the food from the fridge out on the patio.”
Kids raiding my fridge was the least of my concerns. They wouldn’t have found a lot there anyway. The house was still fairly empty.
First things first. I pulled out my phone so I could order us a large pizza.
“You okay with green peppers on a pepperoni pizza?” I asked. “And extra cheese, right?”
He straightened and frowned at me. “What?”
I smirked faintly. “You got a buzz goin’ on. You’ll want the pizza to soak up the alcohol so you’re not hungover in the morning.”
The boy could still be cute as fuck when he blushed. It happened so rarely these days.
He looked away from me again and went back to picking up cups, beer cans, and potato chips off the floor. “Peppers are fine,” he mumbled.
Fucking precious.
How could I stay mad at that face?
I went through the ordering process and added some wings too. And we had hot sauce on the patio…
“How grounded am I?”
I let out a laugh. “Like you wouldn’t fucking believe. But you know what’s worse? Dad had the brilliant idea that you’re also giving up your phone at eight every night for two weeks—and you and I are gonna talk about this until you’re ready to keel over.”
On that note, I should send Nate an update. Knowing him, he was pacing a hole in the floor at his parents’ house.
“My phone…? Dad, I need that—”
“You’re getting off easy, so pick your damn battles, son,” I told him seriously.
He wisely shut his mouth.
Today was a good day. I felt ambitious and shit.
It was best to take advantage, because the depression was bound to pull me under sooner rather than later. Or maybe it wasn’t depression. I was no doctor. I just knew I felt like shit most of the time because of Nathan fucking Riley.
Was he gonna change his name back?
After work, I picked up Mikey and Lily and headed over to Nathan’s. We’d originally planned on spending the day at my brother’s, but Nate was working late tonight, so I’d prepare dinner for the kids by myself.
“I’m hungry, Daddy,” Lily said.
“I bought carrots and Bagel Bites,” I answered. “We’ll get that sorted as soon as we get home.”
“I like Bagel Bites more than carrots,” Mikey chimed in.
“Baby, who doesn’t.” I made the last turn and hummed to the music on the radio.
“You can’t call me baby anymore,” Mikey stated. “I’m not a baby.”
Thanks for tanking my mood, kid.
I eyed him in the rearview. “Since when?”
He shrugged. “I dunno.”
“I call Daddy my baby sometimes,” I lied. I mean, I used to. I’d called him baby all the time. “It’s a term of endearment like sweetheart and champ.”
He just scrunched his nose.
Great.
I pulled into the driveway, and Lily no longer waited for me to open the door for her. She was unbuckled and out the door as quickly as Mikey, leaving me behind to get their backpacks and reminisce about their baby years.
This was some bullshit.
My phone buzzed with a message as I headed for the door, and I saw it was a text from James.
When was the date for the team-building thing? Are we sharing hotel rooms, or can I skip my anti-snore nasal strip?
I snorted under my breath and dug out my keys. If he snored, he’d better bring that thing because we were, in fact, sharing rooms, and I was his roommate. Theo and I had split all twenty-three employees between ten rooms and one junior suite.
I’d respond to him later. Now I had kids to feed and homework to check up on.