Thrust Me Daddy (The Construction Boys #2)

1. Mikey

Chapter 1

Mikey

The trees and forest around me are some of the most spectacular you could ever wish to see. But for me I guess it’s all pretty normal and part of a day’s work.

Not everyone would want to be a long distance truck driver, but I just love it…

‘A hundred miles down, only another hundred to go,’ I chuckle, dropping my truck down a gear as the incline takes me up the long, winding hill. ‘And thank fuck it’s not all like this .’

I take a deep breath and bring the speed right down as I maneuver my large delivery truck around the s-bend before flooring the accelerator to give me enough power to push on up the hill.

Being the delivery driver for the Construction Boys always seems to throw up these kinds of long distance driving challenges. We only use the best materials, and if that means a two hundred mile round trip, then that’s what we’re going to do.

And it’s not even like this is the longest delivery journey I’ve made!

I think my record is a total trip, there and back, of nearly four hundred miles. Of course, that involved several stops and about half a dozen pick-up and drop-off spots – but who’s counting, right?

All in all, my hours are long and the work can be highly demanding on my time and my concentration. Driving my truck ain’t the same as jumping into a Tesla and letting all the computers and gadgets do the work for you.

No, my truck requires real driving skill.

You can never relax, and you have to always have your wits about you. Take it from me, you don’t want to be at the wheel of a large truck unless you’re fully aware of the responsibility you have to keep yourself and other drivers on the roads safe.

But don’t get me wrong – I freakin’ love what I do.

Sure, the hours may be long and I might be away from home for a few days a week… but I always have a great time when I’m out on the road.

Whether it’s discovering a new diner or finding a super-cute little town to take a break in, I always see each and every long-distance delivery mission as an opportunity to experience something new.

Oh, and about those roadside diners…

I’ve pretty much become the unofficial Construction Boys breakfast and late night coffee guide for the whole crew.

If there’s a top class pancake stack or premium specialty coffee on any of our great American roads then I’m pretty much guaranteed to know it – and my fellow boys don’t hesitate to come to me for recommendations.

That’s the thing with my crew, we all have our strengths.

Xander and Lane are the two founders, and they bring with them a whole heap of construction experience, business knowledge, and some of the biggest triceps and biceps in a tri-state area.

Then you’ve got Zane and Kurt, two guys who know everything there is to know about welding enormous pieces of steel together and putting up some of the most pin-point accurate residential framework in the business.

The rest of the guys in the crew all bring their own specialties too, and it’s always a great day when we can get through the work together and then party afterward.

A Construction Boys party might involve a ton of ice cold beers and some seriously competitive games of 8-Ball pool before heading back to someone’s house and partying way into the earl hours.

Or sometimes it might be another kind of party.

A very different kind of party in fact…

Despite being just about the most typically macho and big built construction crew you could ever dream of, what truly bonds us all is the fact that we’re Littles.

We might all be well over six feet tall, but we still want nothing more than our onesies, warm milk, and our stuffies to snuggle with.

One of our favorite spots to hang out together is Morning Milk . It’s the safest environment you could imagine, and no one in there cares that we’re all way bigger than the average Little.

The very thought of being in Morning Milk with my best friends is enough to get me through the second half of my journey today too.

It’s been a fairly straightforward journey, but I’ve learned over the years that you can never truly relax on the road until the goods have been collected and then taken back to the site.

But it’s not like I’m doing the journey totally by myself…

‘How’s it going, Atty?’ I say, turning and looking at my beloved seahorse stuffie Atty – short for Atlantic, like the ocean.

I could never imagine doing a long haul drive without Atty sitting next to me on the passenger seat. He may be a pink, green, and yellow seahorse, but Atty loves nothing more than a road trip – and he’s certainly been on enough of them with me to know!

‘Don’t worry buddy, we’ll be home soon enough,’ I giggle, reaching over and ruffling the strip of fuzzy hair at the top of his head. ‘But first, it’s time to collect this cargo and then power this big old truck all the way back to the boys.’

With that, I negotiate the final corner for a while and then put my foot down and pick up some speed as we power on toward our destination.

Maybe it’s a psychological thing, but the ride home is always feels so much quicker. And with the boys planning on going out for some beers tonight, I want to make sure that I’m back in town with enough time to spare so that I can hop into the shower and have a nice, relaxing soap and clean to freshen myself up.

‘Jeez, this ain’t good, Atty,’ I say, grumbling as the shower turns into a heavy downpour. ‘This ain’t good at all .’

We’re about a third of the way back home and suddenly the innocent light rainfall has turned into something like a tropical monsoon.

My truck has been through more than its fair share of extreme weather over the years. I might only be twenty-six years old, but I’ve been trucking long enough to have seen the most intense heatwaves and the coldest of cold snaps too.

But this rain is something else.

Every time I think it’s about to stop, it just comes down even harder.

I’m actually at the point where I think it might be the best idea for me to pull over at the side of the road and take a break so that hopefully the rain can die down enough for me to be able to drive safely.

‘What are you thinking, Atty?’ I say, a concerned look on my face as the truck’s normally unassailable windscreen wipers struggle to keep up with the heavy, thunderously hard rain. ‘There’s a diner about half a mile away. Keep going and then take a hot chocolate break there until the weather clears?’

I smile… it’s pretty obvious that Atty is totally behind my idea to stop for some hot chocolate. A good stuffie always knows what’s best for his special boy, right?

‘You got it!’ I chuckle. ‘Next stop, hot choccy and maybe a cookie too…’

Despite seriously reducing my speed due to the horrible downpour, it doesn’t take long before I’m pulling into the diner’s parking lot.

I put Atty safely in my backpack and make a quick dash from the truck and into the diner.

Despite the fact that I run pretty much as fast as my heavily muscled body can carry me, I still end up getting soaked.

Luckily for me though, I’m a fairly well known face in the diner…

‘My big boy got all wet!’ Cheryl-Anne cackles, a broad smile on her face. ‘Don’t worry, Mikey, I’ll fetch you a towel to dry yourself on.’

‘Thank you, Cheryl-Anne,’ I say, wiping my face dry only for more rain to drip down from my closely cropped but still thick dark-brown hair. ‘I think I’m going to need that towel.’

Cheryl-Anne laughs and quickly pops back to the staff area behind the counter before returning with a suitably fluffy white towel for me to use.

‘Now, you get dry and I’ll bring over the menu,’ Cheryl-Anne says. ‘Look, your favorite booth is free too. I guess we must have known you were coming today.’

I smile and walk over to the booth on the opposite end of the diner.

With the large window that looks out onto the parking lot and then the mountain range in the distance, I love this spot more than any other in the diner.

There’s something about the panoramic view that makes each sip of my drink and bite of my food taste even better.

Speaking of which, it’s probably time that I ordered.

‘Usual?’ Cheryl-Anne says, hollering over from the counter as I turn to face in that direction.

‘Yeah!’ I laugh, not surprised that Cheryl-Anne is one step ahead of me. ‘Maybe with some extra-’

‘Marshmallows on the hot chocolate?’ Cheryl-Anne interjects, yet again proving why she’s the best diner owner and server I’ve probably ever encountered. ‘Be right with you. Just have to finish another order first.’

‘No worries, take your time,’ I reply, not wanting to rush Cheryl-Anne.

I reach over to my backpack and open up the zip.

While I’m comfortable in my identify as a Little, and I know I wouldn’t get any kickback from Cheryl-Anne, I don’t know the diner well enough to get Atty out of the backpack entirely.

Not everyone in the world is as understanding and non-judgmental as they could be, and the last thing I want is to end up in some type of confrontation with a stranger who doesn’t think that big boys should be allowed stuffies too.

‘There you go, just enough so you can check out the view too,’ I whisper, giving Atty a nice stroke as his hair and eyes pop over the top of the backpack.

The rain outside looks like its easing off, but I’m not ready to make any big predictions about the weather just yet. I’ve driven in enough bad conditions to know that the weather can change at any time – either for the better or the worse.

Instead, I decide to err on the side of caution and send a message to Xander to let him know that I might be running a little late…

MIKEY: Hey… so we need to talk about the fuckin’ weather. I’m talking heavy, HEAVY rain. I’ve pulled over at a diner until it slows down. Hopefully I should be able to get back on the road in a half hour. But some of these clouds look seriously DARK. Anyway, worst case scenario is I’ll be back after you’ve shut the site down for the night. In that case, I’ll take the load to the storage facility. Speak later.

It's not long before Xander replies to my message. And showing what a good boss and friend he is, he’s got nothing by sympathy for my weather-related predicament…

XANDER: Yo! Mikey! Don’t worry bro, it’s all good. We’ve got you covered. You don’t need to haul ass over to the storage unit, just give me a call when you’re a half hour away and I’ll come to the site. It’ll save you time today, and the rest of the crew time tomorrow. AND it’ll mean that you can still come for some beers with us. Safe journey!

I smile and put my phone back in my pocket. Xander is a great friend and an even better boss. Xander is always looking out for what’s best for the whole crew and not just himself – and I don’t think there’s a better man in the business when it comes to bringing a job in on deadline either.

All in all, I’m so lucky to have found the Construction Boys.

We’re friends, we’re family… and we get to work together too – what’s not to love?

Speaking of love, Cheryl-Anne is walking over with a big mug of marshmallow-loaded hot chocolate and one of the biggest choc-chip cookies I’ve ever seen…

‘Wow!’ I say, my eyes wide and my tummy rumbling just at the sight of Cheryl-Anne’s tray of tasty goodness.

‘Hey, they don’t call this the best diner for fifty miles for nothing,’ Cheryl-Anne laughs, carefully placing the drink and cookie down on my table. ‘Now you enjoy that and get yourself ready for the rest of your journey. Although judging by the forecast, I think you might be here for longer than you might have hoped.’

I cast my eyes outside the diner and see that the clouds have got even darker and the rain is pelting down on the ground even harder than before.

It looks like Cheryl-Anne is right.

But if I’m going to be here for longer, that does give me an excuse to get my Kindle out and catch up on some reading as I tuck into my hot chocolate and cookie.

‘Looks like it’s just you, me, and a good book,’ I say, peering over at Atty and smiling. ‘Don’t worry though, I’ll get us home before midnight.’

With that, I take a small sip of the piping hot drink and load up my Kindle.

Being a truck driver means I spend so much time on the road that actual downtime is pretty limited. Typically I’m either driving, working with the boys, or socializing.

I love to read, but I just don’t get enough time for it.

The exact same thing could be said for my desire to settle down with a Daddy too.

I’ve seen how happy Xander has been ever since him and Reece found their Forever Love together. Xander was great before, but ever since meeting his Daddy he’s been an even better friend to have.

At first, I was worried that having a Daddy might mean we’d see Xander less or that he would be distracted and not as focused on work.

But the reality is that Reece has helped Xander build the business even better, and that’s meant even more time for us to hang out at Morning Milk or at one of our bars of choice.

Sigh .

I’d love nothing more than to meet a Daddy who would look after me and offer a guiding hand when I need it most. But given the amount of time I spent out on the road, I don’t know how it would ever work out.

I’ve had a couple of short-term relationships, but each time it felt like my other half was put off by the amount of time I spent away from home.

I mean, I can’t help it that my job involves long distance travel – and there’s no way I’m giving that up, not for anyone .

Having wanted to drive big, heavy trucks ever since I was in grade school, I was so happy to get my license and then eventually find The Construction Boys.

The way I see it, if a Daddy wants me to give up my passion then he’s not the right Daddy for me – and not by a long shot either.

Anyway, I don’t want to end up wasting my precious reading time thinking about an imaginary Daddy who may or may not be out there for me.

I take another sip of my hot chocolate and let my mind slip into the world of wolves, bears, and a certain heroic boy who wants to find his mate…