Chapter 17
Chapter seventeen
Cody – I’m on a Boat
What I expected and what we ended up with were not the same.
Sure, they said cruise, but honestly, I didn’t think the boat would be this big.
Jax’s company must have been doing great to have a giant boat like this.
Well, it wasn’t as big as a commercial cruise line like you see on TV, but it was definitely bigger than the small yacht I had in my head.
We walked up the gangplank…walk-plank…walkway. Whatever you called it, we boarded. “Jax!” I waved my hand over my head and ran over to him, giving him a big hug.
“Hi, Cody. Welcome aboard.”
“Thanks. I like your boat so far. It’s big.”
“Ship.”
“Oh, yeah. Ship.”
“These guys are our helpers for the trip, and they’ll take your luggage to your room.” He turned to the two guys dressed in Hoadley Yacht uniforms. “This is Warner Rainey and Cody Schroeder.”
“Thank you, sir.” They gave us a bow and took our bags. “Follow me, please.”
Jax waved us off. “Find the pool when you’re all settled in. We’ll all be there for the launch party.”
“Thank you, Jax.” Daddy shook his hand, and we were off.
The room was as nice as a fancy hotel, but smaller than I thought it would be.
The stewards set our bags at the foot of the bed and refused Warner’s tip, saying it would be covered in their pay, which I thought was super weird.
Once they left, I looked around. There was an attached bathroom, a table, a sitting area, and a glass door that took up nearly the whole wall, leading outside to a balcony with a sitting area.
That was amazing. I opened it and rushed out to the railing.
We were on the far side overlooking the water. “Daddy. Look.”
He came up behind me. “I see.”
We stood together looking out. “Is that the Atlantic Ocean?”
“Uh, no. I think that is actually the Gulf of Mexico.” He ruffled my hair. “Let’s get unpacked and find everyone at the pool.”
“Yes. I’m gonna love the pool.” I bounced back into the room and grabbed my suitcase, swinging it up on the bed. “Look, Daddy. It’s Jax’s logo.” I rubbed my hand over the blanket on the bed, embroidered with Jax’s company logo. “I’m so proud of him. He made all of this from nothing.”
Daddy chuckled as he dropped his bag beside mine on the bed. “Not exactly from nothing. He started with money. Lots of it.”
“You gots money. So does Daddy Crow.”
“True. So what? You think we should make a yacht company to compete with Jax?” he teased.
I gave him a raspberry with my tongue stuck out. “No…no way. But, I don’t know. Maybe we could do something.” I had a thought niggling around in the back of my head, but I wasn’t ready to talk about it.
“Maybe we could. What do you have in mind?”
“Mmm…maybe something, but I need more thinky-time over it.”
“Think away, Cody. But get a move on unpacking.”
“Can I get my swim trunks on?” I held them up.
“Yes. Of course.”
I had a hard time getting them on because I couldn’t stop bouncing around.
Finally, Daddy had to help. I kept falling over when I tried to step into them, so Daddy nudged me to lie back on the bed and stick my feet up so he could get them on.
Then I bounce-bounce-bounced them up to my hips.
“Let’s go swimming.” I headed for the door.
“Wait a minute. Finish unpacking first.”
“I don’t want to. I can live out of the bag.”
Daddy shook his head and continued sorting through his things.
He always had to be neat, and I’d bet he’d have a conniption if he went to my apartment right now.
I left all the clothes I didn’t want to take all over the floor and bed.
I’d pick up later. “Come on. The faster you finish, the quicker we can get out to the pool.”
I groaned, but listened, and we did the boring chore of unpacking clothes. Then Daddy changed into his swim trunks, and we finally-finally headed out.
We walked onto the deck with the pool in the middle, which was big enough for thirty to forty people to comfortably hang out around the outside, and probably the same in the pool.
Plus, there was a bar just inside that overlooked everything.
Our entire group could easily fit here, and many were already, with a few in the water and others circling the bar or just lounging around the deck.
“Cody! Cody!” Joey yelled and waved his hands over his head.
“I’m going to hang out with Joey, okay, Daddy?”
“Sure. Go and have fun. I’ll bring you a drink.”
“Ooh…can I have an adult drink? Please?”
“Sure, babe.” He swatted my ass playfully as I walked off. This cruise was already turning out to be amazing.
I hugged Joey. “It took you forever to get out here. I’ve been waiting. Want to swim?”
“Did you even breathe while saying all that?”
“No.” He smiled brightly. “Oh, wait. Let’s get selfies. Stand in front of the pool.” He took a few pics of us in front of the pool, some serious and some silly. We even made duck faces together.
Our other friend Levi showed up while we were fooling around. “Hey, want me to take a few?”
“Yes, please.” Joey handed him his phone. After that, Levi took a few pictures of us hugging and being goofy. “Now you two.” He took his phone back and shoved Levi toward me to get a few more.
When Danny arrived, Joey had fun taking pictures of all of us, then he made a video. After that, we all jumped in the pool. At some point, music started playing, and we had a great time shaking our butts in the water.
Then Daddy brought my drink, and my friends’ daddies had drinks for them too.
They were all fancy, fruity drinks with paper umbrellas and fruit on skewers.
“These are just like in the movies. Thank you, Daddy.” I tried mine and it tasted like boozy strawberries but not like a daiquiri and not frozen. “Mmm…this is yummy.”
“Glad you like it. That’s vodka in case you need another drink when I’m not around. Don’t mix the alcohols.”
“Okay, Daddy.” I held my drink up. “Guys, guys. Toast with me.”
My friends gathered closer, and Danny, the oldest of us, made a toast. “To PRIDE, to littles, to the pups, and especially to Jax for hosting this cruise in the first place.”
We cheered and clinked glasses.
“Wait. We should add Drew to that. He’s sponsoring, right?” Joey asked.
Danny nodded furiously. “How did I forget that. I was on the planning committee.”
Levi held his glass up again and we all did too. “To Danny and the planning committee, along with Drew, who sponsored it. Aaaaand…to all the sexy daddies.”
“Woo-hoo! Can’t argue with that.” I clinked my glass against Levi’s.
“Attention. Attention Pride Celebrants.” Jax’s voice came over the speakers, loud and clear. “It’s sailaway time. If you haven’t made your way to our pool party palace, please do so now.” When he finished speaking, the old Kool & the Gang song, Celebration, came on.
The four of us littles got up and danced right there beside our lounge chairs. “We did this last cruise, too.” Levi wiggled his butt and we laughed.
Other people from our trip walked around, dancing and drinking, and saying hello to us. Some of them I recognized from the club, but not all of them.
After a while, I needed a refresh for my drink and made my way over to the bar where the daddies were hanging out, drinking whiskey. “Daddy. I need a drink.” I put the empty one on the bar top.
“Sure.” He pulled me close and kissed me. “You should eat something too. They have a lot of snacks coming around. Make sure you grab some.” He tweaked my nose.
“Silly daddy, who doesn’t like snackies?”
He winked at me before ordering my drink.
Vince ordered another one for Joey and asked me to take it back to him, so I did.
We hung out, drinking a little more, then just like Daddy said, servers walked around with snackies for us to try, and I tried everything.
A few of them I liked better than others, and I tried those a couple of times.
While all of this was going on, the boat started moving.
Oops…the ship started moving. Honestly, I didn’t know the difference between the two, but I didn’t want to insult Jax.
If he wanted it to be a ship, I would think of it that way.
The view behind the ship—got it right—changed as we headed out, with the marina getting smaller and smaller behind us.
I waved at it before we got too far away. “Bye-bye Marina. Bye-bye Key West.”
Joey cheered and waved along with me, calling out, “We’ll be back in a few days.”
Day 2 of The Cruise
I did not know how the rest of the cruise could beat the sailaway pool party yesterday, but I was willing to try. It started with a huge breakfast buffet with everything I could possibly want to eat. Scramble eggs, panny-cakes, fruit, and never-ending coffee.
Then swimming. Not the splashing around play we did the day before, but picking a lane and getting a few serious laps in.
It had been a while since I went running or lifted weights or anything, and someone said there was actually a gym onboard, but why do that when I could swim?
The cool water and hot sun left me feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.
I was the luckiest guy in the world, and I was really feeling it.
“Cody, there you are. Come play with the others for a little while before lunch.”
“Okay, Daddy.”
Daddy Warner held my hand and led me to the lower deck, where my little friends were playing with the pups.
They had names they used when they were in their pup headspace.
Jax was Jay-Jay or simply Jay. Royce was Boone, and Todd was called Sunshine.
They constantly tumbled all over each other, barking and yipping.
It was a lot like little headspace, but also completely different, and both definitely complemented each other.
Levi bounced around the room with Sunshine trailing after him, while Joey sat criss-cross in the middle of the floor and fed Boone bits of pretzels. Danny rubbed Jay’s back while he wiggled around.
“Hey, guys. I wanna play too.”