Chapter 17 #2
“Yay! Cody’s here.” Joey jumped up and ran over, tackling me in a hug and Boone followed him on all fours. He sat back on his heels and held his hands in front of him like paws, then he pressed against me, welcoming me in his own way.
“Hey, Joey. Hey, Boone.” I patted Boone on the head and he yipped again.
“Let’s skip.” Joey took off following Levi and Sunshine as they made their way around the room.
I skipped after them, bouncing on the mats that were spread out on the floor. Soon, all of us were running around everywhere like lunatics until we fell into a big puppy pile in the middle of the room. All of us laughed like crazy, even our pup friends.
We played more until Danny reminded us that we needed to get ready for lunch.
After helping the pups get their hoods off, we made sure they drank water.
We knew how to take care of pups when their handlers weren’t around because we did it sometimes at Afterglow.
They didn’t want treats because we were about to eat lunch, but they were all sweaty.
“I totally need a shower.” Jax ran his fingers through his hair.
“Right,” Todd agreed.
Royce shook his head like a dog getting out of a bath, making us all groan.
It was pretty gross. He was normally a lot more sophisticated than that.
He grew up in a country club lifestyle, but maybe that’s why he sometimes acted up during pup play.
It was his chance to cut loose. No rules.
Well, there were some rules, but that was for safety, like they had to wear kneepads and stuff like that.
We all separated to get cleaned up in our rooms after agreeing to meet for lunch together.
I hurried and took a shower, since I hadn’t had one after swimming, just the poolside rinse-off, and I needed to wash my hair.
Then I jumped into a clean pair of swim trunks.
I was determined to live in them for this whole trip.
Water, water, water. I’d be jumping in every chance I got.
Then I raced to the big dining hall set up for lunch.
It was two decks up from our room, which was on the fourth floor out of five.
Jax’s room was on the very tip-top, everyone else stayed in rooms on the middle levels, including us.
We were above the pup play area. All the different floors or decks could be confusing.
It was like a five-story building complex floating on the water.
Thankfully, we had a laminated map in the room, which I double checked before dashing out and up the stairs.
The dining room was all glowy and golden with a bunch of round tables where people were sitting. I didn’t see my little friends or pups but one of the servers wearing Jax’s uniform greeted me. “May I help you find a seat? Lunch service is starting in a few minutes.”
“Oh, uh…” I didn’t see Daddy or his friends either. “I’m supposed to be sitting with Jax and his pup friends, but I don’t see them.”
“Mr. Hoadley has a reserved table, if you’ll please follow me.” Woah. I didn’t know what to think about that. Well, he did own the place, so I guess he got special benefits anytime he wanted them.
“Oh, sure.” I followed the server to a table at the end of the room that could seat ten to twelve people. The other tables only sat six to eight.
Jax and the pups showed up, along with Danny and Joey, and they sat with me.
All our daddies sat with us too, but they sat at the other end from us so we could talk and laugh together.
I loved that they always put us first. That was the number one thing I wanted in a daddy.
Someone who always looked out for me, knew what was best for me, and put me in the center of his world.
Oh.
That was Warner all over—one hundred percent.
Not for the first time during this trip, I wondered what the hell was wrong with me. What had I been thinking? I didn’t need to run away when Warner was perfect for me.
Joey nudged my arm. “What are you thinking about so hard over here, Cody?”
“About all the decisions I have to make.”
Royce tapped the table to get my attention, then pointed at me. “You’re not supposed to be thinking about that until after the trip.”
“I know…” I sighed. “Sometimes it smacks me in the face. I can’t help it.”
Joey mumbled something under his breath.
“What?”
He huffed, “It’s the family thing again, isn’t it?”
I nodded. That was it in a nutshell. The one thing holding me back.
“Well, maybe you need a different perspective,” Royce offered.
“What do you mean?” I was ready to hear from others about this. Maybe I needed that.
“Well, it’s like this. Jax and I, Levi and Todd, we have diverse backgrounds, right? So Jax and I come from money—not going to lie. But Levi doesn’t. He’s from a middle-class family.”
“Yeah, with gold digger parents who I haven’t spoken to since getting together with Hudson.” Levi smirked.
Royce continued, “And that. Plus, Todd is from less than middle class.”
“And don’t even talk about my family, dude. They’re the worst.” When Todd said that, everyone groaned.
Royce put his hand over Todd’s. “You have us as family now. And that brings me to the point of all of this.” He waved his hand around the room.
“I think we would all agree that family in the future would look incredibly different for us. We’re not repeating our parents’ bullshit.
We’re doing things our own way. That goes for my examples specifically, around the table, but I could bet I’d say the same for the entire room. ”
I looked around the dining hall, and although I knew most of the people here were LGBTQIA, it didn’t actually hit home until Royce mentioned them in that way.
I knew a lot of these folks, too. They either worked at Drew’s firm or they went to the club, or both, with few exceptions.
Royce was right. I didn’t know if any of them had families or not, but it was easy to see how happy they all were, and how happy the guys at our table were.
“Yeah…you’re so right.” I wasn’t my parents and siblings, and I didn’t have to be. They weren’t what Daddy wanted anyway, and neither did I. That definitely gave me a lot more to think about.
Then the servers brought us plates of yummy sandwiches and French fries. Mmmm…we all dug in.
Later that night we had a special treat.
Todd was making drinks for everyone. I thought that was a lot of work, but he made them by the pitcher, which served about a dozen each time.
The blender whir-whir-whirred so loud I covered my ears.
When he finished, he poured the concoction into plastic cups with the Hoadly Yachts logo.
“You can keep the cups, too. Bring them back later for refills.” He handed one to me and one to Joey.
“Thanks, Todd.”
“My pleasure.”
Joey took a sip of his. “Mm…I love Sunshine’s frozen cocktail bar.”
“This is awesome.” This batch was Sour Watermelon Slushies made with vodka, which I liked better than margaritas.
“Great name, too.” Jax came up beside us with his own drink. “I’m calling it Sunshine’s Frozen Cocktail Bar from now on. I might even get a sign made.”
Todd stuck his tongue out at his friend.
The pups were so much fun. After our drinks, Joey pulled his phone out and recorded everything.
He was into social media and had posted about our trip, but I wasn’t fond of having the camera stuck in my face.
Since he knew that, he went to record other people, but I was pretty sure he got some videos of Todd making drinks.
He even included links to Todd’s website.
While he was off doing his thing, I went to find Daddy Warner.
I’d been hanging out with my friends so much that I hardly saw him at all since getting on the ship.
He wasn’t at Sunshine’s bar or the dining and lounge area behind the bar.
I looked around the pool and didn’t see him there either.
Most of the people on the ship were in these areas because they were the best places to hang out and lounge.
Where else would he be? He could be up in the main dining room at the top, but I thought I’d check our room first, since it was on the way.
He wasn’t in our room. If I didn’t find him upstairs, I would have to call him.
But when I walked into the big dining room, he was sitting at a table with a bunch of daddies, including Vince, Crow, and Drew.
They all had their daddy drinks—whiskey—in their hands or in front of them on the table. And oh…they were playing cards.
I slipped into Daddy’s lap, and he put his arm around me. “Hey, baby. Are you having fun?”
“Yes, but I missed you. What’re you doing?”
“Playing poker.”
“Are you winning or losing?”
“Eh…”
“Win or lose, it’s your turn.” Crow held up his cards.
I didn’t understand the game and also didn’t want to be a distraction. I kissed Daddy’s cheek. “Just checking on you. I’m going to go find Joey.”
“Okay. Have fun, but I’ll be here if you need anything.”
“Okay, Daddy. Bye.”
He gave me a squeeze before I hopped off his lap.
We weren’t spending much time together, but that was okay.
We’d have a lot of time together after the cruise.
The rest of the road trip back to Tampa included a stopover in Fort Myers for more camping and paddleboarding.
For now, I wanted to enjoy the cruise part with my friends.
Maybe I’d get another drink, and we could jump in the pool before dinner.
The next morning, we were stopping for the swimming in the ocean part. I was excited about that for sure.
First, I wanted to find my best friend, Joey. As expected, he was on the party deck, running around filming everything. “Joey. Let’s get another drink.”
“Yeah, I need one.” He put his phone away and we got refills in our cups. Then we sat on some lounge chairs by the pool.
“Wonder where our daddies are.” Joey sipped at his drink and smooshed his straw in the frozen goodness.
“They’re playing cards in the big dining room.”