Chapter 57
57
SHILOH
The smell of bacon is the first thing I notice waking up. That is the one thing I really enjoy about this apartment over living in Kink Manor. Don is very quiet in the mornings to the point where I don’t usually hear him until he comes back after his morning run. Usually, I wake up to the smell of the coffee from downstairs, but bacon is a welcome change.
Do we even have bacon?
I sit up and my confusion intensifies as I notice that I am not in my room. The sheets that are tangled around my naked body are not mine… NAKED?
A quick glance around the room and the only piece of my clothing I can see is my t-shirt. Where the fuck are my pants?
I don’t see my pants, but I do see the straight jacket and spreader bar over by the closet and the memories of last night start to flow back into my head. The sounds we coaxed out of Toby before we all collapsed in exhaustion have my dick taking notice first thing in the morning.
Now, if only I had some pants to cover up, I could go out and see what the fuck is going on and discover where the fuck the bacon came from.
Ultimately, I grab a pair of sweats from Don’s drawer and yank my t-shirt from last night over my head. This will have to do for now. After a quick trip to the bathroom to relieve myself and brush my teeth, I plan to find out what my best friend and my roommate are up to at this ungodly hour of the morning. But first I really need to get this morning wood to disappear.
“How often do they happen?” Don’s voice carries down the hallway as my dick finally gets the memo from my bladder. Toby always gets a kick out of the fact that I sit for my morning bathroom routine, but I refuse to make a mess trying to aim a hard dick to piss with a boner. Having dealt with my stepbrother and his nasty ass friends made me hyper-vigilant about making messes.
Toby’s response is too soft for me to make out over the sounds in the bathroom. He doesn’t sound like my carefree pup. I rush through washing up and try to keep calm. Did we hurt him last night?
“I can usually calm him down before they get as bad as that was.”
I skid to a halt to see Don and Toby standing shoulder to shoulder in the kitchen. Toby is facing the stove, but Don is leaning against the counter next to him, looking at whatever is on the stovetop .
“I didn’t know,” Don says before he glances my way and startles. “Good morning, Kitten. Did we wake you up?”
Toby spins around and almost smacks Don in the face with the spatula in his hand.
“You’re awake!” he says with a smile that’s a bit too bright. “Morning!”
My brain is still struggling to come online, but it finally registers to me what is wrong with this picture. “Since when do you cook?”
Toby looks a bit like a kicked puppy, and I hate myself for putting that look on his face. I hurry over and pull him into my arms while Don reaches over to turn off the burner. I see that there’s French toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon already piled up on counter. It looks like the potatoes still in the pan are the last bit of breakfast to be done.
“I didn’t mean it like that, Tobes. I’ve just never seen you show any interest in cooking. You’ve never tried to cook at the manor. Even Lucky shows more interest in cooking than you do.”
He pulls back from me and swipes at his cheeks, making me feel like even more of an ass for my careless remark. Toby only cries watching movies.
Don hands me my mug, the coffee made just the way I like it. I didn’t even notice him making it.
“It was supposed to be a surprise,” our pup says turning back to the stove and turning the burner back on. “I was going to invite you to my graduation and then cook a feast for everyone, but then I got into my head that I should make you guys breakfast to thank you for last night.”
I sip at my coffee and look at my roommate. He looks just as confused as I do. There is not enough coffee in the world to keep up with Toby’s brain sometimes.
“First things first,” I set my mug down to be able to wrap my arms around Toby from behind. “I’m not sure about how Donnie feels, but last night is definitely something that you don’t need to thank me for. It was absolutely my pleasure.”
“Seconded,” Don murmurs from the side and I watch as he presses a kiss to Toby’s temple. “It’s been a very long time since I’ve had someone trust me enough to let loose like that. I loved making you soar.”
I chuckle at the shiver that runs through our pup as he turns off the stove again. This time, it’s because the food is done unfortunately. I let go and step back so he can plate the potatoes, and we all pile up our individual plates and head to the living room to eat.
“As for the rest of your statement,” Toby looks up at me from his spot on the floor in between the couch and the coffee table. “What do you mean about graduation? We don’t finish until for another year.”
Toby swallows the food in his mouth and gives us both a sheepish grin.
“So y’all know how I work at night?”
I nod because it was something that he always fought with Eli about. The Kink Manor resident sadist likes to keep tabs on everyone, and it always bothered the hell out of him that Toby refused to tell anyone where he worked – especially since Toby paid his rent in advance for the whole year and as far as all of us saw, he didn’t have any other expenses to need a job.
“I actually don’t have a job.” The words tumble out of his mouth before he stuffs his face full of French toast. Don raises an eyebrow in question, but I’m floored. It actually hurts a bit that my best friend has been lying to be for the last three years.
“So, what have you been doing three nights a week for the last three years?” I try to keep the pain out of my voice, but his flinch tells me I didn’t succeed.
He sets down his fork and turns to me. “I enrolled in culinary school practically the second I touched down in Pittsburgh. I had to cancel my housing at W.U. to afford it, but Jay had already brought me home as a stray at that point.
“He was my driver from the airport. We got stuck in traffic on the parkway heading into the tunnels, and he convinced me to meet everyone after I told him how I came here instead of the conversion camp my mother wanted me to go to… I just never really left Kink Manor after that.”