Chapter 62
62
TOBY
After the bitch exits the shop, the students who are hanging out start applauding. Jessica has been a real problem in here for a long ass time. It was practically torture when I was avoiding Owner for those weeks with having to deal with her bigoted ass. Now that she’s officially gone, the rest of the students she drove away should start coming back.
Owner’s arms loosen and I relax against his side. I’m not ready to move away yet. The whole reason I ducked in here after class instead of heading for the dining hall is because I was hoping for some snuggles. Shy’s in deadline mode in the art building, so we won’t see him until well after sundown for the next few days. Therefore, I came to Owner for some good pets.
“I’m sorry, Owner,” I mutter into his shoulder. “I didn’t mean to cost you your manager.”
I really don’t mean to fly off the handle, but when I saw her tearing down the new guy, I lost it and now Owner is going to have even less time to play with me and…
FUCK!
We debated for hours the other night over the title that Don should hold with us as his pets. Like I pointed out the night he brought us both home from the club, we couldn’t use Master without some well-meaning overly sensitive person throwing a hissy fit on Shiloh’s behalf. So, we landed on Owner for when we’re at the club or at home – and his shop is neither of those places.
“I mean… Fuck! Don! Shit…”
Lips press against mine and my brain short circuits before it can succumb to full blown panic mode. The tension in my body flows away as I sink into the bliss that is my Owner taking control.
Wolf-whistles from the customers in the shop break through my serenity and I jump back, almost falling over a stool in my excitement. Don just chuckles at the blush that I can feel heating my face.
“If I knew that’s all it would take to shut him up, I might have tried that before Mattie showed back up in my life,” Eric murmurs from somewhere behind me while I struggle to get my face back to a normal color.
“No you wouldn’t,” Donnie tells him and steps behind the counter to start tapping on the screen. “It would be too close to incest for you, and you know it.”
While the two of them laugh at my expense, my eyes are drawn to the new guy staring at Eric. Even with Jessica spewing her venom, I’ve never seen him show any aggression or negative emotions. The worst I’ve seen on his face is annoyance or exasperation. He’s an overall friendly guy and a ton of fun to talk to when it comes to menu planning for healthy, but tasty meals.
Right now, he looks like he can’t decide if he wants to be happy or lose his lunch.
“Izzy?” he asks softly and Eric freezes mid-sentence with Owner before turning around to look at the new guy. “Do you remember me?”
Based on the look Eric is giving the poor guy, it looks like the answer to that question is a resounding “no” and I can’t help but feel sorry for him. My friend spent a lot of time sleeping around before Professor Barnes came back into his life, and a lot of that time was used as a tool to forget some really bad shit that happened to him.
It was only a matter of time before one of Eric’s conquests caught up to him, but this is really going to make things awkward for Owner having his new guy being a notch in our Brat Queen’s bedpost.
“What’s going on, Pup?”
Owner somehow snuck up behind me and is watching the show in front of us. “Do you know how Sid and Eric might know each other?”
Leaning back, I whisper in his ear my theory that the new guy, Sid, is likely one of Eric’s former fucks based on the fact that he called him by another name. Eric never gave his real name out to anyone he was with. Usually, he told them his name was Alan, as a way to get them to scream his homophobic father’s name out during butt sex.
“That can’t be,” Don whispers back in my ear while Eric shakes his head at whatever Sid is saying. I can’t really read the situation, but Eric hands the guy a business card before running out of the shop. Watching Sid pocket the card and return behind the counter to prep for the lunch rush, I turn to face Donnie and ask why he thinks that.
“He can’t be a former lover for a couple reasons.” He pulls me down on his lap at our hidden table in the corner. “First of all, Sid is from South Dakota and has only been in town for the last couple of months. You and I both know that there is absolutely zero chance that Eric has been with anyone else since he and his Mattie reconnected back in the spring.
“Secondly, Sid is only nineteen. He falls into the ‘ick factor’ as our favorite brat calls it. You know Eric gets skeeved out by thinking of anyone under twenty one having sex with someone older.”
I let out a giggle that would make Lucky proud and can’t seem to stop. Owner is looking at me like I’ve lost my mind, which of course only makes me laugh harder. It takes me for-fucking-ever to get under control, but somehow I manage it just as the rush finally starts to trickle in.
“Do I get to find out what’s so funny before I have to go un-zombify the student population for the afternoon?”
I press a kiss to his cheek and push him toward the counter. I watch for a few minutes while he starts doing all the fancy barista shit before I walk up to the pick up area, snagging my regrettably decaf spiced apple latte. Owner doesn’t like me having caffeine between ten in the morning and three in the afternoon.
“See you at home after class?” he calls out in between orders as I gather up my stuff to head to my afternoon class. I nod and head toward the door. Halfway there, I turn and run back up to the counter to lean over to tell him what I forgot to say.
“By the way, I just turned twenty one at the end of August.”
The clang of the metal cup hitting the tile and the hissing of the steamer wand precede the laughter of the entire shop when Donnie’s ears turn bright red and I race out of there, cackling like a loon.