Chapter 4
CHAPTER 4
JAKE
A few hours later, Logan, his boyfriends, and I were sitting at a big table at Suave, the local drag bar, waiting for their dinner show to start. “Remember the guy from Grindr when I was in Knoxville?”
Logan laughed. “How could I forget?”
Sitting across from us, Trent shook his head. “Logan seriously drooled over that picture.”
Aiden scoffed. “Like you were any better. That man’s dick was gorgeous ."
Trent cuffed him on the back of the head and whispered something to Aiden that made him blush to the tips of his ears.
I grinned. I loved my friends, but sometimes it was hard to hang out with them because they were so sickeningly in love and I desperately wanted what they had. Not exactly what they had, because I was truly a one-man man. I just wanted the love and connection they shared with each other. The jealousy only increased those times their friends—all madly in love with their partners—joined us.
Shaking my head and hoping I didn’t look as jealous as I felt, I went for a scoff. “That would be the one. I pulled him over for speeding today.”
Logan’s and Trent’s mouths fell open in shock, and Aiden gasped. “Here? In Nashville?”
“That’s where I have jurisdiction.”
Logan’s eyes got wide. “Wait, and you’re here instead of being bent over a bed with him fucking your brains out?”
I slapped my forehead with my palm. Logan’s voice had traveled far enough that most conversations at the surrounding tables went silent as they stared at us. At least it was a drag bar and crazy conversations weren’t completely abnormal. When the tables around us went back to their conversations, I finally spoke—more quietly than Logan had. “That would have been seriously awkward, given I wrote him a ticket.”
Aiden covered his mouth with his hands, trying and failing to hide his shock. Then he dropped his hands to the table and leaned toward me. “Wait, you seriously wrote him a ticket? You had a chance for a repeat, yet you wrote him a ticket and killed it?”
I shrugged, trying to downplay how much I’d wanted to ask for a repeat. “He’s from Boston. Only in town for an interview.”
“If he’s here for an interview, it means you have a chance!” Logan interjected before I could finish.
“For a job he doesn’t want. When I pulled him over, he was on the phone with his agent. They were going at it because he had no interest in the job.” I conveniently left out the part about her knowing who I was. It would have only fueled Logan and Aiden’s interest.
Aiden looked as confused as I’d felt while overhearing the conversation. “Agent? What the hell does he do? Where was he interviewing?”
I shook my head, just as confused hours after the conversation as I'd been while it happened. “Agent? Yes. The what and where are still a mystery to me. All I know is the agent was telling him he needed a fresh start.”
Logan got thoughtful before he looked over at Trent. “Agents. Who all needs agents? Actors, models, authors…”
Trent hummed. “Athletes.”
Logan’s eyes went wide. “Oh… there are so many professional sports teams in Boston! That’s a good thought! Basketball, hockey, baseball.”
Aiden let out a dramatic sigh. “Hockey players have the best legs.”
Trent made a low growling noise in the back of his throat. “Baby boy.”
Aiden blinked lovingly at Trent. “No one has anything on you, Daddy.”
Logan snorted a laugh and Trent gave both his men a withering look. “Behave yourselves.”
Good luck with that .
At least I had the sense not to say the thought aloud.
Trent turned serious. “Let’s think about it, though. I could be wrong, because I don’t have experience in professional sports nor do I have experience with agents, but I think we can rule out sports. Athletes usually get traded without much say in the matter, especially not an interview . I think my money would be on arts of some sort. Actor, author, or artist.”
Logan grunted. “If that man is an actor and isn’t naked at every chance he gets, he’s doing the entire world a disservice.” Aiden reached over and high-fived his boyfriend. Even Trent was nodding while trying to keep his smile private.
I slapped my forehead again, utterly aghast at my friends. “You guys are awful.”
Logan shrugged. “This is all important information to have!”
"Well, given I didn’t recognize him and don’t recognize his name, I’m going with author or artist.”
“You haven’t Googled him?” Aiden sounded truly shocked I had his name and hadn’t looked him up.
“I don't think I want to know what he does. It’s not going to change anything. He was adamant he wasn’t taking the job—whatever job it was.”
Logan nodded sagely. “That sucks. So, no sexy second time for you.”
I let out a sigh. “No, no sexy time. What would the point be anyway? It’s not like I’m looking for repeats with no future. The sex was fantastic and the memories have been great. Repeats just make things confusing. I want long term.”
Aiden gave me a warm smile. “You want the long-term, white-picket-fence life. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“I don’t know about all that. But I know I want long term. I want a man I don’t have to hide around and who wants all of me. I’m looking for a sweet Daddy, some kinky times, and lots and lots of cuddles.” I looked at the men around me. “Much like you all have.”
Aiden glanced over at Trent and Logan then shot me a naughty wink. “I don’t know that you could handle what I have.”
Holding up my hands and laughing too hard to answer, I began shaking my head. I didn’t know if there was any other person on earth who could handle Logan and Trent together. Aiden was the sweet, bubbly boy who balanced out Trent’s strict Dom and Logan’s hyperactive middle pup. I wanted nothing to do with that.
Finally composing myself, I gave the guys a wink. “Please don’t take this wrong, but I don’t think anyone else could handle Logan and Trent… and you.”
Logan puffed out his chest and beamed. “I know. We’re wonderful!”
We all laughed and conversation naturally flowed into what we wanted to do when we met up with our other friends at DASH later that night. The previous year, I’d met Logan and Aiden at Dom and Sub Haven, the local gay BDSM club. The two had quickly introduced me to Trent and within a week I’d met the rest of their extended friend group. By the time the next littles night rolled around, they had folded me into their circle and refused to let me go without them. Logan had been the most vocal, insisting a little needed a Daddy, or at least a surrogate Daddy, and had quickly volunteered Trent.
Before we'd made it to the littles night, I’d been informed all their Daddies were now my Daddy… at least when it came to DASH and other playdates. Logan had been very matter-of-fact when he’d clarified there was a no-naked-time policy attached. I hadn't thought it was a necessary clarification but it had been easy to agree to.
As we planned our night, it quickly became clear the topics of work and Esme StickOut St. Claire wouldn’t be included. It helped me stop replaying both the summertime hookup and the traffic stop on a loop in my mind. By the time Trent snapped his fingers at a sudden thought, I was feeling more little than big.
And when he ducked under the table and produced three small gift bags with our names on them, the only thing I could think about was what we were getting. “I almost forgot. Someone dropped these off at the office today and told me to give them to you guys before DASH.”
Logan looked curiously at the bag in front of him, his head twisting this way and that as he took it in. “Someone? Someone who? And what are they?”
Trent lifted a shoulder. “Well, it was James if you must know, but I have no idea what's in the bags. He wouldn’t tell me, though as he left I heard him mumbling something about how Dexter would be the death of him.”
I had never met James and Dexter but knew about them. James was a deputy who worked directly under Trent and Logan in their department. Dexter was his boyfriend, and from what I’d heard, he was a well-loved part of their extended friend circle despite being a notorious mischief maker. I was shocked that Dexter had thought to include me, a person he’d never met, in the gift giving.
Logan’s eyes widened. “Oh, a gift from the menace himself. This is going to be amazing! May we open them now?”
The way he looked at Trent with genuine curiosity and unbridled impatience let me know he was feeling less like a hyperactive pup and more like an excited middle.
Trent gave Logan a placating smile and gestured toward the bags in front of us. “By all means. As I said, I was told to make sure you had them before DASH.”
We reached into our bags and pulled out dinosaur-shaped dildos, each a different color. I’d have been a lot more shocked at the item in my hand if I hadn’t seen one before. Our friend Caleb had a blue one named Dickie, and there had been many fights over him among the littles. For some reason, my friends and I had an obsession with Caleb’s prized Diplodickus, at least when we were little. It looked as though the arguments had become frequent enough that they’d made their way back to Dexter, who’d given Dickie to Caleb, and he’d rectified the problem by getting us each our own.
Mine was a vibrant green, Aiden’s was a pretty purple, and Logan's was bright aqua, the same color as his puppy hood. Trent gave an exasperated groan. “Oh my god. I’m going to throttle James at work next time I see him. What the hell? Why did he let Dexter buy more?”
A few minutes later, a queen arrived with our dinners to find a family of dick-o-saurs sat in the middle of the table. “Well,” she declared loudly enough I knew the tables around us heard. “Looks like you boys will be having a ferociously splendid evening!”