Kieran
“How is Project Daddy going?” asked Sarah.
“Ooh. Spill. Tell me everything. From the picture you showed me, he’s giving girth. What was the stretch like?”
“How are you a doctor?” he asked. “Do you say things like that to your patients?”
“Depends on the patient,” she replied with a smile.
“I’d better go,” said Hassan. “Don’t you be putting crazy ideas in his head.” He pointed at Sarah.
“Yes, Dad!” she replied. “You can leave now, and Mummy will talk to Kieran.”
Kieran chuckled. They’d done this act before, as if they were his parents. Sarah might be the same age as him, and a hot mess, but she was better than his own mother, although that was a low bar.
“Don’t listen to anything she says,” said Hassan. “Call me before you do anything that involves Derek. Promise me?”
Kieran rolled his eyes. He loved how protective of him Hassan was, but he needed delusion right now, not his logical bestie who would say it was a terrible idea to fuck his former stepdad. Kieran already knew that. He needed someone who thought it was a brilliant idea, and that was Sarah.
“Have a good day at work,” said Kieran, not committing to anything.
Hassan narrowed his eyes and glared once more at Sarah before leaving.
She was about to say something when Kieran held up his hand.
As expected, Hassan walked back in, making out he’d left something behind.
Kieran struggled to not burst out laughing.
After a bit of a production, he left. They waited a couple of minutes, and when they were sure he was gone, Kieran turned to Sarah.
“I need your help,” he said.
“For what?”
“I want to fuck my stepdad . . . well, former stepdad . . . or should it be my mum’s ex . . . you know what, I just want to fuck Derek. Let’s go with that.”
She squealed and clapped her hands, jumping up and down. “Is he interested?”
Kieran nodded. There was no doubt about it. Why else would he have gotten hard?
“Ooh. Tell me everything.”
“He caught me bent over in my jock, and when I looked, he was hard. I offered to help him out, and he ran off all flustered.”
“Yeah, he’s definitely into you, but probably stopped himself for some moral reason. So, you don’t hate the man anymore?”
“I wouldn’t say I like him, but I don’t hate him. It’s pretty messed up, and I know it would just be a one-off, but this has been my fantasy ever since I was a teenager.”
“Why would it only be a one-off?”
Kieran snorted. “Yeah, right. Are you taking the piss?”
“No, Kieran, any guy would be lucky to have you.”
Before he could say anything, she’d pulled him into a hug.
Kieran didn’t do relationships. It wasn’t because he didn’t want one, but he wasn’t the type of guy who was someone’s boyfriend.
He was just a cute face and a good body for people to fuck, and he was fine with that.
There was no point in getting his hopes up for more from anyone, and he’d come to that realisation years ago.
“Any tips for getting the man into bed?” he asked, breaking the hug, and to move the conversation on.
“He owns a sex club, doesn’t he?”
Kieran nodded.
“It’s easy, then. Go to the club and let him see you taking other men into the dark room.”
“I don’t want to fuck other guys right now.”
He was still feeling antsy about Domtop69 and had no interest in being with anyone else other than Derek. Once he’d scratched that itch, he’d be able to get back out there, like he had before.
“You don’t have to fuck anyone else. Just make it look like you want to.”
“I did that before, and he didn’t bite.”
“Yes, but that was before he saw you in your jock and imagined what it would be like to shove his hotdog between those buns.”
Kieran couldn’t help laughing. Sarah always had a way with words.
“What if he doesn’t bite again?”
“Find someone who makes him. Don’t go for some random guy, make it a regular, or even one of his employees. Someone he knows, and who he thinks is wrong for you.”
“I’m not flirting with a psycho,” he said, shuddering at the memory of last time.
“Not a psycho. Just a guy who Derek thinks is wrong for you. If it’s someone he knows, it’ll tap into his jealousy.”
He nodded in agreement. Hassan would do his nut if he knew what Sarah was suggesting to him, but his bestie didn’t need to know about the latest phase of the project.
Project Daddy had stalled, given the past two nights Kieran had been to The Back Room it hadn’t been busy. Derek had suggested they have a drink together in the upstairs bar where they were holding cabaret. Kieran loved a good drag show, but this wasn’t what he had in mind.
“How’s work?” asked Derek.
“Better without Jez being there. I’ve not met my new boss Carl yet, but that should happen next week.”
“Didn’t Grant make you the manager?”
“Yeah, but he’s sending Carl, as he knows I can’t handle it on my own.”
“Is that what he said?” Derek was frowning, which Kieran used to call his grumpy daddy face when he was a teenager.
“No, he said Carl was more like a mentor because he couldn’t give me support directly.”
“Well, no. Grant is probably a very busy man.”
Kieran snorted, which made Derek smile. He wanted to see more of those smiles. Okay, where did that come from?
“Do you know why he owns the tattoo shop?” asked Derek.
“Hassan thinks it’s money laundering,” he whispered.
Derek’s eyes narrowed.
“I’ve seen no evidence of it, though, and if he is using it in that way, wouldn’t he have checked whether I was on board with that before he put me in charge? He owns over fifty properties across the UK. They aren’t all used for dodgy stuff.”
“How do you know that?”
“He told me on our . . . dinner thingy.”
Derek chuckled. “You mean your date?”
“Well, it was more like a business meeting, with an indecent proposal attached.”
Kieran saw the anger flash in Derek’s eyes.
Fuck, that was hot. He loved possessive guys who treated him like he was their property to do what they wanted with.
He couldn’t help but lick his lips. Derek was watching him.
There was no doubt he was interested, but something was holding him back.
Morals and all that fun-sucking stuff. Was the fact that he was trying to seduce not only his former stepdad, but his mother’s dom completely fucked up?
Of course. Was that going to stop him? No.
Kieran looked around, and his eyes scanned the bar, giving him an idea.
“What’s Neil’s situation?” asked Kieran.
“What do you mean?”
“Is he a dom?”
“Yes.”
“You rarely see a dom the same age as me.”
“He’s thirty-two.”
“Close enough. Has he got a sub at the moment?” asked Kieran. His eyes locked onto Neil, although he could practically hear Derek grinding his jaw.
Neil finished serving his customer and looked up, locking eyes with Kieran, who smiled at him. Neil returned it and gave him a dirty wink. The guy was really hot, in a handsome, clean-cut kind of way. Kieran liked his men beefier, hairier, and less put-together. No prizes for knowing why that was!
“I’ll be back in a minute,” Derek growled before walking over towards the bar.
The smile on Neil’s face disappeared when he saw Derek moving towards him. Kieran turned away so he didn’t laugh. Project Daddy was back on track!
It was Saturday, and he wasn’t in the shop today, although Grant had asked if he could stop by in the afternoon to meet Carl.
He was nervous about meeting his new boss.
Despite what Grant and Derek had said about Kieran being the manager now, it didn’t feel like that.
He knew if he messed up, which given his track record was a given, then Carl would tell Grant to let him go.
Before that, he was meeting Derek for lunch in Knights Corner, and Hassan was joining them, which could be a disaster, but it needed to be done. Besides, Hassan had basically invited himself to this lunch.
“You must be Derek,” said Hassan, shaking his hand.
They were both eyeing each other. It was like a dom standoff, except Hassan wasn’t a dom, was he? It had been so long since they’d fucked. Hassan had definitely been the one in control, but they were both only eighteen and less sexually experienced than they were now.
“Kieran speaks highly of you,” said Derek, as they took their seats.
“I wish I could say the same about you.”
Oh, fuck!
Derek snorted. “You don’t pull your punches, do you?”
“Not where Kieran’s concerned. He’s my family.”
That made Kieran’s heart melt. Hassan had always been there for him, protecting him, and occasionally being like an overbearing big brother, but he knew it came from a place of love. To hear him say it so openly meant everything to Kieran.
“Why don’t you start by asking all your questions, Hassan? It’s best to get things out in the open.”
Hassan nodded, and they took their seats. This was going to be fun, and yes, even in his head, Kieran was sarcastic.
“Let’s order some drinks first,” said Derek, opening the app on his phone.
Kieran was sitting next to Hassan, and they were in a booth, so Derek was on his own on his side.
Kieran wasn’t sure how he felt about that, but at least this way he could poke Hassan if he went too far with his interrogation, because that’s what it was going to be.
They gave Derek their drink orders, and once he put his phone away, Hassan didn’t waste any time.
“Why didn’t you try to find him when you knew what she’d done?”
“I didn’t think he’d want to hear from me.”
“Bullshit. You thought he might blame you, so you kept away.”
“I already blamed myself, so that wasn’t my reasoning.”
“What was it, then?”
“I didn’t want to cause him any more pain.”
Kieran teared up. The sincerity on Derek’s face was almost too much.
Even Hassan’s shoulders came down from his ears a bit, but Kieran knew his bestie wasn’t done yet.
Before he could ask anything else, they were all startled by a loud crash.
They looked, and Kieran saw a young guy, probably the server, who had dropped all their drinks on the floor and was looking at them in shock.
He looked familiar, but Kieran couldn’t place him.
Langdon came rushing over, because of course he did. That guy was everywhere.
“Is everything okay?” asked Langdon.
“Hassan, is that you?” asked the young man.
Kieran looked at his friend, who was crying. That was a rare sight. Hassan had the biggest heart, but he wasn’t a crier.
“Omar?” croaked Hassan.
Oh, fuck!
“Omar, is this the brother you’ve been looking for?” asked Derek.
How did he know Omar? Then it came to him.
He worked at The Back Room, so what was he doing working here?
Kieran also realised he was in the way of the two brothers, so he stood up and gave Hassan space to get out of the booth.
Within seconds, Hassan was out and pulling his brother into his arms, lifting him off the ground.
There was a fair height different between the two of them.
Kieran couldn’t believe this had happened.
He knew how much Hassan had missed his baby brother, but he hadn’t been allowed to contact him.
It seemed Omar was an adult now and could make his own choices.
Kieran couldn’t stop his tears at their reunion, and startled when a warm arm wrapped around his shoulders. Derek pulled him into a side hug.
“I guess we’ll have to park the interrogation for another day,” he said.
That made Kieran laugh, and he appreciated it. He couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed at witnessing the reunion. He was so happy for Hassan and knew what this meant to him, but it also reminded him of his sister, Kelly, and how much he missed her.
Omar had been given the rest of the day off to spend it with Hassan, and Kieran had left them to it.
They had a lot to catch up on. That Omar had been disowned for being gay as well showed that they were both better off being away from the humans who’d birthed them. They could hardly be called parents.
He walked into the shop. Grant was at the counter and smiled at him. Kieran returned it, but when he saw the man standing next to him, his blood ran cold.
“This is Carl,” said Grant. “He’s going to be helping you over the next few months.”
Carl extended his hand, but Kieran was rooted to the spot. Carl was Domtop69.