Wally and Gideon

by Nicki Rowe

  “Okay, Gideon, we’ll play your game, but later tonight I have a game of my own that I want to play.”

  His eyes darken at my words, especially when I reach out and stroke a finger over his hand on the table.

  I smirk when his breath hitches and color stains his cheeks. “O-okay, Wally.” I like that I can make this sarcastic, former soccer player turn into mush with nothing more than a stroke against his skin.

  I lean back, cutting off the contact so that he can think. “What’s your first question?”

  “Favorite color?”

  I pin him with a stare. “Cornflower blue.”

  He shifts in his seat, trying to control his erection. At this point we may never make it back to my playroom.

  “Your turn,” he says, breathless.

  “Aren’t you supposed to answer the question too?”

  “Is that a rule?”

  “That’s my rule.”

  He smiles. “Green, and it has nothing to do with the color of your eyes. My favorite color has been green since I was fifteen.”

  I smirk again. “My answer had everything to do with the color of your eyes.”

  “I know. You’re a charmer, Walter Pyke.”

  I shrug, feeling a pull in my heart when he smiles at me. “I try.”

  “It’s still your turn.”

  “Favorite childhood memory?”

  He frowns, and for a moment I think I have gone too far. I know things weren’t easy for him growing up. Just beacause he had grown up as a rich kid didn’t mean his childhood was a happy one. He’s quiet for a long moment before he says, “When I was ten, my mom took us to the zoo. It had just been her, me and Benjamin. We spent the entire day looking at animals and we got ice cream at the food court. It was the one and only time I had seen my mom in something other than pantsuits and pearls.”

  “I take it something like that didn’t happen very often.”

  “It never happened.” His frown is still firmly in place, and his eyes look sad, far away. “I never asked my mom why she took us to the zoo that day, but I had always wondered.” He shakes his head, as if he can get rid of the sad memories that way. “What about your parents?”

  “Is that your next question?”

  He nods, looking like he’s still lost in the past.

  “We were a nuclear family: two parents, two sons. We struggled though; Dad worked as a janitor at the high school, and Mom was a waitress. We went to church every Sunday. Mom was as quiet as field mouse, meek and timid. She lived to serve my father, and always did without complaint. He wasn’t abusive, my father, but heavy handed. He was in charge of everything and my mom went along with everything he said, even if she thought it to be wrong.”

  I tug lightly on my beard again. Dumb nervous habit I had picked up when I started growing the thing twelve years ago. “I have a lot of good memories from being a child, but my favorite is when my dad took me out to the forest and taught me how to shoot a gun. I had been fourteen, two weeks into my freshman year of high school. I had been scared shitless, but that memory stays with me; it the last time I got to hang out with my dad before he died.”

  He sucks in a breath. He looks devastated for me, and I want to tell him not to worry, but I don’t. “How did he die?”

  “Turned out he was really sick--stage four lung cancer--and never told anyone, not even my mom. He died three weeks later in their bed….alone.”

  The memories bombard me. Mom had taken me and my brother grocery shopping, and when we had returned Dad was gone. I still remember his lifeless eyes staring up at the ceiling, the blood soaked tissues that littered the bed.

  “I’m so sorry.” Gideon’s voice pulls me from my memories. He’s leaning forward on his elbows, his touch is feather light as he strokes my hand. In no time at all this man has gotten under my skin. His skin is warm against mine, soothing my sorrow, but lighting my libido on fire. I clear my throat.

  “Shall we continue?”

  “The game?” he asks.

  “And the date.” I stand, pulling money from my wallet.

  “Wally, I can pay--”

  “You will do no such thing. You can pay for the next,” I say, even though I had no intention of letting him pay for that one either.

  “We could split the bill,” he tries.

  I look down at him and stroke a finger over his cheek the way he likes. It makes my dom proud whenever he closes his eyes and leans into my hand. “I like to take care of the people I’m with, Gideon. I’m a provider. It’s in my blood.”

  His blue eyes widen, and there’s something deep and….I have no word for it, but it seems he likes the idea of me taking care of him.

  Interesting. I have seen that spark in his eyes throughout the night, and in the past when we played. Maybe it was time we both acted on it.

  He stands and follows me out the door with no further argument.

  On the sidewalk, I turn, pinning him against the brick building. We’re in plain view of the people on the street, and I know we’re getting looks, but I can’t bring myself to give a shit. By the rise and fall of his trembling breath, the way he’s clinging to my arms, and the growing cock that I feel against his thigh, he doesn’t give a shit about the people either. Hell, I know being in plain view of them this way, is something he likes.

  “I’m going to ask you something, Gideon, and I want you to be completely honest with me,” I whisper, drawing a finger down his throat, and pressing my hips forward against him. He sucks in a breath and his eyes close, his head falling back against the stone wall. “Do you like the idea of me taking care of you?”

  “Y-yes. I want that.”

  I stand back, leaving space between us, but not much, just enough so that he can think clearly. His eyes blink open, and he looks dazed, but he zeroes in on my face. “What the--”

  “Tell me exactly what you want.”

  He swallows, his eyes darting everywhere around us. He looks like he simultaneously wants to flee and stay. I step closer, cupping his cheek, and he leans into the touch. “Tell me what you want,” I breathe. I know what he wants. I have been suspecting it for awhile, but I knew it when I had complimented him earlier and had called him a good boy. I want the same thing as him, but I want to hear him say the words.

  “I want--I want a Daddy.” He shakes his head. “No. I want to call you Daddy.”

  I smile, pressing him up against the wall with more force and lightly bring my hand around his throat. I feel him swallow and his erection growing against my leg as I claim his mouth, kissing him fiercely for the entire world to see. When I pull back I am lost in Gideon’s half-lidded gaze. “Let’s go to the playroom, my Boy.”

  He swallows, smiling faintly, contently, like everything is right in his world. He licks his lips. “Yes, Daddy.”

  Chapter 14: Gideon

  I have never felt like banging my head against my desk more in my life. I only have a small stack of folders to organize and catalogue into the electronic system, but it seems like this is the never ending task. Curtis had kept up-to-date notes on all his patients, but he had never entered those notes into the system. Also, his organizational skills were for shit, I had found the P’s in the G’s and the G’s in the S’s in the filing cabinet when I had first started. As much as I love the old man, I really wanted to strangle him right about now.

  The sounds of the vacuum cleaner comes from the waiting room where Whitney and Jason are cleaning. I can hear my vet tech, and the secondary vet talking in the cat room.

  I sigh and let my mind wander. I think of the night before and waking up at Wally’s for the fifth time this week. After a round of mind blowing sex that included another butt plug, nipple clamps, and a gimp mask, we had fallen asleep in each others arms.

  I still can’t believe I have a Daddy.

  The morning after our first date we had sat down to breakfast and talked about what we wanted out of the relationship. I had told him that sometimes I would want him to take control of
my decisions, to take care of me, and I wanted nothing more than to please him. It lit my entire world on fire whenever he said to me, ‘you’re such a good boy, Gideon.”

  “That’s one dopey ass smile, boss,” Ken, the secondary vet, says.

  I blink and find Ken standing in the doorway. He’s dressed in slacks and a button up. He’s two years younger than me, but dressed more professional. He has an Abercrombie look about him that I knew a couple of people would drool over, not me, boy next door had never been my type. Unfortunately for the world, Ken was married to Jason, the clinic’s receptionist.

  “What’s up, dude?”

  “Nothing. Just wanted to ask if you wanted to go to the bar with us. You’ve been here for awhile now, and have never gone out with us.”

  I stand and stretch. “Yeah, man. That sounds good. These folders can wait until Monday.” I’ll take any excuse not to spend the night looking at manilla envelopes.

  I follow Ken out into the waiting room where Jason is winding the cord around the vacuum and my other employees are pulling on their coats. Whitney’s smile is bright, showing a row of slightly crooked teeth.

  “Are you coming out with us, boss?”

  “I am.”

  Allie smiles and slings an arm around her girlfriend’s shoulder, and Whitney leans her head against her shoulder. “Finally. We’ve been trying to get you to come out with us forever!”

  I laugh as I pull my sweater over my dalmatian printed button up, and then pull my snapback over my hair. “So I keep hearing.”

  “Where are we heading tonight?” Jason asks.

  “One More Shot. My friend, Neil, is going to meet us there,” Richie, the intern says, coming out of the bathroom. “I hope that’s alright.”

  “The more the merrier.”

  I can’t help it, I laugh so hard I’m doubled over, clutching the receptionist desk for support. My staff is looking at me as if I had grown another head. “I’m sorry.” I try to control myself. “I’m sorry. It’s just funny that you guys chose OMS. The guy I’m dating works there.”

  “Shit, man, you didn’t tell us you were seeing someone!” Jason exclaims, hitting my shoulder.

  “Ooh, what’s he like?” Whitney asks, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet. She loves gossip of any kind.

  I smile. “Well, you’re going to find out, aren’t you?”

  ~*~

  The bar is packed door to door with people, Fridays and Saturdays are always busy at OMS. it’s stifling hot in the place, but we’re able to find a table by a window. Wally, Cason and the other workers--even Sam and the stocker from the grocery store, Syd--are busy pouring and serving drinks. Wally looks up from his task as we sit, his smile lighting up the entire room and going through me like I’ve stuck my finger in a light socket.

  “Which one is your guy?” Whitney asks, settling in the seat closest to the window. “Is it that one?”

  She points to Sam, and I laugh. “No offense to Sam, but he’s not my type.”

  “What are you talking about?” she says, leaning against Allie. “He’s fucking cute!”

  I just shake my head at her as a guy nearly a decade younger than me saddles up to the table. He’s dressed in a pair of tight jeans, a green polo and black framed glasses. He greets Richie with a hug before turning his charming smile on the rest of us. “Hi, everyone,” he says. “I’m Neil.”

  We go around the table and introduce ourselves.

  “So,” Allie says, sipping the pint of beer Jason had brought back from the bar, “back to figuring out which one of these hot guys is bringing a smile to Gideon’s face.”

  “Man, if you guess correctly on your next guess I will clean the cat cages for a week.”

  She slaps the table and points at me. “You are so on, boss man!”

  Ken looks at the bar. “The buzz cut?”

  I look over to see him pointing at Cason, and catch Neil frowning at me. “No.”

  Neil’s frown turns into a smile.

  “The tall one with the dreads?” Jason asks.

  “Who?” He’s talking about Syd. “Oh. No.”

  “Alright,” Whitney pouts. “I give up.”

  “Seriously?” Allie’s eyes light as she figures it out, looking from me to the bar and back again. “No way. I didn’t know you liked them older, boss man.”

  The air crackles with electricity, and I look up to see Wally walking towards us with shots of tequila and lime slices on a tray. I stand and meet him halfway, nearly melting at the sight of his smile.

  “Family and friend discount for you and your friends.”

  “Thank you.”

  His gaze turns hot, electric. “Thank you what?”

  A blush tinges my cheeks, but my smile only grows. My blood pounds in my veins. “Thank you, Daddy.”

  He hands me the tray and runs a hand over my cheek before kissing me. “Go back to your friends, Boy.”

  I turn back to the table to see my staff staring at me with smiles on their faces. Whitney cat calls, fanning herself. “Someone bring me the fire extinguisher!”

  I hear loud laughing behind me, and know the OMS crew and half the patrons had heard her.

  “He’s hot,” Jason says, reaching for a shot after I set the tray on the table. “You really know how to pick them.”

  “Watch yourself, Jay,” Ken says good naturedly.

  Jason laughs and kisses Ken’s cheek.

  I look back at the bar where Wally has gone back to pouring drinks. He looks up, locking eyes with me and winks. For the first time, I feel secure, not judged, but taken care of, and it’s a heady feeling I don’t want to let go of.

  Chapter 15: Gideon

  I wake up on Sunday morning with a pounding headache and a mouth full of cotton. From my left comes a light, sleepy groan, horrified that I slept with someone in my drunken haze I hesitantly look over.

  It isn’t like Daddy and I talked about being exclusive, I reason, but I can’t shake the feeling like I had cheated on Wally.

  A tuft of blond hair is poking out of the top of the blanket, and I pull it down slowly, revealing Anthony’s face. I sigh in relief as the night before slowly comes back to me.

  Anthony and I had shown up at Alex, Lucky and Declan’s with a twelve pack of beer and a couple bottles of whiskey, and the five of us had spent the night getting drunk and playing video games. Anthony and I had been too drunk to drive so we had crashed at the trio’s house.

  Oh, thank God.

  This isn’t the first Anthony and I have shared a bed, but we have never slept together. The thoughts of fucking Anthony has always felt like it would be incest to me, not only was he like my brother, but we looked so much like that the thought of sleeping with him made my skin crawl.

  Anthony groans again, so I shove his shoulder. “Get up, dude.”

  He opens his eyes and turns away from me, burying his head farther into the pillow. “Fuck off, Gid.”

  Anthony’s not a morning person. Hell, none of us are.

  “Get up. We gotta get ready for the ride.”

  “Shit. Why did I agree to this?” he mumbles into the pillow.

  “Cause you love me and Alex, and you knew we weren’t going to stop begging until you said yes.”

  “You two are annoying.” He turns over, smirking at me. “I hate motorcycles.”

  “Get up!” I start bouncing on the bed, tossing him around the mattress.

  He grumbles and rolls out of bed, pulling a clean towel from the chair in the corner of the room before going to the en-suite to start the shower.

  “Maybe you’ll meet a dude while we’re out there,” I holler at him. “Sam’s cute.”

  Anthony pokes his head around the door with fire in his blue eyes and a disgusted look on his face. “I am not going out with the kid of the dude you are dating. That’s fucking gross.”

  I laugh, I knew that was going to be his reaction. “Whatever, man. Hey, speaking of new dudes, did you call that guy about taking one of
the spare rooms in the house?”

  “Jon? I spoke to Lou; Jon is deaf or something.” I can hear the shower curtain open and then close. “Yeah. He’s moving in next month.”

  “Already replacing us,” I joke. “I should be offended.”

  “You can’t see this, but I’m flipping you off right now.”

  ~*~

  It’s later than usual when the five of us pull into the parking lot of Thorns and Roses. It’s after eight when we enter the shop, but the others don’t seem to mind, it’s slightly drizzling, so they are all huddled around talking and waiting for the sky to clear.

  I find Wally leaning against the wall near the large prints of flash tattoos. He smiles as I approach. His tight tee hugs his pecs and biceps beautifully, and he tugs lightly on his beard.

  “Hello, Gideon.”

  I wrap around him like a vine, pulling his lips to mine and kissing him lightly. He tastes like coffee and mint. “Hi, Daddy,” I whisper against his lips. We discussed that I didn’t have to call him Daddy all the time, but I found it hard to stop once I had started.

  He pulls me flush against his body, burying his face in my neck and licking a stripe up the muscle. “If this rain doesn’t let up, we should go find a private moment in the supply closet.”

  I look around at our friends, feeling their eyes on us, but I notice two are missing. “I think Mason and Axe have already claimed it.”

  “They have their names on the door,” Mills says as he passes, making a face.

  “Weather’s clear,” Anthony says, looking from the window to his phone. “Cloudy, but clear the rest of the day.”

  I nearly laugh at how strange it is to see Anthony out of a suit. He’s wearing my jeans and a faded, ripped tee that Alex has owned since before I have known him. I much prefer seeing Anthony like this, than the suit-wearing-stick-up-his-ass version.

  Wally’s arm goes around my shoulders and I lean against him, basking in the smell of leather and pepper. “Ride with me?”

  I kiss his cheek. “Of course, Daddy.”

  “Where are we going today, anyway?” Mason asks, reappearing from the stockroom, smoothing his hair. There’s a hickey forming on the base of his neck.