The Diva and his Daddy

by James, Rebecca;

  After working for hours in the kitchen, the dogs underfoot and music blaring so we could dance and goof off, a bunch of us rested in the large living room. Lake and Blaze lay down on their sides on the fluffy rug in front of the fireplace, nose to nose, whispering quietly to one another. Morgan and Zeke sat together in the big chair, and Dante and Isaac cuddled on the couch. Caleb and Alex had gone down to the shelter where they lived, promising to be back later. Cupcake and Foghorn would be there in the morning, and so would Tease, Trace, Adam, and Jeo, who had to work until then. Matteo was spending the holiday with his grandmother. I definitely felt like a fifth wheel sitting there with the couples.

  Isaac’s cockatiel, Fred, squawked and danced on its perch, bobbing its head and occasionally flying over to sit on the back of the couch and tugging at Isaac’s long hair with its beak. The bird kind of freaked me out, to be honest, and I kept a wary eye on him throughout the evening. If it started eating my hair, I was pretty sure I’d go apeshit.

  Tony came in from the front porch, Cane behind him, on his phone.

  “Are Nikki and Paul coming?” Tony asked Morgan.

  “No. They’re celebrating with Paul’s parents.”

  “Sara and Rex are coming with B,” Isaac said. “And you’re going to pick up Aunt Shirley in the morning, right?” he asked Blaze.

  “Yep. She’s made banana pudding.”

  “Hallelujah!” Dante said. “How I love that woman’s banana pudding.” He winked at his husband. “Almost as much as I love as yours.”

  Isaac didn’t look like he believed him, but continued. “Julianne and Gavin will be here. Claire was invited to something at a friend’s house.”

  Great. Couldn’t wait to see my dear cousin again. Maybe she could reiterate how I ruin family events.

  “Nick, did you invite your friend and his little boy?”

  “Yeah, they’ll be here around noon tomorrow. I’ll bet Cooper and B will get along great.” Sara was a friend of Lake’s from high school, and B was her young son. Since leaving her abusive husband, he’d been dating Rex for a few years.

  “And Hugh will be here, and Mick, of course.”

  “Where is he now, anyway?” Tony asked. He’d perched beside me on the arm of the couch and was massaging my neck in a way that was going to put me to sleep before long.

  “Working. He’s a clerk at a store downtown.” Isaac looked at his watch. “It’s almost time for you to pick him up,” he told Dante.

  “Kilbourne still bugging him?” Tony asked.

  “He’s been quiet, which is more unsettling in a way,” Isaac said.

  I remembered the big guy with the septum piercing who I’d seen at The Banana and how Tony had said he’d beaten up Mick twice and that was why Mick was staying with Isaac and Dante. I wasn’t really looking forward to seeing Mick again, as the last time I’d laid eyes on him, he’d been in bed with Jeo.

  As though reading my mind, Tony increased the pressure of his massage of my neck.

  Dante stood and stretched as Isaac started to list the food we were having for the party.

  “Hot dogs, hamburgers, coleslaw, potato salad, baked beans, chips, chocolate cake, pickles, cut up vegetables with dip. And Sara’s bringing a macaroni salad and some chocolate chip cookies. Oh, and Aunt Shirley’s banana pudding and Nick’s red, white, and blue marshmallow salad.”

  “My friend’s bringing some brownies and extra sparklers and some vegan hot dogs,” I said.

  “And Julianne’s bringing a tossed salad and a couple of pies. We should have plenty.” Isaac relaxed back onto the pillow Dante had vacated.

  “Be right back.” Dante headed for the door, keys in hand.

  Tony had left off massaging and started lightly tugging at the roots of my hair, which felt even better, and my eyes were getting heavy. Fred had settled down on his perch and was digging around beneath his feathers. I was pretty sure Blaze and Lake had fallen asleep. I listened to Tony talk to Morgan and Zeke, snippets of conversation moving in and out of my mind, becoming meshed with the gentle breathing of one of the dogs on the floor beside the couch and visions of the food we’d prepared earlier. Tony moved to sit beside me, patting his lap so I’d put my head there. He continued playing with my hair and talking to Isaac while I slept. I was only vaguely aware when Dante and Mick arrived.

  A familiar voice pierced my dream of Jeo carrying an armful of bananas. I thought it was part of the dream until strong arms picked me up and carried me up the stairs. When I was gently laid on a soft mattress, I opened my eyes and blinked into the heavy darkness until I made out Jeo tugging off my jeans.

  “Hey,” I said groggily.

  He got naked and crawled into bed with me, and I sighed and rolled into him.

  “I thought you had to be at Rainbow House tonight,” I said into his armpit.

  “Gabe showed up and said he’d stay and for me to go be with my family. So here I am,” Jeo’s voice rumbled in my ear. I smiled against his soft skin and rubbed my nose in the hairs under his arm. He smelled of soap, deodorant, and himself, a scent I’d become very acquainted with.

  “Made lots of food,” I said drowsily.

  “I’m sure we’ll plow through it.” Jeo ran his fingers through my hair, and soon, I slipped into sleep again.

  ****

  When I awoke, morning sun poured in the window, and Jeo wasn’t beside me. I muttered groggily as I got out of bed and shuffled down the hall to the bathroom. My phone told me it wasn’t quite eight o’clock, but I could hear people downstairs in the kitchen.

  After a quick shower, I got dressed and brushed my teeth before heading for the first floor where I found Jeo sitting in the living room drinking coffee with Mick. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, Dante walked in with a tray of pastries.

  “Coffee’s fresh,” he told me. “Help yourself.”

  In the kitchen I poured myself a cup before returning to the living room and standing uncertainly by the couch. Mick was curled up in one of the big chairs. He wore only a large flannel shirt.

  “Hi,” he said to me, smiling as though the last time he’d seen me hadn’t been with me ordering him out of my boyfriend’s bed. Well, Jeo hadn’t been my boyfriend then, but the image remained vivid in my mind.

  “Hi.”

  Jeo looked up at me and smiled. “There you are. I thought you were gonna sleep all day.”

  I frowned. “Obviously Jeo Mendoza has been abducted and replaced by a pod man.” I sat down next to him and sipped my coffee, needing the burst of caffeine to feel alive.

  Mick grinned. “Seriously. Since when do you get up before noon unless Nick’s dragging you?” He looked between the two of us. “I heard you guys were together. That’s—frankly, weird, considering the names you used to call him.” He looked at me.

  “I won him over with my charm,” Jeo said, and I couldn’t help smiling at him over my cup.

  Jeo stood. “I think I’ll go have a swim in the lake. You guys want to join me?”

  “Ugh, no thanks,” Mick said.

  “I have to agree with him,” I said. “I’m not swimming where ducks poop.”

  “Suit yourselves.”

  When Jeo had left the house, Mick and I sat awkwardly for a moment, and for once I was glad for Fred’s squawking presence so total silence didn’t envelope us.

  “So, uh, you work at a store in town?” I finally asked, sipping my coffee and wishing I’d put on Jeo’s shirt from last night, not because I was chilly, but because I wanted to lay claim to my man.

  “Yeah. A men’s store. Real preppy.”

  Mick was shorter than I was and kind of had the nerd look going on with his dark-rimmed glasses and serious expression. The fact that I knew him to be a Daddy’s boy and that Jeo had admitted to me he’d let Mick call him Daddy when they’d fucked made it worse.

  “I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised about you and Jeo.” Mick broke me out of my jealous thoughts.

  “Why?”

  “
Well, you fought like married people, and there was all that sexual tension in the air, come to think of it.” He shrugged. “When I found out you didn’t used to date, I figured you’d fall in the sack one of these days.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “We’re monogamous. So if you and/or your sister are hoping to be invited into our bed, it’s not going to happen.”

  Mick laughed, a throaty sound.

  “I hadn’t really planned on hitting you guys up, and my sister’s seeing someone. Just for the record, we did that at Jeo’s suggestion, not because it was something we liked.”

  After examining his face, I didn’t see anything there except genuine amusement, so I relaxed. He wasn’t taunting me.

  “Okay. I just wanted to make that clear.”

  “Crystal.” Mick smiled as he took a sip of coffee. “But I thought you liked Daddies. Didn’t you have one?”

  “Royce and I broke up. Jeo’s my Daddy,” I said.

  Mick paused, cup midway to his mouth, eyebrows rising nearly to his hairline. “Really? He told me he wasn’t into it other than dirty talk.”

  “I guess he changed his mind,” I said. “He’s a really good Daddy.” I realized I meant it. Jeo was the best Daddy I’d ever been with.

  “Monogamous and a Daddy,” Mick said with a smile. “Sounds like love to me.”

  If only.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Jeo

  When I reached the dock, Axel was sitting at the end, bare feet dangling in the water. I was glad to find him alone; something had been weighing on my mind for a while.

  “Hey,” I said, stripping off my T-shirt and wriggling out of my jean shorts until I stood in only my navy briefs.

  “Hey,” Axel said, looking up at me over his shoulder. Every time I thought I’d gotten used to his new look—dark hair covering the tats on his scalp and a sort of softer vibe all around—I was caught off guard again. He was a different man.

  I guessed love did that to a guy.

  “Gonna swim? Because otherwise you need to back up.”

  I laughed and inched closer to the bigger man so the bulge in my briefs lined up with his mouth.

  Axel made a face, laughed, and then pushed me into the lake.

  Cold water enveloped me, and I sank for a moment before kicking upward to break the surface.

  “You fucker,” I sputtered before spitting unidentified lake debris out of my mouth. I thought about Nick’s comment about duck poop and gagged.

  Axel was laughing his ass off, so I splashed him hard.

  “Dammit, Mendoza!” he yelled as I took off swimming.

  I did laps until I’d tired myself out, then pulled myself onto the dock, ignoring Axel’s offer of a helping hand.

  “I oughta kick you back in there,” Axel muttered. “You got me wet.”

  “Poor baby.” I made a pouty face at him.

  “You’re a dick.”

  “I know,” I said seriously. When he looked at me questioningly, I continued, “I’ve wanted to apologize to you for a long time. I just keep putting it off.”

  Axel’s tawny eyes reflected his confusion. “About what?”

  Good to know he hadn’t been holding a grudge, particularly since it had taken me so long to bring this up.

  “About talking about Caleb the way I did back when you were trying to get with him. Hell, I didn’t mean to be so shitty about his circumstances. I was just worried about you. You’d been mooning over him for a long time, and I just couldn’t imagine things ever working out. Plus, I was unhappy with myself at the time. None of that’s a good reason for the things I said though. Calling Caleb a headcase and all. That was really shitty of me.”

  Axel’s jaw tensed. “Yeah, it was.” He nudged my shoulder with his, almost sending me back into the water. “But I forgave you because I know you, man. And I knew how it all looked. Nobody had been more surprised than I was that Caleb wanted me.”

  “Why wouldn’t he want you? You’re great,” I said.

  “You know what I mean. How could he, someone who’d been traumatized by someone who looked so much like me, not only be attracted to me, but learn to trust me?” He shook his head. “It defies logic.”

  “But it happened, and you two are one of the happiest couples I know,” I said.

  Axel smiled, then regarded me, the morning sun behind him turning the dark waves of his hair mahogany.

  “What about you and Nick? How’s that going? That pairing was a bit of a shocker. Thought you two couldn’t stand each other. Although Blaze called it.”

  I frowned. “He did?”

  “Yeah, a while back. And Blaze is usually right, so I shouldn’t be surprised.”

  “We’re just having fun,” I said, the words tasting sour in my mouth.

  “Oh, yeah? You sure that’s all?”

  I started to brush off his question, but the quiet lapping of the water on the dock, the peaceful twitter of birds overhead, and the heat of the sun on my shoulders relaxed me into a rare, sharing mood.

  “You know who he dated before me,” I said, looking out at the sparkling water. A fish splashed the surface a few feet away.

  “Royce? Yeah, why? You think Nick’s still hung up on him?”

  I shook my head. “Nah. But that’s the kind of guy Nick likes. Rich and able to spoil him.”

  “Evidently not, or they wouldn’t have split, and he wouldn’t be with you now,” Axel said.

  “You know what I mean.”

  “No, I don’t. Tell me.”

  “I may have fit the Daddy role better than I ever expected and even really enjoy it. I mean, I like taking care of him, and I get a real charge out of the whole thing sexually. But I can’t buy him things and take him places like Royce could.”

  “Sure, you can. Things don’t have to be expensive to mean something, man. Hell, Caleb could hand me a clover, and I’d treasure the damn thing more than a diamond.”

  I chuckled and shook my head. “You’re in love.”

  “Yeah. I am.” He looked at me seriously.

  Before I could reply, two motorcycles roared up the driveway, coming to a stop under the trees by the main house. Adam dismounted from the back of Tease’s bike as Trace pulled up beside them. I waved to them.

  “Your bike sounds good, Jared,” I called to Tease when they got close.

  “Yeah, Zeke gave it a tuneup the other day. It’s running much better.”

  “How you doin’?” Axel nodded at Adam.

  “Good,” he said, looking around and finally fixing his gaze on the lake.

  “You guys wanna swim?” I asked. “The water feels great.”

  “Maybe later,” Tease said. “I’m gonna head in and say hello. You coming?” he asked Adam and Trace.

  They nodded, waved to us, and followed Tease to the house.

  “I worry about him,” Axel said under his breath.

  “Who, Skitz? I mean Adam. Fuck, I’ve gotta remember that.” A while back, Adam had told us he didn’t want to use his old nickname any longer. Now that he was having trouble with his head, the moniker had become hurtful to him.

  “Yeah. The seizures and everything, but more than that, the way it’s all messing with his mood. He’s so down. I hate it.”

  I nodded in agreement.

  “Have you got to know Trace?” Axel asked after a moment.

  “Not really. He keeps to himself. I think Blaze knows him better than any of us. I do know he plays a mean game of poker.”

  We sat in companionable silence a while before Caleb yelled to us that pancakes were being served.

  The scent of maple syrup hit me as soon as I walked into the house, and I immediately looked around for Nick, finally finding him in the dining room sitting next to Mick, which surprised me. Nick had always seemed jealous of Mick when his name came up—I probably shouldn’t have told him that Mick had called me Daddy when I’d fucked him, but at the time I’d thought I was proving I had some experience in the area—but it looked as though they’d
become friendly while I was out swimming. I was relieved because Mick was a mere blip on my radar. He was a nice kid, but there was nothing between us.

  “God, it smells terrific in here,” Blaze said. “Isaac, I miss your cooking at the clubhouse.”

  “How could you when you have me?” Adam asked teasingly. He was a terrible cook, and he knew it.

  Blaze cleared his throat. “Yeah, well.” Adam threw a piece of bacon at him, which Blaze caught and ate.

  We laughed and talked while devouring the pancakes. The barbecue would be late in the day so fireworks could follow immediately after, but guests would begin arriving around noon.

  I suddenly realized that this was the first time Nick and I been together as a couple in front of the entire group. I leaned back in my chair and put my arm around him, coaxing him closer to me. With only a little hesitation, he leaned into me, resting his head on my shoulder.

  “Okay, guys,” Isaac said. “You’re fed. Now we’ve got things to do.” Nick, Lake, and I began clearing the table while Blaze and Axel went outside to pull the grill from the shed and clean it. Isaac started the vacuum and Tony began sweeping the kitchen. Others went to shower.

  The doorbell rang while Nick and I were loading the dishwasher.

  “You two look so domestic,” Mick said, coming through the room as he headed for the door.

  Nick glanced at me, a pretty blush suffusing his high cheekbones. He quickly looked away and continued with the dishes. A minute later, Gavin came running in with another boy around his age.

  “Nick!” To my dismay, Gavin jumped into Nick’s arms, and I had to steady my boyfriend so he didn’t go sprawling backward onto the floor. Gavin was small for his age but still an adolescent, and Nick wasn’t big like I was.

  “Whoa,” I said. “You’re too old for that. You’ll throw Nick’s back out and then you’ll have me to answer to.”

  Gavin grinned. “Sorry. This is my friend, Ari. Mom said I could bring him.”

  “Hi, Ari. Glad to have you.”

  “We brought our bathing suits to swim in the lake,” Gavin said. He turned to Julianne, who had walked into the room carrying a load that I quickly moved to help her with. “Can we go now, Mom?”