He gently pushed the disconnect button, not waiting for Willem to say good-bye or that he loved him. He would probably end up with a spanking when his Daddy returned home.
“No more spankings,” he told himself. “Not until Daddy is fully recovered, and then we will revisit a few things. I may be his Little but I’m not a doormat. I won’t be treated like one.”
* * *
Willem stared down at the phone in his hand. It’d been two hours since his boy had hung up on him and something wasn’t right – he could feel it in the pit of his stomach. He’d texted his boy that he loved him and received a text returning the sentiment. But something was off. His boy never forgot to end a conversation with an ‘I love you.’
“You ready to head home?” Derek asked as he entered the room, his Stetson covered in melting snow.
“Hell yeah.” Willem reached for his own boots. They’d just brought his clothing to him a little bit ago. “Something is up with Eli. He hung up on me earlier this morning.”
“Really?” Derek sank into the chair next to the bed. “Could it have been that you called him at zero-dark thirty and woke him up?”
Willem shook his head. “I don’t think so. He sounded wide awake when I called. Said he’d talked to the doc already and that he’d be in to get me around nine.”
“Which is what the doc said would be your release time.” Derek replied. “Was that before or after you called me?”
“Before. But I told him not to, that I would find my own way home. That’s when I called you, because I didn’t want him out with the kids. It was a storm like this that took Reed and Audra. I didn’t want to risk it happening again, even though I know Eli is a good driver.”
Derek crossed his arms over his chest. “And how did he react to that?”
Willem shrugged. “Said he’d see me when I got home. Then said something about one of the kids needing him.”
“At six o’clock in the morning?” Derek arched a brow at him.
“Well, they don’t sleep the best, and when I talked to him last night both of them were in bed with him. This blackout really shook-up Jeremy. He was with me when I passed out.”
“Maybe.” Derek sighed. “But what’s your gut telling you, man?”
Willem sighed. “That I fucked up. That I ran over my boy’s feelings. I was just so damned irritated by the nurses, and all the poking and prodding.”
“I’m sure that Eli will understand once you explain it to him. Now I don’t know about you, but I never ignore my gut, Willem.” He sat his hat on his knee. “The last time I ignored my gut when it came to a sub, it came back to bite me in the ass. Small misunderstandings can fester and grow into large ones if a man’s not careful.”
“Yeah.” He leaned down to grab his other boot. “I’ll deal with him when I get home – even if we have to make a trip to the playroom. Hanging up on Daddy isn’t acceptable.”
Derek shook his head. “You’re missing the point. Don’t just deal with him. Listen to him. Be the daddy I know you are. Don’t just fuck up a good thing because you’re in a pissy ass mood because you’ve been stuck in the hospital away from your boy for the last twelve hours.”
“A lecture?” Willem was starting to get pissed off at the younger man.
“No.” Derek blew out a breath. “Just some advice from one Daddy to another. Take it or leave it. Your funeral.”
He opened his mouth to tell Derek to leave Eli to him, but the doctor walked in at that moment.
“Here are your release papers. You’re free to go Mr. William.”
* * *
The trip home was long, taking almost three times the normal commute and, again, Willem was thankful that his boy was tucked safely in the house. He didn’t want to think of Eli out in this weather. The drive had been quiet with Derek keeping an eye on the worsening roads, while the twenty-four-hour weather station continued to spit out updated road conditions.
“As predicted, the storm has intensified as it sweeps west to east. The expected snowfall has been increased from the original eight to ten inches to twelve to fourteen with isolated areas of sixteen in outlying areas. High winds will continue to pick up throughout the afternoon and into the evening hours. Travel isn’t advised as whiteout conditions will last long into the evening hours…”
“Shit.” Willem rubbed the back of his neck. “You heading straight home, Derek?”
“Yeah.” He didn’t take his eyes off the road. “Sadie would have my hide if I didn’t come straight back to her. You’re lucky she loves you, any other person who’d have asked me to come out in such shitty weather, she’d have kicked their asses up between their shoulders for risking my safety.”
“Thanks, I guess.” Now Willem felt like a fucking heel. But when it came down to his boy’s safety, he couldn’t turn off the need to protect.
Derek chuckled. “Don’t let Sadie scare ya. Her bark is worse than her bite.” Derek slowed down as they neared the gate to Willem’s property. “Let’s just get ya home so I can go home and soothe the Missus’s fears. She always feels better after a round with the single-tail.”
Willem shook his head. Until he’d met Sadie, he’d never met a Little who was also a masochist. He jumped out of the truck when Derek pulled up to the gate. After unlatching it, he climbed back into the truck. “You’re gonna have to push it open with the truck. It’s already drifted on the other side.”
“No problem.” Derek backed up about twenty feet then accelerated enough to use the push bar on the front of the truck to force the gate open. Once they were through, Derek didn’t stop but continued up to the house. “I’ll close it after I come back down. Tomorrow I’ll send one of the hands over with the blade to plow you out.”
“Works for me,” Willem agreed as the house came into sight. Normally he felt relieved when he saw his home, but this morning? The feeling of unease continued to build in the pit of his stomach. What was the old saying? When momma wasn’t happy, ain’t nobody happy? He wondered if there was one that applied to Littles.Man up,he told himself.This isn’t the first time you’ve dealt with an upset Little.But even as he tried to reassure himself that everything would be okay, something told him that dealing with an upset adult Eli would be worlds different than a Little who’d been told no.
“Good luck,” Derek said, as Willem got ready to exit the truck. “Remember what I said, man. Listen to him before you go all Daddy-dom on him.”
Willem nodded. “Yeah. Thanks for the ride, bossman.” He looked up to the house once more. “Call me when you get home, will you? The last thing I need is a pissed off Sadie over here.”
“I’ll protect you, this once.” Derek chuckled as Willem opened his door into the winter snowstorm.
