Miles nodded, his cheeks still beet red. “Yes, Daddy. I promise.”
I leaned in, planting a kiss on his plush lips, his beard tickling my chin. “Good boy. And if you’re good all day, you’ll get a reward tonight.”
His smile widened, though it still didn’t reach his eyes. I knew he was realizing this would be our last night together, and the ache in my chest grew.
I swallowed it down. Again. “Let’s go.”
Chapter nineteen
Miles
My Daddy was pure evil. My face was flushed the entire way home, and my dress shirt did very little to cover the extremely large, extremelyvisiblewet spot on the front of my gray pants. Add in the plug in my ass, and I was thoroughly humiliated.
And despite my recent orgasm, that all just turned me on even more.Fuck.
After scurrying into my house with my hands very obviously hiding the front of my pants—thankfully, I’d avoided my neighbors, whose homes were far enough away from mine that they couldn’t see my front door—I hurriedly cleaned the sticky mess, tossed yesterday’s soiled clothes into the hamper, and changed into something more appropriate for the day’s activities.
Atlas had been right. Somehow he’d known I’d need a spanking to ground me, given that I would be around a bunch of people today, and the plug was an added bonus. Every step I took, every jostle of the car brought both the spanking and the plug to the forefront of my mind and kept them there. Theincessant pounding against my prostate by the toy wasn’t easy to ignore, either.
But it did take my mind off the social anxiety.
“You excited for today, Daddy?” I asked as we walked toward the high school from where we’d parked several hundred feet away from the entrance, my hand twitching with a desire to hold his. And in that moment, I realized how easy it would be just to grab his hand. It wouldn’t even be that big of a deal, right? And if it was, who the fuck cared? Even if I saw these people every day for the rest of my life—which I knew was highly unlikely—what they thought about me ultimately didn’t matter.
What mattered was this person beside me, my Daddy, the one I loved. And he deserved to be claimed in front of everyone, even if the thought terrified me. Even if he was leaving. Maybebecausehe was leaving.
But the moment passed when he took a step ahead of me, and I glanced around as we crossed the wide lawn. Cars already filled the parking lot and the grassy area between it and the road. We’d found a “spot” among the haphazardly parked vehicles, but the people who’d come after us had started to park along Main Street.
I stepped around a pothole before glancing up at Atlas. He was gorgeous today, his green shirt setting off his eyes perfectly. And I knew right then that I was going to show everyone he was mine—in front of our middle-aged graduating class, in front of the town, in front of the entire world. Like I’d asserted all those months ago, he deserved to be loved out loud.
He smiled at me as he dropped the lanyard that held his name tag over his head. His hair was styled perfectly, the top in a flowing swoop that I could never hope to replicate, and he wore a golden eyeshadow that sparkled in the midday sun. His lips were glossy but devoid of color—he usually only wore lipstick on more femme-leaning days—but they were infinitely kissable,and if there’d been a place to drop out of sight, I’d have kissed him breathless before we went inside, hard-ons be damned.
“Super excited!” he replied, answering my question from a minute ago, distracted by navigating the uneven surfaces of the parking lot and grounds. “After my conversation with Finn yesterday and seeing the sexual tension between him and Brad last night, I want to see how it will play out.”
I snickered as we approached the high school’s main entrance ahead of a few other groups of people. “So you’re here for the tea.”
He flicked imaginary hair behind his shoulder as he answered primly, “Why, yes, Miles Johnson, I am.”
I laughed aloud as we crossed the threshold, feeling freer in this town than I ever had before. And when his arm brushed mine, I knew this was my moment. I could very easily grab his hand, show everyone I was his and he was mine. I could make the decision I should’ve made last night with Cory at Timbers & Tallboys. I could claim Atlas as mine for the world to see.
So with a shaky breath, that’s what I did.
Atlas’s gorgeous green eyes shot to mine before his eyes flicked down to our joined hands and back up. I just smiled and squeezed his hand tightly, interlacing our fingers. “This okay, Daddy?”
When I spied tears welling, I pulled him to the side of the hallway, letting a group of our former classmates pass by.
“Atlas, please don’t cry. You’ll mess up your mascara.”
He sniffled and laughed, bringing his free hand to dab under his eyes. “Are you sure about this, baby? Really?” Then he drew in a deep breath, and I hated the flicker of insecurity I saw in his eyes. “This is a big step.”
I needed that insecurity gone. So even though I could see a second group entering the school and heading our direction—on their way to the basketball game in the small gym, no doubt—Ipulled him into my chest and planted my lips on his. I wasn’t shy about it, either, commanding the kiss as I traced the seam of his lips with my tongue. A few snickers and a “get it, honey!” landed on my ears as the group made their way past us, and we pulled away, laughing.
Atlas sucked in a breath, and I stood up straighter at the blush on his cheeks, pride flowing through every part of me. I’d made him do that. “Did that clear things up?”
He chuckled, his laughter more light and airy than I’d ever heard. God, I loved this beautiful person. “Yes, sweet boy. I think that cleared everything up very well.”
At that, he tucked his hand into mine again, and we strolled down the hall.
I could hear the announcer over the loudspeaker followed by the crowd’s boisterous cheers as the group ahead of us entered the gym. The doors fell closed as we approached, but they barely muted the excited crowd as I heard the cheerleaders start calling out their anthems to get the crowd hyped up before the game.
