The furniture company had delivered and set up the main rooms and bedroom as ordered by the designer, who also set up the outside pool and patio. The rest was a work in progress. After we unloaded my personal belongings in the primary bedroom, we moved to the game room to have a drink and relax, since it was already set up. Levi challenged Todd to a game of pool while Larry and Hudson sat in the seating area created by losing the extra guest room and moving the laundry. It also had a nice wet bar in that area, and I poured drinks and passed them out.
We watched the two goofing off and taking silly shots, and everyone relaxed and laughed. “Thanks for helping out. I appreciate it.” And I appreciated them offering me friendship that I needed more than I’d originally thought.
“No problem. Honestly, it wasn’t much. You had anything heavy already done.” Hudson held his drink up. “Here’s to many hands and light work.”
We cheered with him, Levi and Todd also joining in. They were cute. I had to admit it. Especially Levi. Something about him was refreshing and young. It was quite the contrast with Hudson, though he seemed totally devoted to Levi. “You two seem like you’re really in love. How’d you meet anyway?” My subtext was how do I meet someone like that, but I sure as hell wasn’t saying that part out loud.
Hudson laughed. “Oh, Geez. I haven’t told this story in a while; it’s actually hilarious.”
“Now, I’m really intrigued.”
“Let’s just say that before him, I wasn’t comfortable with my business associates knowing my, uh, taste in men.”
“Young?”
He shook his head. “No, little. You know, age play. Kink.”
I already did my homework on Afterglow, so I was pretty sure I knew what was coming next. “So you met him at that club?”
“What? Afterglow? No.” He shook his head. “We never even went there until later, but that’s another story.”
“Gotcha. So how?”
He leaned back in his chair and took a sip of his drink. “I used to order from a particular escort service.”
My eyes practically popped out of my head. “What?”
“No, no. He wasn’t. It was a misunderstanding. He was trying to get some extra money by working a third-shift job, but he ended up at the wrong temp site on the internet. When they sent him to my house, he thought he was going to a warehouse job. Ithoughthe was an escort, specializing in little play.”
“Oh. Wow. That must have gone over well.”
“Better than you’d think, actually. We both discovered new things about each other. And now he’s my little nearly full-time.”
Levi slid into his lap. “Not all the time, but I love it.” He kissed Hudson. “I wanted a part-time job and got a full-time daddy.”
“It’s your shot, Levi,” Todd said, leaning against Larry.
“And how about you two? How’d you meet?” I wanted to hear more about their lifestyle; it piqued my interest. Though I wasn’t ready to admit why.
“Oh. Boring. Friends of friends and a cruise.” Larry downed the rest of his drink. “Can I get another?”
“Absolutely.” I waved toward the bar.
While he went to pour drinks, Todd snorted. “He made that sound super boring. We’re anything but.”
“How do you mean?”
“For starters, that cruise? Anything but boring. We started out fake dating because it was a couple’s cruise, and I was decidedly single.”
Larry put his arm around Todd’s shoulders. “Not anymore. Hey, when you throw your first pool party, you should get Todd to do his frozen drink specials. They’re fantastic.”
“I wouldn’t want to put a guest to work.”
“No, it’s fun. I love doing it.” He pulled a card out of his wallet. “Here. Check out my social media. It’s mostly how to make frozen drink tutorials.”
“Well, that sounds great then. I’ll be getting that planned as soon as I finish the guest rooms.” Wouldn’t want people drinking all day, then having to drive home.
We talked a little more, but eventually, I was simply appreciating what they had. What I wanted. Relationships molded how they wanted them with no apologies for it. “Hudson?”
