Me:
I’m okay.
Within seconds, my phone rings, and Mitch’s name flashes across the screen. I hesitate because I know I’ll sound like a frog when I answer, but at the same time, I want to be a good boy and answer my Daddy when he calls. He’ll just worry if I don’t. And probably alert the National Guard. So I press the screen and put the phone to my ear.
“Baby?” Mitch’s deep voice wraps around me, an edge of worry seeping through. “Baby, what’s wrong?” He coos like the good Daddy he is. The best.
“Nothing,” I force out, and yes,Kermit the Frogit is. “I’m good.” A deep sigh meets me at the other end.
“Tell me the truth,” Mitch beckons, no trace of annoyance or anger in his voice, just endless care and patience. “What’s wrong, baby? You can tell me.”
“It’s nothing,” I croak. “I just… I just miss you guys, is all.” It’s kind of the truth. I miss them like crazy.
“We miss you too, baby,” Cal’s voice sounds in the background and my stomach does a weird-ass somersault with happiness and longing.
“What did he say to you?” Mitch rasps.
“Nothing,” I mumble. “Just the usual stuff, you know,” I sniff.
“Ty, are you crying?” Mitch’s voice gets a strange edge to it that I haven’t heard before. A little like swoony Patrick Swayze when he made movie-hunk history with his‘Nobody puts Baby in the corner,’thing.
“No,” I sniff a little louder.
“Stay where you are, baby,” Mitch rushes out, the sound of feet padding across the hardwood floor, followed by the rustle of fabric. “I’m coming to get you. Stay where you are,” he pants.
“Mitch, there’s really no—”
“I’m coming, baby.”
Dale looks all blotchy like he’s ready to explode, that nervous nervetick-tick-tickingaway under his left eye as he seethes at Mitch, “What the hell are you doing here, Cain?”
“Good evening to you, too, Dale. I’m here for Ty.” Uhhh, I love Daddy Mitch when he’s allI’m the boss. Now fuck off, you bug on my car window.My dick thinks so, too, as it tries to wiggle inside my tight jeans. I can’t help snorting, because it’s just so fucking hilarious the way Dale’s face turns from blotchyto pale to purple in a matter of seconds. He looks like a cartoon character, smoke about to come out of his ears.
“What do you mean, you’re herefor Tyler?” he grits his teeth, looking at Mitch with unfiltered disdain like he’s a dogshit under his velvet house slippers.
“What I said,” Mitch puffs out his chest as he grabs me around my waist in one swift movement, pulling me against his side. I squeal, and it’s like Mitch is the dashing Sheriff Longwood coming to save me, the blushing babe in distress, from the evil villain of Tinytwig. I clasp my mouth behind both my hands, muffling a squeakyDaddy, while I swoon internally over this public claiming. Because that’s what it is. Mitch just staked his claim and Dale looks two watts from blowing a fuse.
“Tyler is having dinner with his mother and me, so please leave,” Dale retorts, his reptile eyes boring into Mitch’s beefy arm wrapped around me. I squirm for good measure.Yes, my Daddy’s is bigger than yours, dipshit.As if on cue, my mother appears in the doorway to the hall, a confused frown between her dark eyebrows.
“Mitch?” she whispers. “Is that…?” She looks at me, truly looks at me, for the first time in a really long while, then shakes her head. “What are you doing here, Mitch?”
“Evening, Catarina,” Mitch says, his voice softening. “Sorry to interrupt your dinner, but I’ve come for Ty.” He swallows, then looks down at me, a world of love in his light blue eyes. “I’m gonna take him home now.”Home.
“But… but Tyler…” My mom looks at me bewildered, taking a step forward, then another, before Dale clasps his claws around her upper arm. She stops but whispers, “How?”
“He found me,” Mitch smiles. Then his expression changes as he turns toward Dale. “He told me all the bullshit you’ve been feeding him over the years.”
“How dare you!” Dale shrieks at Mitch, and I’m surprised he isn’t spewing flames out of his nostrils. No matter how hard I’ve tried over the years, I’ve never once managed to make Dale lose it completely, and now Mitch’s mere presence is turning him into a screaming, blubbering mess. Mitch blatantly ignores him, looking at my mom instead, tucking me even tighter against him.
“When you’re ready to leave this sad excuse of a man and be a part of Ty’s life again, Cat, then you know where to find me.” My mother looks dazed; the only thing appearing to hold her up is Dale’s grip on her arm. Then Mitch dips his head, tipping my chin at him between his thumb and index finger, looking right into my very soul, “C’mon baby. We’re done here,” he murmurs softly.
“We’re not done!” Dale yells, taking a step forward. “I don’t know what deranged little game you’ve got going on with Tyler, but you can’t just waltz in—”
“I said we’re done!” Mitch booms, placing his palm in the middle of Dale’s astonished face, keeping him away from me. Ignoring my tormenter, Mitch lowers his voice, his gaze softening as he looks at me, “C’mon baby, let’s go.”
And we do. We just walk right out of there, Mitch’s massive hand wrapped around mine, leaving Dale and my mom staring after us. And it feels like I’m floating on pink clouds while a choir of angels is singing.‘You see this guy? This guy’s in love with you.’And I’m fucking untouchable because my Daddies love me. I’m like one of those mobster kids. You can’t touch me. If you touch me, you die. And then the angels are singing, ‘U Can’t Touch This.’
I snort once we get in the car.
