I tried to yank my arm away again, but he just scoffed at my effort to free myself, tightening his grip so much that it made me wince. Then he shook me a little, scowling. “Behave, boy. I don’t like a tease. I know why you came this weekend, and I’m going to give it to you. The full Daddy experience, just like we talked about online.”
I shook my head, my eyes suddenly prickly and hot. “No. Um, no thank you.Red. Platypus? I don’t… I don’t want to anymore, Daryl. Letgoof me.”
He didn’t.
“Rene said platypus!” Sam shouted, diving between us.
Daryl pushed him away without even looking, his eyes still trained on me. “I already told you, boy. It’sDaddyDaryl. Say it.”
An embarrassing tear rolled down my cheek. I didn’twantto call him Daddy. I didn’t want any of this. I’d made a mistake.
But maybe… maybe if I gave him what he wanted, he’d finally stop.
“Daddy Daryl,” I whispered, which finally eased the scowl off his face.
He rubbed at the wetness on my cheek with a rough finger, his voice taking on a smug tone of satisfaction. “Good boy. Youcanbe taught. And I’ll forgive you this time, since you gave methis.” He held his finger up, rubbing at the salty dampness with his thumb. “There’s nothing sexier than a boy crying for his Daddy. I think it’s time to get out of here, though. We’ll go somewhere that—”
“No,” I said as he started pulling me toward the parking lot, really not wanting to make a scene but absolutely forsurenot wanting to go anywhere with him, either.
“You arenothis Daddy,” Sam said at the same time, practically leaping on him as he scrabbled at Daryl’s arm to try to get him to let go of me, and getting loud enough that some of the other people in the group from The Plazerra started to look over at us, too.
“I am for now,” Daryl said, shoving back at Sam, hard enough that this time, Sam stumbled and would have landed right on his butt if…
If someone hadn’t caught him.
“No, you goddamnaren’t,” that someone snarled.
Mysomeone.
Edward.
For a moment, it felt as if everything slowed down, and I blinked, not believing my eyes. But then, even before Edward set Sam back on his feet and finally ripped Daryl off me, tucking me safe and sound behind him before doing something else that made Daryl howl in pain, a warm glow started to fill my chest, chasing away every horrible thing from the last few minutes and replacing it with… with wonder.
Edward was here.
Edward hadcome.
And—even though it didn’t make any sense and there were a thousand reasons it shouldn’t have been possible—I really couldn’t think of any reason that he would have.
Any reason other than that he’d come forme.
13
Edward
Spendingtime with Rene at the park and watching him relax so completely once he understood that I was there to stay had been one of the most rewarding days I could remember having in years. Once I’d gotten over the rage I’d felt when I’d arrived to discover that I’d been right, Renehadneeded me, it had felt as natural as breathing to settle into the role of his “Daddy,” even if neither of us had explicitly called it that.
I would have just called it taking care of him if I hadn’t been getting a crash course in the world of kink, but the title didn’t matter to me. Rene feeling happy and secure did.
“I think Sam might be warming up to you,” Rene said with a beautiful, shy smile as we finally made our way back to the hotel room after the dinner I’d insisted on treating him, Sam, and a dozen or so other boys and their Daddies to at a local Asheville favorite Jason had once raved to me about.
I snorted back a laugh, keying open the door and then holding it for him.
Samhadhad a few dazed moments of relieved gratitude once I’d sent the shitstain who’d been harassing him and Rene packing, but the bouncy little redhead was nothing if not resilient, and that had worn off quickly. Especially once I’d refused to let him drag Rene into the blow-up castle that had been packed with Littles.
I had no regrets. Sam meant well, but once Sam had finally run off to bounce around in the thing, Rene had confirmed—quietly and for my ears only—what I’d already picked up on loud and clear from his body language. He hadn’t wanted to set foot in the thing, and I knew for sure that even though he’d quietly watched more of the outdoor games from the sidelines than he’d participated in, he’d enjoyed the day as much as I had. His summer-sky eyes had glowed with a calm joy that had settled around him more and more firmly each time I’d taken the weight of another decision off his shoulders.
“You think so?” I teased him about Sam, winking just to see the hot blush I’d never get tired of spread across his cheekbones. “Is that what ‘soulless corporate tycoon’ means these days?”
