I wasn’t sure what shocked me more; Denny’s biting tone or the fact John immediately cowed to him.
The trouble was, John had cracked the lid on the box and now I was dying to know what he’d been thinking. Denny likely knew I wasn’t going to let the subject drop, so he quickly changed the subject.
“Matteo, are you still in school?”
Teo cleared his throat a few times as he picked at his shirt. I could feel the insecurity coming off him in waves, so I gently squeezed his knee beneath the table.
“No… I’m… no,” he stammered. I knew he and John had met in college, but his reaction wasn’t that of someone who’d proudly graduated. I added that to the mental list of topics we could cover later.
What had started as a pleasant dinner with friends was quickly imploding. We were saved by the server delivering our meals.
By the end of the meal, Teo looked ready to crawl out of his skin. He kept staring at John, opening his mouth to say something then closing it again. Even if Denny wasn’t on board with whatever John had up his sleeve, Matteo’s curiosity was getting the better of him. He’d started twisting his fingers around his hair, yanking harder with every passing minute. Let Denny be pissed if he wanted; I made the decision that’d ease my boy’s anxiety.
“What was this idea you had?” I asked after the server had cleared our dishes. Denny let out an irritated grunt but didn’t say anything else.
John straightened on his stool, his face turning serious. “Okay, so hear me out.” Anytime John started by asking me to listen to everything before turning him down, he already knew he was going to ask something of me I didn’t want to do.
Teo’s stool scraped against the floor as he scooted closer to me. We held hands out of John’s view, but I could tell by the way he kept looking between us that he knew Teo turned to me for comfort when he started freaking out. I wondered if Teo was as used to John’s antics and schemes as I was. It was strange to me that we had this common link in our lives, and yet our paths hadn’t crossed until now.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about what you were saying about needing to make the site different from all the other ones out there,” he began, pausing to take a sip of his drink. “Originally, I thought it’d be enough to source and stock products that’d appeal to people in the lifestyle, but that’s only going to help if I can get people to the site. And that’s where you come in.”
“I’m not sure I follow.” It was rare that I couldn’t see the path of John’s thoughts, but I wasn’t sure how he expected– “If you want to turn this into some sort of fetish site and think we’re going to model for that, too, you need your head checked out.”
John scrubbed his chin, a mischievous glint in his eye. Oh hell, now I’d given him yet another idea. “That has merit, but no, I wouldn’t even ask that. I know that’d be a huge leap past Matteo’s comfort zone.”
“So what is it?” I pressed. Not only was Teo restless, but I could tell he was getting sleepy. For someone like him that was a dangerous combination. I wanted to get him home, maybe ask him to spend the night and suggest we talk in the morning.
“People are always looking for real-life experiences,” John explained. “You can find a ton of half-ass articles out there, but I was thinking we could do better.”
“You do realize I’ve known you long enough to understand the more you ramble the fuller you are of shit, right?” I interrupted, wishing he’d get to the point.
“Not this time, I’m not,” he argued. “I haven’t had time to plan out how I want to do this, but I was thinking you and Matteo could contribute to the site, both offering your own experiences and insight. How many people do you suppose there are out there who are interested in the lifestyle but can’t figure out why? You could help them sort that out by talking about your own feelings. Maybe you could even come up with some ideas of things Daddies could do with their littles. It’d be great!”
Teo pressed his lips into a thin line, hand drifting up to his hair again. I snatched his hand and held it firm, worried he’d pull hard enough to yank hairs out by the root. Teo said uncertainly, “I… I’m not sure… do you need an answer right away?”
I leaned in, not giving a damn what Denny or John thought. Teo needed to settle down before he worked himself into a frenzy. “Angel, what have I told you? No one can make you do anything you’re not ready for.”
“He’s right, Matteo,” John butted in. I held back a snarl when he placed a hand on Teo’s forearm. I needed to get a grip on this sudden fit of jealousy. It wasn’t an endearing quality, especially not while I was trying to convince Matteo I wasn’t trying to own him. “I just thought it’d be cool, because you bring a unique perspective. I’ve seen how your attitude has changed in a very short time. That would be beneficial to those who don’t understand but want to. And after seeing the two of you together, you couldn’t ask for a better Daddy to help you explore. I mean, if that’s something you want to do.”
“Why don’t you say it a little louder so the people in the back can hear you,” Denny scolded him. I wasn’t sure what had crawled up his ass and died, but I kicked him under the table. Boss or not, he was the one who needed to chill the fuck out. Fast. He grimaced, reaching down to rub his shin, then spoke directly to Matteo. “I’m sorry. We’ve been working on teaching him a bit of tact, but so far no luck.”
“It’s okay.” Matteo chuckled, but it was forced. “I’ve hung out with him enough to know he doesn’t think before he speaks. It’s part of why we get along so well. And I’m not saying it’s a bad idea, but I’m not sure I can do it.”
“We wouldn’t have to use your name if that’d help,” John offered.
“We’ll think about it,” I responded firmly, making it perfectly clear we weren’t discussing this any further right then. I stood, taking Matteo’s hand to help him off his stool. “Now, if you don’t mind, it’s getting late. I’m going to get Matteo home.”
John excused himself to the pay the bill, telling us he’d meet us outside. Denny followed close behind, still stewing about the conversation over dinner. That left me with a host of questions I’d love to ask my cousin, but that’d happen in time; right now, Matteo was my only concern.
“We’re just about done with this project,” Denny said once we were outside. The man sucked at small talk unless it had to do with work. “Why don’t you take the day off tomorrow? We’ll mostly be working on more product variations and even AJ can’t manage to fuck that up.”
“Sounds good.” I wasn’t sure if Matteo had to work or not, but on the off chance his schedule was clear, I wasn’t going to argue with not going in to work on boring shit. Worst-case scenario, I’d start going through the pics from the past two days of shooting to pick out the best. Such a hardship. I’d been suffering from blue balls most of the day, so it was best for all that I relive those moments with Teo in the privacy of my own home.
I once again opened the door for Matteo, leaning in to buckle his seatbelt. His expression when he looked up at me was half amused, a bit annoyed, and something else I couldn’t name. “You do know I’m more than capable of doing that on my own, right?”
“I do, but me doing things like this have nothing to do with your ability to care for yourself and everything to do with my desire to take care of you.” Memories of the end of my relationship with Bradley crept into my mind. The first resistance I’d noticed from him was when he got defensive about me doing little things for him with almost the exact same protest. “Now, am I taking you home or did you still want to talk about more than dinner?”
“I want to talk,” he responded, sounding more certain than I’d heard him all day. “I mean, if you do. But you should know I’m going to have a lot of questions. You might get sick of me before we get to any of the good stuff.”
