19
Jack
“Tell me one thing,” Eli demanded as he approached the bar where Doug and I were catching up over a glass of whiskey. He grabbed Doug’s and drained it.
“What’s up?” I lifted my glass to take another sip. Luckily, that was as far as I got before Eli could pose his question.
“Tell me you’re not renovating the bar because you found a Middle to spoil.”
“What?” I asked in disbelief. “Even if I did have someone who was into age play, do you really think I’d go out of my way to give him a playroom if it wasn’t a sound business investment?”
“I hate to break it to you,” Eli responded, hitching a thumb over his shoulder, “But you’re an idiot if you don’t realize that that’s exactly what you have on your hands.”
“How so?”
Eli gaped at me like I was the village idiot.
“Come here, you need to see this.” I stood to follow, and Doug was close behind me. The three of us filled the doorway to the new playroom, watching as Slade and Jordan played video games, clowning around like they were teenagers. When Slade smiled, his entire face lit up. Everything we had done together, all the reassurances I’d given him, and not once had I seen his face look that brilliantly alive.
“Just because he likes playing video games doesn’t mean he’s into age play,” I protested.
Eli shuffled to the side, then motioned for me to follow him around the corner where we could still spy on the boys without disturbing them. “Don’t be an idiot, Jack. Let’s think about this logically for a second. Maybe he hasn’t come out and told you he is, but, I’m telling you, it fits. Since the first time you met him, you’ve been correcting his disruptive behavior, and even when he pushes back, he complies. That’s because he wants you to be proud of him. When you suggested he talk to me about a job, he did, even though he’d refused every time Jordan suggested it. “And look at them, Jack.” He peeked around the corner and I did the same. “I swear, as soon as he flopped onto that bean bag, it was like a switch flipped in him. He’s finally in his element.”
“So, are you saying Jordan is a Middle, too?” Because, how could he claim that one of them was and the other wasn’t, when they were in there playing together?
“No. I think he’s enjoying spending time with his friend. He took it really hard when Slade started sinking into depression after the band split up. In his mind, he has his friend back. He probably doesn’t even understand why Slade is so much more comfortable tonight.”
I leaned against the doorway and watched them a little longer. The way Slade reached over, knocking the controller out of Jordan’s hands when Jordan was beating him, the easy way they bantered back-and-forth. And, as I stood there, I considered everything I knew about Slade. How he thrived when I imposed rules on him. The way he seemed to crave someone else to take control of the day-to-day decisions for him.
“Son of a—”
“Just now figuring it out?” Eli asked with a laugh, then clamped a hand on my shoulder. “For what it’s worth, I was just giving you a hard time earlier about doing all of this for him. I know you wouldn’t have done that, but now it seems like maybe there’s a reason you agreed to this project right after the two of you got together.”
“And what would that be?”
“He’s only working for me a few nights a week. Don’t you think there are better places for him to be on the nights he’s off, rather than sitting at home waiting for you? Maybe this is one of those cases of everything happens for a reason?”
I’d always struggled with that belief. I couldn’t wrap my head around all of the bad shit happening just to get to the good stuff. In Slade’s case, I didn’t want to think that his band had split up, and he’d found himself on a dangerous downward spiral, just so we could eventually wind up here. Even if there was some truth to that, I refused to be grateful for the misery I saw in his eyes the first time he turned on me outside Doug’s apartment.
“It’s not a horrible idea,” Doug added. “You need someone to monitor the playroom, but I think it would be easier for everyone if things felt more organic, you know?”
“Organic, how?”
“When you’re busy working, he can hang out here,” Doug explained. “He could be the room monitor, but you can give him a fun title. He could be the babysitter or something. He’d probably love the hell out of that. He could watch over the littler Littles and help them out. He could keep an eye on the little ones when their Daddies needed to run to the bathroom or to get them something to snack on.”
“Shit.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. For someone who had good business sense, I’d certainly overlooked these details. And they were right. This would be the perfect job for Slade.
“And, as a bonus, you could stop in and check on him whenever you wanted. It would be the best of both worlds. He’d feel useful, and you’d have your boy close by.”
That really did sound perfect.
“Let me talk to Sam about it,” I insisted. “This is his brainchild.” Eli gaped at me. “Yes, even a complete control freak like me can let someone else take the lead every once in a while.”
“You’re just making all sorts of changes, aren’t you?” Eli quipped.
“It’s about damn time,” Doug added. I flipped them off and my brother just laughed. “Seriously man, it’s good to see you happy again. We were both worried about you after Collin took off.”
“Gee, I had no clue,” I said, glaring at Eli. Where my brother had been silently supportive, his partner hadn’t been nearly as quiet about his own concerns. For a while, it’d been hard to spend time with the two of them, because every time we were together, Eli pushed me to try and get back into the game.
