“Would you like me to go to the club with you?” Jayden offered. I clutched the front of his shirt, nodding against his neck. “Okay, then we’ll go tomorrow night.”
“I’m not ready,” I argued. This wasn’t the type of place you went without preparing ahead of time. I didn’t know what I was supposed to wear, and I was light years away from admitting that I wanted to be someone’s little boy.
“Nope, I’m not giving you time to talk yourself out of it,” Jayden insisted. “You’ll be safe there, I promise. No one will think bad about you, and if they do, they’ll be taken care of.”
“Haveyoubeen there before?” The binkie fell out of my mouth. Jayden picked it up and held it to my lips. I wasn’t sure how I wanted him to answer. I liked the idea of it being something foreign to both of us, but he spoke with a level of certainty that said he’d known about The Lodge before seeing information on my computer screen.
“No, but they have a good reputation. I promise, you’ll be safe there. And, no matter what, I’ll be there with you.” His reassurances helped almost as much as feeling his hand running up and down my arm. He hugged me tighter, and I wasn’t sure if he’d kissed me or if I’d imagined his lips pressing against my head. “I wish you could see how cute you are like this. If going to the club will help you meet someone who can give you what you need, it’s worth it to me. You’re an awesome boy, Chase.”
“Thank you.” I choked back tears when it hit me that Jayden wasn’t offering to be that person for me. He was just a friend. The best sort of friend, willing to step outside his own comfort zone to help me.
5
Jayden
“You havenothing to be worried about,” I reminded Chase. We’d been sitting in the car for almost ten minutes, waiting for him to work up the courage to go inside. I hadn’t told him that my own nerves were for a very different reason.
I hadn’t lied to Chase when I told him I’d never been to The Lodge before, but I also hadn’t explained how I could be so certain nothing bad would happen here. If I’d admitted to him that my uncle was one of the facilitators for their educational events, and that the man who owned the club was like an uncle to me, there’s not a chance in hell he’d have agreed to come out tonight.
But he needed it. I might not be into the lifestyle, but my roommate was the type of boy who’d have any decent Daddy falling over himself to claim as his own. The last thing I was going to let happen was for him to explore on his own and get hooked up with some asshole who’d treat him wrong.
Luckily, Chase wasn’t the only one who’d been doing research online. Even though I wasn’t cut out to be his Daddy, I was committed to doing everything in my power to make this transition easy for him. If that meant being a sort of cool uncle when he needed to be little, I would. For Chase. Because he was worth it. Until I’d started looking into it more, I hadn’t realized that there were all sorts of caregiver roles out there, and it didn’t have to be sexual.
I pulled a bright yellow keychain out of my pocket and dangled it in front of Chase. He fought the urge to smile at the blue pacifier attached to his favorite anime character. “I can’t use this.”
“No, but you could put it in your pocket,” I suggested. This was an idea I’d seen online for boys who needed a connection to their little side when they were in mixed company. “And if youdoneed it, remember that you’re in a safe place here. It won’t be weird or gross, I promise.”
“You keep telling me that, but how can you know?”
“This club has been around for more than a decade, and they have a reputation for being one of the most well-run kink clubs within hours of here,” I explained. Now I was grateful for all the times I’d listened to my uncle and his buddy talking about what made The Lodge different, because it allowed me to set Chase’s mind at ease. “They don’t allow anything that crosses the line from kink to abuse, and they don’t stand for kink-shaming. Right now, they’re working on a new expansion, where they’re opening a playroom for littles and their Daddies. It wouldn’t make sense for them to allow any boy to feel unwelcome, especially one as cute as you.”
Shit, I didn’t want to do this. I might not be what Chase needed, but that didn’t mean I was ready to hand him over to someone else.
“Okay, let’s do this.” Chase took a deep breath and stepped out of the car. I jogged around to join him, placing my hand at the small of his back. For tonight, people in there needed to get through me if they wanted to take care of Chase.
“It’s going to be awesome; you’ll see.” I kissed Chase’s cheek and led him inside. We’d barely made it twenty feet past the entrance when I began to doubt the awesomeness of my idea. “Wait here a second. I need to take care of something quick.”
“Um, okay.” Chase shuffled backward like he was trying to blend in with the wall. “Jayden, that guy doesn’t look very happy. Are you sure it’s okay if we’re here?”
“I’ll explain later, but yes, we’re definitely allowed to be here tonight. It’s not an exclusive club, and I called to make sure this was one of their over eighteen events. I’ll be back in a minute,” I promised. William wasnotgoing to ruin this for Chase. I appreciated everything he did to help mom and me, but if he decided to parent me tonight, I was going to have an issue with it. He didn’t seem to understand that I’d gotten this far in life without a father and didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything because of it.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
I forced myself to stay calm and quickened my pace, not wanting him to freak out Chase any more than he already had. We were in public, and William had no right to tell me I couldn’t be here. If it had been possible to bring Chase down here on a night when William wasn’t around, I would have. Unfortunately, there was also no one I trusted more than my uncle to point Chase in the right direction. He knew everyone in the local kink community, and he wouldn’t let Chase get hurt.
“Don't make a big deal about this, okay?” I begged him. “Trust me, I’d rather not be here either, but he needs this.”
I glanced over my shoulder to check on Chase. He looked pale. He was definitely out of his element, and I should be over there with him instead of over here, trying to get my uncle to act like I was just another customer in the bar and not the kid he felt like he’d failed to be there for as a child.
“You have a boyfriend?”
“No, he’s new to our suite,” I explained. I’d instantly thought of The Lodge when I’d walked into our room last night to the sight of Chase sleeping with his blanket and pacifier in my bean bag. Realizing that he had been researching how to explore being little had made it imperative that I do this for him. “I don’t want to spread his business around, but ever since he moved in, I’ve been trying to get him to explore his preferences.”
“And you decided to bring him here?” William chuckled and shook his head, as if this was the stupidest idea I could have possibly concocted. “Isn’t that a bit like throwing him into the deep end of a shark-infested pool?”
“Have you even been to any clubs other than this one?” I scoffed. Chase wouldnotbe able to handle most gay clubs. He didn’t need a meat market where he’d have to fight off guys who were only interested in getting him on his knees long enough to get off. Hell, I wasn’t sure sex was something he felt like he needed at all.
William’s face turned beet red and the vein at his temple bulged. He let out a low growl, and I could see him gearing up for a lecture.
