One beer turned into two, and then another for good measure. At this rate, I’d have to use a rideshare to get home and then back in the morning to pick up my car.
“I wanted to thank you for the help earlier.” Sam’s melodic voice was like a needle scratching across a vinyl record, abruptly ending my pity party. It was a baby step, but he’d come to find me.
Yeah, because it’s tough to find someone who’s rooted to their barstool.
“It was my pleasure,” I assured him, cringing when I realized how prim that sounded. Calling it a pleasure to pick up after bratty littles who needed to learn manners, was a bit of a stretch. “Feeling any better now that you see everyone having fun?”
I hooked my foot around the bottom rung of the stool next to me, pulling it out and nodding, silently instructing Sam to sit. Even employees needed a break sometimes. I held my breath as I waited to see how he would react, fully expecting him to refuse. I offered him a soft smile when he ducked his chin and slid his butt onto the seat.
I had to bite back the urge to praise him and tell him he was a good boy. It wasn’t my place, probably never would be.
“A little. Now, we just need a few months of people using the space and I might quit waiting for it to fail.” Sam rolled his head to one side and then the other. I reached out to massage his shoulders, stopping before I touched him. I wouldn’t, no matter how badly I wanted to, unless he gave permission. He rested his forearms on the bar and tucked his chin to his chest. When I still didn’t move, he looked over and smiled. I took that as permission and began softly kneading the muscles. He was tense as hell. My dick woke right the hell up when he groaned. “You can do that for at least another hour before I complain. Thank you.”
“You deserve someone who will take care of you,” I said, thinking back to Doug’s statement earlier about how he worked too damn hard all the time. Sam shrugged. “Trust me, Sam. You do. And rubbing your shoulders is nothing in the grand scheme of things.”
“More than I’ve had in a long time.” His shoulders stiffened and he buried his face between his arms, muttering something I couldn’t make out. I was willing to bet his cheeks would have been pretty and pink if he looked up.
I shouldn’t have been so pleased to hear him admit he didn’t have anyone that people in the bar didn’t know about. I didn’t want a random someone taking care of him; I wanted to get to know him well enough to figure out if I was the person who could help him.
“That’s a damned shame.” I stood, moving behind him so I could use both hands. It didn’t take long before he relaxed enough that his shoulders wouldn’t be hitched up to his ears. I shifted to slowly rubbing his back, paying close attention to his reactions. His breathing steadied enough, I worried he’d fallen asleep at the bar.
As much as I would have loved to keep going until he gave in to his exhaustion, I had to respect that he was at work and there was still a bar full of customers surrounding us. When I sat on my stool, I allowed myself one last touch and reached out to stroke his messy, nearly black, curls. “Feel better now? Think you’ll be able to make it through the night?”
“Yeah, that helped.” His mouth fell open like he didn’t quite believe how he felt without the tension seizing him. “Thank you. Again.”
“You’re welcome again,” I teased. “If you need more, I’ll be here all night.”
“I’m sure I’ll be fine.” He sat up straight. “I should get back to work. I can’t exactly lecture anyone else for sitting around if I’m doing the same.” He slapped his hands on his thighs and blew out a deep breath. “Okay, time to check on John. He’s probably worried something happened to me since I haven’t worried too much about the back tonight.”
“John knows what he’s doing. I’m sure everything’s running smoothly back there.” I managed to keep myself from pointing out John wasn’t a fan of being micromanaged, or at least he hadn’t been when he was younger. Like so many others around here, he wasn’t a friend so much as someone I knew in passing. But he’d been working at The Lodge since it opened, and hewasdamned good at his job. He probably would have been running the place, but he was the type of guy who didn’t want the hassle that came along with being in management.
Eventually, I wandered back into the playroom. It wasn’t so bad now that some of the couples had taken off. That wasn’t surprising. After all, little boys still had bedtimes and it wasn’t good to keep them out too late. Now, it was a mix of single guys, those who were making tentative first meetings, and Daddies sitting in the lounge areas watching their boys have late-night playdates.
William noticed me and waved me over to where he was chatting with friends. I felt like the proverbial fifth wheel as they were all keeping an eye on their boys. “Hey, glad you were able to make it out tonight.”
“Wouldn’t miss it,” I said, because, really, I wouldn’t have. Jack was a good guy, and I wanted to support what he was doing for the community. Sam might not even fully understand why we needed a space like this so badly. “I wasn’t aware you’d found a boy.”
“Well, that’s sort of a work in progress,” William admitted.
“Never thought I’d see the day you settled down and found someone to call your own,” his friend, Levi, remarked as William gazed longingly at Corey.
“Too early to make that leap,” he argued.
“Give it a rest,” I scoffed. William was lucky as hell. Corey was another one I’d admired in the past. And, seeing him in his cute little shorts and tee tonight, I’d definitely seen him in a new light. But then he leaned so easily into William’s side and I knew that was another opportunity missed. “You look like a man who’s already half in love. That boy probably carries your balls around in his backpack, even if he doesn’t know it.”
“It’s not like that,” William insisted. “And, seriously, a few hours aren’t long enough to proclaim him as off-limits. For all I know, he might hate me for putting him on display tonight. He could decide it’s all too much for him.”
“The two of you weren’t bullshitting about him being brand new?” Levi asked, his eyes wide. I snickered because he was speaking what I was thinking. “Shit, man, you’ve got a natural on your hands.”
“Yes, Levi, but we all know that those who are little to the core are also the ones who sometimes fight it the hardest.”
“Well, I hope it works out for you.” Levi stood, bumping his fist against William’s shoulder. He paused, looking down at the boy Corey was playing with. “I hate to break up their playdate, but it’s well past my boy’s bedtime. If things work out, why don’t you give me a call and we’ll get him and Teo together again sometime?”
“I think Corey would like that, but it’ll depend on getting him to take some downtime.”
“If anyone can lay down the law, we all know you’re the man to do it,” I told him. The lights flashed and the music cut off, signaling closing time. I’d hung around hoping Sam would find me again, but obviously it wasn’t meant to be. That was fine; I was willing to bide my time with him after seeing the faint glimmer of interest. “Guess that’s our cue. Do you guys need any help cleaning up?”
“Nah, I think we’ve got it.”
