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When the dishes were done, the counters were clean, the floor was swept, and I finally got tired of hearing my phone buzz, I picked it up to see the number of the school on the screen. A quick look at the time told me exactly why they were calling. I’d lost track of time and missed the bus… again.
If I wasn’t outside to meet the bus, the kids were taken back to the school. I answered the phone and told the secretary I was on my way. The frustrated tears fell down my face the entire drive. I could barely look my kids in the face when I walked into the office to get them. Actually it was impossible to look anyone in the face. I was that mom, and I hated it. I needed a change, a big change.
But how?
Club Rent-A-Daddy, a business owned by Nyla, Bas, Bain, and their lottery-winning crew niggled at the back of my brain, and I tried to push it away, like I’d managed to every other time it had popped up over the last several months. But with the kids actually being gone, it was, for the first time, feasible. At least, in part.
Now, if I wanted, I could actually get to The Penthouse, The BDSM club that Rent-A-Daddy was born from, but that didn’t actually mean I was Rent-A-Daddy material. Despite the fact that Henry and I had played on occasion, it had always been very mild, playful, consensual, and not at all a part of our everyday life. Rent-A-Daddy, from what I knew of it, was the opposite of those things. There was also the fact that Rent-A-Daddy was a paid service, and I definitely didn't have the disposable income to be able to afford it. But at this point, I also didn’t think I could afford not to use it. I’d almost made the decision to go for it, though, when another thought, the worst one of all, popped into my head.
Bain.
I really wanted to avoid him since our run-in at Nyla and Bas’s engagement party a few weeks ago. Bain was, of course, co-owner of the Penthouse and Club Rent-A- Daddy with the rest of them. That was enough to make me think twice, but I knew deep down that if I really wanted to make a change, I had no other choice.
Thinking it over still as I pulled up in front of Gia’s house for the drop-off, I dropped my head into my hands and stifled a scream. The idea of letting someone swoop in, take charge, and save me from myself was tempting. I’d been carrying the idea in the back of my head for a while, but I didn’t think it was for me. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it was time to admit defeat. I dropped my kids off at Gia’s and headed home. I had a few hours left to do some serious soul searching before the club would open, and I needed to make a clear choice, one way or the other.
Bain
Feeling restless, I tapped my fingers against the office wet bar, and downed the shot that Lennon put in front of me, swearing out loud for no reason other than I suddenly felt antsy.
Okay, maybe not suddenly. Running into Jasmine at Bas and Nyla's engagement party and remembering the night we'd had three years ago—she’d totally ghosted me afterward—had done it.
Jasmine Keene was off limits. Single mom, hot mess, dead husband baggage, good friends with Nyla; she was everything I knew I didn't and shouldn't want. And yet, I wanted her. I couldn't stop thinking about her. It was affecting every aspect of my daily life. I was barely sleeping, barely eating and was in danger of winning an award for grumpiest person alive.
Pushing away the thoughts of how her dress had clung to her in all the right places, and how good she'd smelled—citrusy with just a hint of vanilla—I downed the whiskey neat in front of me and slammed the glass down on the table hard. "Another."
Archer, who was also behind the bar pouring himself a drink, raised an eyebrow at me and frowned. “You okay, bro?”
My five business partners turned to stare at me. Together we all owned the club, the skyscraper it was housed in, and the club's brand-new Rent-A-Daddy service. We also owned rental offices and apartments in the towers we'd purchased together after a joint lottery win right before college graduation ten years ago. Besides myself there was Archer, the lawyer of the group, Lennon, the artist, Theo and Bas, the financial wizards, and Bas's fiancé, Nyla, who did our design. On nights like tonight, we tended to all gather at the club and fraternize in the back "office” before the night got too busy. Truth be told, it was much more a private lounge than it was an office, and we tended to treat it like our own personal bar.
“I’m fine,” I growled. “Just restless. I need to play tonight.”
I needed to do more than play, but I couldn’t put my finger on what exactly it was I needed to get Jasmine off my mind and out of my system for once and for all. It wasn't just a heavy play session or a good lay; I could get those easily enough, but lately they’d left me feeling empty and unsatisfied—nobody was her. Of course, if I voiced that out loud—my not just wanting a play session or an easy lay, not the part about getting Jasmine out of my system—my friends, especially the newly engaged Nyla and Bas, would just laugh and tease me about needing to settle down. That wasn’t it, either. I was not ready for a wife, kids, a dog, or a picket fence. None of that. I didn’t know what I wanted, just that it was something different than what I currently had: my confirmed bachelorhood and a need to stay far, far away from the only woman who truly piqued my interest.
“If you want to play, you should slow down the drinking, not speed it up,” Archer lectured. “You know the rules. Just because you’re an owner doesn’t make you exempt. We need to follow the same guidelines as everyone else, and set an example.” As he spoke he set a second shot in front of me.
Scowling, I took the shot, and pushed the glass at him when I was finished. “I’m done.” I sat for a minute, still drumming my fingertips on the bar, still feeling anxious. “I need something that’s like…I don’t know… more than a play session and less than a picket fence. Maybe like a Rent-A-Daddy client. We got any of those I could take?”
Archer shook his head. “It’s going a little slower than expected. I think the price is discouraging people from trying the service.” He shrugged. “It’s not that much higher than a membership to the Penthouse, but maybe there should be a discount for people who are already members.”
“That’s probably good business,” I agreed.
Lennon nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, we probably should have thought of that from the get-go.”
“All in favor?” Archer cocked his head and scanned the office, which was more of an owner’s lounge than an office.
“Aye” I raised one finger in the air to make my vote official. Lennon did the same. Theo, Bas and Nyla followed suit.
“It’s unanimous, then,” Archer said. “I’ll update the contract.”
He walked over to the large leather booth that ran across the back wall and grabbed his leather messenger bag, pulling his laptop out of it. Opening it, he clicked around, typed at his keys for a minute or two, clicked again, and slammed the computer shut. “That’s done. I'll print these up and put them with the others.”
“It’s almost opening time,” Bas said, pointing at the clock. “Who’s got the door, who’s got the floor?”
“Theo has the floor, Zeke has the door. Like he always does,” Nyla piped up, rolling her eyes at her fiancé.
“I know that,” Bas said with a wink, “but who’s got the front counter doesn’t have the same ring to it.”
Front counter duty was basically making sure that everyone who entered was up to date on their payments, paid the cover charge if they weren’t a member, and filled out the appropriate paperwork. It was boring and tedious, but it did give me an opportunity to scope out the talent, because let’s face it, the Rent-A-Daddy thing wasn’t going to all of a sudden happen tonight, so a play and lay was as good as it would probably get.
