Quinn crossed his arms and leaned back in his folding camp chair with a scowl. “What exactly is going on, Warner?”
“He hasn’t checked in. Didn’t tell me where he was going. Hell, he didn’t tell me he was going at all.” Totally exasperated now, I threw my hands in the air.
Quinn stood and put his arm around my shoulders. “Don’t panic. Not yet.”
“He hasn’t been answering his phone.” I shook my head and held the phone up.
Royce pulled his out, too. “Let me text him. I’ll let you know if he replies.”
“Thank you. Quinn? You have my number?”
Quinn nodded. They all looked very concerned. I was too.
I shot off a text of my own.
Chapter nine
Cody – Stolen Car (Take Me Dancing)
I drove along I-75, headed to Naples, on the stretch known as Alligator Alley. The sun had gone down long ago, but I wasn’t sleepy at all. I was keyed up in the worst way. I played the radio, because dancing usually put me in a better frame of mind, but it didn’t work. I shut it off with a huff.
What the actual-fuck was wrong with me?
The anger had worn off about an hour ago. Maybe longer. In fact, in the darkness of this car, speeding down the road alone, I could admit that I was never mad to begin with. Irritated, yes. Mad? No, not really. Warner should not have been talking about our kinks, or at least that I was a little, to everyone when he knew I didn’t like that. I was private about being little, and that wasn’t anything new. We’d talked about last year, in fact.
One Year Ago
Warner was in the garage, pulling down the camping equipment and sorting through it to decide what to take with us. I was pretty excited about going on a big trip with all his friends and co-workers. That was a big step forward. We’d only been together a month or so, but we’d decided to be exclusive pretty quickly after meeting.
He shoved a tent over to the side. “Crow’s going and has a decent-sized tent, but maybe we should take ours for a bit more privacy.”
“Oh, I like that idea, Daddy. Don’t want to share with Crow or anyone else. I like having you to myself.” I gave him a wink.
“Privacy is important for me too.”
“Also, so I can be little if I want.”
“You can be little anytime you want, Cody. My friends are all into kink and most of the folks on the trip are members of Afterglow.” That was the gay kink club he belonged to, and actually where we met. It was a special promotion, and a few of my associates had dragged me along. They didn’t know I was a little, and they weren’t either. Doug was kind of into BDSM and was looking for a Dom to tie him up or something. His friend, who went with us, just wanted free drinks and dancing. I didn’tknow what to expect, certainly not running into a hot daddy like Warner, but that’s what I got, and where I was now.
“I don’t like to in public. People I don’t know make me uncomfortable.”
He crossed the floor, stepping over the paddleboard oars and pulled me into a hug. “Oh, baby. You can do or not do whatever you want. If you’re not comfortable, that’s fine.” He kissed my forehead. “You’ll hear others calling their partners daddy or sir or some variation of that. So, you can too. And if you want to be little, that’s up to you. I respect your decision on that completely.”
My heart warmed up and the tightness in my chest relaxed. He got me. He cared. “Thank you, Daddy.”
With another squeeze, he let me go, holding my arms in front of him. “I’ve always got your back, Cody. Just let me know what you need.”
“That makes me happy.” I smiled, thinking about the situation. He said it was up to me, completely. “Don’t tell your friends about me. It’s between us, and they don’t need to know.”
“Of course. I generally don’t talk about their relationships. I don’t know much, except everyone knows Drew is a Dom, but we don’t know a lot about his partner, Justin. He goes to the club, but before they got together, he didn’t.”
“Oh.” I was curious about that, but why was he telling me?
“If you wanted to get to know Justin, maybe he could help you. I mean not about being little, but about coming into this scene and this group, having previously not been around any of it.”
“Hm…I’ll think about that.” It was just like Daddy trying to find something I could relate to, or someone I could relate to anyway.
Back in the present
