Todd gave him a big smile. “You’ll love it, I’m sure. Nothing better in Florida than being in and around the water.” He stretched his arm out to the side in the direction of exactly that—the water. It sparkled in the last of the early evening sunlight, and I couldn’t wait to get in.
“For sure. We’ll be doing that even more when we stop on the way home in Fort Myers,” Jax added. “Tomorrow we only get a half day, so we can see the parade. But the next day we’ll be able to go all day long, since the ship won’t dock until late that night.”
Joey cheered, and a part of me did too. I loved being in the water, but the parade was at five the next day, so we wouldn’t have as much time to get in. For the rest of the evening, everyone had time to get settled and enjoy free time, but not really enough to get in the water at all. I could wait another day.
Royce tapped on the table in front of my plate. “Hey, what was going on with you? And why were you gone so long with my car?”
“Sorry, Royce. I-I panicked. That’s a long story, but I love your car.” I perked up, hoping to change the subject, but Royce wasn’t having it.
“I’m more concerned about the panicking part of that sentence. You had us all so worried. Are you really okay?”
“Yeah…” He deserved to hear some of this anyway, and maybe it would keep the others from asking. I wiped my face with my paper towel and sighed. “I was running away from my daddy because he was talking ‘bout family, and he told everyone I was a little.” I wanted to hide behind that paper towel.
Royce grunted. “Everyone here is something. Little, middle, pup.” He nodded to his friends, the other pups. “Or just into kinky shit like Drew and Justin. This is family. Where you can feel safe just being you.”
“Yeah,” Todd added. “I had to learn that the hard way when I had issues. I kept things bottled up too long. Don’t do it like that. Let us help you. That’s what we’re here for.”
“I guess I knew that but…it was more about how fast he’s moving, and I’m not sure I’m ready to even move in with him, let alone have a family.” I reached for my drink. Would that juice box be big enough to hide behind? Probably not.
“I think he’s dreaming about someday. Don’t you do that?” Jax asked.
“Sure. But I don’t think my someday and his match. He sees kids and a normal life. But I want to be the kid. I want to be spoiled and taken care of and…” I shrugged, not knowing if anyof this made sense. “I want a career. Staying home, wiping snotty noses all day? No, thank you, sir.”
“You don’t have to have babies—hell, I think you need to talk to Warner about this.” Joey shoved me a little. “I don’t think it’s time for making those decisions.”
“But I don’t want to move in, and then he’ll be asking me to marry him, then boom—kids. And I’m still wondering what the heck I’m doing with my life. And seriously, right now, I just want to have fun.” The words spilled out like a waterfall.
“That settles it,” Todd said, slapping the table in front of him. “Don’t think about it during this trip. Have fun, relax. And when you get home, take time to really think about what you want. Then talk to Daddy Warner after that.”
“That sounds like the best plan I’ve heard so far.” Which was exactly what I had planned to start with until I overheard Daddy blurting out all our secret private stuff and lost my shit.
“Good.” Joey nudged me again. “Cuz here come the daddies.”
Chapter fourteen
Warner – Step by Step
It was past time to check in with my boy. When I got to the lunch table, I sat beside him, squishing in between him and Joey. “How are you feeling? Ready for the parade tomorrow?”
“Yeah, sure.” He was acting like nothing happened, but even though I was having fun on this trip, his running away was overshadowing that for me. I had to get to the bottom of it. There was no waiting any longer, so after we ate, I pulled him aside for our private talk. Apparently, this was overdue, and since my job was to make sure my boy was happy and healthy, I felt like I’d failed him.
We walked around looking for a private spot, and when no one was at the pavilion, we stopped there. I held Cody’s hand up and kissed his knuckles. “You know I love you more than anything.”
“I love you too, Warner.” Uh-oh. He was fully in adult mode. Well, maybe that was for the best for this conversation.
“Good.” I sat on a bench and pulled him into my lap. “I was really worried when you disappeared like that. It wasn’t justme, either. You worried Joey and Vince, and what do you think Royce thought?”
Cody sighed. “I apologized to Royce. It wasn’t nice, but he’s okay with it.”
“True, but it cost him time and money, and now he can’t let his friend borrow the car like he’d planned.”
Cody bit that bottom lip, looking years younger than he was. Though in truth, he was young, nearly ten years younger than me. Normally, I didn’t think about that age difference, but maybe that was part of our problem right now. My biological clock was going off, and he still hadn’t figured out he had one.
“It’s okay, Cody, but there are consequences to your actions. Always. I feel like you didn’t think about that. What if Royce had called the cops or sued you?”
Cody gasped. “He’s not?”
“No, I don’t think so.” He’d given Cody the keys, after all, but that wasn’t my point. “But you still shouldn’t have done that. You should have come to talk to me. If you needed to go, I would have worked it out, and not in the middle of the night without telling anyone.”
