Page 98 of Love Unlimited

Yes, Daddy! Please Daddy? Today? Now? They started moving toward him on their paint-splattered knees.

He pretended to consider, drawing it out. I think we might have some time for that… Do you want all of your humans to come with you?

Yes! Humans, yes! Now, Daddy?

Zhong looked around the room to meet everyone’s eyes. Lena looked eager. Dustin was smiling fondly.

Go get your bag, sweetheart. We’ll meet on the porch.

Thank you, Daddy! Ash pushed in between his legs to give him a hug, and then licked his cheek. He made a face at the unexpected wetness, but he wasn’t going to wipe it away.

He loved doggy kisses.

Ash raced up the stairs and Zhong turned back to the other two. Are you good with this? Don’t feel obligated.

I wouldn’t miss this for the world, Dustin told him.

Can I throw the ball? Lena asked.

Zhong beamed. Of course.

Chapter 16

Landon

Landon waited in the university theater lobby, scanning the doors anxiously.

He’d woken up this morning feeling relaxed. He’d gone on a nice, long run with Dustin, and then blown him in the shower. Dustin hadn’t allowed him to come, but that left him with a different delicious feeling of ownership and contentment.

He’d had a good teaching day, too. The summer school term was drawing to a close, and he felt like most of his students would be ready for the state tests that they were retaking. More importantly, they’d been working hard on the independent projects that he had the freedom to do with them over the summer. They were all excited that he’d invited several scientists in to see their showcase next week.

But the meeting after school had changed all of that. The news hadn’t been good, and he was really looking forward to some time to relax before he made sense of it all.

A movie would be perfect for that, letting himself be transported to another world where the bad guys wore capes and masks instead of cheap ties or polyester skirt suits.

He let his eyes drift down the movie schedule posted on the wall. This was a small theater at the university that sold tickets for a couple dollars, not a commercial theater, so it was just a list of dates and titles printed on a eleven-by-seventeen sheet of white paper. He and Zhong had attended four of them so far, and this was the one they were both especially looking forward to.

Unfortunately, the movie was starting in four minutes and there was still no sign of Zhong. He hadn’t returned any texts, and it wasn’t like him to be late.

Landon could feel his worry increasing, the uncertainty wrapping around his spine and squeezing. What was taking him so long?

They were going to miss the beginning of the movie, but honestly, Landon wasn’t that big of a stickler for things like that. It was more that he wanted to know where Zhong was.

Landon wanted a Daddy right now, and that Daddy was late.

Before Dustin came into his life, Landon would have let that shaky feeling, where his skin itched all over and felt like it didn’t fit, ride him for days. Now he was getting more used to bringing all of his problems to his Daddy. If he hadn’t already made these movie plans, he would be at home right now, making Daddy’s life difficult until he wound up over his knee, preferably at the receiving end of a belt.

Obviously, that wouldn’t be possible. Not with Zhong and not in the theater.

But he still wanted Zhong to hurry up and get there.

The possibility of traffic or engine trouble crossed his mind. Hopefully, knock on wood, not a car accident.

That wasn’t likely though. His tension was more, he realized, about the irrational fear that Zhong wasn’t coming. He knew how ridiculous it was. Zhong was reliable and they’d agreed last night on their plans.

It was just that little place inside him that still felt like nobody would stick around for him. Despite most of a year with Dustin’s devoted affection, he was projecting that onto Zhong too. It was still hard to believe sometimes that Daddy wanted him, with all of his defiance and prickly edges. And somehow that feeling had been seeping back in recently with Zhong.

He found that he really, really, really wanted Zhong to like him. Which was silly. They were already good friends, and their shared partner only made them closer. Zhong practically lived at his house, for God’s sake, which was actually Dustin’s house, which was all kinds of wonderful when he wasn’t feeling anxious.