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December
Quinn
I walked up to the former yoga studio that Royce, Jax, and a couple of friends had bought for the puppy play organization. Today, it wasn’t for pups. They were donating the space for my employer’s charity Christmas event. And obviously, I was volunteering. I wanted to contribute my time and money for the kids, but I also wanted another opportunity to see Royce. We’d been dating a little since we met after the PRIDE parade this past June, but I was ready to move it to another level. I liked my pup a lot and wanted more of him.
I pulled open the doors and looked around, but Royce wasn’t there. “Jax, hey.” He was Royce’s best friend and helping to organize the event. He was now living with Ward Predmore, a very successful businessman and top client and best friend of Drew, my boss. So plenty of connections there, but where was my pup?
“Oh, hi, Quinn. Glad you’re here.” He was standing around the front table with their other friend, Todd. “I need another set of hands today.”
“Sure, put me to work. But where’s Royce?”
Jax smiled, but it reminded me of a shark. “He’s out at the center, wrangling the kiddos.” He grabbed a tag from the table in front of him and a marker. “But, I think we need to help our boy out.” He pointed the marker at me.
“What do you mean?”
Todd laughed as Jax started writing. “He needs his name in the game.”
I still didn’t know what he meant, so I looked to Todd, who held his hands up. “This is all Jax.” But then he snickered. They were up to something.
Jax turned that sass on me with a cocked hip and roll of the eyes. “You know how this works, right?” he asked, waiving the marker around.
“No. I was told to show up and help. That’s it.”
Jax showed off his teeth in that shark smile again. “The kids' names are all on these tags. So anyone with a name should get a toy.”
“And you put Royce’s name in?”
“Yep. He needs some fun. This is where you come in.”
I pulled a face and raised an eyebrow.
“The adults coming to this thing all have to buy a kid's name.” He pointed to the room behind him, where tables were set up with toys all over them. “Then you wrap the toy and put the tag on it.” He waved Royce’s name. “See how it works? It’s a double donation. The toys were all donated, and then the names are purchased. The kids have fun, but the center gets funds as well.”
“Clever.” It sounded like a good plan, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the tag he kept waving around. “Why are we putting Royce in this?”
“He needs cheering up. Right, Todd?”
“Definitely.” The kid snickered again. “I think you should, uh, you know?” He motioned toward Jax.
I had no idea why Royce would need cheering up, but I reached out for it, wanting to be the man to do whatever needed to be done—anything for Royce. But Jax pulled the tag back out of reach. “I think you need to pay extra since Royce isn’t a kid, and you didn’t donate a toy.”
“Deal.” I pulled my wallet out and coughed up a thousand bucks with the swipe of my card. “That feels like more than double.”
“Probably, but it’s a great cause.” Jax handed me the name tag.
Todd added, “For the center and for Royce.”
Jax laughed with his mouth covered, then pointed behind him with the marker. “Go pick out a toy and wrap it.”
Todd leaned into Jax’s side and snickered. “Things that sound dirty but aren’t.” Then they were falling all over each other laughing, but I didn’t have time for their hijinks. I couldn’t stop looking at the tag.
Royce Mabry
Written in blue marker. Time to search for something he’d like. And if I was lucky, maybe he’d like to have a daddy for Christmas as well.
The tables were littered with toys for boys and girls of all ages, from dolls, to trains, to robots, and Legos. I wasn’t sure what would work. After a few minutes, Jax came up to me. “Time’s ticking. Drew will be here with the adults in about fifteen minutes, then you’re going to help them get their toys wrapped. Royce will be here in less than two hours. Hop to it.” He clapped his hands. “All wrapped and tagged toys go over there.” He pointed to the back of the room, where two other tables were set up on either side of a large chair.
“Who’s playing Santa?” I asked.
