Pretty Boy

by K. M. Neuhold

  “Helen, this is my date, Sterling.”

  Her smile slips, and I resist the urge to hide my face against Daddy. I even manage to not squirm as I offer her my hand and say a polite nice to meet ya. She’s nice as pie back to me, but then makes an excuse to slip away right after.

  “I don’t belong here,” I say quietly once she’s gone, my insides squirming as someone else makes their way over to Barrett. It’ll be like this all night. He’s the host after all, and he needs to butter all these people up so they’ll give him boatloads of money that he can give to the local homeless shelter. He told me how this works, and I get it, I do, I just don’t think I should be here for it.

  “You’re mine, which means you belong where I am,” he says simply, keeping an arm firmly around me before putting on another of those fake smiles for the man who greets him next.

  I’m actually relieved when Lorna, Alden, and Kiernan show up to break up the onslaught of new introductions. All three of them look as comfortable as Barrett is, which makes sense, since I’m guessing they’ve all been doing this stuff forever. Lorna looks beautiful in a black gown and an equally stunning woman on her arm in an emerald green dress. Kiernan’s red hair is slicked back, and his beard is tamed. He looks handsome, and the man on his arm seems to agree, looking at him adoringly. Kiernan don’t seem to be looking back all that much though. Poor guy. Alden is without a date, just like he said he would be, and also looks real nice all polished up.

  “Everything looks great, as usual,” Kiernan says, looking around at the hall.

  “Agreed. I was just thinking, we should give Nolan a raise. He’s worth his weight in gold,” Barrett says.

  “I knew my ears were burning,” a voice says from my other side. I peek around Barrett and find his assistant, Gannon, there along with another man, I’m assuming Nolan, who seems to be the one who spoke. Gannon is dressed in a nice suit as well, and looking slightly less scowly than when he stopped by the house. Nolan’s a small man, just about my size, who seems to be doing his darndest to stick out among all the understated wealth in the room. He’s wearing a teal suit and the way his cheeks sparkle, I wonder if he put glitter on them. When Gannon looks at him, I see the twitch of a smile on his lips that’s gone almost as quick as it was there.

  “We were just admiring your work tonight,” Alden says, and it’s the softest I’ve heard his voice sound. He holds Nolan’s gaze until the man blushes, and then switches his attention to Gannon who hardly seems to notice him, or is trying not to notice, I can’t tell which.

  “Why don’t you take a seat,” Barrett says, pulling a chair out for me. “I need to give a little speech, and then the waiters will come around with the food.”

  “Can I use the restroom first?” I ask, and he points me in the right direction.

  I hurry off while most people start taking their seats around the large tables with the expensive looking centerpieces. In the restroom, I use a stall so nobody can glance over and see the pretty cock cage, and when I step back out to wash my hands after, there’s another man standing at the sink.

  He looks over at me, and I offer a polite smile as I turn the water on and start to wash up. I glance at him in the mirror while I soap my hands. He looks younger than most people here, prob’ly a couple years older than I am, at most. And he’s beautiful with sharp features and pink, pouty lips. His blond hair is expertly styled and his suit fits just perfect. He looks up and catches my eye, my face heats when I realize I been caught staring at him.

  “You’re here with Barrett, right?” he asks.

  “Mmhmm,” I answer, drying off my hands.

  He turns to face me, and there’s something about his smile that makes me wince as he looks at me head on, judgment clear in his eyes.

  “Yeah, I get it. He’s a sucker for pathetic, needy boys. That’s why things didn’t work out when I was with him; I knew my worth too well.”

  I flinch back, feeling like I been slapped by the words. “You dated him?” I ask stupidly because I can’t think of nothing else to say.

  “I was his boy for a few months about a year ago,” he says. “The man fucks like a god though, so enjoy the ride until he gets bored with you.” He pats me on the shoulder as he walks past, leaving me standing alone in the restroom feeling like I might hurl.

  I sag against the sink and close my eyes, trying to chase away his words. I don’t care that they fucked. Actually, I do care, but that’s not what’s making my stomach roll and my skin feel too tight. The boy was beautiful and cruel as all get out. If that’s the type of man Barrett usually dates, what in God’s name does he see in me?

  Barrett

  I wrap up my speech and return to the table to find Sterling’s seat still empty.

  “Did he not come back from the bathroom?” I ask my friends, and none of them seem to know anything about it. Frowning, I make my way to the bathroom in search of him. On my way, I spot Rhett, a boy I played with for a while last year, and my concern ramps up. He played the part of a sweet boy for a short time, but it didn’t take long for his true colors to show, and I can only imagine the things he might’ve said to Sterling if they ran into each other while I was busy giving my welcome speech.

  I push open the bathroom door and find the room empty. I even go as far as to check each stall, finding every one of them empty of my boy. My heart beating faster with worry, I hurry out of the bathroom, casting my mind around for where else he might have gone. If he’s not at the table, and not in the restroom, the only other place I can think to look is outside. I’m halfway to the front door when I remember the damn paparazzi. Sterling was clearly uncomfortable around them earlier, if he was upset for some reason, I can’t imagine he’d have wanted to brave them again. I change course and cut a path for the side door instead. This one leads to the alley where the wait staff take their smoke breaks between courses.

  I push open the door, and nearly trip over my boy, sitting smack dab in the middle of the concrete steps that are dotted with stubbed out cigarettes, and what appears to be a couple of joints as well. I breathe a sigh of relief at having found him, stepping outside and letting the heavy door swing closed behind me. I drop down onto the steps to sit beside him.

  “What are you doing out here?” I ask, and he sniffles, keeping his head down.

  “I wanted to leave, but realized I had no place to go. I didn’t even know where the car was, plus I didn’t want to go through all those cameras again right now. So, here I am.” He shrugs.

  “What happened, sweetheart?” I reach over and run my fingers carefully through his hair. He leans into my touch. “You didn’t run into Rhett, did you?”

  “The beautiful blond?” he guesses, and I curse under my breath.

  “Beauty is subjective. He’s ugly as hell on the inside,” I say, and he sniffs again. “What did he say to you? Tell me so I can make it better.”

  “It don’t matter what he said. I knew he was just being nasty,” he answers, scooting closer without looking at me. “Meeting someone you used to date was just another thing shoved in my face to remind me how much I don’t belong here with you.”

  I growl with frustration. “Look at me,” I demand. Sterling wipes his hands against his face and slowly turns his head, meeting my eyes. “You’re sleeping in my bed and wearing my cock cage. You’re here on my arm, being introduced to everyone I know. What do you need to convince you that you’re mine?” I’m as frustrated with myself as I am with him, maybe more so. It’s my job to make sure he feels secure and cared for, and I’m failing him. When he doesn’t say anything, I lift him up and put him on my lap, cupping his face and wiping away the stray tears with my thumbs. “If your ass was red and sore from a spanking, would that convince you? Do you need to be filled by Daddy’s cock and made to come over and over until you’re finally sure of my feelings for you?”

  Sterling’s eyes go wide, his lips parting when I drag my thumb over them. “Yes, Daddy,” he whispers, practically vibrating in my arm
s.

  I put a hand behind his neck and claim his mouth in a hard kiss, dominating his lips and sliding my tongue against his. He whimpers and gasps against my mouth, squirming in my lap until I break the kiss, pressing my forehead against his while I catch my breath.

  “Then let’s go home.”

  Chapter‌ ‌15‌

  Barrett

  I stand up, sweeping Sterling along with me and setting him on his feet.

  “Do you want me to take you to the car so you can wait there while I let Kiernan and Alden know I’m slipping out?”

  Guilt rushes through his expression.

  “This is silly, we should stay. I’m fine,” he insists, wiping his cheeks one more time and then putting on a smile.

  “I made my welcome speech, I shook hands, Gannon can handle anything else in my stead. You’re my priority, always,” I tell him, holding his attention so I’m sure he knows that I mean it.

  He chews his bottom lip for a few more seconds before finally nodding. “I’ll go back in with you.”

  Reaching for his hand, I twine our fingers together and pull the door open. He might not care about whatever Rhett said to him, but I want to make it perfectly clear that Sterling is mine now, and he’s not to be fucked with. Sure enough, as we make our way back over to the table, I spot my former boy watching us. I scowl in his direction, and then put him out of my mind for the rest of my life.

  “There you are. Is everything all right?” Kiernan asks when we reach the table.

  “Fine, but we have to take our leave early,” I inform them.

  “The night’s barely started,” Alden says.

  “Yes, and Gannon can handle anything that’s required at this point,” I answer, tightening my grip on Sterling’s hand when he tries to pull it away, no doubt feeling guilty again, another thing I’ll need to make perfectly clear to him when I get him home and strip him bare for me. I can tell Alden is planning to argue with me, so I level him with a look that lets him know this isn’t up for debate. He glances at Sterling and then back to me before giving an almost imperceptible nod.

  With that out of the way, I pull my phone out of my pocket and send a text to Kane to tell him to bring the car around to the back entrance so we can avoid the paparazzi out front. Sterling’s hand stays firmly in mine as I lead him quietly out the back door and into the waiting car.

  He scoots all the way in, leaving me plenty of space, but the last thing I want is space.

  “Come here,” I say gruffly, patting my thigh.

  He grins and crawls over to straddle my lap. “Is this safe while we drive, Daddy?” Sterling asks playfully, all hints of insecurity and pain blessedly gone, at least for the moment.

  “I assure you, Kane is an excellent driver.” I slide his suit coat off of his shoulders and toss it onto the empty seat beside me. He wiggles on my lap, no doubt feeling my cock hardening as it tents my pants and presses between his legs. Unbuttoning the top few buttons on his shirt, I drag my lips along the column of his throat, savoring the taste of his skin, the warmth and softness of it begging me to find more places to kiss. “You’re such a beautiful, sweet boy,” I murmur, gently nipping at his collar bone.

  Sterling makes a sound that’s somewhere between pleasure and protest, his own fingers toying with the buttons on my shirt without actually loosening them. He’s uncomfortable with my praise, but craves it at the same time, and I plan to fill him with it until there isn’t a single inch of him that questions his worth…to himself or to me. Running my hands up his slim thighs and around to his perky little ass, I squeeze his cheeks and grow even harder imagining how he’s going to look over my lap with his red ass in the air.

  “Daddy?” he says, barely above a whisper, his fingers tightening on my shirt.

  “Yes, little rabbit?” I murmur my response against his Adam’s apple before pressing a kiss there.

  “Am I pathetic?”

  I still, not sure I heard him right at first, and then lean back as I process his question. It only takes me a few seconds to realize that this must have been an idea Rhett put into his head.

  “Do you know why I came back through Billow after my meeting in Dallas?” I ask, and he shakes his head. “It wasn’t because I thought you were some pathetic boy who needed saving. I came back because I couldn’t stop thinking about the fire in your eyes when you crumpled up the tip I tried to leave you and threw it on the ground. You are the farthest thing from pathetic I can imagine. You’re strong and feisty and independent. I don’t want to take care of you because you can’t do it yourself. I want to take care of you because you deserve it.”

  A slow smile spreads over his lips, his eyes warming with trust and affection, tells me maybe I’ve managed to loosen a few bricks in the wall around his heart.

  The car slows to a stop, and I look out the window, surprised to see we’re already home. I squeeze Sterling’s ass again, my cock throbbing impatiently. But there’s little fun in rushing things, so instead I lean in and brush my lips against his ear as I whisper to him. “I’m going to give you a two-minute head start. By the time I reach our bedroom, I want to find you naked on the bed.”

  Sterling practically vibrates in my arms, grinding against my erection, the ridges of his cage sending ripples of pleasure up my spine.

  “If I’m not fast enough, are you going to spank me?” he asks, sounding amused and horny at the same time.

  “You’re getting a spanking either way,” I assure him. “But if you aren’t motivated enough to be undressed in time, then I’ll assume you also aren’t motivated to come for me either.” His breath catches, and he stops grinding against me. “Run, little rabbit,” I whisper again and he’s off my lap, scrambling out of the car in an instant.

  I chuckle to myself, watching with satisfaction as he sprints up the steps to the house, fumbling with his key before finally making it inside. When I adjust my erection and step out of the car as well. Kane grins at me through his open window and shakes his head.

  “Have a good night, sir,” he says with a knowing smirk before driving away.

  “I intend to,” I say out loud to myself before ambling up the steps after my boy.

  Sterling

  I shed my clothes as I sprint up the stairs to the bedroom, stumbling several times on the way but managing to make it without any injuries. My lungs burn with exertion as I set the expensive cufflinks on top of my nightstand and remove my shirt, keeping an ear out for Barrett’s footsteps. When I hear him on the stairs, I shove my underwear down and dive onto the bed.

  The bedroom door creaks open, and he steps in carrying my pants. “You left these on the stairs,” he says, sounding mighty amused while I give up on the attempt to catch my breath, the heated look in his eyes making it impossible.

  My whole body aches watching him slowly unbutton his shirt, not removing it, but leaving it hanging open when he moves onto his pants. I don’t know what it is, but the sight of his strong, hairy thighs does things to me. Lord does it.

  He takes the time to fold his pants and carefully remove each of his cufflinks, while my trapped cock throbs and my balls get painfully heavy. I may be a virgin, but I ain’t never gone so long without coming since I learned the joys of my right hand more than ten years ago.

  When Barrett finally strides over to the bed, still wearing his open dress shirt, his chest on full display, and a pair of red underwear that are straining to contain his cock, it’s all I can do not to pounce on him and beg him to fuck me already.

  He stops beside the bed and gives me the same stern look I got when he caught me playing with myself the other morning. “Hands off,” he says, and I realize I’ve been absently teasing myself through the gaps in the cage, my cock swelling the best it can, precum leaking through the slit on top.

  I groan, forcing my hand away, my hips twitching all on their own. Barrett climbs on top of me, and I reach for the loose fabric of his shirt, arching up to feel his body against mine. But he’s gone too quick, set
tling onto the bed next to me with his back against the headboard. It’s the same way he likes to sit when he reads to me at night, but I swear if he pulls out a book to read right now, I’m gonna start screaming.

  “Over my lap,” he says, and I hurry to obey, scrambling onto all fours and practically throwing myself over his thighs.

  “Pretty boy,” he murmurs in that deep rumble of a voice that sets my skin ablaze, rubbing the palm of his hand over the curve of my behind. With his hands on me and his solid erection pressed against my hip, I’m almost able to believe his words.

  I don't realize until I’m bracing for the first swat until my body starts to relax, sagging against him while he keeps touching and kneading my butt and upper thighs.

  The first blow catches me by surprise, stinging against my skin and making my balls feel even heavier, a moan flying out of my mouth louder than the cracking sound of his hand against my skin. Barrett kneads the same spot he just spanked, creating an ache that not only heats my skin but settles deep in the pit of my stomach.

  “Okay, little rabbit?” he checks, and I manage to make myself nod. “Words.”

  “Yes, Daddy.”

  “Good. We’ll keep it easy for your first time, so just relax. And if you need me to stop but can’t manage to say your safeword, tap my thigh. Got it?”

  “Yes, Daddy,” I rasp.

  “Good boy,” he says, his words rocking my body almost as much as the spank that follows, echoing in the room and making my ass burn. “When your ass is sore tomorrow, you’ll remember who you belong to, won’t you?” He follows it with several smacks, one right after another, so I’m guessing he don’t need any kinda real answer from me. Not that I think I could talk right now anyway.

  I tilt my hips up to meet his hand when the next blow lands, every inch of my body feeling like a live wire. The hotter my butt burns, the more precum drips from my desperately caged cock, Barrett’s thigh growing slick and sticky under me as I gasp and writhe and moan, the word Daddy falling from my lips over and over.