“All my life you’ve done this. Have little faith in me. All my life you okayed every bullshit I did, shrugging off every time I screwed up instead of holding me accountable. You just allowed me to do whatever I wanted, and then…then Dad and Jake died. You started expecting me to change overnight, to be someone you never prepared me to be! Finally, you started acting like a mother, but now you’re back to buying off professors? The only thing that teaches me is that you are unethical. That you haven’t only failed as a mother, but you’re now failing as a human being as well.”
“Don’t you dare speak to me that way!” she hissed, getting to her feet, as if her pathetic height would intimidate me. “I’ve loved you when you were at your worst! I’ve loved you when I have no business doing so. I’m doing this for you because I love you.”
I didn’t bother to ask her to clarify her last statements. I grabbed my laptop and backtracked to the door, pausing to bow mockingly at her.
“My bad. What I should’ve said was ‘thank you, Mother.’ You’ve managed once again to fuck up my life. Well done.”
Chapter Eighteen
Callum
An entire week passed without seeing Ashton, and absence fucked with my head in a major way. We’d just started our relationship, but I’d already gotten so accustomed to seeing him around, even before he wore me down about us. He’d pop into the coffee shop to grab his cup of Libertine while he ogled and propositioned me for Daddy duties.
I missed him.
I peeled off the disposable gloves I had on, dropped them into the bin, and dug my phone out of my pocket. I found his last messages and, with a frown, reread them. Sent this morning at 6:15 a.m. The message had taken me by surprise because Ashton didn’t strike me as the person who woke up at dawn.
Ashton: Hi, Daddy. Thinking of you.
Me: Hey, baby, why are you up so early? Studying?
Ashton: Yeah, have a lot of work catching up on. You know me, waiting until the last minute to get everything done. I know I’ve been MIA lately.
Me: I’ve noticed, but I’m okay with that as it means you’re writing your papers. Are you?
Ashton: Yeah, they’re done.
Me: If you need help, drop by the coffee shop. You know I don’t mind.
Ashton: I’ve got it.
Before I could reply, he’d double-texted me.
Ashton: You still crazy about me?
I smiled, even now remembering how off I’d felt when he texted me, but at that point, the worry had eased. He seemed like the same Ashton I knew. A cocky, spoiled brat.
Me: I’ll tell you to your face.
He hadn’t responded after that, and I worried once more about him. He’d said he was going to his classes and doing his assignments. I couldn’t argue with that, so I didn’t press for him to come over.
Blue balls weren’t likely to kill me. I would’ve liked to help him with his assignments too, but I felt proud of him for wanting to do them on his own. Suddenly my worry when we first started dating seemed all for nothing.
He was being a good boy.
“Everything okay?” Phil asked, entering the kitchen area.
“Yup.” I slipped my phone back into my pocket, washed my hands, and asked him, “So, what do you think? Was it a good idea to hire Brayden?”
“The best idea you’ve had since approaching me about opening this place,” he replied. “The kid is a godsend. He works hard, and we actually get to take an entire day off now.”
Too bad Ashton hadn’t been around for me to spend the last day off with him. Wednesdays were out, since I had personal duties to take care of, but I would’ve liked to take him out for that dinner we’d talked about. He’d canceled on me, and I hadn’t seen him since.
Hopefully, he’d have finished all his schoolwork and could come over soon.
“Do you think we should open all day on Wednesday now that we have some help?” Phil asked.
I’d been thinking the same thing. Initially we’d opted to open only until 2:00 p.m. on Wednesdays to give us both the afternoon off, but we’d hired Brayden so we could get time off. Extending our Wednesday hours would be a step back.
“No, the original time is fine,” I said. “Besides, it’s not a real day off anyway, since I’m always doing inventory on a Wednesday and trying to catch up on the paperwork.”
“True.”
When he didn’t say anything else, I took the initiative to find out what was wrong. “What?”
“Nothing, just, eh, wondering when you’re going to see Ashton again. He hasn’t been around.”
“He’s busy, Phil.” I turned away so he didn’t see the same question in my eyes. When would I see him again? “You know he goes to college, and that doesn’t change because we’re seeing each other.”
“Yeah, but don’t you find it odd? He’s usually here at least three times a week.”
As if I hadn’t already considered that. But then he hadn’t been serious about his academic results before. He was putting in the time now, trying to catch up. It was the responsible thing for him to put his education first.
“I’m not worrying about it, and neither should you.”
“All right, if you say so.”
He returned to the counter area, and I let out a long breath. He’d hit the nail on the head as far as my worry was concerned. For a month, Ash had kept to his routine. Two days after being together, he all but disappeared except for the text messages. Not even a call.
“Fuck.”
I hoped like hell nothing was wrong or if he’d changed his mind about us. He could’ve least let me know and not string me on via text messages, which I hated. It was difficult for me not to be suspicious about what he was doing. Mario would disappear, sometimes for weeks before he returned, too drunk and too fucked out to be of any use to me. Still, I’d always taken care of him.
But that’s different. Ash is studying. Mario was destructive.
I rang his phone, but the calls went to voicemail. I gave him a curt order to call me back as soon as possible. Then I put him from my mind and worked alongside Phil and Brayden to keep the shop efficient.
Promises I’d made to myself post-Mario came to mind. To never again be so obsessed about a boy that I’d drive myself sick worrying about him when he didn’t give me the same respect.
As the day wore on, my phone stayed silent. No calls from Ash. But sometime around eight, he showed up at the coffee shop. The place was practically empty at this time, so when the bell rang, I glanced up from the notepad where I was scribbling down reminders.
He looked good enough to eat, but Ashton would look good in anything. His slender frame was draped in his favorite apparel: skinny designer jeans and a soft multicolored-printed shirt tucked into the waistband. His bottom lip was caught between his teeth as he looked around.
His eyes met mine, and I straightened. His eyes…there was something wrong, and I didn’t mean just the dark smudges and tiredness in them like he hadn’t been sleeping well. Then his gaze fell on me, and happiness chased away the unsettling look.
“Who is that?” Brayden asked more to himself, but the awe in his voice was unmistaken.
I got it. People swiveled around all the time to check out Ash whenever he walked into the shop. His presence was the kind you couldn’t help noticing. His energy was so vivid, so bold.
“The boss’s boyfriend,” Phil answered, but I stayed clear of the conversation, watching Ash walk toward me.
“Hey, missed me?” he asked, stopping at the counter.
“Hey, yourself. What kind of trouble have you been getting into? You look horrible.”
He chuckled, hitching his bag more firmly onto his shoulder. “Well, that sucks. Almost a week of not seeing you and that’s the best you can do?”
I glanced around the coffee shop and the customer who was walking up behind him. Now wasn’t the time nor the place to show him the best I could do.
“For now.” I grabbed my set of keys from the counter a
nd passed them to him. “Go on upstairs. I’ll see you in a few.”
He nodded and gave me a wink. “I’ll be ready for you.”
I wanted to tell him that I wasn’t sending him upstairs for sex, but he’d already turned around, and the customer was way too close.
I watched him walk toward the door, his tight jeans hugging his ass. My cock twitched, and I tore my eyes away to attend to the customer. So maybe he was right and a little sex would be involved, but I was looking forward to so much more now that he was here.
The urge to hand over the customer to Brayden and follow Ashton was strong, but I needed a minute. I was certain I hadn’t imagined it. There was something off about him, and I intended to get to the bottom of it as soon as we locked up for the night.
The time couldn’t fly by fast enough. I kept checking my watch or counting how many customers were left in the shop. Brayden went home first. He was a senior in high school and needed to get some homework done.
The kid was a big help, just as Phil had said. His presence added another dimension to the shop as he was able to relate better to the young adult crowd. Ever since he’d shown his infectious personality during his interview, I knew he was the missing piece of the puzzle that would make Coffee Crave a better place for all of us.
When the clock struck ten minutes to the hour, the café was clear of customers, and we turned the Closed sign to ward off last-minute walk-ins while we cleaned up. There were tables to wipe down and whatever utensils we’d used to be washed up, sterilized, and ready for use tomorrow. Thankfully, during the slow period just before closing, we’d started to clean up in the back, and we had little left to do.
Still, bathrooms had to be cleaned, floors wiped, and the cash register balanced. Phil needed half an hour to drive home, so I checked the last things. By the time I locked up, I was so impatient to get upstairs that I forgot to take out the trash. I honestly debated waiting until morning to throw out the garbage, but in the end, I couldn’t.
I finally made it upstairs, annoyed that Ash had left the door open again. I let myself in and took off my shoes. He was lying on my bed on his stomach, his sock-covered feet crossed in the air. He must not have heard me come in because he didn’t even stir. I soon noticed why. Music blasted from the earphones he had in. He had his phone in his hand, scrolling with his thumb, his head bobbing to the music.
For a minute, I stood there just inside the bedroom, watching him, my heart constricting painfully. But in a good way. Like caring about someone so much it ached.
When had this happened? It couldn’t have been in the little time we knew each other. But if I were honest with myself, I had to admit I’d been letting him in little by little over the past month. Wasn’t that the real reason I’d ended up at his birthday party?
I pressed both hands to the soles of his feet, and he jerked away, crying out. I barely managed to duck a kick to my head as he scrambled to a sitting position.
“Ash, relax. It’s me.”
His face registered relief, one hand going over his heart while the other yanked his earphones out. “What were you thinking?” he gasped, his cheeks flushing red. “I thought someone had broken in.”
I sat on the bed next to him, took up his legs, and pulled on them. He sprawled onto his back as I placed his feet in my lap and dug my fingers into his left sole. “You left the door unlocked again. I thought I told you to keep it locked when you’re up here alone.”
“I guess I forgot.” He smiled sheepishly at me, then closed his eyes and moaned. “Oh god, what are you doing to my feet?”
“Feels good?” I smirked, smug at the way he melted on the mattress.
“Feels better than good. The pressure shoots up to my dick, Callum.”
I replaced his left leg onto my lap and reached for the other, kneading the tension out of his soles. With a tug, I removed his socks and smiled at the sparkly purple nail polish he wore. His toes were neatly pedicured and smelled of whatever laundry detergent he used to wash his socks. The flowery scent was alluring, and I leaned forward and caught two of his toes into my mouth.
His eyes jerked wide open, and he gasped, his jaw slack. “Callum—Daddy,” he moaned.
“Hmm.”
My response was to suck on his toes harder, and his body tightened from the pressure. I knew exactly what I was doing, knew how the nerve endings in his feet connected with pleasure spots all over his body. While I sucked on his toes, taking my time to lick between them, I massaged the heel of his foot. His body twisted and turned on the bed, rising and falling.
The dazed look on his face was one of pure rapture.
I released his feet and placed them both wide as I crawled up between his legs. I needed a shower, and I was pretty certain the smell emanating from me could feed a coffee addict’s fix, but I couldn’t pull away from the way his body beckoned me. His eyes begged me to fuck him.
He grabbed for me, but I resisted touching him back until I was fully over him. Then I lowered my weight onto his body, arms bracketing the sides of his head to avoid crushing him.
“Fuck,” I moaned at the feel of him beneath me.
Ash promptly locked his ankles around my waist, his heels digging into my ass. He ground up against me, the bulge in his jeans scraping against my hardness. It took everything in me not to rip his jeans off and sink into the tightness of his hole I’d gotten accustomed to.
Ash’s labored breathing filled the bedroom, warm puffs of his breath hitting my face. He smelled like the strawberry ice cream I’d stashed in my freezer.
My mouth watered, but despite the way he impatiently fused our lower halves together, I didn’t kiss him. I searched his face, staring into those tired eyes. Balancing on one hand, I stroked his face with the other, smoothing my fingers over the flawlessness of his complexion.
“You been taking care of yourself?” I asked softly. “You don’t look like you’ve been sleeping well.”
His hips fell back against the bed, then angled upward again. I grunted, shivering at the thrill that ran down my spine from the contact of his cock against mine.
“You really want to talk about how I’ve been sleeping at a time like this?” he asked on a groan. “I can’t think of anything but how good it felt the last time you were in me. Want. You. Daddy.”
He grabbed the back of my head and pulled. I took pity on him and pressed my lips to his. Ashton went wild beneath me, tugging at my shirt, not satisfied until his hands were smoothing up and down my abs. I couldn’t blame all the sudden urgency on him since I couldn’t stop kissing him back. His passion was intoxicating and fanned the flame between us.
“Baby, I should take a shower,” I mumbled against his lips when his hands peeled down the waistband of my jeans and he cupped my naked ass. His fingernails bit into my flesh, the sharp sting zinging right to my cock.
“The filthier, the better,” he murmured and shoved at my chest, taking me by surprise. I flipped over onto my back, and he climbed me like a tree, eyes twinkling, smoldering. He straddled my hips, grasped the hem of his shirt, yanked the material over his head, and threw it onto the floor.
I groaned at the sight of him running his hands over his slender chest and rubbing at his nipples with his head tossed back. He gyrated his hips, his ass rising and falling against my cock.
“You’re messing with my plans, boy.” I gripped his busy hips to hold him steady while I thrust upward, wishing our jeans weren’t in the way. I would’ve had my cock inside him by now.
“What plans could you have other than this?” he moaned, riding my lap. “I haven’t seen you in one whole week!”
“I planned to take you to dinner first.” I dropped my hips back to the bed. Fuck, if I didn’t stop, my cock was going to bore a hole through both our jeans.
“Oh, I know what’s a good source of protein.”
He scrambled down my legs and took hold of the waistband of my jeans. They were already pulled down to reveal the crinkly black hair around the base
of my cock. He tugged, and I raised my hips, allowing him to pull my jeans down to my thighs. My underwear followed, and my dick sprang up in the air, hard, the tip plump and shiny with precum.
Fuck, if we were going to do this, then we might as well do it my way.
Chapter Nineteen
Ashton
“Wait!” Callum said, knocking my hand away before I could fist his cock.
My nostrils flared out of impatience and desperation as I eyed Callum’s dripping cock, then glanced up at him. I’d missed him something awful this week, but I’d been afraid he’d know something was up if I’d tried to be around him.
God knew the last few days had been absolutely shit, and I hadn’t wanted him to know how fucked-up my life was. How much I’d fucked up. He didn’t need to know I’d broken his rule. It wasn’t an everyday thing. I just needed something to get me out of my funk.
Now that I was right here in his bed, I wanted to taste his tangy, bitterish cum on my lips. I wanted to press my torso to the bed, rise on my knees, and beg him to fuck me like a bitch in heat. I wanted him so much to camouflage everything else that was not him.
“Daddy, please,” I begged, reaching for his dick again, but he captured my wrist in his hand. “I haven’t had you in my mouth for so long. I just want to taste you. Don’t you want to come inside my mouth, Daddy?”
His nostrils flared his response, and had I not been so frustrated, I would’ve felt smug. All I cared about, though, was either his cock in my mouth or in my ass. I wanted to feel him inside me so I didn’t have to think of anything else that clamored for my attention.
“Don’t worry.” Callum slipped out from beneath me and dumped me onto my back. “I’m going to fuck your throat raw. Is that what you want, boy? For Daddy’s cock to gag you on the way down?”
I cupped my cock through my jeans and sobbed. “Yes! Yes, please.”
“So eager, are you?” He undid my belt buckle and released me. He was gentler than I’d been when I’d pulled down his pants. He took his time, sliding the material down my legs. He left them hanging at my knees and stilled, his eyes fastened on the lacy hot pink G-string I had on. His eyes narrowed, and his chest rose and fell rapidly.
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