“Wow, that was awesome,” I said when their performance was over.
Jeo nodded in agreement. “Gonna be hard for me to find something to tease him about after that.”
Next came a comedy sketch, then a violin solo, a gymnastics duo, and a ribbon dancer.
Matteo was up last, and his performance of I Will Always Love You with Dante accompanying him on the guitar brought down the house. There wasn’t a dry eye in the auditorium, and the applause sounded like thunder.
As Jeo and I made our way out the side exit, my hand clasped in his, I was smiling from ear to ear. The show had been a great success. A couple of weeks ago, when we’d realized how many important business owners were going to attend, we’d planned for a reception in one of the ballrooms after the show. Jeo and I headed for one of the back rooms offstage and quickly changed, chatting about the performances the whole time.
Morgan must have skipped the rest of the show and changed clothes so he could hustle to the reception because he was already there chatting with people when we walked in. He snagged us immediately.
“There they are! Jeo, Nick, I want you to meet Don Livingston and his wife Audrey. They own the Webopolis computer chain and were just praising your dancing.”
A balding, sixty-something man stepped forward and shook first Jeo’s hand, then mine.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said. “Your performance was very entertaining.”
Jeo responded, but I didn’t hear. My eyes were glued to the couple standing slightly behind the Livingstons.
“This is Nicholas Carpenter and Fiona Wilder, good friends of ours,” Mr. Livingston said, stepping aside so the couple could come forward. My eyes met my father’s, and other than a fleeting tick, he didn’t show any sign of knowing me.
“Nice to meet you,” he said, extending his hand. I stared at it a moment before taking it. It was the first time I’d touched him in years. I watched as he shoved his hand into his coat pocket the moment we let go.
“Both of these men have generously donated to Rainbow House tonight,” Morgan said.
“My fiancée and I both believe in the importance of giving to charitable causes.” Fiona, the woman with my father, shook my hand next.
Jeo stared angrily at my father. When had my dad gotten engaged? Had my grandmother mentioned it to me? When Jeo opened his mouth to say something, I quickly interrupted. “That’s very nice of you to donate. Thank you. Rainbow House does wonderful work.”
“Your performance was spectacular, wasn’t it, Nicholas?” Fiona looked up at my father looked up at him. He kept the fake smile pasted to his face while he nodded.
“Yes, very entertaining.”
Looking into my father’s eyes, I saw a flash of fear in their depths—fear that I would tell his fiancée and his friends that I was his son. A part of me wanted to do it. Wanted to humiliate him by letting them know it was his gay son who had danced onstage with another man. I wanted it so badly I could taste the words on my tongue.
Tears stinging my eyes, I choked out, “Excuse me,” and walked away.
I burst through the exit door. My father had seen the show. He’d been here when Jeo and I danced. Had I known that, I never would have been able to go onstage.
And he was here with a woman he was evidently going to marry. My future stepmother. Only she’d never know me because he didn’t want her to. I wondered if she even knew he had a son.
He hadn’t wanted any of them to know.
The hurt was crippling.
I’d no sooner stepped out into the cool night air than Jeo was beside me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and leading me away from the building. He didn’t stop walking until we were well away from anyone who might walk by.
“Nick,” he said softly, and I clenched my teeth at the pity in his voice. Eyes smarting, I blinked rapidly while staring at the woods on the other side of the parking area behind him. “The man is a complete and utter bastard.”
I nodded slowly, lower lip trembling.
“He’s not worth it, honey. He’s not.” Jeo pulled me into his arms.
“I knew he hated me,” I said in a choked voice. “Knew he didn’t want to have anything to do with me. But I didn’t know how deep it went. So deep, he would pretend he didn’t know me rather than admit I was his s-son.” My voice broke, and I squeezed my eyes shut, hot tears coursing down my cheeks as Jeo combed his fingers through my hair. “Is it just because I’m gay? Is that what makes me so unlovable to him? But he was here tonight. He gave money to the cause.”
“I’m sure he was putting on a show for his girlfriend. And you’re not unlovable, sweetheart. Some people are just assholes.”
A sob escaped my throat. “But I’m his son! I’m a part of him! He loved my mother…why can’t he love me? What did I ever do to make him hate me so much? I can’t help who I’m attracted to. Doesn’t he know that if I could have changed that part of me so he’d love me, I would have?” I cried, big, racking sobs that shook me, while Jeo murmured into my hair.
“Of course you can’t help it, baby. Nothing’s wrong with you. It’s all him. There’s something cold and dark inside him—there has to be for him not to be proud to have a wonderful son like you.” Jeo gripped my face and pulled back, dark eyes boring into mine. “But I love you, Nick. I love you, and that’s never going to change. You hear me? You can take that to the bank.”
He kissed me, hard, and I gripped his back, trying to get closer, to crawl into the heat of his body where I’d stay forever if I could. Jeo loved me. Really loved me. And I believed it because I could feel it pouring off him and into me, filling the emptiness that had been with me so long, it had become a part of me.
“You ready to go home?” Jeo asked when we’d parted. I nodded, sniffling.
He wrapped his arm around me and led me to the car.
****
That night Jeo made love to me, taking me apart with long, slow strokes of his cock. He kissed my tears away and whispered to me how proud he was of me, how much he loved me, and that he’d never leave me. Gradually, with each caress and endearment, the hollowed out part inside me closed up until, by the time we lay curled together in my bed, bodies sated, the hurt I’d felt over my father barely registered anymore, and I doubted he could ever affect me so deeply again.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Jeo
3 months later
“I don’t think this is a very good idea,” I said.
With whiskers and a pink nose painted on his face, and two pointy little ears sitting on top of his head, Nick’s determined expression looked comical. The smoky eye makeup and sexy-as-sin black body suit had me wanting to pull on that long black tail while fucking him, but that would have to wait until after the Halloween party at Rainbow House.
“We’ve got to be there in twenty-minutes,” I said, less worried about being late than Nick upsetting himself before an event he’d been looking forward to all month.
“And we will be,” Nick said. “Meet me downstairs.” He turned, tail swishing, and was halfway down the hall before my mind caught up, and I shut and locked his apartment door before going after him.
“Nick!” When I rounded the corner, the elevator door slid closed.
I took off for the stairwell.
Since the night of the talent show when his father had pretended not to know him, things had changed between me and Nick. I’d thought we already had something really good, but it turned out that was nothing in comparison to what we had once the barriers had fallen. I don’t know if it had been me or him or the both of us, but the change was undeniable. No tension, no inner questioning. Total trust. After thinking about it, I’d come to the conclusion that, for Nick, it had taken my telling him I loved him. And for me, I’d needed to see that complete trust in his eyes.
Nick hated that he was afraid of small spaces. The incident in Tony’s bathroom had embarrassed him, and he’d admitted to being terrified something like that would happen in fr
ont of other people. His best friend had been one thing, but he would be mortified if anyone else saw him like that.
“What about me?” I’d asked him, and Nick’s face had softened.
“No,” he’d said, stroking my cheek with his fingers. “Because I love you.”
What those words had done to my heart—I couldn’t describe it. I thought they’d been the final piece I needed in my new life.
I hurried to the lobby, the black boots of my costume echoing in the stairwell. Although I was worried about Nick, I couldn’t help but be proud of him for having the guts to face his fears. But why did he have to pick today? I was killing myself trying to get down the stairs so I could be there when the doors opened.
Jay looked up from the reception desk when I burst through the exit door and raced across the lobby.
“Everything okay, Jeo?” he asked.
“Yeah, fine,” I called back to him.
I heard the ding of the elevator as I rounded the corner, and the next thing I knew, I’d crashed into Nick.
I grabbed him before he could fall, and he clutched at me frantically, body shaking.
“It’s okay. You’re okay,” I said, rubbing the back of his neck. His skin was covered in a cold sweat. I continued holding and petting him until his breathing slowed and his grip on me loosened.
Nick shook his head and spoke into my shirt between panting breaths. “That—was awful. You were right—I shouldn’t have done it.”
I stroked his hair. “Yeah, well, maybe you’ll listen to me next time, but I doubt it.”
Nick’s soft chuckle was my reward.
“You were so brave,” I said, heart constricting. “Daddy’s proud of you.”
Nick looked up at me, eyes wet.
“Careful, you’ll smudge that pretty makeup. And I want to do that myself when we get home tonight.”
His pupils dilated, and his hand moved to trace my dick in my pants. He smiled coyly. “Really, Daddy?”
I nodded. “Really.”
Taking his hand, I led him through the lobby, Jay nodding to us on our way out the side door leading to the underground garage.
Nick sighed as we got into his car, handing me the keys and staring out the window as I backed out of his space and wound around and out into the twilight. Gabe and his brother, Jon, were throwing the party. I’d helped decorate the day before but had spent the night with Nick at his place.
“I didn’t accomplish anything except freaking myself out before the party,” he said.
“You just need to take it slow.” I pulled into traffic, flipping off the dickweed who blew his horn at me.
“Don’t do that! Road rage is a thing!” Nick looked over his shoulder out the back window.
“I can hold my own,” I said.
He smacked my arm. “I know that, but that doesn’t mean I want to see you in prison for fighting some twat in the middle of the street.” He settled back. “Now, explain to me what you mean by easing into things. I’m so tired of not being able to take an elevator by myself or getting freaked out when I close the door to the bathroom.”
He usually didn’t shut the bathroom door at home, but he did when we were other places, and I knew it cost him. He always took as little time as humanly possible behind the closed door before hurrying out like the room had caught fire.
“You could try sitting in your closet with the door open, then gradually close it little by little until you’re ready to shut it,” I said.
Nick looked at me. “Yeah, maybe I could try that.” He shuddered. “God, that was so awful. It took fucking forever to reach the damn lobby. If the elevator had gotten stuck, I would’ve freaked the fuck out. You would’ve had to take me to the mental ward where they would’ve strapped me to a board.”
“You would’ve been okay. I’d have gotten you out.”
Nick clasped his hands in his lap and gnawed on his lip until we pulled up behind Rainbow House, but once inside, a switch flipped and Nick became all smiles and bubbly banter. A month ago, he would have put on that facade for me, and I found myself glad we were past that.
“Jeo! You look so sexy!” Katy exclaimed. She wore a Red Riding Hood costume.
Like Nick, I’d dressed entirely in black—well, Nick had on a sparkly red collar, something else that made me incredibly horny every time I looked at him. I had on a long black coat with a lot of buttons and a short version of a top hat. Nick had called me a modern-day warlock, and I hadn’t questioned him, but I wasn’t sure the idea communicated to everyone else.
I complimented Katy on her costume before she turned to admire Nick’s. The place was already packed, but I spotted a few Hedonists in the mix.
Dressed as a pirate, Zeke stood with Morgan, who’d come as Waldo from Where’s Waldo. I was pretty sure Trace was in the unicorn costume. I barked out a laugh when Axel approached me, looking more comical than frightening in his T-Rex costume.
“You look awesome, man,” I said. “Where’s Caleb?”
“This was a little too much for him, but he insisted I come,” Axel said. Nick stood chatting with a group of people, so I headed to the refreshment table with Axel to get us some punch.
“Everything looks so good, Lake said. He was right—the place was decorated to the nines with a ton of spider webs and creepy things hanging in dark corners. Carved jack-o’lanterns were centerpieces on the table, and the punch was a swampy shade of green with frozen eyeballs floating in it.
“You’re looking gorgeous,” I told Lake. He’d dressed as Jasmine from Aladdin, complete with a dark wig and bare midriff.
“You like?” Lake smiled and lifted his arms, clanking little cymbals between his fingers and rolling his body like a belly dancer.
“Glad you shaved your pits, man,” Axel said, and I laughed. “And did Jasmine actually belly dance?”
Blaze appeared behind Lake, draped in a sheet.
“Hey, Bossman. Cool…er, shepherd?”
Blaze nuzzled Lake’s neck. “I am a sheik, and my Arabian beauty dances for me,” he said in a really bad accent, and Axel and I broke into raucous laughter.
“I see you have a pretty kitty on your arm tonight, Mr. Warlock.” I turned to find Lake’s friend Sara holding a cup of the punch and smiling. She was something anime, that’s all I knew.
I smiled back at her.
“He got away from me.” I looked around the room for Nick but didn’t spot him.
“Maybe he needs a leash,” Axel said in my ear. My cock liked that idea.
The Monster Mash started up over the speakers, and someone began flickering the lights, either to look scary or just to be silly.
Blaze looked around, then said, “Shit,” and dashed over to a guy in a skeleton costume and led him out of the room.
“Adam,” I said, and Axel nodded. “I’ll take care of whoever’s doing that to the lights.” I found a couple of teens over by the switches and quietly explained that making the lights flicker could bring on seizures for some people. They apologized and hurried away, looking like they were about to shit their pants. When I turned, I realized it was because Ax was standing behind me. He was a big motherfucker and scary-looking, even in a dinosaur costume.
“Adam okay?” I asked Blaze when he reappeared from the hall.
“Yeah. I saw his eyes roll back in his head and rushed over there. He’s resting on the couch in the back room.”
“He can go lie down on my bed if he wants,” I offered.
“I think he’s okay,” Blaze said. “He told me he’d wait a few minutes before rejoining the party. Tease said he’ll check on him in a minute.”
I found my naughty kitty dancing with a guy in a really lame Benjamin Franklin costume. I put a stop to that real fast.
“Trying to make me crazy, boy?” I asked him when I had him in my arms, having told old Ben to go find a new partner.
Nick gave me a flirtatious smile. “Maybe.”
I leaned toward him. “Careful what you wish for. I’ll t
ake you in a corner and make you yowl like an alley cat.”
Nick brought his arms around my waist and scored my back with the long black nails he’d had attached that afternoon at the salon, evidently by the same chick who bleached his ass. “That isn’t exactly a threat, my evil warlock. I’m yours to do with as you please, after all.”
I snagged his collar with my finger and pulled his face close to mine. “I can’t wait to make the bells on this collar jingle,” I said before sweeping my tongue through his mouth.
“Daddy…” Nick whispered, and my cock ached with need for him. But we had to stay at the party at least a little while. I took his hand. “Let’s go find Mike, Ellis, and Nathan. I want to be sure to say hello to them before I take you out of here and fuck you hard.”
Nick moaned and squeezed my hand. “You’re killing me, Daddy.” He reached up and wiped at my face. “Some of my glitter got on you.” He smiled, and I smiled back, sure that to anyone watching we looked like complete saps. I didn’t give a damn.
We wove our way through the crowd, every few minutes stopping to talk to people, Nick tucked beneath my arm, his hand on my ass under my long coat.
We found Nathan in a ninja costume talking with Gabe, who had dressed as one of the Weasleys from Harry Potter, and Mike, who wore an aviator outfit. Nathan had been socking away his money since going full time at the coffee shop and was well on his way to saving up enough to get out on his own. I was as proud of him as if he were my own son. I felt the same way about Mike, who Zeke had told me was doing a great job at the garage.
We all exclaimed over one another’s costumes and teased Gabe by asking him if that was the only ginger costume he could find. In the middle of it all, the newest resident of Rainbow House, Ki-ha, hurried over and grabbed my arm.
“I got a call today from the law firm! They hired me, Jeo!” His dark eyes danced with happiness and pride.
The Diva and his Daddy Page 20