Firm Hand

by Nora Phoenix

  23

  Rhys was excited to have Brendan and Raf come over for dinner again. The last time, they’d been interrupted because of Cornell's breakdown, which in hindsight, had proved to be a turning point for him. Plus, Raf hadn't exactly been at his best either, so Rhys hoped that a second attempt would be more successful.

  He'd expected Cornell to be nervous, but if he was, he wasn't showing it. Then again, Rhys had just given him a wonderful massage with a happy ending, so there was that. He still loved doing that for him, making the man feel like the most treasured boy on the planet.

  The doorbell rang, and Cornell looked up from the book he'd been reading. "They're here, Daddy," he said, stating the obvious, while at the same time signaling he was ready and willing to embrace their dynamic in front of Rhys's friends. Rhys could only hope they would become Cornell's friends as well.

  He extended his hand to Cornell and pulled him up from the couch. "Let's greet them properly."

  As soon as he saw Raf, he knew his friend was in a much better place than last time. He gave him a solid hug, then kissed him on his cheek. "How are you doing?" he asked. "You look good."

  Raf shot a quick look in his Daddy's direction. "Long story, but we'll catch you up over dinner."

  Much to Rhys's surprise, Raf didn't hesitate to hug Cornell as well. "Good to see you again," Raf said. "I hope you're feeling better than last time."

  Raf didn't have much of a filter, but Rhys wasn't worried about Cornell's reaction. He knew the man would pick up the genuine concern behind that remark.

  He hugged Raf right back and said, "Thank you, I am. I'm glad to see you're doing better too."

  Rhys had prepared various small dishes so they could graze more than sit down for a formal dinner. It was more relaxed anyway, and Raf didn't tend to do very well when he had to sit down for a long time. As Rhys had expected, Raf immediately threw a pillow on the floor and settled himself at his Daddy's feet. Brendan's hand found a spot on Raf’s head, and Rhys knew that constant contact kept his friend grounded.

  "So what's new with you guys?" Rhys asked, gesturing to Cornell to find a spot on the couch next to him. He was pleased when Cornell didn't hesitate to obey and cuddled up against him.

  Raf quickly looked at Brendan before turning back to Rhys. "I quit my job," he said.

  He'd been a teacher's aide for a kindergarten class, and while Rhys had always felt the job suited him, he also knew it had been stressful for Raf to manage.

  "That's quite the decision," he said. "What happened?"

  Raf let out a sigh that sounded a bit sad. "It was too hard to manage for me. Between my ADHD and the depressive episodes I've struggled with lately, it was too much for me to work full time. I wasn't getting good reviews from my supervisors, and that only added to my stress."

  Brendan looked down at Raf with eyes full of love, and Rhys's heart filled with gratitude that his friend had gotten so lucky. "I asked Raf to move in with me, and he said yes."

  Rhys's face broke open in a wide smile. "That's amazing news. I'm so happy for you two."

  "I had my last day yesterday," Raf said. "And I already feel so much lighter, knowing I won't have to go back tomorrow."

  "So you're not gonna work at all?" Cornell asked, and there was something in his voice that made Rhys sit up and take notice. Not judgment, not even close, but more like…curiosity?

  "I'm lucky, because Daddy makes enough to support us both," Raf said. "I may end up doing some administrative work for him, but right now, that's the extent of what I plan to do. He’s given me permission to take it easy for a little bit and recover, because I've been under a lot of stress."

  "That's wonderful," Cornell said, and Rhys could hear the genuine emotion in his voice. "There's such a pressure from society on the need to work and provide your own income, but I think it's wonderful that you’re given the opportunity to take that pressure and stress off your shoulders."

  The smile Raf sent him was blinding. "I have the best Daddy in the whole world."

  Rhys couldn't help but smile at that statement, his heart almost bursting with happiness for his best friend, so he never expected it when Cornell spoke up and said, "My Daddy is just as awesome."

  Rhys couldn't hold back the little gasp of surprise when Cornell made that simple statement, owning their relationship without blinking. Hell, Rhys couldn’t even detect nerves in his voice, nor on his face.

  Raf's eyes went wide as he leaned forward. "Rhys is your Daddy?" he asked.

  "He is," Cornell said.

  "That's so cool," Raf said. "I bet he's a really good Daddy, because he's a lot like Daddy Brendan. Rhys always took really good care of me until I met my Daddy."

  And just like that, Raf had accepted them, and one look at Brendan revealed a big smile on the man's face. Rhys hadn't expected any difficulty from them, but it was telling that even Raf, who had zero filter, never even brought up the age difference between them.

  They chatted for a long time, conversation flowing easily. At some point, Rhys could see Raf struggling to pay attention, but before he needed to say anything, Brendan pulled him on his lap, handed him a binkie and a little stuffed animal, and told him to get some rest. Raf put his head against his Daddy's broad chest, closed his eyes, and was out like a light.

  Rhys offered them the guest room when Brendan said it was time to go, but he indicated he wanted to spend his first full day with Raf at home, which Rhys completely understood. So he and Cornell waved them off, Raf sleepy in his Daddy’s arms, and when Rhys closed the door behind them, he spotted a wistful expression on Cornell's face.

  "What's on your mind, sweetheart?" he asked. "I can see you're thinking about something. Can you share it with me?"

  Cornell smiled at him. "Is it okay if we do this in bed? I want to feel close to you when we talk about this."

  Rhys hurried them through their evening routine, then got into bed and held his arms open so Cornell could cuddle close with him. Despite his growing impatience, he waited until the man started talking.

  "I don't want to go back to work."

  * * *

  Cornell regretted speaking soon as he'd said the words. He was going too fast, bringing this up when they'd been together as daddy and boy for only two weeks. He would scare Rhys away if he kept moving at the speed of light.

  "I was wondering about that," Rhys said. "Can you tell me how you feel about it?"

  At least his first reaction wasn't shock, Cornell concluded, which relieved some of his instant stress. "For the last few years, my work has been very stressful. I know it sounds rather boring, being an estate lawyer, but I’ve always loved it. But the firm I work for kept taking on more and more clients, while reducing our support staff. I have a wonderful assistant, but I share him with three other lawyers, and that's just not enough. The pressure to bring on new clients rose and so did the expectation of billable hours. I make great money, but I'm starting to wonder if it's worth it."

  "Dad mentioned something about that one of the last times we spoke," Rhys said. "He told me he was worried about you, that you were close to being burnt out."

  Cornell smiled at that reminder of how Jonas had fussed over him. He might've been a submissive, but he shared the same caring instincts as his son. "I was, and he was absolutely right about that. In fact, it was one of the reasons why we went to the club that night, because he wanted to see if a good scene would help me relax a little."

  Rhys turned his head toward him with one finger. "I hope the thought that you somehow caused the accident because of that never occurred to you," he said, his voice stern.

  "It went through my mind in the first few weeks, but I'm rational enough to know that I had nothing to do with it. Call it fate, call it bad luck, call it being at the wrong place at the wrong time, but whatever it was, it wasn't something I could've prevented," Cornell said, and as he spoke the words, he was happy to feel that he meant them, that he could feel the truth of that statement deep in his soul.
>
  "Good," Rhys said simply. "Just wanted to make sure. Please, continue."

  Cornell sighed. "The first few weeks of my recovery, going back to work didn't even occur to me. I was too focused on getting better, on grieving, and on trying to process what had happened. And even after I moved in with you, I barely thought of my job. I know that sounds horribly spoiled, but I figured I had a good excuse, so they couldn't really complain about me being absent. And they didn't, to their credit."

  His firm had sent a big wreath to Jonas's funeral. The funeral Cornell hadn't been able to attend, since he'd still been in the hospital, unable to leave his bed, even in a wheelchair. Rhys had arranged for a friend of his to livestream the funeral for Cornell, and he'd watched from his hospital bed as much as he could, for as long as he'd been able to stay awake, heavily drugged as he'd still been.

  And ever since, the firm’s partners had inquired after him, but never in a pushy way. After the pressure he’d felt in the last years, that had been more than he expected from them. But despite that, he had zero desire to go back.

  "Did your dad ever mention I received quite the inheritance from my parents?" he asked Rhys.

  Rhys shook his head. "No. I knew they had died, and I assumed you had a little nest egg considering you didn't seem to be in a hurry to get back to work, but that's all I knew."

  Cornell took a deep breath and told him about his parents’ decision to leave seventy-five percent of their fortune to him, rather than split it evenly between him and his sister. And considering his dad had owned a quite successful car dealership for many years, one that had been bought out when it became clear neither Sarah nor Cornell intended to succeed him, the inheritance had been substantial.

  "I am glad it affords you the opportunity to take your time to figure out what you want to do next," Rhys said, his voice warm. "But we both know that we'd rather have our parents back than have all this money."

  How true was that? Cornell had always been close with both his parents, even his father, who had struggled a bit when Cornell had come out as gay. But in the end, the man had embraced him fully, and they'd been in close contact till the day he'd died. They'd been very fond of Jonas as well, and Cornell had been relieved they hadn't been alive anymore when Jonas had passed, so they'd been spared that grief. He’d been like a second son to them.

  "Yeah, very much so," Cornell said.

  "So are you going to quit officially?" Rhys asked.

  "I would love to, but I'm asking what you think," Cornell said.

  "This is not a decision I can make for you," Rhys said, and he sounded quite resolute. "This falls outside of my purview as your Daddy, don't you think?"

  "What if I don't want it to? What if I want you to weigh in on things like this?" Cornell asked, forgetting about his earlier misgivings about speaking up and going too fast until he saw the utter shock on Rhys's face. His stomach dropped. Had he still misjudged Rhys's intentions? Had he really been going too fast?

  "Forget about it," he said, feeling himself shut down.

  Rhys gripped his chin, forcing him to make eye contact when he wanted nothing more than to look away so Rhys wouldn't see the pain in his eyes. "No, sweetheart, don't do that. Don't lock me out because you think I feel a certain way. Give me a chance to react, okay?"

  "I could see the truth on your face," Cornell said miserably. "I'm going too fast, aren't I?"

  Rhys seemed to think for a few seconds before he replied. "Sweetheart, it's such a big responsibility you're giving me. I'm blown away that you're willing to let me in on decisions of that magnitude when a few weeks ago, you weren't even sure if you wanted to stay with me."

  He had a point, of course, and Cornell wasn't even sure how he could refute it. How could he explain how he now wondered where his distrust for Rhys had ever come from? After everything Rhys had done for him, his reaction to the fact that Rhys hadn't initially told him he was a Dom seemed so out of proportion now. Of course he trusted him. He'd known him his whole life. He was Jonas's son. He was his Daddy. Could Rhys not see that?

  "Of course I want to stay with you," he latched on to that last bit Rhys had said. "Unless you want me to leave?"

  They hadn't even talked about that, he realized with a sinking feeling in his stomach. What if Rhys didn't want things to go this fast? What if he wanted their relationship to develop at a slower, more traditional pace? Normal couples didn't move in right away, the way they had.

  Then he caught himself. No, that line of thought didn't make sense at all. Rhys had wanted a twenty-four seven relationship as much as he had, and they both agreed this was what they wanted. If Rhys had had reservations about Cornell staying with him, he would've spoken up, that much Cornell knew.

  "Sweetheart," Rhys said with a twinge of sadness in his voice. "Please tell me you don't think for even one second I don't want you here."

  Cornell smiled at him. "One second," he admitted, "but then I caught myself and realized the truth."

  With a lightning fast move, Rhys rolled them over until Cornell was on his back, with Rhys on top of him. "Don't you ever doubt that I want you here. And no, my hesitation isn't because I think you're moving too fast for me. I’ve wanted you for years, sweetheart. Breakneck speed would still be too slow for me. My hesitation is because I'm not sure if we're going too fast for you, if at some point your brain is going to catch up with your heart, and you end up regretting some of the decisions that you made on a whim."

  It hit Cornell all over again, how long Rhys had had his eye on him, even when Cornell hadn't seen him as anything but Jonas's son. Sure, they'd always gotten along great, and Cornell had definitely thought he was cute as fuck a few times, but it had never gone beyond that. To know that Rhys had wanted him all that time, that was a heady feeling. He couldn't even describe what that did to him, knowing that this wonderful, gorgeous man wanted him, with his damaged body, his limited physical abilities, even his emotional trauma.

  "Thank you for looking out for me, Daddy," he said, his voice tearing up as he stared into Rhys’s beautiful brown eyes, the same eyes as Jonas. "I love that your first concern is for me. But I really do want your opinion on this."

  Rhys nodded, then settled them both on their sides, facing each other. "If your job makes you that stressed and doesn't bring you joy and you can afford financially to quit, then quit. You know I would love nothing more than to have you at home."

  Home. The word echoed through Cornell's brain first, then registered on a much deeper level. This was his home. Somewhere in the last few weeks, Jonas’s ranch had become Rhys's ranch, and then their home. His home.

  "I want to sell my house," he said, and it took him a few seconds to realize that the tears that popped up in Rhys's eyes were good tears, happy tears.

  "I love you," Rhys said, looking at Cornell as if he was a rare treasure. "I think I've loved you for years, and the last few weeks, it's only grown deeper. I don't just want to be your Daddy, my sweetheart. I want to be your everything. I want to take care of you for as long as fate allows me to."

  Cornell didn't even have to think, never doubting a word Rhys said. All his fears and hesitations were gone, replaced by a deep knowing that Rhys loved him more than anything.

  "I love you," he whispered. "All I need to do is look into your eyes to see how much you love me. I want you to be my everything, more than I can express. I'm not the type to jump into a pool when I don't know how deep it is, but you make me want to. I want to quit my job. I want to sell my house. I want to be all in, no holds barred, no reservations. I want to stay here with you, be your boy, and be the happiest I've ever been."

  Rhys's kiss was like a feather as it brushed his lips, filled with a reverence that matched the magnitude of Cornell's feelings. "Yes, please."

  24

  “I have a surprise for you,” Daddy said a few days later.

  He’d just inspected Cornell, and Cornell had been waiting for the next move, the signal of what they’d be doing to start the
day right. He loved it, those precious moments of intimacy between them. Sometimes it was fast and raw, other times Daddy would take his time to drive him crazy, and then there were the days where Daddy would send him to the brink and then tell him he wasn’t allowed to come. Cornell still wasn’t sure if he hated or loved that. Probably both in equal measure.

  One look at his sparkling eyes made Cornell realize this would be a naughty surprise, one he’d end up having mixed feelings about as well. “Do I want to know?” he asked with a laugh.

  His punishment—if you could even call it that—was a slap on his ass that echoed through the room. “There’s more where that came from,” Daddy warned him, but his mouth pulled up in the corners.

  "Is that a threat or a promise?" Cornell joked, which earned him another slap, though a much softer one.

  "Do I need to bring out the paddle again?" Daddy asked, his eyes narrowing in mock indignity, and Cornell quickly shook his head.

  "No, Daddy. Sorry, Daddy."

  "Now, are you going to show the proper enthusiasm for my surprise?"

  "It's hard to be enthusiastic for something I don't know," Cornell said, "so please show me, Daddy?"

  Rhys's eyes were smiling at him, which assured him that he understood this to be playful brattiness, not real disobedience.

  Rhys walked over to the dresser and opened the top drawer, where he removed a package. Now Cornell was legitimately intrigued. It was neatly wrapped in bright blue, shiny wrapping paper with a silver bow stuck to it.

  "This is for you," Daddy said, and Cornell took it from him.

  It was heavier than he had expected, and he started unwrapping it with impatience. As soon as he ripped off the front, he knew, and his stomach swirled with anticipation. His moves grew much slower as he removed the rest of the wrapping paper.

  "A cock cage," he whispered. "You bought me a cock cage."

  Rhys must've picked up on the slight tremble in his voice, because he immediately lifted Cornell's chin to make him meet his eyes. "It's an experiment, and only if you want it."