Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 100301 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100301 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
“Can you blame me?”
I stumbled. David saying things like that to me threw me off my game. He walked over, and we each grabbed bags from the back. “Do you, um, have something I can put under my car? I’m afraid it might leak on your driveway. That shit didn’t matter at my old apartment, but it matters here.”
David gave me a single nod. “I’ll figure something out.” I appreciated the fact that he didn’t make a big deal about it by complaining or by telling me he didn’t care about his driveway.
He unlocked the door, went in, and typed a code into the keypad to turn his alarm off. Jesus, his place was big—immaculate and expensive. “I cried for a week when I bought my first place.”
“Your first one? You’re so fancy,” I teased, and he grinned. He was trying to show me he hadn’t always had much, though. I got that.
“I have a few. It’s supplementary income. My mom and sister live in one. If I had a place for rent, I would have put you up in that, if you wanted.”
“What? No. I could never expect that.” I followed as he led me up the stairs.
“You don’t expect much, I don’t think. We’re going to work on that.” The hallway at the top was wide, with several doors on each side. “This is your room. Mine is next door.” He opened the door. “Back to the house stuff, sometimes I buy older properties and flip them, or I fix them up and rent them out.”
“You do the work yourself?”
“Some of it, when I have time and it’s something I know how to do.”
“I’m surprised it’s still worth it if you have to hire out a lot. I mean, I guess over time it would be, if you don’t need it to earn its investment right away. That would be nice, though. I like shit like that. Working with my hands.”
He set the bag down, a look of skepticism on his face.
“What? A skinny, gay twink can’t know anything about working on houses?”
“No, I didn’t mean—well, I’m surprised, but not because of the gay-twink part.”
I ignored him. “This room is ridiculous.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
I chuckled. “Nothing. It’s just a lot. I, um…thank you. For this. I’m gonna pay you.”
“You don’t have to thank me, and okay. You have your own bathroom. There are toiletries inside. Sheets are clean and all. I need to get a key made for you, and I’ll give you the code for the security.”
My head started spinning. Holy shit. This was a lot. Was I really going to rent a room from David?
“You know what?” he said. “We can talk about all that later.” I froze, didn’t move when he stepped closer and cupped my face. I could have shaken him off or taken a step back, but I didn’t do any of it. “Don’t worry, stubborn little pup. I’ll take care of you. It’ll all be okay.”
Tell him you don’t want him to take care of you. Tell him you don’t need him to take care of you. But I didn’t say either of those things.
David dropped his hand. “Do you have any questions for me?”
I shook my head, thought maybe my voice was suddenly broken.
“Okay, then this is what I’d like you to do for me. I’m going to go out and run an errand and pick up some food. Call Jordan. He’s off today. Ask him to come over. He’s your friend, and I think he’d like to know what happened to your apartment. I know your impulse is to deal with everything on your own, but you don’t have to. Your friends want to be a part of your life. Let them. He should know you’re staying here. Not because there’s anything wrong with it or because it affects Jordan and me playing together, but as a courtesy. I could tell him, but I think it’s important for you to take these steps to do it yourself. Then when I come home, the three of us will have dinner together.”
I let him get through the whole spiel without arguing with him, without telling him no. Without reminding him I wasn’t his sub and I could do what I wanted. Then I said, “Why do you keep telling me what to do? I’m not your submissive. You don’t have any power over me.”
“Oh, pup. You’re completely wrong if you think submissives don’t have power. They set the limits. They choose to give power to their Dom. There’s control in that—the utmost control. I’ll be back soon.”
He turned and walked out of the room, clearly expecting me to do as he said. He was right, though. Jordan was my friend, and it would hurt his feelings if I didn’t tell him what’d been going down the past few days. And he deserved to know I was at David’s. If he didn’t like it, I would leave.