Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 96112 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96112 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
Lucas was the frequent poster on Insta. Meals, friends, and sights filled his grid. Colt’s profile was emptier. There were fourteen photos in total, and nine of them were of fighter jets. It made me grin. The other five were of Lucas and… I leaned closer. Family, maybe. There was an older woman and a woman in her thirties.
A visit to Abel’s profile made me snort. Okay, he was the prolific one. Thousands of pictures—selfies, hockey-related posts, family, more selfies, gym photos, and family and friends.
I didn’t know what to take pictures of.
Squinting up at my shelves, I shrugged and snapped off a handful of photos of my most recent models. Colt might appreciate my model of the AC-130U, a gunship he had no doubt seen in real life. They were massive.
Okay, then. The gunship became my first official photo on Instagram, and because I couldn’t help it, I had to add some facts about the aircraft. Lastly, I assumed hashtags were popular on this site too, so I used the same ones I would in my online forum.
It didn’t take more than a couple minutes before Colt liked the picture. His comment followed shortly after, and I grinned at what he wrote. He’d also tagged Lucas to poke fun of him.
If it ain’t the Spooky. ;) Nice work, my boy. I have a feeling I’m gonna enjoy your content more than @LuWeInDC’s with all his food pics and motivational quotes. See you in a few hours, and don’t forget to bring your homework.
I wasn’t going to forget. I’d worked on it all morning.
Nine
“You don’t think it’s messed up that two strangers are giving you homework?”
I frowned and met Vincent’s gaze in the rearview mirror. Um, no, I didn’t find it messed up, and they weren’t strangers, damn it. “You’ve been testy today,” I noted. And yesterday, he’d been mostly quiet. “Is something wrong?”
He shook his head and stopped at a red light. “Just making conversation.”
I bit at a cuticle and looked out the window. I could tell he wasn’t fond of my new relationship with Colt and Lucas, but I didn’t know why. Yesterday, I’d answered a bunch of questions Vincent hadn’t asked, mostly to ease his worries. I’d told him it was kink-focused—and that was partly for my own benefit. As a reminder. The last thing I needed was to get ahead of myself and fall in love. After all, Colt and Lucas hadn’t made the slightest mention of this turning into something beyond Daddy/Little.
I’d also told Vincent I was being careful. I was exploring and testing my wings, something he should encourage. Unless he didn’t believe I was able to fend for myself. Not an unfounded opinion, if that was the case. I wasn’t sure I believed I could do that either.
I was trying, though.
My knee bounced as we got closer to the restaurant near Logan Circle. There was a rock of unease in my stomach, and I couldn’t figure it out. I’d missed Colt and Lucas all day, and now I was about two minutes away from seeing them. It had to be something else.
We passed a restaurant with big windows, and the sight filled me with a fluttering sensation. The place was crowded, people at every table and at the bar, and I could see the laughter among friends and the intimacy shared between those on a date. How they leaned in close to each other, how they shared food from their plates, and the flirty grins. And I wasn’t just looking in anymore. I wasn’t the same outsider I’d been a week ago.
“Impossible for me to find parking here, buddy,” Vincent said.
“That’s fine,” I answered quickly, ready to leave the car. Because I was down to seconds. Seconds until I would be in one of those restaurants on this street, seconds until I was one of the many who got to share laughs and jokes and intimacy. “And I think I mentioned this earlier, but Colt and Lucas are taking me home.”
“Yup, you said that,” he sighed. “Have a nice night, Kit.”
Oh! I could see them. Colt and Lucas were standing outside the tapas restaurant we were going to. “Okay, thank you, you too.” I opened the door and hurried out so Vincent didn’t hold up traffic. “Bye!” I shut the door and walked between two parked cars, and then I hit the busy sidewalk.
DC in the summer was energetic. It didn’t matter that it was a Tuesday. In this town, you met up with friends after work, and you had dinner and drinks and a good time.
For the first time in my life, I was becoming a part of the DC nightlife. The busy traffic, the lights, the clinking of glasses in outdoor seating areas, and all the voices flooded my senses and made me buzz. Darkness was falling, and yet, everything was shining.