Page 37 of Controlled Burn

A short while later, we were sitting in her living room with a couple of open bottles of wine, and I’d spilled the whole story of what Keith and I were doing.

“So,” Ezra said. “What you’re saying is you took our advice, you went to the Daddy Night at the club, and instead of finding a Daddy for the night, you ended up with a pretend Daddy and no, umm… benefits.”

“Well, it doesn’t sound good when you put it that way. But really, this is exactly what I needed.”

“Is it?” Toby tilted his head to the side and looked at me questioningly. “Because personally, I think you need to get laid.”

Livy rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Toby, you think sex is the answer for everything.”

“Whatever,” Toby said, rolling his eyes right back at her.

“Ignore him. We do,” Jude said to Cole, who’d been sitting there taking the whole thing in.

He nodded his head. “But I think what Caleb is doing is a great idea.”

“You do?” I asked in surprise.

“Yeah, I mean, figuring out what you want is half the battle, right? Or, like, in the case of our date, figuring out what you don’t want. This seems like a really great way to do that.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “It is, right? And so far, I have to admit, I do like it.”

And with that statement, I had their attention. “Oh, do tell,” Livy said. “Is it like in the books?”

“Yeah,” Toby said enthusiastically. “Does he make you stand in the corner if you’re bad?”

I felt my cheeks heating at the very idea. “We haven’t made it that far. At this point, I only have two rules. Number one, I can’t be embarrassed to tell him anything. And number two, he always has to be my first call. That’s a new one, and that’s why I was late today. My car wouldn’t start, and I didn’t call him first. So now that’s a rule.”

“He totally should’ve made you stand in the corner,” Toby said with a grin. I rolled my eyes at him again, but we just ignored him.

“So there’s no sex and no discipline, so how does it work, then?” Livy asked.

“Well, he sends me a text every morning to see how I’m doing and checks in with me every night to see how my day went.” There were Aws all around. “On Saturday, he had me over for dinner, and he asked me what I wanted in a Daddy, and then he really listened to what I had to say. I don’t remember a time when I ever felt so heard, or so seen, you know.”

I looked around at the group, and they were all nodding their heads.

“And he came over on Sunday and helped me do my meal prep for the week because he doesn’t think my diet is healthy.”

“He’s not wrong,” Livy said, but I just ignored that and continued on.

“Then, like the thing with the car tonight. He dropped me off, but he’s back at my place now, fixing the car.”

“Well, that all sounds really great, Caleb,” Ezra said. “What does your dad think?”

“We’re not telling my dad. I mean, we’re not really dating or anything. We’re not sleeping together or crossing any of those lines, so I don’t see any reason for him to know. It’s not that we’re doing anything wrong, but the last thing I want to do is tell my dad I’m a boy looking for a Daddy.”

As a collective, the group cringed and nodded. There were some things you just don’t talk about with your parents.

Chapter 14

Keith

Me: Good morning, baby boy.

Caleb: Morning, Daddy.

So far, he’d only been brave enough to call me Daddy in text messages, but that was okay. We’d get there. I didn’t want to rush him; I wanted it to be something that was his choice.

Me: What are your plans for today?