Dungeon Daddy by Golden Angel
Chapter 12
Jax
Jax had to raise his eyebrows as he walked into Aiden’s place. It wasn’t where they usually gathered, and he remembered it being tidier, with a lot fewer takeout boxes.
“Hey, sorry.” Seeing the direction of Jax’s gaze, Aiden hurried started scooping up boxes and containers. A few of them left grease spots behind where they’d been sitting on the table. Either he was leaving the food containers out for a really long time after eating from them, or he was eating almost entirely takeout for all his meals. There were a lot of beer cans lying around, too. Sure, Aiden wasn’t a great cook, and he did often order-in his food, but he also used to eat a lot of smoothies and salads and always cleaned up after himself.
“Been eating out a lot?” Jax asked, keeping his tone casual, though a spike of worry went through him. After missing all the signs from his wife and kids, he was a little worried he’d been missing some signs from his friend, too.
Wearing jeans and a loose tank top, it was hard to tell if Aiden had gained weight, but he worked out enough, so he might not have. Though this was a lot to counteract.
“Yeah. Been busy and haven’t really felt like cooking.” Aiden shrugged one shoulder, returning to the living room to pick up beer cans. From the looks of things, it had been a while since the place had been dusted and vacuumed. Aiden wasn’t a neat freak, but it was weird enough Jax was concerned. Or was he overreacting because of how much he’d missed from Esther and the kids?
Shit, he couldn’t tell. Gavin and Cyana were on their way, so he’d ask them later, even if they’d missed out seeing the worst of it.
Aiden hurried back with a sponge to give the coffee table a quick wipe down.
“Want something to drink?”
“Just water.” Jax hesitated. “So, uh, I should update you on what’s going on.”
“You don’t want to wait ‘til the others get here?” Aiden asked, surprised, just as someone knocked on the door. It swung open before Aiden called out, “Come in.” Gavin strode into the house, his gaze sweeping through the room, skipping Aiden and coming to a rest on Jax.
“Hey, I was about to tell Aiden what’s going on,” Jax said.
“I already know what’s going on. I was at Cyana’s, bringing the ladies hangover food.” There was a strong note of disapproval in Gavin’s brogue. Hands on his hips, a steely look in his blue eyes, he was every inch the Dungeon Master. He didn’t normally bring out his Dom side with other Dominants, but right now, it was out in full force. “You’ve been cheating on us.”
“What?” Aiden asked, frowning in confusion.
Jax groaned, flopping onto Aiden’s couch without thinking. Dust flew into the air, and he sneezed.
“Ah, sorry. Guess it’s been a while since I vacuumed,” Aiden said sheepishly, heading back to the kitchen to return the sponge. Gavin frowned, his eyes following Aiden for a moment before he turned his attention back to Jax.
“Jax has been playing C&C with another group,” Gavin said to Aiden, though he was glaring at Jax. He crossed his arms over his chest.
“Jax, no! How could you?” Aiden gasped, staggered. He put one hand over his heart, and the other one came down to rest on the counter, supporting him.
“Oh, shut it.” Jax threw a dusty pillow at Aiden, ignoring the crumbs that fell off it. Yeah, they needed to have a talk with Aiden. Gavin was eyeing their third friend as well, so Jax didn’t feel as bad about not knowing the state of affairs here. He wasn’t the only one who hadn’t realized something was off with Aiden. Dodging the pillow, Aiden tossed the sponge back into the sink before turning to face Jax again.
“Were we not enough for you?” He sniffed dramatically, pretending to wipe away a tear.
Groaning, Jax quickly explained what had happened. Cyana came in a few minutes after he started talking but miraculously stayed quiet—though she ran a very displeased eye over Aiden’s furniture before settling on the edge of one of his chairs—while he gave everyone the rundown. A fuller rundown than he’d given his kids, or even than he gave Esther since no one interrupted him.
He talked about how Suzy had approached him. Why he’d thought it was best not to tell Esther. How Laura had dropped out, and he’d ended up taking over as DM instead of only staying for a couple sessions. Telling Esther had gone from hard to impossible, but it had been working, at least until now… or so he’d thought.
He told them about Esther’s makeover, their renewed love life, Esther coming home from ladies’ night last night with the pictures from Cyana, and how that fight had gone down. Realizing things hadn’t been as okay as he’d thought and hadn’t been for a lot longer than he’d thought.
There was a long moment of silence when he finally finished. He didn’t feel good exactly, but it felt as if a weight had been lifted. They said confession was good for the soul.
“So… what do I do?” Jax had some ideas of his own and some Jennifer and Daniel had suggested, but he wanted to see what his friends said without influencing them.
“Don’t ask me.” Aiden held up his hands in surrender. “I’ve been divorced twice. Ask Gavin. He’s the one who got his wife to take him back.”
“You don’t want either of your exes back,” Gavin pointed out, smiling with amusement. Rather than sitting down, he leaned his hip against the side of the couch. Aiden sat in the chair opposite Cyana’s, though he’d relaxed into it instead of perching on the edge like she was.
“Yeah, but even if I did, I doubt I’d be able to manage it.” Aiden smiled his most charming smile, but there was something missing, and it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I’m not built for the long-term.” It wasn’t the first time he’d said something like that, but Jax thought it sounded a little different than usual, as though he wasn’t as comfortable with the thought of who he’d once been.
“Is everything okay?” Jax asked, pushing aside his issues in favor of whatever was going on with Aiden. He was getting more and more worried. Cyana and Gavin were looking a little concerned as well.
“I’m fine, don’t mind me.” Aiden waved his hand. “I’m a little tired, and it’s making me sassy.” He winked and gestured toward the others. “Just saying, I’m probably not the person you want for relationship advice.”
There was more to it than that, but Jax needed to focus on his own issues. Getting distracted by Aiden’s would not help him. Once he and Esther were back on track, they were definitely going to revisit this. From the look Cyana and Gavin exchanged, they felt the same way. They also seemed to come to the same conclusion Jax had—his need was more pressing. They turned to focus on him. Not exactly a comfortable position to be in. It didn’t matter that he was a Dom. Being at the center of displeased attention from three other dominants was enough to intimidate anyone.
Cyana glared at him.
“You understand how bad you fucked up, right?” Cyana glared at him, not willing to dispense advice until she got the reassurance he realized the monumental nature of his screw-up. He’d spent an awful lot of time thinking about all the ways he’d gone wrong.
“Yes. I should have told her from the beginning. If not then, I should have told her when they asked me to become their Dungeon Master or any time after that. And I should have done more to be present when I was home, instead of assuming everything was fine.”
“Good.” Cyana nodded firmly. She might be the youngest in their group of friends, but at moments like this, it made absolutely no difference. “Other than some heavy groveling, I think the best thing you can do is take some serious time out to spend with Esther.”
“Agreed. She’s missed spending time with you, which is the biggest thing. I think you’re wrong about her not wanting you to be her Daddy Dom anymore. Leah and I talked about her new look after game night—she looked good, but she also didn’t look happy or comfortable.”
“She is very much still a babygirl,” Cyana agreed before Jax could voice his skepticism. “She was trying to look like what she thought you wanted.”
“What she thought I wanted?” The notion baffled Jax. Esther was what he wanted. His sweet girl.
The exasperated expression on Cyana’s face had him snapping his mouth shut again.
“Yes. You need to talk to her about that, not us. In fact, you two need to talk more, period. I also think you need to take charge. It’s been too long since you acted as her Daddy Dom, and she’s been floundering.” That was an order, not a suggestion, which made Jax bristle, but he pushed his pride down. His pride had no place in this discussion.
Besides, Cyana had been the shoulder Esther leaned on last night, her and Leah. It would be the height of stupidity not to listen to her. If she said Esther needed her Daddy, then Esther needed her Daddy, even if he was pretty sure Esther wanted nothing to do with him. So, he’d have to figure that out. Jax groaned and rubbed his hands over his face.
“I don’t know what to do,” he admitted. “I know I need more time with her. I thought about taking her away for a weekend, but how do I integrate the kink into it? She won’t be comfortable doing that just anywhere.” He sighed. “Maybe I can take her away for the weekend, then we can spend some extra time at Outlands.” Public play wasn’t Esther’s favorite, but she liked to watch, then… then they’d go home to where their kids were.
Fuck. No wonder they’d let the kink stuff slide over the years. It had gotten a lot more complicated. The kids hadn’t killed their sex life, but they’d done a hell of a number on their kink life.
“Tell you what, I know where you can go, and I’ll even pay for the room,” Gavin said, leaning forward, his devious smile widening. “Remember that club I went to look at a few months ago, Marquis?”
“The trip where you outed yourself as kinky to your son?” Jax asked dryly. “Yes, I remember.”
Mitch, Gavin’s son, lived outside of Washington DC and belonged to a pair of clubs down there. He hadn’t known his parents were kinksters, and they hadn’t known he was until that trip. Gavin had gone to check out Marquis, which operated as a kinky hotel with theme rooms. He was thinking about doing something similar with the Outlands.
Hmmm... kinky hotel with theme rooms. A little spark of excitement curled in Jax’s chest. He’d looked over the club’s website with Gavin before the trip. There had been two rooms for Bigs and littles, one which would serve a Daddy Dom and his babygirl very well.
“Leah and I have stayed in their Dungeon room, and it was wonderful, but I’d like to get a feel for more of their rooms—and also not have them know it’s someone I’m sending to check them out. A secret shopper, if you will. I don’t think service will be any different, but I am curious if they pulled out any special stops for us or if things are done differently.” Gavin grinned. “I think it would be perfect for you and Esther, especially as Leah and I don’t have any interest in their littles’ rooms.”
“I think that’s perfect—as long as the weekend isn’t all about the sexy stuff,” Cyana tacked on, giving Jax a stern look. “Esther needs to be shown you want to put in the time and effort for more than just sex, though I agree with Gavin that giving her a safe space to be both your babygirl and to be a couple would be ideal.”
“I vote yes, too,” Aiden said, then looked hopefully at Gavin. “Want any more secret shoppers to go down there?”
“Do you have someone you’d like to go with?” Gavin asked, his tone mild but curious. “The hotel is geared for couples… or partners, throuples, even small groups, whatever. It’s not really for singles. You’d probably enjoy the show Marquis does, but you might have trouble picking up someone after. You’d have to go all the way to their sister club, then bring them back.”
“Yeah, never mind, not my scene.” Aiden made a face. “Perfect for Jax and Esther, though.”
Yes, it would be perfect. Hope rose in Jax’s chest, though he tried to temper the emotion. He still had to convince Esther.
