Dungeon Daddy by Golden Angel

Chapter 14

Jax

It was amazing the difference a couple of days could make. Things hadn’t gotten back to normal, but that was okay because the previous normal hadn’t been good anymore. Jax wanted to make things better than they had been before.

Some things were still the same. After a Sunday spent as a family, going out to the movies, then home to play board games, which was something they hadn’t done together in ages, Monday went back to normal as far as daily schedules. The kids went to school, and he and Esther went to work.

Since he’d been coming home on time on Mondays and Tuesdays, there wasn’t much difference, but somehow it still felt different, and he knew the difference was within himself. He was paying more attention, both to his wife and his kids. Yeah, he was still thinking ahead—that wasn’t something he’d ever been able to turn off—but instead of thinking ahead to the campaign and what he would do in the next C&C session, he was thinking ahead to his trip with Esther and what else he could do with his kids while they were still around. Jennifer’s first two college acceptance letters had come yesterday, driving home the point that time with his kids was extra precious.

Now, he and Esther were headed to Leah’s for their weekly C&C game with their friends, and there was a certain amount of tension that hadn’t been there before. Esther hadn’t completely abandoned her new look, but she’d changed out of her work clothes into her usual t-shirt and leggings and pulled her hair back into a ponytail.

They held hands on the drive, which was made in silence. Everything about the game felt a little more fraught than normal. Jax didn’t want to talk about it in case anything he said reminded Esther he’d been lying about playing with another group, and she didn’t seem to want to talk, just stared out the window.

When they pulled up to Leah’s house, he let go of Esther’s hand so they could get out of the car and tried not to feel disappointed at the loss of contact. Getting out, he gave himself a little shake before reaching into the back to grab his bag while she got hers. This upcoming weekend and their trip out of town couldn’t come soon enough. Not that he thought it would fix everything—only time and showing Esther he could be trusted would do that—but reconnecting and spending some quality time together could only help.

Esther went into the house before him.

“Hey! Come on in,” Leah called out as Jax followed Esther. She and Gavin were in the kitchen around the island with Aiden and Cyana, and they were all holding champagne flutes. “We’re celebrating.”

“Celebrating?” Jax was caught off guard, his mind racing. Shit, had he forgotten someone’s birthday?

“Leah agreed to marry me. Again.” Gavin was grinning widely. He cast a fond look at his ex-wife, who held up her left hand. The ring flashed on her finger, impossible to miss as it glinted in the light. Beside them, Cyana was casually leaning against the kitchen island, grinning and sipping her champagne. Aiden was on the other side of Gavin, hip against the counter, arms crossed over his chest, and looking dubiously at the delicate flute in his big hand as if he was afraid he would break it, but he smiled a greeting at Jax and Esther.

“Holy shit, when?” Jax asked, setting down his bag, only then realizing Esther didn’t seem surprised. She turned toward him with a guilty expression.

“Sorry, I forgot to tell you… Leah told Cyana and me on Friday.” A little cloud of darkness cast its shadow in her eyes.

Ah... that must have been before Cyana brought out the pictures of him coming out of Michelle’s house.

“Congratulations!” Jax said, pushing a smile onto his face. Not given time to dwell on her thoughts, the cloud quickly lifted from Esther, and she turned around with a quickly growing smile. “That’s amazing.”

He didn’t bother to ask why Gavin hadn’t told him on Saturday when they’d all been together. Likely, Gavin hadn’t wanted to rub things in while Jax’s marriage was falling apart, which wasn’t something Jax wanted to bring up right now. Not when Esther was finally smiling, accepting her glass of champagne from Leah.

“Good, now that we’re all here, we can do the toast.” Gavin wrapped one arm around Leah, beaming down at her before turning his gaze back to his friends, gathered in a loose circle around him. He lifted his glass. “Here’s to second chances. Slàinte mhath.”

The Gaelic toast, pronounced slan-ge-var, was one Jax always mangled a little, but he did his best. As he did so, he snuck a peek at Esther.

To second chances.

The toast was meant for Gavin and Leah, who were taking a huge second chance on each other after being divorced for over a decade, not for him and Esther, but it was still appropriate. They might not be divorced or even separated, but that’s what she was giving him—a second chance.

* * *

Esther

“I walk into the room and look around.” Aiden was always the first into the room when they reached a dungeon, which was why he almost always chose characters like his current character, Morag Thundercock. One who could take a lot of damage before being knocked out, so they didn’t need to be as careful as squishier classifications of characters, like wizards and witches.

“Looking around the room, you see two doors on the far end of the room. The rest of the room appears to be empty.” Gavin’s expression was implacable, usually not a good indication. Esther felt her tension ramp up. It had been a bit since they had an encounter, which meant one was probably right around the corner, especially since they were exploring a new part of the castle’s dungeon.

Personally, she always preferred the ‘castle’ exploration part of the game to the dungeon fights, but she knew most people felt differently, including her group of friends. They liked the excitement of the fights. Esther hated having to worry about her character dying and making a new one. She’d become attached to Xidria over this campaign.

Also, every time they had a fight, she now worried about Dog. It didn’t matter that Dog was an entirely fictional non-playable character Gavin had to take charge of. She didn’t want their imaginary pet to die in a fight. Since Aiden was currently highest on their pet’s love chart, there was every likelihood Dog would be right by his side as he charged into battle. Esther preferred it when she or Cyana were highest since their characters hung back and attacked from a distance, where Dog was usually safer.

“I want to roll for perception and make sure nothing’s hidden,” Leah said, and Gavin nodded. The room was still empty, even after Leah rolled high, so Jax’s character, Doklos, went to take a closer look at the doors.

Gavin grinned, anticipation lighting up his blue eyes. Whatever this was, he was looking forward to it, which was never a good sign for their characters’ health.

“On one door, there is a large carving of a duck. On the other door, there is a carving depicting many small horses.”

“Oh, no,” Cyana groaned. “Not this again. I hate you, Gavin.”

“We should go through the duck door,” Jax said immediately.

“We should go through the horse door,” Aiden said simultaneously.

Gavin’s eyes danced with mischief, his grin widening. A few years ago, someone, Esther couldn’t remember who, had brought up the question, would you rather fight one giant duck or one hundred duck-sized horses? The debate between Jax and Aiden had raged for days, driving the rest of them nuts when the two men wouldn’t talk about anything else until they ‘settled the matter.’ Which they never did. It only ended when Cyana had threatened to tase them if they didn’t shut up about it.

“I hate you so much.” Cyana closed her eyes as Jax and Aiden argued the merits of the doors. Shaking her head, she sat up. “Ysolde casts a disparaging look at Doklos and Morag, then walks past them to open the door with the duck on it.”

“Yes!” Jax pumped his fists in the air. Despite everything, everyone cracked up, even Aiden, though he quickly pretended he was upset and crossed his arms over his chest, glowering at Cyana. Esther giggled helplessly.

The beginning of the night had been awkward during the drive over, and she hadn’t been able to shake the knowledge Jax had been playing with another group and had lied to her. Being here, though, actually playing with their friends, everything settled back into place in her head, and she felt so much better.

When they paused for a break, for a moment, Esther thought Jax might not leave her side, but he went out back with Gavin and Aiden as always. She wasn’t sure whether to be relieved when Leah and Cyana pounced on her.

“So?” Leah asked.

Esther made a face as she got up from her chair to get herself some water. If they were going to make her talk, she needed something to drink.

“What? I texted you updates. Things are fine. Awkward, but fine. I’m looking forward to our trip this weekend.” She was. Mostly. Okay, she was a little torn, but she was trying hard to be positive. One weekend away could hardly wipe away months of resentment and unhappiness.

“Yeah, but it’s hard to tell how you’re actually feeling from texts.” Cyana followed her into the kitchen, Leah only a few steps behind. They probably didn’t mean to corner her, but that’s what it felt like. It chafed, but she appreciated they cared. “Like, you said you were excited about going to Marquis next weekend, but you don’t really sound excited.”

Called out. She sipped her water to get a moment to think because Cyana wasn’t the type to accept prevarication.

“I am both excited and nervous. I really want to go and can’t wait to spend the weekend with Jax, but I really don’t want to go all at the same time. Okay?” That was the full and honest truth. Totally conflicted feelings.

“That’s fair,” Leah said sympathetically, leaning over to put her arm around Esther’s shoulders. Some of the tension fled with the half-hug, and Esther leaned in, putting her head on Leah’s shoulder. “I don’t think you’ll regret it, though.”

“I don’t think I will either, but…” She glanced toward the hall leading to the back door. There was no sound coming from there, so the guys were still safely outside. “I think part of me wants to still be mad at him. I’m not sure I’m ready to make nice.”

“Also fair.” Cyana nodded, a little smile quirking her mouth. “I don’t think he’ll object if you give him a little hell, as long as you also give him a chance.”

Hm, that was a fair point. Maybe she could do this, but she really wanted to stop talking about it. Straightening up, she turned to Leah.

“Enough about me. What about you and Gavin? Any thoughts about your second wedding?”

The look Leah gave her indicated she knew what Esther was doing but would let her get away with it for now. She gracefully picked up the conversational lead.

“We want to do something small and intimate, away from here. Take a trip.” She shook her head. “Now that he knows Mitch is kinky, I keep finding him looking at all these BDSM resorts. I told him I don’t think Mitch wants to go there with us, but…” She shrugged. Yeah, going to a kink resort with their son, even if he was kinky… well, that was Gavin’s problem.

“Ooh, like where?” Esther didn’t know of any resorts, but then why would she? It wasn’t as though she and Jax would have been able to go anywhere like that in the past two decades. Actually, she couldn’t remember the last time they’d taken a trip, just the two of them for more than one night.

“Did you know there’s an actual castle in the middle of Ohio?” Leah shook her head in amazement.

“Isn’t that the one where a bomb went off a few years ago?” Cyana asked a little dubiously. Somehow, Esther wasn’t at all surprised Cyana knew about both the resort and the bomb. A castle sounded really cool. The bomb, a lot less so.

“Oh, yeah, but they’ve rebuilt, and the pictures look amazing online. Gavin talked to the owner, Master Marshall, and he reassured us it was a one-time event due to a sting operation from law enforcement, and everything is perfectly safe now.” Leah shrugged, apparently unconcerned. “I think he’s leaning toward Hideaway Island.”

Cyana’s face lit up immediately, sparking Esther’s curiosity.

“What’s that?”

“It’s an entire island, a small one, dedicated to a kink resort.” Cyana’s face fell a little. “It’s also expensive as hell.” Cyana made pretty good money as a P.I., but she wasn’t rolling in it by any means. Jax and Esther were in the same position, especially with Jennifer going off to college next year and Daniel following soon.

Gavin and Leah definitely had the most disposable income—Mitch was long done with college, and he’d been their only child. Now that they had combined households again, a lot of their living expenses had halved. One reason Esther had convinced herself not to feel bad about letting Gavin pay for their rooms at Marquis. That and that they were kinda working for him for the weekend, so it worked out for everyone.

“We’ll figure it out,” Leah reassured her. “I think Gavin wants to splurge, and apparently, he’s going to use his connection with the owner to get us a discount or something.”

“That would be amazing.”

* * *

Jax

Even though his weekend with Esther was coming up and things were nowhere near normal between them right now, Jax eyed Aiden with more worry than usual. He was doing a good job of acting like his normal, cheery self, but he still seemed a little off.

They’d sat down in the chairs on the patio, relaxing and staring up at the stars in the sky. Damn. He needed to do this with them more often, not just on game night.

“Hey, Aiden.”

“Hey, what?”

“Wanna talk about it?”

There was a long pause. Gavin and Jax stayed quiet, giving Aiden the opportunity to say something. Putting further pressure on him wouldn’t help, and saying something before he did might keep him from saying anything at all.

After another long moment, Aiden heaved a sigh.

“Just feeling my age, man. I’m getting old and cynical, and it seems like the subs at the club are getting younger and younger. They’re full of so much energy, which should be fun, but it makes me feel more tired than anything else.”

“Maybe you should try playing with some subs closer to your age,” Gavin said dryly.

“I have been.” Aiden sounded more resigned than defensive. “It’s still not the same.” He reached over, giving Jax a clap on the shoulder. “You and Gavin have it good. He got Leah back, but you need to fix things with Esther. She’s one of the good ones. You don’t want her getting away.”

“Trust me, I know,” Jax replied. “I told her I’ll spend the rest of my life fixing us if that’s what it takes, and I meant it.”

Aiden nodded solemnly, settling back in his chair. Gavin tipped his beer bottle toward Jax in acknowledgment. Hopefully, this time next week, he’d be back here after a great weekend with Esther, and they would be on a new, better path to their future.