Dungeon Daddy by Golden Angel

Chapter 24

Jax

“Uh… Jax? Can I ask you some questions?”

Jax knew from Suzie’s apologetic tone the questions had nothing to do with the course material or their students. He closed the laptop in front of him and looked up. He wasn’t doing anything clandestine, exactly, but he wasn’t working, either. Chances are no one would frown on him browsing jewelry sites while no one needed him during office hours, but he still didn’t want anyone to know.

“Sure, come on in.” A sinking feeling tightened his gut. No, she wouldn’t ask me to return again.

“Thanks.” Shutting the door behind her, she hurried over to take the seat in front of his desk, putting down her C&C handbook and a lined piece of paper with a long list of questions. Jax raised his eyebrows.

“You made running things look a lot easier than it actually is,” Suzie said. “We all have some questions about a few of the spell things… and Katherine changed characters to play a Scoundrel—because we started fresh with this campaign—but some of that stuff is really confusing.”

“It is.” The Scoundrel classification had a lot of complexities for game players, especially for a newbie. He wasn’t surprised they were struggling a little after changing things up. The game was complicated enough, and even though they were all on a level playing field, that also meant they had to learn everything together without someone to lead the way. Guilt niggled at him, but there really wasn’t anything he could do except help Suzie out with some questions. “Let’s see what you have for me.”

They worked their way through one by one, and thankfully none of his students wanted to take advantage of office hours today. Answering Suzie’s C&C questions took the rest of the time. By the time they were finished, she seemed to be reassured and excited, and Jax felt a little better, although a little sad because he missed playing with them.

“How are things going other than this?” he asked, tapping the sheet of questions and answers.

“Good! Much slower than when you were with us since I have to look up a lot of things. Now I know why you always cursed when we did something you didn’t expect.” Her eyes twinkled with amusement, but also a little exasperation, the look a DM got when trying to manage a herd of unruly players.

“It’s nice to know at least one of you properly appreciates me now,” he teased.

“Oh, trust me, we all do.” She blew out a breath, wilting a little. Dammit, he wanted to offer to help, he really did, but… fuck. He couldn’t do more than this.

“You’ll get there, Suzie. It’s a lot to take on, and I’m sure you’re doing great.”

“That’s what they tell me.” Her smile was only a little off. “The learning curve has been steep. We miss you. How are you and Esther doing?”

“Good. Really good.” They’d had their first appointment with Dr. Silverwood and established a Friday night movie night with the kids and a Saturday night date night for themselves. Esther was happier than he’d seen her in a long time. Truthfully, so was he, even though he missed DMing.

Her smile brightened a little. “Good, I’m so glad to hear that.”

It’s worth itwas the underlying message he heard, and it was.

* * *

Esther

Something was bothering Jax, something he didn’t bring up at dinner. The kids didn’t seem to pick up on it, but Esther could tell he had something on his mind. It didn’t worry her the way it once might have. Before the past few months, she might have pretended not to notice. She wouldn’t want to make him share anything he didn’t want to, but Dr. Silverwood’s advice at their first appointment about giving him the opportunity to talk, in a way that didn’t make her feel like she was pressuring him, had really resonated.

So, when the kids had gone upstairs to their rooms, and it was just the two of them sitting on the couch, she took a deep breath and went for it.

“Is everything okay?”

There. That wasn’t so hard. Mostly. It was a perfectly innocuous question that gave him an opening.

Jax leaned back against the couch, letting his head fall back. That meant there was something, and the silence meant he didn’t want to tell her. Esther rubbed her tongue over the back of her teeth, wondering if she should push now. She didn’t want to. She really didn’t want to.

Thankfully, after a moment, Jax seemed to come to some kind of internal decision to answer.

“Not wrong exactly… but Suzie needed me to answer some questions today. About C&C.”

Hearing that felt like a gut punch, and Esther’s chest tightened. No….

“Did she want you to come back?” she asked carefully. Neutrally. No emotion.

Jax snorted, and some of her tension seeped away.

“Hell no. That wasn’t even on the table. She needed help to understand some of the game mechanics around spells, and Katherine started playing a Scoundrel when they began this campaign, so she’s struggling a little.”

“Oh, Scoundrels can be confusing.” Esther loved them but she would never suggest someone start out there. Especially with a DM who was also new.

Darn it. Now she felt kinda bad. She’d taken away their C&C mentor.

“Yeah.” Jax lifted his head back up and smiled at her. “They’ll figure it out, though. Do you want to watch a movie?”

The abrupt change in subject didn’t sit well. She knew Jax was unhappy he couldn’t help—he always wanted to help, which was what made him such a good teacher. She didn’t like the idea she was the reason Jax had to let people down. She could only imagine the group cursing her name for taking away the person who knew what they were doing.

Not that she would blame them.

They weren’t responsible for Jax’s decisions… but they were the ones suffering now. Not in the same way that she had, but still.

Things were better with her and Jax. Everything was out in the open. No, it wasn’t perfect, and they still had a lot of work to do, but what if this could be part of the work?

Before, he’d gone behind her back. Kept her out of the loop. Now, he was keeping her in the loop, but he also denied himself something that had given him a lot of joy and had been really helpful. That didn’t have to be necessary for them to be good. She didn’t love the idea of him being absent every Thursday again, but it would hardly be the worst thing in the world.

Maybe they could even do it together.

“What if we both went?” The words were out of her mouth before the thought fully formed, but as soon as she said them, they felt right. Good.

Jax stared at her, blinking as if he wasn’t sure he’d heard her correctly.

“Both?”

A niggle of doubt wormed its way through her, but she pushed it aside. He wasn’t trying to keep her away from his harem, platonic though they’d been. He was surprised because he hadn’t expected the suggestion.

“Yes, if we both went to play. You could help Suzie, and I could help the others.” The thought still made her chest feel tight and her stomach nauseous. She wasn’t sure how they’d take her intrusion into their evening. Maybe she should stay home. Just let Jax go. She opened her mouth, but Jax was already sitting up, bright-eyed and full of enthusiasm.

“That’s a great idea! I’ll go text Suzie now.”

Esther bit down hard against taking the offer back as Jax jumped up to his feet to grab his phone. He was so happy. Even if the other women weren’t happy to have her there, they would hardly be mean to her.

Tomorrow, during their C&C game, she’d ask Leah and Cyana what they thought. Surely, they’d have good suggestions about how to make herself feel less like an outsider while she was with Jax’s platonic harem.

* * *

Jax

Why hadn’t he thought of this before?

Because you didn’t think you could have it both ways.

He shook his head as he tapped out the message to Suzie. After today’s conversation, he was pretty sure she would jump at the chance to have him and Esther come help, especially since Esther could help the others while he helped Suzie.

In the meantime, he and Esther could watch them play. It wouldn’t be the same as watching experienced players, who could make gameplay seamless, but he was pretty sure Esther would enjoy it.

Turning back, Esther was still sitting on the couch, staring off into space.

Before he could ask what she was thinking about, his phone buzzed in his hand. Taking a quick glance down at the message, he grinned.

“That was an even faster response than I thought it would be. Suzie says they’d love to have both of us on Thursday.” Introducing Esther to the part of his life he’d hidden from her felt a little strange, but he was excited. Having it out in the open was so much better than keeping it tucked away from her.

“Oh, good.” Esther nodded, though she looked a little worried. “They don’t mind I’ll be there?”

“Absolutely not. Suzie said they’ll all be thrilled to meet you and grateful for the help.” He moved back across the room, sitting on the couch next to her, and showed her the text. Because of how close they were, he felt her relax when she read it. Jax typed out a quick message back to Suzie that they would be there, then set his phone down.

“So… movie?”

“Movie.” Esther grinned up at him, snuggling in closer. “What do you want to watch?”

“Something new or something old…”

“Hmmm, I could go for either.”

Their faces only a few centimeters apart, Jax leaned in to give her a kiss. It was supposed to be a simple kiss, but it kept going. Esther put her arms around his neck, drawing him in, and he pushed her back onto the couch, both of them blind and deaf to the world around them.

“Oh my God, my eyes!” Jennifer’s screech ripped through the air, and Jax jerked up—except his limbs tangled with Esther’s, and he didn’t quite make it. He ended up rolling off the couch and landing flat on his back.

Worst déjà vu ever.

On top of him, Esther was giggling madly while they heard the pounding of Daniel’s footsteps coming down the stairs.

“What’s going on?”

“Don’t look!” That was their drama queen daughter. Groaning, Jax sat up, Esther still on his lap.

Jennifer was halfway down the stairs, hands still over her eyes, moaning slightly. Daniel was right behind her, looking torn between amusement at his sister’s dramatics and being grossed out.

“Aren’t you two a little old to be making out on the couch?” Daniel asked, arching a brow at them.

“He sounds just like you,” Esther whispered, still giggling.

“I would never say we’re too old to be making out on the couch.”

“Oh my God, you are definitely too old to be making out on the couch! I think I’m blind… there isn’t enough bleach in the world…”

Well, that was one way to ruin the mood, but with Esther cracking up on his lap, Jax still felt everything was pretty great right now.