1. Riley

Chapter 1

Riley

Traveling wasn’t normally part of my work. I stayed in the office or worked from home and did all the behind-the-scenes stuff. I liked it that way. It was predictable and calm. But when my boss asked me to go to Vegas to fill in for Bob, who was going to his daughter’s wedding, I said “sure” without thinking it through all the way.

The second I got on the plane, I realized my mistake. I’d gone through bag check and security with ease and assumed that meant the rest of the trip would be easy peasy. I hadn’t considered that I’d arrived at the airport extremely early and the rush was still to come—and come they did.

I was stuck in the back of the plane, not quite to the bathroom, in a middle seat. My boss wasn’t a dick, but my trip was a last-minute decision and this seat was all that was left. It wouldn’t have been so bad if everyone was watching a movie or playing on their phone. But everyone around me was talking loudly to people in front, behind, and across from me. I couldn’t tell if they were a big group or not, but they were discussing everything they were going to do when they arrived in vegas. Details about where they’d gamble, what shows they wanted to see, and which strip clubs were the best.

The energy on the plane was much different from any other trip I’d taken. There was something about Vegas, something about Sin City, that made everyone excited in a different way, and that excitement was already making me feel overwhelmed.

At least the flight was uneventful and my luggage arrived with me—unlike the poor person who was sitting in front of me. I didn’t know what I would have done if my suitcase had been one of those missing. Sure, I could buy new clothing. That was easy. But I didn’t bring just any clothing. I brought some of my Little stuff because I knew that if the day got rough, I’d need them.

Heck, just being alone in a new place meant that I’d need them.

After waiting for the shuttle for two hours and being cramped inside with more people than was legal, I arrived at the hotel, stood in line for another hour and a half, and finally found my way to my room. I didn’t know if it was always like this here, or if I just happened to arrive at the wrong time, or possibly there was some big event in town, but I was itching to get away from all these people so I could decompress.

When I was first thinking about coming, my thoughts were focused on going out to dinner, having fancy food from a celebrity chef, maybe checking out the local kink club to see their Little scene, or possibly grabbing a show. There were so many things I thought might be fun. But now that I was here and in my room, all I wanted to do was take a shower, throw on my footie pajamas, and climb into bed.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t in the cards.

First, I needed to go check in with the event people at a “meet and greet.” I didn’t want to meet anybody or be greeted by anybody, but this wasn’t a pleasure trip. I didn’t get to decide what I did or didn’t do. This was work.

Being an adult sucked sometimes.

I reached into my carry-on and dug around until I found my pacifier and shoved it in my pocket. It was my comfort item. Obviously, I wouldn’t be able to use it in front of everyone tonight, but I could touch it and know that it was there—and that was something.

The meet-and-greet was in one of the plethora of lobbies, and I went to two wrong ones before I found the one I was meant to be in. The place was a maze, and everything looked the same. It was almost as if they intentionally wanted you to get lost in here and never leave. And maybe that wasn’t too far from the truth.

I checked in and grabbed my schedule—which they still printed on paper. Weird. They also gave me a little lanyard and a pen that would probably run out after about ten minutes of writing, if past experience was any indication. But I made nice and went to the bar to get a glass of orange juice, not wanting to exacerbate my tensions with alcohol. Then I walked around—mostly pretending like I was heading to different locations so I didn’t have to chat too much, but stopping when I had to.

At least there was food, because by the time I left, I was so over-peopled from small talk, over-touched from handshakes, and over-noised from everything, that I just needed to get out of there. A few people asked if I wanted to go to one of the bars with them, but I told them I already had plans. They didn’t need to know what those plans were.

I stopped at the convenience store in the hotel to grab a pint of milk, but all they had was chocolate. It wasn’t my favorite, but it would have to do. I needed my bottle tonight and leaving the hotel to go find white milk was more than I’d be able to handle. I’d figure out something for the rest of the week, but for now, I’d make do.

My room was nice enough, nothing too fancy, but it had a love seat, a bed, and a refrigerator, so I called that a win. It was going to be my home away from home for the next week, and if it had smelled like smoke and had questionable stains, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get a wink of sleep or relax at all.

My plans for the night were simple. I’d take a shower, throw on my unicorn pull-ups and footie pajamas, grab my teddy bear, and then crawl into bed with my pacie and bottle of chocolate milk.

There was a large television, but I preferred watching my favorite cartoon on my phone as I fell asleep. It was going to be a much longer week than I had anticipated. At least I was prepared with my comfort items, and if worse came to worst, I could sneak out to the kink club and find a daddy or mommy for the night. It wasn’t ideal because I preferred playing alone or with someone I knew at those kinds of places, but it was an option. And knowing I had a plan relaxed me enough that I fell asleep before the first episode was over.