Chapter Ten

CHAPTER TEN

Anurak

A lfonzo looked like death when he stumbled into the dining room. I blinked in surprise, and Rico grimaced at him. Every time I’d seen Alfonzo, he was always well put together. “Christ, you look like shit,” Rico grumbled. “The fuck is wrong with you?”

“Stomach virus,” Alfonzo muttered. He kept his distance from us, which I was grateful for. I didn’t want to catch whatever he might have. If a strong man like Alfonzo was brought down by whatever he had, I knew it would make me feel like death.

Rico must’ve felt the same because suddenly, my chair was being yanked to the head of the table. I squeaked, looking at Rico in alarm, but his eyes hadn’t left Alfonzo, who was looking a little green.

“Take your ass back to bed,” Rico ordered. “I’ll have someone bring you something for your stomach. I’ll handle the exchange with Jax today.”

Alfonzo nodded once, gave a low moan, and rushed off. A moment later, I heard the nearest bathroom door slam shut. I winced. Poor man.

“Is he going to be okay?” I asked.

Rico nodded. “He’ll be fine, perrito .” He dragged my pancakes in front of me. I’d already finished my eggs, bacon, and fruit. It was a stipulation that I had to eat that first before I got to indulge in pancakes. Rico thought I was too small and frail, and honestly, he probably wasn’t wrong. It wasn’t like Master had fed me all that often, and when he did, it had never been anything actually nourishing. So, Rico was very big on protein before I got to eat anything sugary and, as he put it, fun.

And pancakes were very fun and sugary.

“Eat your pancakes,” Rico gently ordered. “I need to make a phone call.” He stood from his chair and leaned down, dropping a kiss to the top of my head before he slipped from the kitchen, more than likely heading to his office. Bento popped in almost immediately after Rico left, smiling at me as he dropped into the chair that had been across from me before Rico had dragged me next to his seat.

“Good morning,” he greeted, his accent thick this morning. “Did you finish that book you started reading yesterday evening?”

I shook my head. “No. But I got about halfway through. Rico made me put my phone away so I could get some sleep.” That was another thing Rico was big on—rest. He said I needed a lot of it after all I’d been through. And honestly, putting that book down hadn’t been hard when Rico wrapped his arms around me and spooned me from behind. The weight of his arms around me and the warmth of his chest pressing to my back had knocked me out like a light.

Bento chuckled. “Sounds like him.” His phone vibrated, and with a sigh, he pulled it out, reading whatever was on his screen. I focused back on my pancakes as he got involved in a text message conversation. When I was finishing my last bite, he was shoving his phone back into his pocket.

“Rico wants me to bring you to his office,” Bento informed me as he stood to his feet. “Come.”

I quickly finished my juice, then stood, following Bento out of the room and to Rico’s office. When I walked inside, Rico was shrugging on a leather jacket over his black t-shirt. I frowned. “You’re leaving?” The thought of being here without him—or anywhere without him, really—made my stomach hurt, and the food I’d just eaten sloshed uncomfortably in my belly.

Rico frowned at me for a moment before he sighed. “Go put your shoes on, perrito .”

I beamed at him as he rounded the desk, then leaned up on my tiptoes to press my lips to his cheek. He laughed softly, his eyes warm and soft as he looked down at me. With a light pat to my ass, he gripped my shoulder and gently turned me to face the office door. “Shoes, perrito . We need to get going.”

I quickly hurried out of the room and raced up the stairs since I didn’t want to make Rico late for wherever he needed to be. I quickly yanked on my sneakers, then tugged a hoodie over my head. When I got downstairs, Rico was already waiting by the front door. My cheeks were flushed, and I quickly latched onto the hand he held out to me, out of breath.

He chuckled as he led me out to his Audi. “You didn’t have to run, perrito .”

“I didn’t—” I puffed a breath—”want to make you late.”

He gently squeezed my hand as he opened the passenger door of his car. “Unless I tell you I need you to rush, you take your time.” He cupped my cheek and leaned in, softly kissing me. My heart flipped in my chest. “You are so fucking adorable for rushing for me though, perrito . It is not unappreciated.”

My cheeks warmed even more. Rico gently urged me into the car, and once he buckled me in, he closed the door and rounded the hood, slipping into the driver’s seat. Once we were on the highway, he reached over and grabbed my hand in his, settling our joined hands on the center console.

My heart skipped a beat in my chest, and I smiled to myself, unable not to.

When we pulled up to an old farmhouse, Rico shut the car off. “Stay where you are, perrito ,” Rico ordered before he slipped out of the car, quietly shutting his door behind him. Jax emerged from the side of the barn we were parked near, and a young boy about my age followed him out. His hair was as blue as his eyes, and he was wearing eyeliner and a shimmery green eyeshadow on his eyelids. Lip gloss made his lips shimmer in the sunlight.

Rico rounded the car and opened my door, leaning in to unbuckle me. Grabbing my hand in his, he helped me out of the car, his fingers lacing through mine as he drew me close to his side.

Immediately, the boy with Jax’s eyes lit up. “Who is he?” he asked.

I didn’t know who he was asking, but when neither Rico or Jax opened their mouths to answer him, I shyly said, “I’m Anurak.”

Bento appeared behind me with Niran. “The weapons, sir?” Niran asked.

Jax looked at the boy. “Stay,” Jax ordered.

The boy scoffed. “You’re not my fucking dad, Jax.”

Jax arched a brow at him. “No, I’m not, but your Papa is only a phone call away if you want to be a fucking brat, Ace.” My eyes widened at the tone he took with Ace, and I stepped a little closer to Rico. Rico glanced down at me and then gently squeezed my hand, assuring me I was still safe, even if Jax was being mean to the other boy.

Ace scowled at him but kept his mouth shut. Rico chuckled. “You look like you’re doing good, kid,” Rico said.

Ace shrugged. “Hanging in there.” He moved closer despite Jax’s order not to move, and he didn’t stop until he was right in front of me. He didn’t reach forward to touch me, and I didn’t move either. Jax called Rico’s name, and Rico sighed, releasing my hand and looking at Bento. “Do not leave his fucking side.”

Bento nodded once, and Rico slipped away to go to the SUV Bento and Niran had ridden in. Ace looked at Rico’s back, then looked at me again, his lips twitching. “He’s so fucking whipped,” Ace snickered.

I frowned, not understanding. “Huh?”

Ace smiled at me, and wow, he was pretty when he smiled. Like, he was already really cute, but he was beautiful when he didn’t look like he hated the world, which was how he’d looked when he’d stepped out from around the barn with Jax. “Rico. You’ve got him wrapped around your pretty little finger.”

A blush burned at my cheeks. “I think it might be the other way around,” I said quietly. “He saved me. Most of the time, I feel like I can’t breathe without him.”

Ace nodded. “I feel like that with my Papa. He saved me, too. I almost died from hypothermia. He carried me to his cabin in the middle of the woods like the backwoods mountain man he is and nursed me back to health.” Warmth filled his gaze as he talked about his… Papa.

“Your Papa?” I asked, not understanding. I didn’t think a boy would be talking about his father that way, but what did I know? I barely remembered my parents. They passed away when I was a little kid, and then foster care fucked my life all to hell until I was kidnapped from school when my foster mother was late picking me up.

The man had assured me he was a friend of my foster mom’s, and she’d sent him to pick me up because she was stuck at a doctor’s appointment with another kid.

I never saw any of them again.

Ace nodded and leaned back against Rico’s car, patting the spot next to him. I cautiously leaned back beside him. Our arms accidentally brushed, and Ace frowned, his brows furrowing. Then, before I could think, he was intentionally grabbing my arm, blinking in surprise, his eyes widening. I froze, not understanding what was happening. When I glanced at Bento, he looked just as confused as I did.

I looked back at Ace, hoping he’d give me an explanation. “I can touch you,” Ace breathed, looking at me in wonder.

I didn’t understand what was happening. “Yes?” I cautiously asked.

Ace shook his head, his brows furrowing. “It’s hard for me to touch others. Gunner—my husband, also my Papa—was the first person I could touch without getting the urge to claw my skin from my bones. And now, I can touch you, and I don’t even know you.”

Jax and Rico came back into view from behind the van, and both of them paused at the sight of Ace holding my arm.

“Ace?” Jax cautiously asked.

Ace looked at him, his smile bright enough to blind someone. And damn, it was beautiful . “I can touch him,” Ace breathed. “Jax, I can touch him .”

Jax hummed, his lips twitching with an aborted smile. Ace turned to look at me. “Do you have a phone? I want to hang out sometime. Please tell me you’d like to hang out with me.” His gaze was so damn pleading, I couldn’t tell him no. And when I checked in with myself, I found I didn’t want to.

I wanted to get to know Ace. He made me feel… fuzzy inside.

My chest warmed. I’d never had a friend, and it seemed like Ace wanted to be mine. And that did funny things to my insides.

Nodding, I pulled my phone from my pocket and typed in my passcode before handing the device to him. Ace quickly found my contacts list and added himself before he pulled up a new text thread and typed out a message to himself. When he handed my phone back to me, he was positively glowing. “I’ll text you,” he said, moving away from me. “It was really nice to meet you, Anurak.”

Rico moved toward me, a soft smile tilting his lips. “He’s a lot,” Rico said as I watched Ace walk away with Jax, “but you’ll get used to him. And I think he’ll be good for you.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “You ready to head home, perrito ?”

I nodded. “Can we get ice cream on the way?”

Rico chuckled as he opened my door. “Yes, we can definitely get ice cream.”

Once we were on the highway, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and headed to Google, typing into the search bar: What does it mean to have a papa?

My eyes widened at the search results, and I quickly clicked on something from Reddit, reading through the comments, a blush staining my cheeks and quickly growing darker with each comment I read.

I glanced at Rico, sinking my teeth into my bottom lip. I didn’t know if I liked the idea of calling Rico Papa, but Daddy… well, that had a little ring to it that I liked. And from what I was reading, Rico was definitely Daddy material.

Would Rico let me call him Daddy? And why did I want that so badly?