11. Joel

11

joel

I parked way in the back of the lot, in between two mom vans and with a massive SUV in front of me. I could barely see the field from here, and slumped down in the seat like I was, there was no way I could make out any of the players, but for some reason I couldn’t stop myself from coming here.

Normally on Saturdays, I was either with Luke or Cam, but Cam was at work, and Luke had driven to Essie’s college for a visit. That left me alone and restless, which was dangerous. When I had nothing to do, I found myself stalking my daughter’s social media accounts for any information I could gather on her or my grandson. It was sad and pathetic, and probably a huge violation of her privacy since she’d made it clear she wanted no part of me, but I could never manage to stop myself.

It had been even worse since Cameron had gotten those videos. Luckily, they seemed to stop after he’d changed his number, but it didn’t prevent all of us from being on edge. Logan was still working on tracking down the sender of the message, with the help of Lake, but there had been no update yet. It would take time, I understood that, but I was restless and felt helpless, and since there was nothing I could do to speed up the process, I had to find a way to expend that energy elsewhere, which apparently resulted in me stalking my daughter.

Jessica had posted earlier today that my grandson was in a big soccer tournament. She hadn’t included the location, but the picture she’d posted of the whole team was in front of the park sign, and it had been easy enough for me to find it. Without anyone to stop or distract me, I’d taken the trip across the river and had somehow ended up slouched down with sunglasses and a hat as a disguise, just trying to get a glimpse of either of them.

If anyone saw me, I would get arrested for sure. I knew how fucking creepy I looked. Luckily, everyone was already on the field, cheering on their little ones. Fuck, how I wanted to be there. I didn’t know much about soccer, but I would learn. Even if Jessica wouldn’t let me talk to him, just getting to see him in person, and not just through a screen would be enough.

It had physically hurt when she’d put distance between us. Especially her reasons. She didn’t want me corrupting her child with me “lifestyle choices.” I’d been sick for days after she’d blocked my number and had stopped taking my calls. Like I would do anything to hurt him. But I had to respect her wishes. He was her child, not mine. So instead of forcing the issue, I continued to watch from the outskirts as my heart got heavier by the day.

I didn’t stay the whole time, as I didn’t want to risk anyone catching me, though I stayed longer than I should. Collin wore number 12. I couldn’t see the numbers when they were on the field, but in between games, all the kids went to the playground to run around, and sometimes I was able to get glimpses of him. He looked so tall! Fuck, when had he gotten so big?

I had to look away eventually. I was getting choked up and this wasn’t healthy. Doing this wasn’t helping anyone. This was the last time, I promised myself. I would delete my ghost social media account as soon as I got home. I’d stop checking up on Jessica and would certainly stop showing up like this. Fuck, what had I been thinking? This was . . . so bad.

Still, I stayed a few more minutes, until the parents started to usher the kids back to the field for their next game. I forced myself to put the car into drive and leave, every mile farther away making it feel more and more final that I might never see my grandson or daughter again.

I was unsettled and needed to do something. Maybe I should stop by and visit Cam at the theater? Once the show started, he didn’t have much to do besides the occasional touch-up here and there, and the director was cool with the staff having people backstage as long as it didn’t distract them from their job. Besides, it would give me something to do, because I couldn’t go back home to my empty house. I just couldn’t. I had no idea what I’d end up doing with myself besides drinking myself silly and stalking my kid on social media—which was, yeah, a bad idea.

Feeling determined, I made my way back to the city, only stopping at my house to quickly shower and change. I didn’t bother texting Cam to let him know I was coming. I wanted it to be a surprise. If I’d been out of sorts since the videos had come, it didn’t compare at all to Cam. We’d fallen into our dynamic a lot more than usual lately, him asking me to take over some aspects of his life that weren’t just sexual. Not that I was complaining. I’d do anything for my boy. It was making me a lot more protective of him and desperate to have eyes on him all the time. Someone had seriously violated him. Not only his privacy, but his trust and his sense of worth. He was questioning everything now. He’d been a lot more subdued, checking over his shoulder whenever we were out, jumping every time he got a text message or phone call, and even locking his doors. Which, I was thrilled about, but for someone who’d spent most of his adult life in NYC, he normally wasn’t very careful about it. Now though, he’d bought a new dead bolt for the door that he’d asked me to install for him, and every night that I wasn’t with him, he either had to video chat me or have the owner, Joey, do a sweep of his apartment for cameras. I just wished there were a way to make him feel more safe.

I changed quickly into a pair of black jeans, that almost looked dressy, and a long-sleeved Henley that covered up all my tattoos. I still looked like a biker, that would never change, but at least I looked like a classy biker. I put some gel in my hair, ran my fingers through it, smoothed down my beard, and then I was good to go.

I decided to take my bike. Driving in the city was a nightmare, especially the Broadway district, and don’t even get me started on parking. It was much easier with a bike.

Traffic was nearly at a standstill when I got closer to the theater. Not that it was unusual, but I could see a lot more police presence then there typically was in this area. I weaved around the cars and taxis, gave the finger to a few who blasted their horns, and finally got to the side street of the theater. I was able to see what was going on. The whole sidewalk was filled with people holding signs and screaming. It was some kind of protest. Not my problem. I just wanted to see my boy. Still, I took a glance at the signs to see what they said.

The one closest to me that I could make out had the words “Don’t Glorify Sin!” Okay . . . what the fuck was that about? I tried to listen closely to the chanting and finally was able to make out what they were saying over the typical sounds of the city.

“No mpreg in plays! Don’t glorify sins!”

I finally found a spot to park my bike near the back doors of the theater. I got off and noticed a couple guys who looked vaguely familiar leaning against the wall and smoking. I was pretty sure they’d worked with Cam before.

“What’s going on?” I jerked my thumb over to the protesters.

The one guy rubbed out his cigarette and rolled his eyes. “The place across the street is getting ready to debut a new play and there’s an omega in it. A pregnant male omega. People are losing their shit.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Why would they care? That’s just life now. People still got issues with it?”

The other guy shrugged. “You know how it is. Someone’s always gotta complain about something. Fuckin’ with the traffic for us though, so I wished they’d go the fuck away already. It ain’t gonna stop the play from happening.”

“Facts.”

I looked back over my shoulder at the protesters. I’d come along after everything had died down, but both Luke and Cam had talked about how difficult things had been for their family when River had first gotten pregnant. There’d been media everywhere, and quite a few protests had broken out. Of course, their piece of shit bio dad hadn’t helped and had instigated crap all over the place. By the time I’d met Luke, things had started to go back to normal, but both River and Lake still got the occasional call or reporter stopping by to interview them.

I turned away and back to the guys. “Is Cameron in there?”

The one guy grinned. “Oh, are you his man he keeps goin’ on about? Not that I blame him. You got some serious BDE goin’ on.”

I . . . did not know nor want to know what that meant. “I’m gonna take that as a compliment. Can I go inside? I don’t want to disturb him if he’d busy.”

“Nah, man, go ahead. Just wait till he’s not with an actor. But we got at least 20 minutes till intermission, so he should be free.”

“Thanks.”

The guy opened the back door for me, and I walked in, leaving the sounds of the protesters behind me. I really couldn’t understand it. It wasn’t like anyone had control of their biology or what was happening. Scientists still couldn’t even explain it. There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason why some people became omegas or alphas and some didn’t. They couldn’t even tell us why it was happening now and so rapidly. So why some were taking it out on the people affected, I couldn’t begin to explain. I guessed there was always going to be ignorant assholes everywhere.

The back door led to the back of the theater, and I could hear the show going on, as a woman was belting a musical number. This wasn’t the first time I’d been here, so I knew where to go to find Cam. Sure enough, he was exactly where I’d thought he’d be. He was sitting slouched back in one of the makeup chairs, playing on his phone. The other makeup artist was perched up on one of the tables, phone in one hand, coffee in the other. Perfect timing on my part, as neither of them seemed busy.

“Working hard, caro ?” Cam jumped, almost falling out the chair before he regained his composure, a huge grin in his face.

“Joel! What’re you doing here?” He bounced out of the chair and skipped to me, throwing himself into my arms.

“Oomph,” I grunted, not expecting the launch. I righted him as Cam looked up at me, his pouty lips begging for a kiss I was more than happy to oblige.

“Hope you don’t mind me stopping by. I missed my boy.”

Cam’s cheeks reddened and he hugged me tighter. “Not at all. You can come see me any time you want.”

I kissed him again before letting him go. “I know you’re working. I won’t get in the way. I’ll just hang back and wait for you.”

Cam pursed his lips, suspicion in his gaze. “Are you being protective, Daddy?”

“Would you be mad if I said yes?”

He snorted and wrapped his arms around me again. “No. But it does make me horny.”

“Of course it does.” I ran my hands up and down his back. The other makeup artist was watching us with a sneer, but Cam was ignoring her, so I did too, “Be a good boy and make it through work, and then I can think of a few ways to help you with that.”

Cam laughed. “Only a few?”

“Maybe a little more than a few.”

Someone peeked their head in. “Joseph needs a touch-up.”

I pulled away from Cam so he could get back to work as one of the actors rushed backstage. Cam was there in an instant with his makeup kit. I took a seat in the corner, so I was out of the way, and just watched my sweet boy work.

There was something really sexy about watching my men in their elements. I’d had the pleasure of watching Luke a few times and had the same reaction. It turned me the fuck on. They were just so competent, so sure of themselves. It was hot.

By the time the night was over and Cam was ready to leave, I was halfway to hard and ready to get my boy home and in my bed ASAP. I really hoped I could sneak him out of here and that he didn’t want to party with the crew or anything.

One glance from him after he’d packed up and it was clear it was my lucky day. Cam looked as hungry as I felt, and it wasn’t for food.

He bounced over to me after saying his goodbyes. “Hey, caro . You’re so fucking sexy.”

He beamed at me and gave a little curtsey. “Thank you kindly. You’re pretty sexy yourself.”

“Are you hungry? We can stop to get something to eat before heading to my place.” What could I say? I might have been horny as hell, but I was still a Daddy and wanted to take care of my boy more than I needed to care for my dick.

“I’m fine. I ate right before you got here. Can we just go home, Daddy? I need you.”

“Fuck, baby, I need you too. Let’s get out of here.”