7. Cole

Chapter 7

Cole

As Cole drove up toward his house, he shot a look across to the passenger seat and saw Joaquin sitting with a calm, contemplative look on his face. Gone was the somewhat manic, devilish energy from the Smokers Tavern from the other night, and instead there was an altogether more wholesome energy to him.

Cole knew that the spanking had almost certainly whooped some sense into the boy, but there was almost certainly a finite timeline to that. There would need to be more spankings, that was almost for sure. The only question was when .

There was something else on Cole's mind too.

More than once, Joaquin had gone out of his way to say that he wasn't into guys. In truth, Cole wasn't buying that for one second. Cole had met a hundred others like Joaquin in the past, and was certain that Joaquin was either lying to him, or lying to himself.

If nothing else, the sight of Joaquin's hard cock shaking and slapping from side to side before, during, and after the alleyway spanking was enough to show Cole that the boy felt excited by his submission.

But Cole knew that these things could be complex too.

With this in mind, Cole decided that he would keep an open mind on how things developed between them. After all, the main priority right now was giving Joaquin a decent meal, bath, and letting him rest. Whatever else needed to be done or discussed could come later.

‘We're here,' Cole said, pulling his truck up close to the house. ‘It's not much, but it's mine.'

‘ This is your place?' Joaquin asked, a note of surprise in his voice. ‘Didn't you play for like ten years as a pro?'

‘Ha! Well, like I said, it's not much,' Cole replied. ‘And when you've made as many bad financial decisions as me, and paid out enough in lawyer fees to last a lifetime, then you kind of have to take what you can get.'

Cole watched as Joaquin got out of the truck and looked around, a mixture of intrigue and nervousness written all over his admittedly very sweet face. While it was true that Joaquin needed a good wash and some clean clothes, there was no denying just how hot he was.

During the spanking, Cole's manhood had been thumpingly hard the entire time. Joaquin's petit but perfectly rounded ass was a perfect target in more ways than one, that was for sure. And seeing the young man up close and personal in the alleyway had lit something in Cole that he hadn't experienced in some time.

Sure, there were clubs that Cole could hit. He knew that with his hockey background and physique he could still find a one-night match any night of the week. And there were all kind of apps too, should Cole have wanted. But that was the issue… Cole had simply lost interest.

But Joaquin might just have been sparking all that up once more...

‘Come on, let's get you inside,' Cole said, stepping out of the truck and walking over toward the house's slightly battered front door. ‘Trust me, it's cozier on the inside.'

Joaquin let a slight smile creep out the side of his mouth. It wasn't much, but it was something. And as Cole held the front door open for Joaquin to step inside, he felt something solidify in his mind.

He might be more trouble than he's worth.

But I want to save this boy.

And I want to make him mine.

Cole could tell that Joaquin was nervous. For all his attitude, the boy was only twenty-three and clearly had a lot going on in his life. And it was for this reason that Cole decided to hold back on the questions, at least for the time being…

‘I thought we were going to talk?' Joaquin asked, pacing around Cole's kitchen, his eyes darting around the place.

‘We will,' Cole replied. ‘But I wanted to hear the truth. And I mean the real truth. I'm not going to get that from you if you're tired, hungry, and feeling like crap. So, take a seat and take a deep breath. I've got this covered.'

Joaquin smiled shyly and sat down at the battered old oak table.

Cole set about making a pot of coffee and cut some thick slices of sourdough to make some toast too.

‘How many slices?' Cole said. ‘Actually, don't answer that. I'll make two and you can see how you feel.'

Joaquin nodded and fidgeted with his fingers until the toast popped up from the toaster. Cole applied a liberal spread of creamy butter on top of the slices and presented them in front of the boy, alongside a mug of steaming hot coffee.

‘I'd like to think I make it better than they do at Coffee Kings,' Cole chuckled, exchanging a knowing look with Joaquin. ‘But… you tell me.'

Cole watched as Joaquin inhaled the coffee's aroma and then took a tentative sip.

‘It's… good,' Joaquin said, his voice softer than it had been at any time before. ‘It's really good.'

Cole felt a surge of pride fill him up inside. And as he watched Joaquin demolish the first two slices of toast too, he could see that his plan was working. The boy was clearly malnourished and probably hadn't had a decent meal in days. Toast alone simply wasn't going to cut it though, this situation required bringing out the big guns.

‘Keep sipping the coffee, I'm going to make you a protein bagel,' Cole said. ‘And no, I'm not one of those feeders you see on documentaries.'

‘Ha-ha!' Joaquin replied, nearly spitting out his coffee before he managed to get his words out. ‘This coffee is seriously good, by the way. Is it a specialty bean?'

Cole nodded.

The truth was that Cole wasn't exactly an expert when it came to coffee, but he knew what he liked. Just like he did when it came to young men too.

‘So… were you a barista back in the city?' Cole asked, curious to find out a little more about Joaquin without making it sound too much like an interrogation.

‘Nah, I've never been able to hold a job down for long enough,' Joaquin replied. ‘I used to fool around with my friend's coffee machine, that's all. He had a classic old machine from Italy, something he picked up from a flea market and restored. Fuck. We had some good times together. And drank a shit-ton of coffee too.'

Cole nodded and continued putting together the fillings in the bagel. It was good to see Joaquin seemingly relaxing and opening up about his past, and there was something about the way that he talked about his old friend that was ringing bells for Cole too. Whether or not it had been a romantic relationship or not, Cole was sensing that Joaquin's claim to not being into guys was possibly a defense mechanism.

‘Here, eat,' Cole said, placing the ingredients packed bagel down on the table and taking a seat opposite Joaquin.

‘You're not eating?' Joaquin replied, his eyes hungrily sizing up the bagel as the various meats, spices, salad, and sauces spilled out from the side.

‘I've already got my calories and protein in for the morning,' Cole said. ‘Trust me, this body doesn't come without work.'

For a split second, the atmosphere between the two men could have been cut through with a knife. Cole's innocuous comment had seemingly hit a nerve as Joaquin looked him up and down, almost like he was sizing him up. Cole meanwhile felt himself wanting to devour each and every inch of Joaquin's delectable body.

‘So,' Cole said, breaking the tension. ‘Let's get into it. I brought you here to talk. And that's what we're going to do.'

Cole could see a flash of worry come over Joaquin's face.

This situation would need to be handled carefully. Dishing out a spanking might have worked back in town, but now it was time for a gentler approach. And Cole knew that he had to find the balance between making the boy comfortable enough to speak, while also making it clear that this was what was best for him.

‘Just let it out,' Cole said. ‘Trust me, you'll feel better. And once it's out in the open, you have my word that I'll do whatever it takes to help you.'

‘It… it started like this…' Joaquin replied.

Cole listened as Joaquin explained what had gone down between him and Rohan Katsen, and then the situation with Katsen's men. It was difficult to hear the boy speaking about how Katsen's thugs had treated him, and how much further it could have gone had Joaquin not taken his opportunity to escape.

Cole nodded as Joaquin continued to talk.

This damn boy's been through a lot.

This is some fucked up shit, that's for sure.

I can't let him go, not now that I know what I do…

‘Katsen has killed people before,' Joaquin said. ‘Everyone who runs in my circles knows that. But he's not like the other criminals. He's vicious. He doesn't show any mercy, and sometimes he actually hurts people more just to prove a point. I'm no angel, but…'

‘I can see you're no angel, don't worry about that,' Cole said, smiling wryly and lightening the mood a touch. ‘But you need to keep it real with me. You stole from him, and now he wants the money back, and then some more on top of that. You didn't think you'd get away with that, did you?'

‘I kind of did,' Joaquin replied, a guilty look on his face. ‘I've done it before, with other criminals in other places. I've done lots of things I shouldn't have. But… I stole this money so that my ex-girlfriend could pay her rent. She's just had a baby, and…'

‘Yours?' Cole asked, arching his eyebrow.

‘No, not mine,' Joaquin replied. ‘Some asshole who cut and run the second Jenna said she was pregnant. It's fucked up. I know she's my ex, but I still care about her.'

‘Damn, I feel you,' Cole replied, thinking back to the friends from his past, all the people he had helped and stuck by through difficult times. ‘This life ain't ever simple. That much is for sure. But what we need to think about now is how the hell we're going to get this sonofabitch out of your life for good.'

As Cole was talking, he also felt a burning desire to rip apart Katsen's thugs limb by limb, meting out the kind of punishment that only the lowest of the low deserved. But Cole knew that it wouldn't be a good idea to share this with Joaquin. The last thing that the boy needed in that moment was a throwback to what he had experienced at the hands of those pieces of shit.

Sensing that they had made enough progress for the morning, Cole decided to change tack and put the focus firmly back on food…

‘Okay, how about some pancakes?' Cole asked, standing up from the table and watching on as Joaquin finished off the bagel.

‘I thought you said you weren't a feeder?' Joaquin snickered, a look of mischief in his eyes. ‘Please tell me that you're not planning on keeping me captive until I put on twenty pounds, okay?'

‘There's worse things than being held captive by me, boy,' Cole retorted. ‘But I'll take that as a yes to the pancakes. And screw it, I'll indulge in a couple myself too.'

With that, Cole turned away from Joaquin and set about making the sweetest, thickest pancakes known to man. And if he wasn't already, Cole's mind suddenly started to imagine drizzling maple syrup over Joaquin's perfectly fluffy butt cheeks too…