4. Zane

Chapter 4

Zane

The dawn sun was creeping up and the air was fresh and a little on the chilly side. But this mattered little to Zane. He was awake, half a liter of water down his throat already, and his muscles were in full swing as he got to work on his daily training regimen.

‘Fuck. Don't go soft now,' Zane grunted, completing his murderously difficult planking exercise and feeling the most extreme burn in his abs. ‘Prison sucked. But I'm not losing those gains…'

Zane had undeniably despised his time behind bars. The guards, the people, the food, the constant noise and inability to find any privacy had all left their own mental scars. But Zane had truly worked his body into great shape during those long, miserable days locked away from the world. And he wasn't about to let that slip now…

‘Burpees to finish with,' Zane grunted, taking a quick gulp of water before launching into the brutal final challenge of thirty rapid fire burpees. A single failed burpee or poor execution would see Zane having to start the counter at zero and he was very much not in the mood for that outcome today. ‘Let's fucking go.'

As Zane powered his way through the tough final exercise set, he couldn't help but see his mind fill with images of the boy from the bar. He was clearly a huge attention seeker and had plenty to say for himself too if his bold declarations were anything to go by. However as potentially annoying as he might have seemed, there was something about the boy that was sticking around in Zane's mind – whether he liked it or not.

It might have been down to working with Kipp for these last few weeks, but Zane began to imagine what it might be like to be a Daddy to this feisty boy. How often would he need to spank him? What would it feel like for Zane to have him under his command? And how far would they go when it came to living as a Daddy and Little?

Zane could feel himself getting aroused by these thoughts, which must have been a first when paired with a brutal burpee finish to a workout. Speaking of which…

‘And that's me done,' Zane said, breathing hard and happily flopping back onto the neatly cut grass next to his barn. ‘Another one in the bank. And no asshole cop can take this kind of wealth away from me either.'

Zane allowed himself a wry grin.

Despite knowing full well that the law had every right to seize his assets given his crime, Zane still felt like it was unfair that it was him who bore the full weight of the crime. The reality was that his bosses were the instigators, and arguably the true perpetrators. Zane knew that he should have been smarter, less na?ve, and probably less greedy too. But while Zane had lost his fortune, and lost eighteen months of freedom, his bosses has gone untouched by the long arm of the law.

Injustice always rankled with Zane, but he knew that this particular case was something he would simply need to live with. And just as he was about to get up and hit the outdoor shower, Zane saw a familiar face poke out from behind the barn…

‘Hey, pup,' Zane smiled, beckoning the puppy over toward him. ‘You've been exploring around the back of my barn I see. Sorry, I didn't drop any sandwiches round there.'

Zane gave the puppy a good cuddle and smoothed his fluffy ears over and over, much to the young dog's delight. Having grown up with dogs in the family home, Zane had always hankered after one of his own. However given Zane's previously very hectic life in the city, dog ownership had never felt like the right thing to do. Zane always swore that if he brought a dog into his life, he would have enough time to devote to it to ensure that his four legged friend would have the fullest life possible.

‘Come on, let's see if I can find you a snack,' Zane said, his pumped body glistening under the sun. ‘And if you're extra lucky, I'll throw in some of my post-workout recovery meal too…'

Zane chuckled and headed inside to fetch the dog a couple of scraps of food .

However when Zane returned moments later, the dog was nowhere to be seen. In its place was Kipp and his own much bigger dog, Brutus.

‘ Ah , that explains a lot,' Zane laughed, fist-bumping Kipp.

‘I'm not sure I follow,' Kipp said, a somewhat puzzled look on his face.

‘Don't worry, I'm just talking to myself,' Zane said. ‘I love my solitude, but it does lead to me talking to myself from time to time…'

‘Okay well let me make a suggestion,' Kipp smiled, proceeding to invite Zane to come with him for breakfast in town.

‘I don't know… I've got a lot of work to do…' Zane demurred, not especially feeling like socializing.

Zane got along well with Kipp, but it wasn't like they were buddies. And with the chance that Kipp's other friends might be there, Zane was suddenly thinking that it sounded far too social for his taste.

‘Hey, I just want to show my appreciation for how damned hard you work,' Kipp laughed. ‘I'm not asking you to be my BFF or whatever the hell the boys call it.'

Zane and Kipp laughed together.

‘Yeah, what the hell,' Zane said. ‘How bad could it be?'

‘Hey, I need to make a quick stop at the bookstore, I'll catch up with you at the diner,' Kipp said, shutting his truck door.

‘No problem,' Zane replied, looking around the almost empty parking lot. ‘I'll grab a coffee and wait to order.'

‘Cool,' Kipp said. ‘See you in a Eagle Ridge minute.'

The two men fist bumped, and Kipp began his walk toward the diner. The town was still quiet and a far cry from the kind of early morning hubbub that Zane knew from his days in the big city. But Zane couldn't deny that Eagle Ridge had a real charm to it. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more that Zane found himself preferring the smalltown vibes and charming store fronts over the monolithic skyscrapers he was used to in his old life.

A typical morning for Zane back in the city would have seen him wake up at four-thirty in the morning and immediately open his laptop to check on all the overnight stock market and investment movements. Then, following a quick shower and change, Zane would head straight for his car and drive over as fast as he could to the office. And after arriving, the workday was an all-consuming quest to make money, sweet talk clients, and climb up the corporate ladder.

While it may have seemed exciting to begin with, Zane had long grown weary of the lack of real meaning in his life – and this was in part what contributed toward his downfall. Zane's plan was to make enough money to retire early and then figure out what the hell he wanted to do with the rest of his life. And it was this desire that saw him get impatient and greedy. Zane's bosses might have offered him an illegal shortcut, but it was Zane's choice to accept the offer, and he knew that he needed to own that.

Back in the reality of Eagle Ridge though, life seemed far more innocent and wholesome. Zane even found himself smiling as he walked down the strip, nodding and saying good morning to the fellow early risers who were making a start to the day.

Am I enjoying this?

I guess I am.

Now all I need is some strong, black coffee to hit the spot…

As he arrived at the diner, Zane was glad to see that he would be the sole customer and as such wouldn't have to deal with too much noise, not for the time being at least. And once Kipp caught up with him, the two of them would be tucking into their food so it wasn't like Zane would be focusing too much on what was going on around him.

However as soon as the server turned around, Zane could see that it was the very same boy that had grabbed his attention so forcefully at the bar the previous night. He was cocky, loud, and altogether too much for Zane.

And judging by his insistence on trying to start up a conversation as Zane made his order, his overly outgoing personality wasn't confined to late night bars either.

Zane didn't want to be rude, but he wasn't going to start trying to befriend the server either. As far as Zane was concerned, he had no interest in meeting anyone. Not now. Zane was in the process of getting his life on track, and the last thing he needed was any kind of romantic entanglement that was almost certainly going to end badly no matter what he did.

However…

The boy was most certainly even sexier up close. So much so that as Zane sipped on his black coffee, he couldn't help but cast his eyes over him. Zane was no creep, and he didn't make a habit of leering over boys. But there was nothing wrong with a quick look either. And as Zane stared at the boy and eyed up his perfectly petit but peachy ass underneath his retro diner uniform, his mind began to flare up with all kinds of thoughts once more.

Fuck. Why am I so attracted to him?

Aside from his cute face and smoking hot body obviously.

Damn it. I only came in for a coffee and breakfast…

After Kipp arrived at the diner, it wasn't long before Zane and Kipp were tucking into a hearty breakfast. Zane had been frugal in his spending and eating habits since leaving prison and it was undeniably a treat to each such a big, and undeniably tasty protein packed breakfast.

And what was even better was the fact that Zane was even enjoying having company too.

‘So what do you think of Marshall?' Kipp said, subtly motioning over toward the boy behind the breakfast bar.

‘ Him …' Zane replied, unsure what to say .

‘Yup, Marshall does provoke strong reactions in Daddies,' Kipp chuckled. ‘And I'm not saying you're a Daddy or anything, of course. Not yet anyway.'

‘No comment,' Zane laughed. ‘But I can't lie, from what I've seen of yours and Dale's relationship it looks like you've got it all worked out. This whole Daddy thing is new to me, but it's… interesting.'

‘Interesting indeed,' Kipp replied, a knowing look on his face.

After a brief pause in conversation, it wasn't long before Zane and Kipp were talking sports, movies, and training regimens. Zane hadn't really enjoyed this type of one on one kind of chat in a long time. In prison, Zane had made it a deliberate policy to keep himself to himself as much as was possible – beyond pleasantries and a respectful chit chat, Zane didn't allow himself to get close to anyone. And the truth was that even in his work in finance, Zane never opened up and allowed anyone to get close for fear of being burned on a deal. In some ways, Zane wasn't sure which was more ruthless, life in prison or life in big business.

But sitting with Kipp and shooting the shit on a variety of topics made Zane feel good, almost satisfied…

‘Thanks for this,' Zane said, taking a sip of his mineral water to wash down some perfectly spiced potato. ‘Not just the breakfast either. I mean giving me a chance. Not everyone would have done the same. I am an ex-con after all.'

‘Hey, it's cool,' Kipp replied. ‘I knew you were a good guy. Call it instinct. And I haven't been proven wrong yet. You work hard, you're trustworthy, and call me na?ve but I think we could be buddies too. '

‘That means a lot,' Zane answered, surprising himself at how much Kipp's words meant to him. ‘I'm not saying I didn't deserve to do the time. I probably did. But the thing that worried me the most was coming out and having to live with it hanging over my neck for the rest of my life.'

‘Speaking of which,' Kipp said, polishing off his plate with a thick-cut slice of toast. ‘How do you see your life going? I'd be more than happy to see you stick around. I've got months, probably years, of work ahead of me at the ranch to get it just right. But you're a smart guy, probably too smart to be chopping wood and lugging things around all day.'

‘Ha, I don't know about that,' Zane replied. ‘I love the manual side of things. I love feeling like I've really worked hard every night when I put my head down in bed. I never got that sensation before, not once-'

Zane was about to continue with his sentence but all of a sudden he could see that Marshall seemed to be getting hassled by one of the customers. It didn't look good. In fact, it looked like it could turn nasty.

Without wasting a single second, Zane got up from the table and made his way towards Marshall and the customer giving him what seemed like some very unwanted attention.

Zane might not have known it, but he was doing what any Daddy would do for his boy – he was standing up for Marshall's honor and readying himself to make the young man safe, no matter what the cost…