Page 17 of Tyrant Blood

‘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…

Chapter 8

Joaquin

After wholeheartedly gobbling down five and a half pancakes, Joaquin was feeling full. It was a strange feeling. Typically, Joaquin would exist on as little food as he could manage. When he wasn’t hustling, he was partying. That was just the way life had panned out for Joaquin since his late teens.

But as he lay back on Cole’s couch, Joaquin felt something he couldn’t quite place his fingertips on. He wasn’t happy. But he wasn’t sad either. Joaquin knew that he was still in trouble with Katsen, but he also felt like he was currently as out of harm’s way as was humanly possible.

Is this what it’s like to feel… safe?

It’s almost like I’m back home with my grandparents.

Except… I’m with… him.

Joaquin looked across the living area and saw Cole sitting at his desk and staring into the laptop screen with a look of intense focus in his eyes. Joaquin couldn’t quite grasp why Cole was seemingly so determined to help him, but right now he was happy to simply enjoy feeling full and putting his feet up in safe surroundings.

As he took his cell phone out of his pocket, Joaquin shot one more look toward Cole. It was crazy to think that only a couple of hours ago, that man was spanking his ass in broad daylight. Cole was intense. The whole situation had been in fact. But even putting that to one side, Joaquin’s mind couldn’t shake the memory of looking down and seeing that his cock was as stiff as a board as Cole manhandled him and meted out his punishment.

Joaquin shook his head.

He didn’t want to dwell on thoughts like that, and to remedy the matter he decided to fire off a message to Jenna. They might not have left things on the best terms, but Joaquin couldn’t deny that he still had feeling for Jenna. It wasn’t the same feeling from when they first met, but it was something. And despite living the life of a rebel, Joaquin knew that his heart was telling him to check in with Jenna. It was important to Joaquin to make sure that she was safe. After all, there was no telling what lengths Katsen would go to.

JOAQUIN: Hey, girl. Sorry I haven’t been in touch these last couple of weeks. Shit kind of got wild for a moment. I mean… it kinda still is to be honest. I just wanted to check in and make sure that you and the baby were good. Take it easy.

Joaquin was about to slide his phone back into his pocket when he saw that Jenna was typing out a response. His heart momentarily skipped a beat as he wondered whether Jenna was going to reply with bad news, but Joaquin knew that he needed to see what his ex-girlfriend and true friend was about to say.

JENNA: Hey, babe. I’m okay. And Joey – yes, she does have a name – is doing good too. I wanted to say thank you again for the money. And I still want to know where you got it from. Or do I? Anyway, let’s talk soon. Maybe meet for a hot chocolate? Take care, Joaquin. You mean a lot to me.

Joaquin’s eyes momentarily filled with tears as he read Jenna’s message. But they weren’t exclusively tears of sadness. Far from it, in fact. Joaquin knew that Jenna would be a great mom to Joey, and he felt sad that he wouldn’t be a part of their lives like he might have been not so long ago.

But mainly, Joaquin felt a sense of relief that Jenna was safe and doing fine. That was enough for Joaquin. There was no going back as far as he and Jenna were concerned when it came to their relationship, that much was clear. However that didn’t mean that he and Jenna couldn’t be friends.

‘You okay over there?’ Cole asked, breaking Joaquin out of his thoughts.

‘Yeah, I’m good,’ Joaquin replied, casually checking out some skateboarding clips on Instagram. ‘Does that dog ever leave your side though?’

‘Ha, Ranger likes to stay close to me,’ Cole replied, reaching down to his feet and ruffling Ranger’s furry head. ‘But call him over. He might enjoy being made a fuss of by someone new. And don’t worry, he won’t bite.’

Joaquin smiled and cautiously patted his hand on his thigh and called Ranger’s name. The dog didn’t move. Instead, Ranger simply looked up to Cole.

‘It’s okay, Ranger, you can go say hey,’ Cole chuckled. ‘Go. Go say hey.’

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