Page 31 of Born Daddy

Chapter Nine

Rogan jogged up the stairs to Tate’s apartment, willfully ignoring the thrum of excitement under his skin. The skirmish the night before with Mitch had unsettled him so much that he’d almost cancelled with Tate. But after a night of turning the incident over and over in his head, he’d determined that making Tate pay because of Mitch’s bad behavior wasn’t fair.

Rogan raised his fist and rapped on the door. In truth, it wasn’t fair to him either. Seeing Tate was a balm to his own soul. Lenny might be more understanding and non-judgmental than Mitch, but he’d pointedly avoided any references or discussions about Cam. The unspoken message had been that the subject of their dead, one-time friend was off the table.

“Hey.”

Tate smiled up at him, the brilliant blue of Tate’s eyes reflecting happiness as their eyes locked. Rogan lost his concentration, his mouth dry as he struggled to come up with something to say. He drew his eyebrows together when he realized he was being an idiot.

“Hey, nice to see you.” How hard was that?

“Is everything okay?”

Tate furrowed his brow and Rogan realized how odd his behavior must seem to Tate.

He chuckled. “I’m fine. Didn’t sleep very well last night, then had to get up for early classes.”

Tate rubbed his thumb along the door jamb, jiggling his leg as he averted his gaze. “I’m sorry.” He regarded Rogan again. “If you need to go home and rest, I understand.”

Rogan’s intention had been to reassure Tate that nothing was amiss between the two of them. Instead, he’d managed to bring up another worry for the young man.

He snorted. “It’s only three. I’m not that old. I can probably last another few hours.”

Tate blinked several times, his jaw slack. “I didn’t mean to… I don’t think… I mean…”

Rogan clasped Tate’s shoulder and winked. “I’m just teasing.”

A shudder ran through Tate’s body, so faint that Rogan almost missed it. However, he hadn’t missed it. His mouth went dry again and he drew his hand away.

“So…” Rogan cleared his throat. “I was thinking. Maybe you’d like to take a drive with me? Since it’s so early still, we could head out to the coast, get a change of scenery.”

“Was I supposed to invite you in?”

Rogan had just taken in a breath to continue, but snapped his jaw shut instead. He ran what Tate had asked through his mind again.

“Did you want me to come in?” He wasn’t sure what Tate was getting at.

Tate wrung his hands as he looked at everything except Rogan. “I know it’s hard to understand, I know you think it’s weird, but Cam used to tell me what to do when it came to guests.” He regarded Rogan with an expression that couldn’t be mistaken for anything other than panic. “There was a certain way he wanted me to behave in one situation, but then would expect something different for another. I was explicitly instructed not to ever assume that I knew what the right thing was to do.”

Rogan rubbed his forehead as he considered what Tate had revealed. “From what you described the other day, Cam seemed more amenable to letting you decide for yourself when it came to basic things? Or am I still misunderstanding how all this works?”

The corner of Tate’s mouth quirked into a half smile. “It’s not something you can just understand overnight. And honestly, some people never do, or else everyone would be in a D/s relationship.”

Rogan arched his eyebrows. “Sorry to sound clueless again, but dee es?”

Tate chuckled. “You’re not clueless. Dominance and submission.”

“Oh! Of course.” Rogan shook his head. “Should’ve connected the dots.”

Tate’s smile faded and he migrated to worrying his lip instead. Rogan frowned and scratched the back of his neck. He’d already determined that he’d at least try to make the day less depressing for them both, but especially for Tate. Ever since he’d met the kid, he couldn’t stop stressing over whether he was okay.

“How about this? If you’re ready to go, let’s not bother with you inviting me inside right now. I had an idea for a little excursion we could take that might be nice.”

Tate met his gaze again. “Sure, whatever you want to do is fine.”

Under other circumstances, if he was spending the day with someone else, he would’ve verified they were interested in what he had planned. But with Tate, he realized it not only wasn’t necessary, but wasn’t desired.

“Great.” Rogan searched for the right way to resolve Tate’s earlier concern in a way that would make sense to the young man. “And next time, you can ask me in if that’s what you’d like.” Rogan shifted from one foot to the next. “I give you permission.”

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