Page 33 of Thrust Me Daddy

‘Yeah, sounds perfect,’ I reply, doing my best to sound as cheerful as I can.

The delivery collection went to plan and I was actually a half hour ahead of schedule by the end. So as far as work goes, everything is looking good. But of course there’s still a certain Daddy on my mind…

‘Don’t tell me, man trouble,’ Cheryl-Anne says, a knowing look on her face. ‘Well why don’t you just let me handle that.’

‘Huh?’ I reply, not entirely sure where Cheryl-Anne might be going with this.

The last thing I want right now is to be set up with the nearest Daddy for a blind date!

‘Don’t look so worried,’ Cheryl-Anne laughs. ‘I’m going to make you the tallest attack of maple syrup pancakes you’ve ever seen. Even a big boy like you might struggle to finish it. Now how aboutthatfor a challenge to take your mind away from what’s troubling you?’

I smile.

Cheryl-Anne is a saint, and I wouldn’t ever hear a word spoken against her. And as far her pancake stack challenge, I’m certainly up for it…

‘Bring it on,’ I say, a real smile coming over my face as I temporarily put the situation with Trent out of my mind. ‘I’ll grab my usual booth.’

With that, I walk over toward the booth and take a seat.

I unzip my backpack and let Atty peak out from the top.

This might have been the diner where I met Trent for the first time, but I’ve been coming here a lot longer than that – and I’m going to keep coming here for even longer, even if Trent is no longer part of my life.

As I’m waiting for Cheryl-Anne to bring over what promises to be a legendary pancake stack, I think back to all the years I spent as a teenager, not truly grasping who I was or what I was all about.

I realize that deep down, I’ve always known what I wanted for my life but it wasn’t until I met my friends at the Construction Boys that I was able to truly embrace who I was.

I take my cell phone out of my pocket.

The cell phone’s blacked-out screen stares back at me. I know that if I turn the phone on, there’s a good chance I’m going to have received a series of messages and voicemails from Trent – and right now, that’s the last thing I want to deal with.

On the other hand, it’s likely that Xander or Lane have been checking in on me and trying to make contact to ensure that everything is going as planned with the delivery.

‘I need to turn this thing on, don’t I Atty?’ I mutter, knowing full well that the answer is a resoundingyes.

And within moments of turning my phone back on, I am confronted by a ton of messages – but not a single one of them is from Trent.

XANDER: Hey! What’s up? Tried calling but straight to voicemail. Laters, XoXo

LANE: Yo, Big Mikey! We’re trying to call, but I guess you’ve got no service? Let us know everything’s good. XoXoXo

XANDER: Mikey… is everything okay? Seriously, message or call when you get this. I called the supplier and he said you’d picked everything up okay. Hit me back, ASAP XoXoXo

‘I need to make this right,’ I say, glancing over to Cheryl-Anne and catching a glimpse of her completing the pancake stack. ‘And I need to do it before the yummy pancakes arrive.’

MIKEY: Hey guys, I’m SO sorry. I had a thing that I needed to deal with and… I’m okay now. Kinda. I’ll explain later. But the delivery is good, and I’m safe. We’ll definitely talk when I’m home. Sorry for causing any worry XoXoXoXo

I immediately feel better for having sent the message, and the last thing I ever wanted was to cause my fellow Littles and workmates to worry about me.

‘Here we go!’ Cheryl-Anne says, placing the huge stack of pancakes down on the table. ‘Hot. Sweet. And ready to be demolished. I think you’re going to enjoy this!’

‘I think I am,’ I reply. ‘Thank you, Cheryl-Anne.’

Cheryl-Anne smiles and walks back to the counter to serve a new customer. As for me, I’ve got a big stack of pancakes in front of me that’s big enough for two large appetites to share.

But sadly it’s just me, myself, and I.

And with no messages coming through from Trent, it looks like that’s the way it’s going to stay for the foreseeable future too…

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