Page 58 of Off-Limits Daddy
“There he is,” he said with dramatic flair. “Smile.”
I tried to block the lens with my hand. “I will dropkick that thing.”
“Rude,” he said, snapping anyway. “You should be immortalized. You’re out here looking like Fourth of July Thirst Trap Barbie.” A moment passed and he lowered the camera. “You okay?”
I nodded, which wasn’t a lie, but not the full truth either.
He didn’t press, just tilted his head and gave me space—the kind of silence that only comes from someone who knows you well enough to wait.
The sun had dipped. The reds glowed. The silhouettes shimmered slightly from the heat rising off the wall. I looked at it instead of him.
“I kissed Reid,” I said quietly.
I didn’t say the other word—the one that rose in my throat anytime Reid touched me like I was his. The one that curled in my chest when he whispered,Good boy.
Cael knew. Of course he did. We’d talked about dynamics before, about the kind of relationship I hoped I’d find someday. He was the one who'd handed me my first damn kink zine and said, “I think this might be your thing.”
But this wasn’t theory. This wasReid.My brother’s best friend. The man who’d kissed me like he didn’t care who we ruined.
Cael’s lips twitched. “So... are we talking about Reid? Or Daddy Reid?”
I groaned. “You’re the worst.”
“Nah,” he said, leaning in slightly. “Just trying to figure out which version of him you’re in deep with.”
I looked back toward the crowd. “Same man.” I swallowed. “Just... different gravity.”
Cael didn’t joke after that. Just nodded, his expression softening. “Okay,” he said finally. “You wanna unpack that?”
A dry laugh escaped before I could stop it. “We’ve been... messing around. Not sex. Not all the way. Just... kissing. Touching. And these long silences that feel like they mean something.”
That got the corner of his mouth to twitch, but he didn’t say anything. Just turned toward me fully.
“I like him, Cael.”
The words sounded easier than they felt. Simpler. I didn’t correct myself, but the truth sat heavy in my chest.
I loved him.
And I was in love with him.
I’d known it for a while now.
I hadn’t meant to. But it had happened anyway, slow in some places and all at once in others. I loved the way he steadied me without even realizing it. The way he looked at me when he thought I wasn’t paying attention. The way he held back, not because he didn’t care, but because he did.
And I hadn’t said any of that out loud. Maybe because loving Daddy made me vulnerable in a situation that felt undefined. One where I didn’t know if he’d ever let himself want me openly. Where I didn’t know if he could.
The music from the speakers changed to Maroon 5. Kids screamed from somewhere behind the snow cone truck.
Cael looked at me for a long moment and said quietly, “You can call it a like if you want, but I’ve seen your face when you talk about him.”
“He’s never asked me to hold back,” I said quietly. “But sometimes I catch myself doing it anyway. Like if I show too much, I’ll mess things up somehow.”
Cael nodded slowly, thoughtful. “Yeah. That’s a shitty place to be. You care about someone, and every time you're with them, it’s like holding your breath.”
“Exactly,” I said, voice low.
Cael looked back toward the booths and crowds and sky slowly shifting into dusk.
