Page 75 of Cash

“Uh-huh. Mmm, keep on rubbin’, baby boy.” Jules sighed contently. “Oh, that shit tingles.”

“Mmhm. It’s the mint.” Brick loved how Jules was turning into a human pile of goo just from a foot rub. “Feels good, huh?”

“Yeah, baby.” Jules closed his eyes. “Real good.”

Brick got some more lotion to rub up around Jules’s ankles before moving back down to his feet. He massaged his arches, up around his heel, and lazily rubbed all over just to keep up a physical connection between them. Once he was satisfied that Jules’s feet were thoroughly massaged, he grabbed the hand lotion.

The bottle was round and designed to resemble a panda with a little peach on its stomach. The scent was indeed peach, and it was a rich, creamy lotion. Brick pulled the top half of the panda off to get to the lotion inside, grabbing a generous dollop to rub into Jules’s left hand.

Brick massaged the lotion around Jules’s palm, over his knuckles, and over each finger. He loved being able to explore like this, and there was something about it that felt particularly intimate. He reached for Jules’s other hand, asking, “How’s this, Daddy?”

“Pretty damn good,” Jules mumbled. “That shit smells good as hell.”

“Yeah? I’ll get you some if you want. Etude House’s Missing U hand cream. You really can’t miss with Korean skincare, just saying.” Brick winked. “I might be a tiny bit biased.”

“That’s a big thing, right? Korean skincare?” Jules peeked open his eyes. “Rowena is real into that stuff. She freaked out about some kinda bubble tea shit. It was a lotion or cream or fuckin’ somethin’, but it had these little bubble things you had to mash up.” He snorted. “It was way too fuckin’ complicated.”

Brick laughed. “I know exactly what you’re talking about. It’s Etude House’s Bubble Tea Sleeping Mask. I used to have some, and yes, it was complicated. I broke the little peg on the side where you were supposed to keep the spoon, but it smelled incredible and was super moisturizing.”

“Hmmph. If you say so.”

Brick finished up rubbing the last of the lotion in Jules’s hand, and then he sat beside him on the couch. He picked up the forehead masks. “So! Do you want Hello Kitty ears or a Hello Kitty rainbow?”

“Huh?” Jules blinked his eyes open.

“This one has a big rainbow that’ll go across your forehead—” Brick wiggled a mask. “—and this one will give you little cat ears.” He wiggled the other. “They’re both hydrogel masks with retinol, vitamin C, and green tea to help treat wrinkles and revitalize your skin.”

“And one of them will give me cat ears?”

“Yeah! Well, on your forehead, you know.”

“Gimme that shit.” Jules laughed as he grabbed the mask. “I wanna say meow, motherfuckers.”

Brick helped Jules open the package and apply the slick forehead mask. It did indeed have cat ears on the top edge, and Brick was not prepared for how adorable it was to see Jules with little kitty ears. Brick put on the rainbow one, patting it down over his brow before reaching for the eye masks.

“What are those?” Jules asked as he watched Brick opening the packs. “They’re shaped all funky.”

“They’re eye masks, and they’re shaped like this to fit here under your eye.” Brick took one, gently applying it beneath Jules’s right eye. He grabbed the second one and then put it under his left. “There! Beautiful.”

The eye masks were rainbow striped, naturally, and Brick resisted the urge to grab his phone and snap a picture of his gangster daddy enjoying his pampering. He put on his own eye masks, tidied up the trash from the packaging, and came back to snuggle next to Jules on the couch.

“Now what do we do?” Jules poked at the edge of his forehead mask. “We just sit here?”

“Yup. You sit there, let the wonderful masks work their magic for a little bit, and then we take them off.”

“You ain’t gotta wash this shit off?”

“No. After you take off the masks, you rub any excess magical goo in.” Brick reached for Jules’s hand. “We put on some moisturizer to seal it all in and then we’re all done.”

“You do this shit every day?”

“No, not every day, but pretty often. I like taking care of my skin.” Brick rubbed his thumb over Jules’s knuckles. “And it’s nice to spoil yourself every once in a while, you know?”

“Thank you, baby.” Jules smiled. “No one’s ever really done anything like this for me before.”

“Do you like this, Daddy?” Brick squeezed his hand. “I’m happy to do it anytime you want.”

“I do, baby boy. Thank you.” Jules squeezed back gently.

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