Page 28 of Meeting his Daddy

Logically, I knew it was because of the call we got from the sheriff's office. They'd told Atticus there was nothing more they could do. Gerald had been located, but he made it clear he didn't want anyone on the ranch to know where he was. Something about 'needing time'.

"Daddy! I'm so close."His voice brought me back to the moment. I didn't need to think about such frustrating things at a time like this. Why worry when heaven was between these gorgeous cheeks? The rest could wait.

"Come for me, baby," I demanded while pounding deeper into him as my hand sped up.

He lasted only a few seconds more before he fell apart. I listened to his muted cries, fighting against my own need to yell as blissful waves of ecstasy tore through me. His body became a vise around my cock, milking me until there wasn't anything left to give.

"Fuck me. That was perfection." I trailed kisses up his spine as I slipped free once we'd caught our breath. "Let me clean you up."

We'd ditched condoms after my tests came back clear last week. My boy had gotten a clean bill of health with his discharge, so really it had only been me holding us back. The moment I knew that; I flew down to the local clinic for a panel of bloodwork. I didn't want anything between me and Ashley ever again.

Once I got him clean and we changed the sheets, I tugged him into bed with me. It was the wee hours of the morning; we didn't have long until it would be time to start our day. Still, I wanted to take the time to bask in the afterglow of our lovemaking for just a bit longer.

"I'm sorry about your friend, Daddy," my boy said after a few minutes of peace. "I know you were hoping he'd come back."

"It's ok, baby. I'm sure he has his reasons. It's not like we can control him anyway. He's got a broken heart, an addiction problem, and a ranch full of people that remind him of both. We shouldn't be surprised this place isn't a safe space for him anymore."

Midmorning,I was knee deep in busted feed supply bags when my phone rang. Griffin groaned as he pointed at me. "Don't go taking no calls right now. We've got to get this shit sorted."

"I'll tell your Daddy you're being a brat if you don't stop being mean to me," I rebutted.

He frowned at my words, then put his hands on his hips as I pulled out the singing device. I was smirking from our interaction up until the moment I saw who it was.

"It's Gerald." I felt like I whispered the words, but in an instant, Griffin was beside me and staring down at the screen too.

"Well, don't just stand there. Answer it. And put it on speaker."

My hands moved on autopilot to do as he said. I was too deep in my thoughts to understand how this was happening and what it could mean. He hadn't used this number at all since he got out. We thought he'd ditched the phone completely.

"Hello?" I said into the receiver.

Soft music drifted back over the line, though it wasn't anything I was familiar with. It sounded almost like something classical. Griffin gave me a curious look, then we both went back to looking at the phone as if it held all the answers to the universe.

"I'm glad you're here with me," a deep voice said. "If there's something I can do to help besides this, please let me know."

Gerald's voice quickly followed with, "You've already done so much. I wish I wasn't this way. I wish I could just be fine."

He sounded absolutely gutted. It was like when someone finished crying and their voice still held that scratchy quality to it. I wondered for a moment what the hell was going on, but I didn't ask.

"You have every right to feel what you feel and to want what you want. I should know, given how I ended up here. Our situations might be different, but we're both running."

I caught Griffin's gaze and held it. We were both wide eyed and curious as hell. This call had to be a butt dial. I almost felt bad for listening in, but at the same time, I knew that maybe we'd find some clues about where he was if we stayed on the line.

Gerald told the sheriff he wanted nothing to do with us. I believed that to be true. What I didn't believe was that he was actually done with the Coleman Ranch. First of all, hisbelongings were still here. The man didn't even have his birth certificate or social security card on him. Sure, those things could get reprinted, but I didn't think he'd want to go through the hassle.

Secondly, I knew that despite the pain he felt here, the ranch was Gerald's home. We were his family. He wouldn't stay away forever.

Griffin tugged his phone free, then opened up the recording app on it. He motioned to my phone, then angled his so it would catch the sound. "Do you know him?" he mouthed to me. I shook my head. "Me neither."

"I'm so confused all the time. All I want to do is sleep. I could drink before but now... now I'm tired. I just want to go to bed." Gerald whined at the other man. There was some noise like things were getting shuffled around.

The deeper voice echoed across the line again. "Come here, Gerald. Let us rest for a bit, then we can both face the future with a better mindset."

"There is no future. Only pain and the past. I just want to feel better. How can I possibly feel better after—" His voice broke as he began to sob in earnest.

Guilt riddled me, and I ended the call. "That was brutal," I said to Griffin.

He nodded as he shut off his recording app. "It was. I'll have to edit the ending out, but I'm glad we got enough of the rest."

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