Craig
Fifteen minutes later Craig put the freshly poached eggs on the plate and served them with smashed avocado.
“Uh, can you help me.”
He turned to see Louis entangled in a T-shirt. Craig snorted and loped over, gently disentangling Louis and helping him finish dressing. Louis wore thin sweats and a T-shirt from some promotion his club had held when he was with Craig, and his hair was damp and sticking up all over the place. After breakfast, Craig was going to take time to brush it into its usual smooth perfection.
“Come sit down. I thought you’d prefer the avocado to toast.”
“You’re spoiling me,” Louis said.
Craig put the plate in front of him. Spoiling his boy had been one of his greatest joys in life. That, and reddening his ass until Louis was crying and begging to come.
He offered Louis hot sauce then sat opposite with his own scrambled eggs. He frowned as Louis kept checking his phone rather than eating.
“Louis.”
“Huh?” Louis looked up from the screen.
“You’re supposed to be eating.”
“I know, but—”
“No buts,” Craig said firmly. “Give me the phone.”
He held out his hand.
Louis’s jaw dropped open and he clutched at his phone as if Craig was going to snatch it away. “You’re kidding me.”
“Give me the phone.”
“I’ll leave it alone while I eat.”
Craig held out his hand, and Louis slammed his iPhone into it. Craig slipped it into his pocket and ignored Louis’s sulky face. He calmly went back to eating his eggs. He could see the storm brewing in Louis’s eyes and waited to see what Louis would do next. He was more stubborn than he was a brat, annoyed when Craig interfered in his business. Craig had only interfered when he thought Louis wasn’t taking care of himself. When business was intense, he forgot to eat and drink, and would pull all-nighters. They had had their worst arguments over Louis’s long hours, and Craig was struck once again by the dichotomy of the hard-edged businessman and the sweet boy he remembered.
Louis huffed and glared and poked at his eggs like they were the enemy, but finally he took a bite, and that seemed to drain the tension from him. “You haven’t forgotten how I like my eggs.”
“I haven’t forgotten anything about you.” Craig smiled at Louis who, even under the bruising, blushed and looked away.
“I remember you too,” Louis murmured.
Now it was Craig’s turn to look down at his plate.
“Are you working in the den?” Craig asked.
“Yes.”
“I’ll work here. I’ve got calls to make this morning.”
Louis bit his lip. “I didn’t want it to be you.”
It hurt. Craig couldn’t deny it.
“Liam insisted you were the one, despite our history. I suppose not many Daddies want an older boy.”
This was true. Of a small community, their individual needs made the choice even smaller. Craig wasn’t surprised he’d been chosen, although he didn’t think Quick would have paired Louis with his ex-partner unless there was no one else. “After the way we ended, why did you agree?”
“He got me at a weak moment,” Louis quipped bitterly.
“Louis—”
“Because despite the fact you walked out on me, there’s no one I trust more with my life.”
“I didn’t walk out on you,” Craig said evenly. “You threw me out.”
“I begged you to stay,” Louis said.
“Only if I gave up my job.”
Louis’s expression darkened. “You were away all the time.”
“It was my job.” Even as Craig’s mind was warning, “Danger! Danger!” he snapped, “What did you expect me to do? Be your lap dog?”
“You could have been my head of security! You could have been my boyfriend. You could have been my Daddy.”
Louis had wanted all three, and Craig hadn’t been able to give that to him, not then. What bitter irony that he was now being paid to do that exact same thing.
The silence stretched between them, only broken by a knock at the door. Craig growled and stalked over to open it. A huge man blocked out the light. “Your cups.”
Craig blinked. “Ryder. What are you doing here? I thought you were in London with your boy.”
“I was going, but Dominic asked me to join Louis’s team as they’re short-staffed. They wanted a Daddy on the team.”
Craig wanted to snap that he was Louis’s Daddy, but Quinn continued, seemingly unaware of his flash of anger.
“QuickFire are taking care of Cade in London. You met Liam, didn’t you?”
It seemed Liam Quick had his finger in every pie. Just like fucking Josh Cooper.
Quinn Ryder peered around him. “Hey, Louis. How are you feeling?”
“Like crap,” Louis admitted.
Craig turned to see Louis smiling at Quinn. Something pinged in the back of his mind. Then he remembered they had history. It was before he and Louis got together, but it didn’t make it any easier to swallow. Quinn had taken a long time to find a boy of his own, and he’d offered sessions to boys without Daddies.
“Are you off the market now?”
Quinn gave him a steady look and Craig realized he’d sounded like a jealous lover. “I am. Cade Connolly. You know him?”
“I do.” Craig blinked. “Wow.”
Quinn gave a wry smile. “He needed me. He’s the one, my boy.”
Craig knew what it was like to be needed. And what it felt like to lose it.
“Are you working for CDR now?” he asked.
“No. When Cade comes back, I’m gonna be his Head of Security. I want to be with him all the time.”
The air froze around them. Craig didn’t dare look at Louis.
Quinn looked between them both and coughed. “I need to talk to Griff. Take care, Louis. Craig, we really need to catch up, soon.”
That was an order. Craig knew it. Quinn was near the top of the Daddy foodchain. If Quinn said talk, he meant soon, or he’d come and find Craig.
Quinn vanished, and Craig was left with a furious boy. No, not furious. Distraught. Because Quinn had come out and freely given what Louis had wanted forever. His Daddy with him all the time.
“Louis.”
“Leave me alone,” Louis choked out. “I need to work.”
He vanished into the office he called his den. The door shut and then Craig heard the sound that broke his heart, Louis sobbing. Should he go after him? Craig rubbed his temples. He was about to walk into the den when his phone vibrated. Dammit. Not now. He picked it up and saw the name. He groaned. Graham Knight. If Quinn was near the top of the food chain, Graham was the pinnacle. He was the granddaddy of the Daddies. There was no way he could ignore this call.
Craig pressed connect and walked into the kitchen. “Graham?”
“Craig, my boy, you’re back in town.” Graham’s voice sounded like rumbling thunder.
Craig gritted his teeth at being called ‘boy’, despite knowing it was Graham’s name for everyone if he wasn’t in a formal setting. “Graham. It’s been a long time.” He hadn’t been back to the scene since he’d split with Louis.