Page 3 of Hitting the Jackpot (Las Vegas Littles #4)

Lake

Shifting from foot to foot, Lake looked nervously around at the people gathered in the living room and spilling out into the backyard by the open sliding glass door.

There were only about thirty people in attendance.

Lake couldn’t spot the one person that he’d hoped would be there.

He sighed, his shoulders slumping. Lake shouldn’t be surprised.

Jesse was a very busy man. He ran multiple business ventures including real estate, was the owner of a casino and hotel, and the Teddy Bear kink club inside the casino resort.

There were probably more that Lake didn’t even know about.

Yeah, Lake had been kidding himself, hoping that Jesse would be there. Even if Jesse was friends with Remi and Dom, he probably had a million parties that he was invited to.

“Hey.” Ezra stepped to his side. “I brought you a lemonade.”

Lake accepted the glass gratefully. He’d gone inside the kitchen earlier, but the space had been filled with laughing cops that worked with Remi, and Lake had hightailed it out of there.

Not that the cops would have been mean to him.

Remi worked with a good group of guys that had always been polite to him.

Lake just wasn’t sure if any of the cops there knew his father.

After leaving the army, his father had taken a position with the local police department as a consultant.

Lake was thankful none of his new friends had ever had to deal with his father.

Lake’s father wouldn’t have been a fan. He just wasn’t sure about the other cops at the housewarming party.

“You doing okay?” Ezra asked.

Lake nodded. “It’s just very peoplely.”

“Ha! That’s what Dom said. I’ve come to grab you.”

“Where are we going?” Lake asked even as he willingly followed Ezra down the hall. He wasn’t surprised when they stopped at the playroom door.

Ezra knocked three times. “It’s us!”

The door opened before Brandon stuck his head out. “What’s the password?”

Ezra grinned. “Mother fluffer!”

Lake snorted and shook his head. He thought his friends had been joking about the password. They hadn’t been. Damn, he loved these guys.

“Enter, please,” Brandon said, opening the door wider and bowing.

Ezra giggled as he dragged Lake into the room.

Brandon slammed the door behind them before replacing the stuffie barrier guard.

Lake wasn’t certain how that came about but he dropped down to help Brandon.

Their guards were very good at their job.

They deserved all the praise in the world, so Lake made sure to give each stuffie a pat on the head.

“I thought you’d never get here,” Dom complained from his reclined position in a giant beanbag chair.

Lake crawled over to his friend. “It’s okay we’re hiding from our own party?” He didn’t want Remi mad at them.

“It’s fine,” Dom responded with a wave of his hand. “Daddy said I looked tired and should sit down.”

“I don’t think he quite meant this,” Lake said, worried. He twisted his fingers together. “What if he comes looking for us?”

“Then he better know the password,” Brandon said with a cackle.

Ezra grabbed Lake’s hand. “It’s fine. I told my Daddy where we would be.”

Dom snorted. “You two really need to learn how to brat!”

“We don’t want to brat.” Ezra lifted his chin in challenge.

“Fine,” Dom said with a sigh.

Lake relaxed. This was the fun room, and he didn’t need to be worried in the fun room.

“Do you want to hold Mister Beary?” Brandon handed over the blue bear with an apron on.

Nodding, he placed Mister Beary in his lap as Ezra dumped out a box of blocks. “What should we play?”

“Can we play fairies and dragons?” he asked shyly.

“Yes!” Brandon jumped up and raced toward the toy box.

Dom yawned, drawing Lake’s attention.

“Are you feeling okay?” Lake asked his friend.

“Just tired. I’m fine lying here. I like hearing the sound of you guys playing,” Dom said.

Ezra crawled over to the beanbag chair. He grabbed a nearby blanket and tucked it around Dom. Lake handed Ezra Mister Beary so Ezra could lay the stuffie with their friend.

Dom gave them a tired smile. “Thanks.”

“You just let us know if you need anything,” Lake said.

“You got it, buddy!” He wiggled in the beanbag chair before giving a contented sigh.

Brandon returned with two containers of figurines. He dumped them out with a laugh. He was the worst at cleaning up after they played too. Lake didn’t mind picking up after a playdate. He liked when everything was clean and in its proper place.

He’d done all the cleaning in his old apartment.

Jack and Brex were slobs and before Lake moved into the small spare room, their mom had still come over once a week to clean and do laundry.

She even did their grocery shopping. Lake took over those duties since he didn’t think that was fair to his mom.

Lake wondered if his mom was back cleaning for his brothers.

It had been three weeks since Lake moved out.

His phone was still off.

He knew eventually that his time would run out and Lake would be forced to deal with his parents and brothers.

Ezra nudged him then handed Lake the pretty pink and purple dragons.

Ezra kept the green and blue dragon before giving Brandon the orange and yellow one.

Next, they divided the fairies. Lake waited until Ezra and Brandon picked theirs and was happy with the white, red, and silver fairies. Those were so pretty. So, so, pretty.

“I’m going to make a bakery. We’ll sell all the best pastries to the dragons!” Ezra said.

“I’m going to make a dance club. Fairies love to dance!” Brandon said.

Lake sorted through the colorful blocks. “I'm going to make a nice little library for the dragons. They like to collect books.”

“What about the fairies?” Brandon asked. He grabbed a handful of blocks, not caring about the colors.

“They run the library! They loved floating the books to the shelves!” Lake exclaimed. That was an awesome idea.

“Oh! What if they’re next door to the bakery! The dragons can get a book, then a little treat!” Ezra clapped.

“I don’t want to make a club anymore,” Brandon whined. “I want to make something that goes with a bakery and library. Where the dragons can relax.”

“Make a garden that connects the library and bakery,” Dom said sleepily.

“Yes! That’s what I want to make!” Brandon began to grab the green blocks.

Lake hummed as he used the red blocks to begin building his library. It would be awesome! Any creature could get a free library card. It didn’t matter if they were dragons, fairies, or human.

The three of them worked together to build what was an awesome complex for their fairies and dragons. It didn’t take long for Dom to start snoring, tucked in his beanbag chair.

All the tension from earlier left Lake’s body slowly.

He might not look like most of littles he’d seen at the club but inside Lake knew that this was the real him.

Inside Lake was soft and gooey. Just like a warm chocolate chip cookie fresh from the oven.

At the club, if there were new members or someone on a visitor’s pass, they normally pegged him immediately as a Dom. The assessment amused Lake since he couldn’t imagine order anyone around. Plus, Lake couldn’t even figure out his own life—how would he help guide someone else?

Ezra made dragon sounds as he flew two over the structures they’d built. Brandon was busy making his faeries bounce around as someone knocked on the playroom door.

They all froze and looked at each other.

“I get it?” Ezra asked.

Brandon and Lake nodded. Only one of the Daddies should be interrupting them. The playroom was off-limits to anyone but the family.

Ezra sighed before slowly walking to the door. “Who is it?” he called.

“It’s me,” Eric replied.

Ezra cracked the door. “What’s the password?”

Brandon slapped a hand over his mouth when he started to giggle. Lake shook his head. Ezra was gonna get in trouble. Of course, Ezra never complained when his Daddy was punishing him. Bratting was new to Ezra. For the first time he was in a safe place to push boundaries.

“Open the door or get put over my knee,” Eric responded.

Ezra glanced over at them with wide eyes.

Lake nodded his head rapidly. That worked for him. Ezra, Brandon, and Dom all had a naughty side, but Lake was a total good boy.

“Now, boy,” Eric demanded.

Ezra began to move their stuffie guard from in front of the door before he pulled the door open.

Eric stepped in first. “Really?”

Brandon was still giggling. “You cheated! That wasn’t the password.”

Dane walked in behind Eric and Brandon’s giggles stopped.

“Uh…” Brandon drawled.

“Let’s go!” Dane picked Brandon up.

“But I’m playing!” Brandon argued.

Dane turned, carrying Brandon out. Eric was ushering Ezra from the room. Lake looked around. Did that mean that playtime was over?

Remi entered the room after the other four left. “Hey, how’s it going in here?”

“Dom’s sleeping,” Lake answered. He was sort of upset that playtime had ended so suddenly. He understood that they couldn’t be little all the time, but Lake was feeling so much better now. Happy and at peace. He loved little time.

“I see that.” Remi crouched beside him. “There’s someone here to see you.”

Panic filled Lake and he shook his head. No one should be looking for him. Was it one of his brothers? Oh jeez! What if it was his dad? The shaking began before Lake could control his fear.

Remi ran a hand down Lake’s back. “I promise it will be okay. I would never allow anyone in here who would hurt you.”

Lake knew that. He nodded slowly.

“Come on in!” Remi called.

He watched the door as another man entered. Jesse! He had actually come to their little housewarming party. Lake couldn’t believe it. Jesse was there in the playroom.

He made a weird sound in the back of his throat when he realized Jesse was going to see their special space.

“It’s okay,” Remi whispered, patting Lake’s back.

“Hey, Lake,” Jesse said, stepping over their fallen stuffie guards. “Is it okay if I give you something?”

“Me?” Lake pointed at himself.