Page 3 of Killer Daddy (Fendi Mafia Daddies #2)

Benjamin

The Bubble Palace was one of a handful of Little clubs in the city, but as far as Benjamin and his friends were concerned, it was without doubt the best. With its dedicated playrooms, nap rooms, and a house chef that made the sweetest deserts and snacks, there was everything that a baby boy could want.

For Benjamin, it felt like being at the Bubble Palace was probably the one time where he could truly let his Little self come to the fore.

Mrs. Ramos never had an issue with Benjamin being a Little.

Far from it, Mrs. Ramos would often ask Benjamin all about what it meant to be a Little and delight in hearing the details.

But that said, Benjamin was aware that he was at work and during his time at Flowers on Fifth, he knew that he needed to keep his mind focused on the task at hand – which often involved dealing with some very demanding customers who probably wouldn’t take kindly to being served by a boy with a pacifier in his mouth.

And when Benjamin was in his apartment, it always felt like it was harder to truly get into Little space when he was by himself. It was different when his friends came over, but as they were all so busy this was far from a regular occurrence.

No, what Benjamin loved was being in the Bubble Palace and having all the room, toys, music, and treats he needed to really let go and let his best Little side shine.

The one downside of his apartment being so small was that it meant Benjamin needed to choose very carefully which toys he had and how many boxes of coloring and crafting supplies he could have.

But in the Bubble Palace there were no such considerations and Benjamin reveled in the vast choices that were on offer to him.

Sometimes though, the thing that most appealed to Benjamin was the sheer amount of space available for him to strut his Little stuff…

‘Hey, look at me, I can crawl fast,’ Benjamin giggled, moving his hands and knees as quickly as he could across the playroom’s soft, multi-colored play mat. ‘ Ooops , I fell!’

Reece and Kyan giggled in delight as Benjamin crashed into the large pile of beanbags on the wall. And it wasn’t long before they too crawled over toward Benjamin and the three of them started building a princess castle out of the beanbags.

‘We can rule the Little Kingdom together,’ Benjamin said, his cobalt-blue romper bringing out the depth of color in his green eyes. ‘And our stuffies can be the knights of the realm!’

‘Yay! Awesome,’ Kyan said, holding his stuffie Gambit out in front of him and making his big rabbit ears flop from side to side. ‘No mean Daddies will dare try to attack while our stuffies are on guard!’

‘B-b-b-but what if a big dragon comes?’ Reece asked, his voice full of fear as he snuggled underneath a beanbag along with his dragon stuffie, Squirt. ‘Squirt’s too small! He might get eaten…’

‘No he won’t,’ Benjamin declared. ‘I know that Squirt is super-brave and can handle even the biggest, scariest, most fire-breathing dragon in the whole world.’

‘ Rawwwwr !’ Reece answered, poking Squirt out from under the beanbag to show his bravery. ‘I think you might be right, Benjamin.’

The three friends all laughed together and continued to play.

As they went about their fun, Benjamin cast his mind back to when he was new in the city and by chance happened to run into Kyan and Reece near the Bubble Palace.

They were all new to the city and still finding their feet, but their bond was so strong right from the beginning. And now of course they were three BFFs.

Kyan had found his Forever Daddy in the shape of Matteo.

Initially Benjamin thought this might mean that their friendship might change, or that he would hardly ever see Kyan anymore.

This couldn’t have been further from the truth though.

In fact, since Kyan met his Forever Love, their friendship bond had gotten even stronger – and this made Benjamin think that if he could find his own Daddy too, it would be the icing on top of the cake.

As he took a sip of his juice, Benjamin watched Kyan and Reece playing with some wooden horses and trotting them up and down the beanbag castle walls.

I’m so lucky.

Those two are my besties.

One day we’ll all have Daddies too…

Benjamin felt himself feeling all happy and warm inside.

And if he wasn’t already fully in Little space, he knew that he was now well and truly on the way there.

As the music played on the playroom’s speakers and to the sounds of his friends’ laughter and fun, Benjamin lay back against a big pile of spare beanbags and began to smile.

‘Love you, love you, love you,’ Benjamin said, his voice regressing into a gurgle as he called his friends over. ‘Cuddle! Cuddle!’

And just like that, the three friends were all snuggled up together and cuddling one another. They all might have had busy lives in the outside world, but as far as inside the Bubble Palace went, they had all the time in the world…

Later that day and Benjamin was back in the swing of things at Flowers on Fifth.

With a temporary lull in customers walking in off the street, Benjamin knew that this was a great opportunity for him to really get to work on some of the more complex arrangements that he had to work through ahead of a big delivery the following day.

‘ Okaaay , no mistakes, let’s nail this,’ Benjamin said, his face a picture of concentration as he clipped and shaped a bunch of roses to suit the customer’s very precise request. ‘Looking good, even if I do say so myself.’

Benjamin took a step back from the arrangement of roses and allowed himself a smile.

He was working well and doing a good job.

If Mrs. Ramos had been there, Benjamin was pretty certain that she would be happy too.

And with this in mind, Benjamin got his phone out, took a photo of the work in progress and sent it to his boss…

BENJAMIN: Mrs. R, I hope you like the photo. It’s still not finished, but I’m happy so far. I hope everything is okay with you? I haven’t heard from you in a couple of days but I guess you’re busy with your pop. Send him my love. Speak soon.

Benjamin put his phone away and was about to get back to work when he figured that it wouldn’t do any harm to take this as a perfect moment to refresh his tall glass of water.

Working as a florist might not have been comparable to a real blue collar manual labor job, but it was still pretty intense and involved a lot of moving around, crouching, and turning your arms and hands at awkward angles.

‘ Aaah , that’s fresh,’ Benjamin said, the taste of the cold water hitting him at just the right spot.

‘Hey, Tricksy, it’s a good job I got started on this now.

I’ve got a feeling we’re going to have a busy end to the day.

Something tells me that this good weather is going to see a run on people buying flowers for their loved ones. ’

Benjamin put his glass of water down and picked Tricksy up to give him a big cuddle. The thought of someone one day surprising him with flowers was nice, but at the same time made Benjamin feel a little sad that currently there was no sign of such a person.

In fact, as Benjamin thought back to seeing Kyan being collected from the Bubble Palace by his Daddy, Benjamin couldn’t help but feel a tiny twinge of envy.

The way that Kyan’s Daddy had picked him up so confidently and cradled him in his arms was something else.

And the way that Matteo looked so lovingly in Kyan’s eyes before he kissed him was just… wow .

I’m happy for Kyan really.

He deserves it.

I guess I’ll just stick to making flowers for other people…

Benjamin allowed himself a wry smile before getting back to work on the roses. However he wasn’t going long before the store door swung open.

‘Hello, how can I… help you?’ Benjamin asked, his voice trailing off as he looked at the two burly men dressed in all black who were now prowling around his little florist. ‘Ex-ex-excuse me? How can I h-h-h-help?’

The two men were giving off some seriously unfriendly vibes. Benjamin might have been an innocent Little, but he had lived in the city for long enough to know that not everyone was full of sunshine and light. And these two customers were far from giving off good vibes.

‘I said,’ Benjamin whispered, his confidence draining and a bead of sweat on his forehead. ‘Can I help you?’

‘I think you need to keep this place a whole lot tidier,’ one man replied, a wicked smile on his face as he swung his arm and brought down a whole row of prearranged flowers. ‘This place is way too messy.’

‘Hey! No! What’s going on?’ Benjamin pleaded, rushing over toward the flowers and picking them up as the two men laughed.

‘What’s going on is that you owe us money,’ the second man said, kicking out and smashing a large pink vase near the entrance, causing it to shatter into a hundred pieces as it hit the polished floor beneath.

‘And not just today. You owe us every week. Week after week after week. That’s how it is now.

So unless you want us to trash this fucking place again, or worse, I’d make sure that you have the dollars ready for us when we come back. ’

‘B-b-b-b-but I just work here,’ Benjamin said, his eyes filling with tears. ‘I can’t… it’s not my… but…’

Benjamin could only stand by and watch as the two men walked over to the cash register and emotionlessly removed all of the day’s takings.

‘This ain’t enough,’ the thug with the long scar across his cheek snarled. ‘I know most people pay with card. So make sure when we come back that you’ve withdrawn money from the company account. Got it?’

With that, the thug reached over to Benjamin’s artistic rose arrangement and broke each rose, one at a time.

‘Please stop!’ Benjamin cried, his bottom lip trembling and feeling full of fear.

‘I’ll take that as a yes ,’ the thug laughed. ‘We’ll be seeing you.’

The two men turned and left the store, leaving Benjamin to survey the damage and try to work out what had just happened.

He’d never seen the men before. And Benjamin felt sure that if Mrs. Ramos was paying horrible men money then he would know about it, or at least have been given some kind of warning before Mrs. Ramos left for Spain.

This was all kinds of wrong.

Benjamin knew that he had to do something, anything , to make it right.

As he picked up his phone, Benjamin saw that Mrs. Ramos hadn’t replied to his earlier message.

In fact, Mrs. Ramos hadn’t even seen the message.

Added to the fact that Benjamin hadn’t heard from his boss at all for a couple of days, suddenly the situation was seeming even scarier.

This was very much Benjamin’s problem, and he had no idea how to solve it.

‘Tricksy, what are we going to do?’ Benjamin sobbed, ruefully squatting down and surveying the sight of his precious roses, all snapped and broken before him. ‘I need help. I just can’t do this on my own…’