Page 85 of Worth the Wait

Chastity had been mentally excruciating for him. The cage had done nothing except make him more painfully aware of his cock than normal. Every step he took or every time he sat down, his cock jostled against its prison and tried to harden. His balls ached with the tightness of the ring around them and he’d been solely focused on nothing besides coming for the past three days, even though Jack hadn’t let him.

Even now, with the cage off, Jack hadn’t allowed him to come, instead sending him to work with a swollen cock that was desperate for attention.

He was trying to focus on mixing drinks when two familiar faces appeared at the bar.

“Hey, guys,” he greeted Gregory and Landon’s friends Justin and Micah. They’d been around for years and Callum recognized their faces as regular customers long before he’d officially met them as friends.

They’d briefly had a third partner who spent time with them, but he’d vanished a few weeks before after passing off an envelope to Callum in the parking lot before his shift started. He’d been meaning to ask after their curly-haired friend, but hadn’t seen Justin or Micah since then.

“Hey, Callum,” Justin greeted with a friendly wave. Micah, for his part, looked rather cranky, but he followed beside Justin without verbal complaint.

“What can I get you?”

“Whiskey,” Micah answered.

Justin shot him a glare that had Callum’s hand hesitating around the neck of the bottle. Micah looked to Justin with pleading eyes, and Justin’s softened before he gave Callum an approving nod of his head.

“Make it two,” Justin confirmed.

Callum poured the drinks and set them on coasters in front of the men, still debating whether he wanted to mention their friend or not. Justin and Micah had always seemed like they got along so well, and this new icy tension between them wasn’t something Callum had seen until after their third disappeared.

“Where’s your friend?” he asked, dropping the whiskey bottle back into the well.

Justin looked to Micah before he answered. “We don’t know.”

“He just disappeared,” Micah added sullenly.

“He seemed upset last time I saw him,” Callum offered.

Micah traced his finger around the rim of his glass before picking it up and taking a large swallow and remaining silent.

“If you see him around, will you let us know?” Justin asked. “We left a lot of things…unsaid.”

“Of course, man,” Callum agreed.

Micah downed the rest of his drink. “I want to play.”

Justin affectionately stroked a hand through Micah’s hair, and Micah leaned into the touch like a tree angling toward the sun.

“You’ve been drinking,” Justin gestured to Micah’s empty glass.

“Just one,” he countered. “You know I can handle it. You know I need it. Sir.”

Justin looked at Micah with a look of such great sorrow that it hurt Callum’s heart and caused him to look away. When he looked back, they were both gone, Justin’s drink still on the bar untouched.

Two hours into his shift, Verity’s…friend Aaron showed up. He pushed his way to the bar and looked around, smiling and nodding when he saw Callum.

“Is Gregory around?” Aaron asked, scanning the crowd, but directing his question to Callum.

“I haven’t seen him or Landon. Verity’s here, though.”

One thing Callum had learned through his years of bartending was that people always overlooked the bartender. While Callum may not have been the best with names, he knew faces, he knew drink preferences, he knew the way people normally looked when they were happy and he could pick up on tension between couples like he had with Justin and Micah. And what he noticed with Aaron was the way his eyes flickered when Callum said Verity’s name.

“Fancy running into you here.”

Jack’s voice to Aaron’s left drew Callum’s attention immediately and a relieved smile broke across his face.

“Daddy.”