Page 24 of A New Chapter
He’d been a parent less than a week, and his sex life had already tanked. The old saying must be true, except he’d always thought it was just younger kids who did that to you.
Rom plopped onto the bed and listened to Colton’s end of the conversation.
“Iknowthe power’s out, Aunt Roberta. We’re upstairs. And— …What? Well, why thehelldid she plug all three small kilns into that circuit? I told her never to do that! … How long’s it been like that? …Sheesh. Okay, I’ll be right down.” He walked through the bedroom door.
Rom sat up and once Colt had hung up, Rom was already reaching for his wrists to get those cuffs off him. “Can I spankher?” Rom asked. “And whichherare we talking about?”
“Louise. She put the three small kilns on the same circuit. I think she just tripped the main. It’ll only take me a minute to reset it. I’m sorry, Master.”
Rom patted Colton’s right leg to prompt him to put it up there so he could remove his ankle cuffs. “Every minute is a cane stroke, boy. Hurry back.” He pulled him in for a kiss before turning Colton loose again so he could get dressed.
Rom flopped back on the bed and listened to the front door open and practically slam shut, followed by the sound of Colton thundering down the stairs.
He smiled. No, he wouldn’t really take it out of Colton’s ass. It wasn’t his boy’s fault, but it was fun to mindfuck him. Besides, it was a work thing, so that was outside the scope of what they did.
Although…it was starting to get a little stuffy up there without the A/C running.
I’m so spoiled.
While he had his own place, he kept the temperature exactly the way he liked it, all the time. Fortunately, Colton was comfortable with him taking control of the apartment’s thermostat, too, and found Rom’s preferred temperature comfortable.
When two minutes stretched to five…and then to ten, Rom was about to throw on clothes and go after Colton to rescue him from the grannies—and get him focused, because the powerstillwasn’t back on—when he heard his cell phone ring.
Colton’s tone.
Rom sighed and got up to answer it. “Yes, boy?”
“Uh, good news, bad news,” Colton said.
“What’s the good news?”
“It wasn’t the circuit. I redistributed the plugs, but that’s not the problem.”
“Is that the bad news?”
“Um, yeah. Power’s out all over in this area. Car hit a power pole. Will probably be a couple of hours.”
Mother.
Fucker.
The apartment would be an oven by then, unless they opened all the windows.
And no, he wasnotmaking love in the apartment with all the windows and blinds open. The building directly across the street from them on the side their bedroom windows were located had a second-floor bistro in it with an outdoor patio area where smokers sat.
With both a perfect line of sight and, likely, the ability to hear everything.
Rom sighed. “All right, boy. Come on back upstairs. I guess there’s not much we can do about it.”
“Sorry.”
Rom collapsed on the bed, remembered the beeping UPS units, and got them reset and powered down. They had them both as surge protectors, and to keep from having to wait through cable box and modem reboots just because the power flickered off and on during a storm.
Colton returned a couple of minutes later, looking as dejected as Rom felt. He knelt next to the bed after stripping and Rom put his cuffs and collar back on him.
“Sorry, Master.”
Rom rolled onto his stomach and reached out to ruffle Colton’s hair, where he knelt next to the bed. “Not your fault, boy. No strokes, obviously.” He played with his hair. “Guess we’re not meant to get laid this afternoon.”
