All That Glitters

Chapter 4

By 2:30 a.m., I am a yawning mess as Troyer and I perform a light clean on the club. Tomorrow Troyer, Annabell and I will fully clean with Salem's 'help' of course.

"Let's go, little brother," Troyer says, gently clasping me on my left shoulder.

"Yup," I mumble around another wide yawn as I rapidly blink away the tears.

We exit the club to the stairs since Troyer has locked all the entrances already, and we silently climb the stairs to the apartment. Entering quietly, I'm not surprised to find Annabell sound asleep on the couch with a book lying open on her chest.

"Night Troyer, I love you," I murmur as I head toward Salem's room to check on him before showering and going to bed myself.

"Night Gabe. I love you, too," he murmurs as he gently picks Annabell up bridal style after moving and bookmarking her book, to carry her to their bed. "You did well tonight, and you have four private dances booked for tomorrow night."

My jaw drops in surprise; "Nice! Guess I better get some sleep then, huh?"

"I know you check on Salem before sleeping, but get some sleep soon," he replies with a knowing smile.

"I know, and I'll be quick," I seriously reply as we head toward our bedrooms - the apartment is three bedrooms.

Troyer nods in response as I enter Salem's room quietly to walk over to his bed, and squat down by his head with a fond smile at my sweet boy. Salem is spread out like a star fish as he lies on his belly with his face toward me. His blond hair is covering his face, so I carefully brush it off to the side before softly kissing his forehead with a soft smile.

Salem slightly resembers me with his bright blue eyes and pale skin, but that is it since he is a blond and I have brown hair. Kissing his forehead lightly again, I whisper against his skin; "Night baby boy, I love you so much."

Standing, I pull his 'Paw Patrol' bedding up to his arm pits before silently leaving his room to mine which is across the hall where I quickly undress, shower, brush my teeth and hair, rub my lavender-oatmeal body lotion on, and then pull on a pair of tight blood red boxer briefs. Grabbing my dirty clothes, I toss these into the hamper in the corner of the bathroom before turning off the light, and walk into my ajoined bedroom and climb under my dark blue covers. I'm sound asleep within seconds of my head hitting the pillow after plugging in my phone which I leave on my nightstand.

"Papa?" Salem's tearfilled voice wakes me from my sleep some time later while he pokes my side.

"What's wrong, baby boy?" I rasp out as I open my eyes to see him with tears dripping down from his beautiful blue eyes as he sniffles while clutching his "Chase" dog plushie from 'Paw Patrol' to his chest with both arms.

"I bad d'eam," he sniffles on a soft whine.

"Come up here, baby, and you can sleep with me, okay?" I say, throwing off the covers as he crawls up onto the bed to cuddle into my left side.

Covering us with the covers after he has settled against me with his head on my bare chest. Kissing his messy blond hair, I ask what his dream was about, and when I don't get an answer, I crane my neck to see his face, and I find him fast asleep with little snores coming from his button nose.

Chuckling softly, I throw my right arm over my head before drifting off back to sleep. A few hours later, my alarm blares from my cell, and I groan as I reach over to silence the annoying sound. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I feel Salem moving around as he wakes, and I smile down at my sweet son as his eyes flutter open.

"Morning Salem," I murmur as he blinks his pretty eyes at me.

"Mornin' papa," he mumbles as he snuggles deeper into my side with a loud yawn. "I hung'y, papa."

He tilts his face toward me with an adorable pout with wide eyes causing me to smile brightly at his cutenss; "Then let's get up, so we can make breakfast for everyone."

"Yeah!" he cheers, scrambling off me and the bed once I have thrown the covers off us.

We run through our morning routine before padding softly through the apartment to the kitchen to make breakfast for the four of us.

"What are we making, Say?" I question once we're standing in front of the fridge which is still closed.

"Fren' toasties!" he cheerfully requests as he bounces around me lightly on his feet.

"French toast it is and turkey bacon!" I agree on a chuckle. "Can you grab the cinnamon and vanilla from the pantry, please?"

"Yup!" he chirps, popping the 'p' as he walks to the pantry a few feet away to grab the two items - we make french toast regularly, so he knows what vanilla and cinnamon look like.

While he does this, I grab the eggs, bread, bowls, and a whisk. Once Salem returns with the items, he sets them on the counter next to the loaf of bread before grabbing his step stool so he can help me - no he doesn't cook on the stove.

"Papa, I whis'?" he questions looking at the bowl with eggs, cinnamon, and vanialla.

"Of course!" I confirm with a grin as he excitidly takes the blue silicon whisk, and carefully whisks the contents with determined focus with his tongue poking out slightly.

By the time the french toast and bacon are finished, Troyer and Annabell are joining us with appreciative smiles and sniffes of the air. The four of us sit with our filled plates at the wooden round four-person table to eat and chat together before dressing for our day to clean at the club before doing whatever else. No, Salem doesn't know what exactly happens at the club, he just knows that we play dress up and dance around. Once we have finished cleaning the club a couple of hours later, Troyer and Annabell go off to do their own thing as do Salem and I.

"Papa, wher' we go?" Salem questions as I buckle him into his car seat in the back of my 2014, dark blue Jeep Grand Cherokee.

"Shopping," I grin while handing him his 'Chase' stuffie from 'Paw Patrol' with a grin which earns me an excited gasp.