A Home for Barney, page 1
A Home for Barney
Pride Pet Play
Elouise East
Copyright © 2023 Elouise East
A HOME FOR BARNEY (PRIDE PET PLAY)
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, Elouise East. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the internet or by any other means, electronic or print, without premising from Elouise East.
The unauthorised reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Please purchase only authorised electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights and livelihood is appreciated.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
All products and/or brand names mentioned are registered trademarks of their respective holders/companies.
Publisher: Elouise East
Cover Design: Covers by Jo
Proofreader: Abri Denae Proofreading
Beta Readers: Emma Brown
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Secretive Royal Teaser
Books by Elouise East
About Elouise East
A Home for Barney
Liam has had his fill of handlers pretending to be who they’re not - decent. When the owner of The Den announces several pet and handler taster sessions for the upcoming Windsor Pride Festival, Liam jumps at the chance. But he won’t fall in love. It hurts too much.
Troy has watched Liam from a distance, too shy to approach despite being a handler. But he gets his chance when he’s paired with Liam for the event - or rather Barney, a pup with a playful attitude who can melt Troy’s heart with just one look.
With Liam’s heart locked behind his puppy playsuit, what can Troy do to prove they’re perfect for each other?
A Home for Barney is part of the Pride Pet Play 2023 multi-author series. Each book can be read as a standalone, but why not check them all out? If you like playful pets who are sometimes naughty, Pride parades, and Daddy’s who love their boys unconditionally, you’ll fall in love with our pack!
Author note
If you would like to see any potential triggers for this book and any other books I’ve written, please go to this link on my website: https://elouiseeast.com/triggers
Chapter 1
Liam
Liam Sawyer entered The Den with only a slight shimmer of trepidation, leftover from when he’d been beaten by a man who had been a member there. It had happened over a year ago, but that tremor as he crossed the threshold had been there ever since. Even knowing the man, Vincent, was now in prison for trying to blackmail and kill a member of the royal family, not to mention other things. How Liam got entwined with the man, he didn’t know. It just happened one day when he didn’t have a handler to take care of him during his pup time.
He signed in at the reception desk within the foyer, ignoring the bass pounding through his bones, and headed to the stairs to the side of the bar. The Den had two floors. The main floor was a basic club with dancing, a DJ and smaller sectioned-off areas for the voyeuristic and exhibitionists. The upper floor was where the more diverse club members went. It held everything else from age play to bondage play to pet play, which was Liam’s wheelhouse. Unfortunately, he had no handler, which meant he had to play alone and take care of himself unless there was an eligible handler available.
And by eligible handler, he meant someone willing to be his handler for the evening. Sometimes, a handler who already had a pup or two would allow him to join them, giving him a better experience. Other times, there was a handler with no pups at all. His friend Robert had been that to many pups before he found his partner. Robert had also been the person to help Liam get away from Vincent that night, and they had become firm friends afterwards. Robert and Henry, who just happened to be a prince, were getting married in a couple of weeks, and they had invited Liam to celebrate with them. He couldn’t wait.
But that night, he needed to breathe, and to do that, he needed to be a pup. Barney was his pup name, and he wore a brown and white neoprene suit that had gloves, shoes and a mask that turned him into Barney when he needed to let the world fall away.
On the upper floor, the music was quieter, but the moans and groans of ecstasy were louder. Liam glanced around to see who was present and was pleased to see Dodo, a brown pup he sometimes played with, and Nomad, a mischievous black and white pup. They both had handlers, but they were fun to play with. Barney could get rambunctious sometimes, and Dodo and Nomad were just as bad.
Nomad saw him and came scrambling across the floor to bash into his legs, nearly sending Liam flying. He laughed and patted the pup on the head.
“I’ll be there in a minute, Nomad. Go play!”
Nomad nudged his face into Liam’s thigh and bounded off, back to the mosh pit, almost colliding with another pup. Liam shook his head and grinned. Heading for the small bar at the back of the room, he ordered water, slid his custom-made name tag around the neck and placed it on the counter to the side. He could come back and get a drink when he needed one without coming out of pup space too much. He found it jarring to slip from pup space to normal to pup space again, so he tried to mitigate that as much as possible.
Slipping on his shoes and mask first, he then slid on his gloves and presented himself to no one in particular while he relaxed into being Barney. It didn’t take long when he concentrated on the pups’ yips and growls. He watched a handler throw a ball, which came in his direction, and he focused on it. It rolled to the side, and he sprang after it, nudging it with his nose and sending it in a different direction. Another pup came up beside him, trying to get it, but Barney nosed the ball away again, and they both raced after it. Barney overshot the mark, and the other pup yipped but jumped back when the ball squeaked at him. Laughter sounded, and Barney chased the ball and the pup back to the mosh pit.
He stopped in front of Dodo, pressing his chest to the floor and wagging his tail, wanting to play, but Dodo’s handler said, “He’s just having a rest, Barney. He’ll play again in a bit.”
Barney whined but turned to the other pups. Another pup had joined, and Barney yipped and raced over. This pup was all black and sleek, but Barney knew him. Barney pounced forward and back, getting closer to Dusty each time, trying to entice him to play, but Dusty sat beside his handler until Robert said, “Go play, Dusty.”
Dusty knocked into Barney and sent him flying, but Barney got his feet back under him and chased after him. Robert threw another ball for them, which sent all the pups into a tailspin. After several long minutes, Barney panted hard and trotted over to the table. He removed his gloves so he could reach for his drink. But his drink wasn’t there.
“Barney! Here, boy!”
His head whipped around at his name, and he dashed towards Robert. “That’s it. Good boy. I brought your drink over to us so you can have some company. Here you go,” Robert said, holding out his bottle of water with a straw poking out of the top.
Barney drank, closing his eyes and letting the cool liquid soothe his warm body. When he pulled his head away, Robert patted him, then placed a bowl of treats on the floor. Barney devoured the savoury cheese crackers—his favourite—then had another drink before heading back off to play again.
He wasn’t sure how long he played for, but he’d been called back to Robert twice more. The next time, Robert told him he and Dusty were heading home, and Barney whined.
“I know, Barney. We’ll find someone for you as soon as we can.”
Dusty pressed against his side, and Barney nudged his head in thanks. He was difficult, that was the problem. Feeling himself slipping out of pup space, Liam pulled off his gloves and mask and settled on his ass on the floor, sighing.
“Thank you, Robert. I appreciate it. And thank you for tonight. I didn’t realise how much I needed to let go until you took over.”
Robert smiled. “I know it’s difficult when you’re on your own, but you know you’re welcome to ask if you ever need this. We won’t leave you without someone. There are plenty of people we know who could do this for you.”
Liam nodded. “I know. It’s just…” He swallowed and looked away.
“I understand. Not everyone is like him, Liam. I promise you that.” Robert looked around. “There’s just a decided lack of handlers in this place.” He frowned at someone, and Liam glanced in that direction, seeing a guy turning away from them. Who was that? He turned back when Robert started talking again. “I don’t know why because despite how unkempt and seedy this place looks, it’s one of the better ones.”
Dusty finished his drink and rested his head against Robert’s leg. Robert rubbed his back, and Liam pushed away the jealo
“Are you heading home now, Liam?” Robert asked.
He nodded. “Yeah. I’ve had the breather I needed, thanks.”
“You’re welcome. You know that.”
Liam reached to scritch Dusty’s ear, and the pup pushed into his hand. “Thank you for sharing your handler, Dusty.”
Dusty didn’t come out of pup space until he’d had a nap usually, but Liam hadn’t seen him take one. Either he had and Liam hadn’t seen, or he was going without that night. The pup trusted Robert to make sure nothing happened to him during that time, but Liam would never allow himself to be so unaware, even with someone he trusted, like Robert. Liam stood and thanked them again before heading for the stairs. He wanted to get home, showered and into bed before the calm of his pup play left him completely. It didn’t last as long as it used to, which meant he had to visit more often to keep the level head he needed to have to think straight.
He signed out and drove home, ignoring the longing voice in the back of his head telling him he needed more. He might need more, but he couldn’t get it, and he had to live with the tumultuous thoughts every day.
He parked in the residents’ car park for his apartment building and let himself into the building with his key fob. Forgoing the lift—he wasn’t keen on small spaces—he ran up the ten sets of steps to the fifth floor, panting when he pushed through the door to the corridor. His apartment was one of four on the fifth floor, but the furthest away from the stairs. He passed three doors, two on his left and one on his right, then unlocked the last door on his right and stepped into his living room. Locking it behind him, he rested back against it for a second.
A beep echoed through the room, and he sighed and strode over to the answer machine. He knew who the voicemail would be from, though why she used his home phone and not his mobile, he could never understand—even when she explained it.
“Hi, Liam! It’s Lora. I’m assuming you’re out, as you didn’t answer. Unless you’ve decided to ignore me for once. Nothing much to say except I can’t wait until this baby is out! How can I still have four weeks to go? It’s so not fair that the women have to deal with this.” She sighed. “Anyway, are you coming over next weekend for dinner? You usually do, but I wanted to check. Call me tomorrow, okay? Love you.”
The answer machine beeped, and he left the message on there. It would remind him to call her in the morning, though he didn’t plan to make it too early. It was a Bank Holiday, which meant he could sleep in. He never booked jobs for those days because people were always taking off to the beach or something, thinking the weather would hold out for them, but it rarely did. For some reason, the weather thought it was hilarious to rain on almost every Bank Holiday the U.K. had. Didn’t matter if it was the height of summer, either. It still rained.
That was the other reason for not booking jobs. Being a landscaper wasn’t pleasant when the weather didn’t cooperate. Business had just picked up again now spring had arrived, and he was booked for weeks to come.
He wandered to his bathroom and unfastened and dragged off his pup suit, putting it to one side to remind him to clean properly before he next wore it. He had several identical suits, so it wasn’t urgent, but he always looked after his things. He switched on the shower and climbed in straight away, allowing the pinpricks of cold to hit him before it warmed up enough to be soothing. Scrubbing away the sweat, he let his mind drift, allowing the calming of his pup play time to sink into him. He’d visit The Den again the following day, as it was his day off, and give himself another night of freedom before locking it all away until the following weekend.
****
He didn’t sleep in as long as he wanted, thanks to his sister. The phone rang, and he stumbled from the bed to answer with his eyes barely open and his brain misfiring. That had to be the reason he agreed to meet his sister for brunch, rather than going back to bed.
He hung up and groaned, rubbing the grittiness from his eyes. Yawning, he stumbled to the bathroom and showered in cold water, needing the spikes of ice to wake him up completely. When he was shivering enough to make a bowl of jelly tremble in his hands, he climbed out and dried off. Dressing in jeans and a T-shirt with a picture of a Labrador puppy and the quote, “Handle every stressful situation like a dog. If you can’t eat or play with it, pee on it and walk away.” It was one of his favourites, and he had plenty of them. He collected them, weird as that might be.
He shoved his arms into a hoodie he probably wouldn’t keep on for long, pulled the sleeves to his elbows, slipped his wallet, keys and phone into his jeans’ pockets and left the building.
He walked the twenty minutes to Book Drunk, Lora’s favourite cafe and bookshop. It was owned by the boyfriend of another prince, Christian, and although Liam had never met the prince, he’d spoken several times to Oscar. He had a feeling Oscar was a little or a pup or something along those lines, but he would never ask; it wasn’t polite to do so outside of a club. Plus, it wasn’t his business. All he cared about that morning was the breakfast Lora said she’d treat him to.
Entering the cafe to the tinkling of the bell above the door, he searched for a redheaded, tiny person, also known as his sister. She’d snagged her favourite table by the window so she could people-watch while indulging in her decaf coffee and cake love—decaf only because she was pregnant.
She beamed at him as he drew closer, and he leaned down and kissed her cheek.
“Good morning, sunshine. How’s you and the baby?” he asked, settling opposite her.
She rubbed her stomach, the small beach ball sized bump making it more difficult for her to sit close to the table. “We’re both good. I’ll be happy when I can start drinking full-strength coffee again, though. They’re great here because they make the decaf drinks as nice as the non-decaf ones, but there’s something about that caffeine hit…” She chuckled.
Liam snorted. “I would’ve thought you would’ve got over your addiction by now. You’ve not had much caffeine for how long now?” He knew how long, but he wanted to distract her.
She groaned, dropping her head back and pouting. “Don’t remind me it’s been twenty-seven weeks. And counting. I can’t count the first nine weeks because I didn’t know.”
Liam swallowed his chuckle. “Anyway, where’s my food?”
Lora glared at him. “I don’t mind paying, but I wasn’t ordering it until you got here. You might’ve fallen back to sleep.”
Liam shook his head, smiling. “Do you want anything?”
Lora pursed her lips and shook her head. “I’m good.”
She didn’t sound good. Liam joined the queue and decided on a full English breakfast and a latte to start his day. He ordered Lora a white chocolate and raspberry muffin because, although she said she was good, she would never turn down one of those. He grabbed the latte and the muffin and carried them back to her, sliding the plate in front of her. She gasped and clasped her hands to her chest.
“Thank you!” She grabbed a fork from the pot on the table and dug in.
Liam sipped his latte and watched, waiting for her to inhale it before they returned to their conversation.
“Of course I’ll be there next week. It’s on Sunday, right?” he teased, knowing full well it wasn’t.
She threw a balled-up napkin at him. “You know very well it’s on Saturday, so don’t be mean.” He held up his hands in surrender.
“I’ll be there,” he said seriously. “You know I will.”
Lora smiled at him, and despite their ten-year age gap, he felt closer to her than he had been to anyone else. Ever. They’d grown ever closer since their parents’ death eight years ago. Liam had taken over Lora’s care. Even though she’d been eighteen and able to stand on her own two feet, he’d been there to support her. It was only when she sat him down and told him to stop hovering that he travelled the country, trying to find who and what he was. It was on one of those stops that he’d found himself in a kink club and been introduced to pups. He’d never looked back. His sister had no clue about his kink lifestyle, and he was happy to keep it that way.
