Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 76603 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76603 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
“Can I safely assume that his membership will be revoked?” My question got a firm nod from Austin and shifted the conversation again. “Wonderful. I think you’ll find that he’s been stopping by a lot.”
It would explain the crayon problems.
Dessie’s nod said that was correct, but he was too busy snuggling with me and his friend to give me words.
Austin’s glare turned into a frown. “I’m sorry I didn’t see what he was doing.”
Dessie had probably hoped that ignoring him would make him go away, but I’d found that generally didn’t work with assholes.
He wasn’t frustrated with Austin, though. He waved his hand and lifted his head up enough to give Austin what I thought was a smile, even though he was facing the wrong way for me to see.
Whatever Dessie did made Austin happy because the wound-up omega let out a deep breath and gave him a sparkling smile. “You were brave too.”
“He was.” Rubbing Dessie’s back as he snuggled against me again, I kissed his head as his friend gave him cuddles too. “He didn’t throw anything and he made sure I knew there was a problem.”
Dessie let out a slightly shaky breath but there was a happy undertone to it. “I came right to you, Daddy.”
“That’s right, and then we got the big boss, and he’s scary.” I was just trying to make Dessie feel better, but Austin sat straighter and nodded like the regal fairy princess he seemed to be channeling.
Dessie’s friend giggled, finally finding all of the insanity funny, and that set Dessie off. His happy sound was all it took to get the rest of the Daddies and littles in the room to push back their own worries and start to relax too.
Unfortunately, that gave Gideon time to start thinking about what had happened. “Do I want to know how you could identify Dessie’s ex by the sound of his cough?”
Cops, ex or active, were a pain in the ass.
Chapter 26
Dessie
“No.” Daddy seemed to think that was a reasonable answer because he decided to change the subject.
To Marty.
He turned to my friend who was snuggled up next to us and made his voice warm again. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.” Marty only had to think for a second about what to say next. “I’m hungry.”
Daddy’s chest jerked but he managed not to laugh. “Well, you used up a lot of energy and there weren’t that many cookies out earlier.”
I wasn’t sure if that was a dig at Uncle Jarrett or not, but he huffed and I knew Daddy found it funny. He did his best to sound like he was ignoring Uncle Jarrett’s sounds, though. “Should we see if there’s more snacks? Maybe we should get some juice instead?”
“I have cupcakes.” Austin bounced up and whirled around. “I forgot. I’ll be right back.”
Before I could sit up and move away from Daddy, Austin was gone. Uncle Jarrett and Papa Ansel were frowning but Daddy sighed. “Do you think he forgot he’s supposed to be torturing someone?”
I was trying to decide if laughing would make me a naughty little but Charlie sighed and shrugged. “Possibly? But someone downstairs will remind him. He doesn’t like it when we scare him. He probably got distracted.”
Someone would definitely remind him because I had a feeling half the club had come running when Charlie had called for Austin.
Oh. Yeah.
“Thank you for calling out for Austin, Charlie.” He’d known just how to call for the calvary, and I knew both Austin and Ansel would be telling him on repeat what a good job he’d done. Charlie hadn’t panicked at all. “You did really good.”
He blushed and squirmed but he didn’t hide behind his Daddy, so I knew he was fine. “Thank you.”
Daddy must’ve known that Charlie needed a distraction because he sighed. “I can’t decide if Austin actually has cupcakes or not. I also don’t know if he’s going to get distracted again and forget he promised us cupcakes. Oh, and I’m also not sure juice goes with cupcakes. What if they’re chocolate cupcakes and we get out grape juice?”
Daddy was so good at driving everyone crazy.
Papa Ansel nearly gagged, though. “I’m not even willing to entertain that idea.”
Charlie couldn’t seem to decide if laughing was appropriate or not and just wiggled as he tried not to smile. “I…I like milk?”
Daddy perked up and smiled. “That sounds like a good plan. I’m sure the kitchen has it.”
I wasn’t even going to ask how he knew there was a kitchen since I was positive I hadn’t mentioned it, but it got curious looks from the other Daddies too.
Uncle Jarrett rolled his eyes. I had a feeling he thought he was dealing with another Austin, but I wasn’t going to tell Daddy that. Gideon was still in grown-up mode after being startled with all the drama and he was giving Daddy a very cop look, even though he wasn’t on the police force any longer.