Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 78043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
What was Dean expecting beyond Olive Garden dates?
I was turning into the worrier in the group, but I couldn’t stop the questions firing through my brain, and for once, I was really glad he was the one driving. Control freak tendencies aside, I knew I was too distracted to be behind the wheel.
That was weird in itself because I was usually really focused and he was the wildly overthinking one.
This was all Brady’s fault.
“Does Tate want dessert too?” Joel was half turned around in the front passenger seat and looking at me like I was a broken TV. “I can help him pick one if it’s hard.”
Dean hummed and shook his head as we inched closer to the restaurant in the slow-as-fuck traffic. “I don’t think that’s the problem, but thank you for offering to help him.”
“You’re welcome.” Sitting straighter, Joel basked in being a good boy. “I could help him eat it too if that’s the problem.”
I had no doubt about that.
Laughing, Dean shook his head. “No, I think he’s just taken my place as the overthinker for the moment.”
Joel’s head turned so far around it looked like we’d somehow ended up in a horror movie. “Why would he do that? Did we break him? Wait. Did Brady break him? Did Brady’s Daddy break him? Do you know what his name is? He frowns a lot.”
Maybe?
Quick shrugs from both of us had Joel moving on quickly from that last question. “Brady’s kind of nosy but I was good at keeping stuff private, and I don’t think I even told him I’m little. Did I?”
That was a good question.
“Um, you didn’t tell him you weren’t, so I think he just jumped to that conclusion.” It was a correct one, though, so I wasn’t surprised when Joel brushed that issue off too.
“Why are you being Dean?” Joel’s question made me bark out a laugh but he was being serious. His frown was so cute it made it hard to stay worried, though. “Who broke you?”
“Um, Brady.” Yeah, there was no way around that answer. “But he didn’t mean to.”
Rolling his eyes, Joel sighed. “Some littles are very hard to deal with. You’re lucky I’m so laid-back.”
There was no good response that didn’t involve laughter, so I tried to ease my way around it. “You are an amazing sub and a great friend, but I kind of got stuck on that ‘what are we’ part of the conversation.”
Head cock.
Hum.
It seemed to be a question that required thinking drama, so Joel even sighed and turned around toward the front to take a deep breath. “People like to complicate things.”
Was I people?
Was Brady people?
He made it really hard to be stressed sometimes…Dean must find it exhausting to be worried all the time when Joel was so funny. It just took so much work to push past the urge to laugh and still find things to be concerned about.
Maybe that was why he thought we all needed to get enough sleep? His brain was always working overtime.
But I didn’t get much of a workout this time. Being dramatic thankfully didn’t take long, and as we started to turn into the parking lot, Joel was half around in his seat again. “We all know we’re special. We talked about that the other day. But sometimes knowing we’re special isn’t enough. Do you need a label?”
What had he been reading online?
“Did your mother tell you to ask that?” Dean asked the question that’d started bouncing around in my head.
“Yes.” Joel didn’t seem offended by it and answered like it was a simple question. “She explained that some people liked labels and some people needed them. Some situations just need them too. Like explaining what I was. It was helpful and I hadn’t realized having an extra label besides gay would be important.”
Okay, that actually made sense.
“I already have my labels, but I think that Tate needs an extra one.” Joel was looking back and forth at us like we were an interesting science experiment he didn’t understand yet before he settled on Dean. “Do you need an extra label?”
It felt a bit like we were having to come out of the closet again, but I knew he hadn’t meant it like that. Joel just had to do everything in the most interesting way possible.
“Can I think about it?” Dean either took a cop-out or needed to actually think, but either way, I nodded along with him. “I don’t know what to say other than I like your labels too.”
Ass kisser.
“Yeah, thinking would be good but I promise not to overthink.” When Joel gave me a skeptical look and raised one eyebrow, I laughed. “No more turning into Dean. Promise.”
“You two are ridiculous.” He scoffed as he parked the car but he didn’t say I was wrong. “This is not my fault or my worries.”