Please, please, please change the topic. I felt too good to ruin it with my personal life.
“We know about your family, lil pup.”
“Okay.” I picked up my sandwich again and finished the last piece in one bite.
I caught the brothers exchange a glance before Daddy cleared his throat and pressed forward.
“Who have you hung out with in the community so far?”
I squinted as I thought about it. “I meet up with Ivy, Kit, Cam, and a few others at munches. That’s about it.” I leaned forward and rested my forearms on the table, wondering what snack I should go with next. The apple, probably. Then the cookie. Or the chips.
“Tell us about a regular day in your life,” River requested.
I could do that. “In the summer, I mainly work out and study techniques with Weasel. But when my brothers go back to school, I stop by our aunt’s place most days to help them with homework and stuff.”
I eyed the apple.
“You don’t live with your brothers,” Daddy stated.
“Correct,” I responded. “I used to, but I’m more useful bringing home money. And to do that, I gotta train a lot. That’s why I accepted Weasel’s offer when he said I could live with him in Rosslyn. Can I have a snack now, please?”
Daddy nodded with a dip of his chin.
I dove for the apple and took a big chunk out of it. Oh, it was just like I imagined it. Juicy, sweet, perfect.
River cleared his throat. “But your brothers like living with your aunt?”
Why wouldn’t they? “Oh yeah. She’s great.” I took another big bite and chewed quickly. “How is this an interrogation?”
Daddy smiled faintly. “We ask the questions. Not you.”
“I can answer anyway.” River slid his gaze to me. “We wanted to get a clearer picture of your mind-set before we continued to your rather serious infractions.”
I swallowed loudly, a piece of apple gliding down with some discomfort. “Infractions?” I coughed.
He inclined his head. “You’ve put yourself and community members at risk when you’ve lied—by omission—about why you seek out pain.”
Oh. That…
I lowered my gaze and returned the apple core to the tray. I didn’t feel so good anymore. In fact, my stomach started to hurt. I dropped my arms from the table and hugged myself loosely.
“Are you gonna call it?” Daddy asked River quietly.
“Yeah,” River responded. “Scene’s over, Shay.”
Wait, what? I snapped up quickly and felt a rush of worry flood me from within. “Did I mess everything up? C-can I make it better? You were going to interrogate me.”
He didn’t look angry. If anything, his eyes held an abundance of warmth. “You’re not in a state to go on, baby. And sometimes scenes don’t work out as planned, but that doesn’t mean this wasn’t a great experience. We pushed you hard and learned a lot.”
I chewed on the inside of my cheek and flicked a glance at Daddy.
He rose from his seat and extended a hand. “Come on, little fighter. I think we all need some rewards and cuddles.”
Really? I couldn’t help but perk up at that. “I deserve a reward?”
“Of-fucking-course you do.” He gathered me close and ushered me out of the room. “We’ve put you through a minor hell, and you never stopped being the wonderful little maso boy you are.”
“Oh.” I smiled to myself and slipped my hand into his as we descended the stairs. “Even though we didn’t finish the scene.” I had to make sure.
He stopped me on the landing and cradled my face in his hands. “Intense scenes like these have only one purpose—to expose the masochist. To see what’s left when we get rid of all the filters and push you into a place where you’re left vulnerable and open. And that’s what we did.” He dipped down and kissed me softly, lingering, and spoke against my lips. “We can safely assume there’s a Little in you.”
I mustered a little smirk. “Nuh-uh.”
“Yuh-huh.” He chuckled and inched back. “We can discuss your skewed definition of what makes a Little after you’ve rested. We’ll be doing so much talking tomorrow.” He tapped my nose when I pretended to scowl. “We’ll also have fun exploring where the line goes before the masochist gives way to a defenseless Little.”
A yawn cut me off from childishly arguing that I wasn’t a Little, but at this point, I didn’t know why I bothered. I liked calling him Daddy; he felt so safe and protective, and I didn’t have to have all the answers around him.
“You need sleep.” He threaded our fingers together and moved toward the next set of stairs. “We’ll have all the time in the world for everything else later.”
“All the time in the world,” I snickered tiredly. I did like the sound of that—it made my insides feel all warm and shit—but it was just a figure of speech.
“You’ll see.” He pressed a kiss to the side of my head. “River and I think we should try to keep you. Besides, if we don’t explore a dynamic for just the three of us, we can’t lose the condoms and Daddy can’t breed his little boy properly.”
Fucking gulp.
Nine
Reese Tenley
“Can we stay here all day?” Shay mumbled sleepily.
“Hmmm.” I kissed the top of his head and stretched out my legs. “I don’t have plans to move anytime soon, but I think you’ll be bored in a couple hours.”
Not only had we gone to bed early last night, we had slept late and only gotten out of bed to eat breakfast and then crash in our lounger next to the pool. River was dozing on and off on one side of me, Shay on the other, and fuck if I knew the last time I’d felt this peaceful.
Weather was nice too. Not too humid. The umbrella shielded us from the sunrays yet kept us warm
