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.

"I have questions." Gideon wasn't ready to back down but his Daddy was trying not to smile. Uncle Jarrett always thought Gideon's cop confidence was cute.

Daddy sighed. "I am not surprised."

Giggling would not help the situation but I had to remind myself of that several times before I could be helpful. "Daddy likes to research things. He and Austin have talked a lot about the club."

If it sounded like Daddy's research was just from his conversations with Austin, well, it wasn't like I'd actually said that. Gideon blinked at me several times but I just tried to shift the conversation again. "Do you want milk or to make Papa Ansel nauseous?"

The silly Daddy in question pouted, but Gideon let me distract him. "Milk. But who's going to brave the twins?"

Looking around, the Daddies sighed and the littles giggled. I thought it was funny but Daddy made a frustrated sound. "You are ridiculous. They're easy to manage."

What did he know about them?

That was probably a stupid question.

Everyone was back to watching Daddy like he was an alien, but he just ignored them and gave me a kiss. "I will go brave the naughty duo if you'll be okay for a couple of minutes?"

Glad he hadn't asked me to go downstairs yet, I nodded. "Yes. I'll be fine."

The way he kissed my head again said he didn't believe that at all, so I wasn't surprised when he turned to Marty. "Will you snuggle with him while I'm brave?"

Giggling, Marty nodded but didn't move away at all. "Yes, Papi Tyson."

As Daddy blinked at Marty, surprised at already getting his playroom name, the little got naughty and smiled really sweetly as he tilted his cheek toward Daddy. "Kisses?"

Daddy huffed. "Cheeky brats."

I couldn't help laughing and leaned over and kissed Marty's cheek. "He's not a cookie."

Daddy rolled his eyes. "We need a longer conversation on limits at the club."

He wasn't wrong.

Marty giggled while I climbed off Daddy's lap and decided to squish Marty by sitting on his. Daddy made more huffs but I could see that he wanted to laugh even though he started shaking his finger at me as he got up off the floor. "A lot longer discussion."

We were both giggling and flat on the floor by the time Daddy started heading downstairs because Marty's lap was not meant for anything but a stuffed animal. But we kept everyone else distracted enough that they went back to playing.

Well, most everyone went back to playing.

Gideon decided he was tired of being worried, so he cuddled against his Daddy, who took him over to the big chair to snuggle, but Charlie was still feeling very brave and came over. The fact that he crawled over said he might've been feeling littler again, but I wasn't sure.

"Is…" Charlie paused and seemed to think as he sat down beside us. "Your Daddy is smart. He was looking at me when he said to call Austin."

Oh.

Hmm.

"Daddy likes knowing things?" I wasn't exactly sure what Charlie did for a living. He was kind of too vague for it to be anything completely legal, but I didn't want to point that out. It seemed rude. "He owns companies that work in information. He's kind of famous?"

Marty kissed my cheek as he sat up. "I'm going to color before I steal your cupcake."

Charlie giggled but I just rolled my eyes. "Daddy will save my cupcake from any naughty boys around."

He'd probably get mushy first but Uncle Jarrett would step in if Daddy got conned by a sneaky little.

As Marty hurried over to start coloring, probably so he could make my Daddy a picture just to make me crazy, Charlie wiggled closer. He wasn't going to get distracted by crayons. "I don't have my phone."

Oh, so he couldn't look up Daddy on his own.

Had we said Daddy's last name?

He wasn't in a lot of pictures online, so I realized that Charlie was trying to figure out who he was.

Hmm.

"Daddy likes privacy." Leaning closer, I whispered as low as I could. "He really likes privacy, so you have to promise not to talk about him."

Charlie nodded, probably used to keeping stuff from his Daddy since Ansel didn't want to know the shady things Charlie got up to. "Yes, I promise."

"Austin knows who he is and he got a background check." Starting off with that seemed like the best idea and I knew I'd been right when I whispered Daddy's full name and Charlie's eyes went wide. "He's smart and a good Daddy and he teases me and he's already trying to build me a playroom at his house."

"Oh." Charlie cocked his head, more surprised about that than about who Daddy was. "He seems like the playroom right away type."

"He makes up his mind very quickly. It's all the information." I almost giggled when Charlie nodded seriously. "But he learned how to be a Daddy because he wanted a sub and he likes taking care of me. He's good at that."

"Smart Daddies are nice, but I don't want to worry about you." Charlie said that so sweetly it took me a minute to understand what he was trying to say.

Oops.

"Talk to Austin first?" Yes, then I couldn't be responsible for sharing anything I shouldn't. "But I promise I'm fine. Austin introduced us because Daddy doesn't mind interesting littles and he gives me lots of attention."

That seemed to make Charlie happier, but I still decided he needed a distraction. "Let's go peek over the railing and see what Daddy's doing. The twins are probably being naughty."

Grinning, Charlie nodded. "Yes, let's go look."

Quickly explaining what we were doing to his Daddy, we snuck out of the playroom and sat on the floor by the stairs so we could peek through the bars on the railing. We couldn't see Austin's office, so I told my tummy it wasn't allowed to get cranky.

Charlie was a good distraction that time, though. "Look."

Daddy had almost managed to get our milk without getting caught. He had a tray filled with sippy cups of milk and looked like he'd known right where they would be, but the twins seemed like they'd met him right outside the kitchen door.

Daddy knew everything.

He was amazing.

"What are they saying?" They were smiling and probably being naughty, but they weren't being loud enough to hear.

They needed to learn they had to flirt louder.

"I don't know." Charlie was studying them closely while he whispered. "Oh, Papi Tyson said something."

Something that made the twins' eyes widen.

"Daddy was naughty." I couldn't help giggling as Charlie nodded, looking nervous and nosy at the same time. "What do you think he said?"

I wasn't worried. I was more than enough for Daddy to take care of because I was already a handful, but I thought it was sweet that Charlie looked over at me before he answered. "Um, well, maybe he knows something about who they're curious about?"

"Oh." That was a good idea. "Daddy knows everything. He likes knowing stuff."

And having privacy.

"He has to know something good for the twins to look like that." It took a lot to startle them because they were more of a handful than I was. "Should we warn Austin they're probably going to end up doing something ridiculous?"

Charlie snickered. "No."

He was so naughty.

That was one of the reasons I liked playing with him so much.

"Oh, Daddy never mentioned anything about Papa Ansel's tattoos. So if you ever want to surprise him, you should color." That had Charlie going five different shades of red, but he didn't hide.

He giggled.

He liked his Daddy's tattoos and he liked making them pretty with his special markers.

"You two like teasing each other." Charlie was still really pink, but he didn't seem stressed and he wasn't looking at his Daddy, who was standing in the doorway. "Your Daddy looks grumpy but he's not."

"Oh, he's grumpy." There was no reason to lie about that. "He's done some interviews where he nearly takes the reporter's head off and you should've heard him earlier on a work call."

Daddy hadn't been happy about those shenanigans at all.

"But I'm special and I keep him from working too much. I'm kind of an attention whore, but he wouldn't know what to do with a little as sweet as you." Daddy needed some spice in his life.

But not the twins level.

That would just be scary and overwhelming because Daddy worked too much to deal with them. Even Austin said they were high maintenance.

I was being serious but Papa Ansel started coughing, so I pointed back at him and smiled. "See? Your Daddy knows it too."

"What does Charlie's Daddy know?" Suddenly my Daddy was there, but I remembered our milks and didn't tackle him.

And I remembered the stairs too.

"That I'm…that I need lots of attention and you like giving me attention, Daddy. So we're perfect." I was looking very innocent but Charlie giggled and his Daddy rolled his eyes.

Tattletales.

"And you remembered to use nice words and talk sweet about my monkey, right?" Daddy raised one eyebrow and didn't seem to believe me when I nodded. "Of course you did."

I didn't think I'd been mean, so it wasn't a lie.

I was an attention whore and I'd found someone who liked to give me attention. There was nothing wrong with that, and it was an accurate description in the dictionary and everything…and not even the naughty dictionary.

I was a good boy and didn't look there, but I couldn't be blamed if Austin had it up on his phone.

"You like giving your monkey attention, Daddy." I shrugged since it couldn't be helped. "You said so. And you said that you're going to make me a playroom. So that's even more attention."

The giggles behind me said the other littles knew what getting a playroom meant.

Daddy was going to keep me.

He huffed and rolled his eyes again. "You're trying to steal the good boy status. It was my turn."

No giggles.

No giggles.

"You've been a very good boy, Daddy. You got milk and you didn't spill it and you even said nice things to the twins, right?" Innocent boy. I was Daddy's sweet, innocent boy. Wide eyes. No smiles. Just happy good boy.

He snorted.

Shoot.

Daddy even shrugged as he walked into the playroom carrying the milk. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Daddy likes privacy." I sighed and crashed into Charlie. "I forgot."

"That's very sad." Charlie gave me a hug. "I'll help you be nosy."

Aww. I had the best friends ever.