Page 44 of Their Little Helper

Looking sexy and offended, Dally’s head whipped around so he could focus on Harley. “I’m sorry. Those are fighting words. You’ll just have to hang out and pretend to play while I make an example out of Pokey.”

At some point he was going to get tired of that nickname…hehadto eventually get tired of it.

“You’ve got to be kidding.” Glaring at Dally got another wonderful reaction from the crazy man that had Harley trying not to smile. “If anyone is going to be the example, it’s you.”

Harley’s eyes lit up, for some reason not worried about our bickering as he shook his head. “You’re going to have to be nice and share.”

Dally rolled his eyes. “There had to be thousands upon thousands of bricks in that room. I don’t have to share unless I want to.”

Shooting me a glare, he stuck his nose up in the air. “And I’m not going to share with Pokey until he admits defeat.”

Then he’d be waiting a long time.

Harley’s quiet snicker said he realized that, but he couldn’t help being sweet and trying to distract us. “But what if I do best?”

Dally was quick to frown at him. “You weren’t going to play. You were just going to watch so I can beat Pokey. If you play then we have to be nice. That’s a terrible idea.”

Looping his arm through ours, Dally marched us out of the games exhibit. “I have to win, so I can’t be polite. Besides, you made it sound like they’re boring. I bet Pokey wasn’t even thinking of buying some for his never-ending condo.”

I ignored the shot about my home because he hadn’t said playroom or anything that would make Harley nervous. “I won’t buy him things he won’t use. I’m the responsible one.”

Dally was not…he would be the fun caretaker who made lists of questionable decisions.

Harley’s grin made me question if he was thinking the same thing, but again, he was too sweet to say it out loud. “You’re both going to buy me things I don’t need, but that’s okay, I’ll get used to it.”

He needed toys and we all knew it, so I filed away the protest as just for show.

“I bet I can find the best sets.” Keeping in mind their probable financial status, I made sure to keep the bet fair. “First one to find a link to the best set…on a legitimate site…wins.”

Dally’s grin made him look like a Batman supervillain, so I turned to Harley before the madman could talk. “If he ends up as some kind of supervillain, I want you to remember that I called it first. We’ll tell the press he was sweet when we first met, so it had to be some kind of lab experiment gone wrong.”

The snort Dally let out made Harley snicker. “It would be an experiment gone right and I would take my newfound powers in stride. I am adaptable.”

That was one word for it.

Somehow our giggly boy managed not to laugh and nodded as he gave Dally a serious expression. “You are very good at handling changing situations.”

Because he was a walking, talking train wreck that barreled into every situation without thinking about what could go wrong.

Like somehow getting targeted for a pickpocketing in one of the safest areas of the city.

Hell, maybe the state.

Harley and I had our work cut out for us, but if anyone needed two partners it was Dally.

“I think I’m going to have to play too just to make sure you both play nicely.” Harley knew he’d been scammed by his Daddy but he didn’t seem to mind being pushed.

He did seem to second-guess his own sanity as he kept going, though. “But…but the most stable tower…the most stable tower under six inches tall gets to pick a prize later.”

Eyes as wide as saucers said he knew the kind of shenanigans he was risking, but he pushed through whatever fears or dirty fantasies were racing through his mind. “But…but everyone has to be nice. Good winners and losers.”

Huffing, Dally shot both of us an adorable glare. “I’m always nice and always a good winner.”

Bullshit.

However, we were currently not in a location I could use that word, so I made a low snort. “I’m sure you are.”

Our banter had successfully distracted Harley into a less stressed state, but I wasn’t sure it would last long. Just walking toward the room with the Legos and exhibits on the science of architecture had him taking a subtle, but still deep breath.

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