“You want a sounding board? I’m one hundred percent here for you. Need someone to call at two a.m. because your little had a nightmare and won’t stop crying? I’m your girl. But let’s agree now that we never bone, okay?”
“Agreed.” I chuckle. “I don’t think Logan dislikes you, because he wouldn’t let you be around Emily if he did. But if he does, it’s because he has his head up his ass. You’re awesome, DirtyGurl.”
“Thanks, Daddy Max. You are going to make some little very, very happy.”
“Think so?”
“I do. I predict you’ll have littles fighting over you. Actually, I do predict that. I don’t know what the little community is like because Emily’s the only little I know, but if the little community is anything like the sub communityeverywhere, there will be fighting over you. Good Daddy Doms are not found on every corner. You’re going to be hot property. Don’t let it go to your head. I know a Dom who has a freaking fan club who follow him around and beg for scenes from him on their knees.” She takes a deep breath and looks down the alleyway towards the street, her eyes unfocused. I’m pretty sure she’s remembering following this asshole around, begging for a scene on her knees. “Don’t be that guy. For all that Logan and I don’t get along, I’ll be the first to admit that he’s a really good Dom. He always puts Emily first. He’sselflessin his dominance, if that’s a thing.”
“Be like Logan?”
She snaps her gaze back to me and grins. “Be like Logan. Only, you know, not as disapproving of my dreads and ink.”
I laugh andtinkmy beer bottle against hers when she holds it out.
six
I call a cab for Brenna,over her protests that it’s only an eight block walk, and wave her off before I drape my arm over Ty’s shoulder and turn down the street to walk Dakota home. It’s an indication of how well the night’s gone that he doesn’t fight me off. Dakota’s holding his free hand and I get the sense that he’s holding his breath, doing nothing that might make her pull away.
I don’t try to insert myself into their conversation about the movie they watched while Brenna and I were talking. I only caught the last few minutes of it. Brenna and I stayed on the fire escape, talking about kink, until the sun went down and the August day cooled into night. My head’s still spinning with everything I learned. I’m still more nervous than excited to go to the playgroup tomorrow and meet littles, but it’s closer to sixty-forty now than ninety-ten.
When we reach Dakota’s apartment building, which is a lot older and more run-down than mine, I pretend to be very interested in some architecture to give Ty a moment alone with her. I hear the whisper of skin-on-skin but nothing wet, so I assume no tongue. When I turn my attention back to them, they’re both red-faced and starry-eyed. Dakota runs up the stepsand into her building, pulling the outer door open without using a key or getting buzzed in. I frown at the lack of security.
Ty seems rooted to the pavement, staring up at the door, so I collar him around the neck again and lead him back home.
“Good date?” I ask.
“Wasn’t a date,” he mutters.
“Dinner and a movie? Ended with a kiss? It was a date.”
“You didn’t kiss Brenna,” he says, almost accusatorily.
“Nope, because ours wasn’t a date.” Even though we’re both attracted to each other, everything she said about our incompatibility made perfect sense. And I began to understand why dating has been a losing proposition for me. I have tried tofixevery one of my girlfriends. “She’s a friend, though. I don’t have many friends who are girls. She’s special.”
“You’respecial.” Ty snorts.
I pull my arm in for a headlock and noogie the top of his head, to his vocal protests.
Our messing around ends abruptly on the stairs to my apartment when we nearly collide with Ty’s mother, Cerise, as she clatters down on her stripper heels.
“Where the fuck you been?” she screams at Ty, red-lipsticked mouth stretching around white teeth. “I was about to call the police.”
“I sent you a text. I been at Max’s.”
She swings her enraged glare at me.
“I appreciate you may not have read them,” I say quietly. “But the building regs say that no minors are to be left unaccompanied in the building after ten at night and before five in the morning. You left him overnight. It’s not the first time, either.”
The wind goes out of her like I’ve punched her in the stomach. “I—I had an emergency.”
“I understand. People have emergencies. Next time you need to make arrangements for him. I’m happy to have him stay with me but you need to arrange it with me ahead of time. Even if it’s only five minutes before you drop him off. You have my number.”
“I lost my phone,” she says, shuffling her feet in those stripper heels.
“I have a spare you can borrow until you get a new one. It’s important Ty be able to contact you.”
“No, that’s okay. My man’s gettin’ me a new one. Ty, you get on in now.”
