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Austin was still trying to decide if he was going to kill me or not, but I thought things were moving in my favor once I’d made it clear I was interested in Charlie.
Nothing he’d said clearly or talked around was anything I was concerned about. I’d read enough about the different types of littles to have a good guess at whatlittlelittle might mean, and his delight at my size and the possibility of my having tattoos said we were a good match in other ways.
Not every omega approved of alphas who looked highly alpha. The club was different most of the time, but I hadn’t been sure if my size would work for me or against me when it came to a sub like Charlie. However, it seemed like that was the one thing that didn’t scare him. Charlie clearly had a thing for big alphas like Silas and Jarrett.
And me.
I’d come back just as Charlie had been trying to decide what it meant that I’d asked for his picture, so I’d heard his giggles about big alphas, but I’d also heard his worries about being shy. I wasn’t sure what I should clear up first but I was aiming toward starting with the picture and then moving down the list.
First, I had to get past Austin, though.
He glared daggers at me for a few more seconds before he glanced toward the floor in front of them. When I sat down like a good alpha who could follow directions, he nodded in approval and reached for the bottle of water.
The bartender had a wealth of interesting goodies behind the bar but cranberry juice had not been one of them. He’d mumbled something about suppliers who couldn’t follow directions as he’d gotten me the water and showed me a box of odds and ends he’d collected for the subs and littles.
So I now had a, hopefully, appropriate bribe to make a shy boy smile again…once he would look at me.
“A couple of sips, cutie, but you don’t have to look or listen or anything. You just cuddle with me.” Austin had Charlie nearly on his lap and managed to keep him cuddled as he helped the shy sub take a sip. “Good boy.”
The praise got a ghost of a smile before the binkie went back in and Charlie went back to hiding. Then Austin turned his glare at me again, but as he started to speak, I knew Charlie wouldn’t be able to hear how angry Austin was.
I couldn’t decide if that made him amazing or psychotic.
“Charlie is very shy and has a few questions for you. So I’m going to be the one to ask them for him.” Austin sounded like a cheerful fairy godmother. “First, we need to make sure you’re not uncomfortable with how shy he is?”
The question felt like it skimmed over a lot of information I needed to know but I did my best to answer it. “No, I don’t mind if he’s quiet and prefers to play up here. I think I would only be uncomfortable if I made him so nervous he could never relax around me.”
But if he could talk to Austin, then surely he could talk to me, right?
A faint nod said he approved of my answer and I felt the noose around my neck loosening. “He’s a very chatty sub when he’s not little and when he’s at his most grown-up, but it can take him a while to open up.”
“That’s very reasonable. I had fun just coloring with him and watching TV.” I wasn’t sure if it was the honesty in my voice or something about Charlie’s reactions that I couldn’t see, but Austin relaxed.
“I bet he had a lot of fun doing that today.” Austin hadn’t really asked a question but Charlie nodded, making me feel a thousand times better. “But one thing you need to know is that Charlie doesn’t do very well when he’s startled…especially when he’s stressed and startled.”
Austin paused, glancing down at Charlie and clearly trying to decide something. It was a side of the dramatic omega I’d never seen before and it was fascinating to watch on a lot of levels. “Charlie had to do a lot of public speaking as a child and a teenager. It wasn’t something he enjoyed, and as the engagements got bigger, he got more nervous.”
Things were obviously being downplayed significantly, but the only big events that seemed like they would fit the clues Austin was giving were ones put on by various omega rights groups that were more than a bit odd. The different splinter groups varied from political to religious in nature but I just remembered rolling my eyes at the ridiculousness.
No one but themselves took them seriously because they all advocated for different styles of ridiculousness. But if Charlie had been involved in any of them, it wasn’t surprising that he had a few things he was struggling with.
“I will make sure I remember that going forward. It wasn’t my intention to startle him. It’s not an excuse but I thought he heard me approaching and was just worried about what I was going to say.” It would’ve been completely in keeping with his personality when he was little, so I hadn’t questioned it. “Going forward, I will make sure to approach him from an angle where he can see me.”
And never touch him from behind where he couldn’t see me coming.
What the fuck had happened to him?
“That would be good.” Austin’s expression seemed to say it should’ve been obvious but he didn’t say it out loud. “He also doesn’t relax well in groups. He’s not agoraphobic and he can handle grocery stores and things like that, but doing a scene downstairs as a grown-up sub would never be something he’d enjoy even if he could physically do it.”
So he’d try to torture himself for me if I pushed it but he’d hate it or have a mental breakdown?
“I think that is a very reasonable boundary and I will never ask him to scene downstairs. I like hanging out with the other couples, though. I don’t have a lot of people in my everyday life who I can be open with.” I wasn’t sure I could give up the conversation aspect, no matter how drawn I was to Charlie.
“Would strictly socializing downstairs be fine or is that something we need to discuss in more detail?” Was I asking too much?
Austin wasn’t glaring at me anymore, so I thought it was probably reasonable, but I didn’t start to relax until Charlie inched up and whispered to his protector.
I couldn’t hear much but Austin nodded and seemed pleased with whatever Charlie had said. “He’s fine with getting to know other people as long as he’s fully dressed and you’ve talked it out clearly beforehand. He doesn’t have an issue with watching a scene or what anyone else is wearing, though.”
