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His brain had either totally stopped or was whirling in circles so fast I couldn’t see it. He just sat there processing and staring like I’d blown his brain. “I get to make you pretty?”
Had I broken him?
Austin would kill me if I’d fried Charlie’s brain.
I had a feeling Charlie worked for Austin too in some fascinating capacities, so he wouldn’t want me to damage him even if he hadn’t adopted Charlie in some way.
“I would love for you to make me pretty and I think you would have a lot of fun coloring my tattoos.” I was hoping that by repeating it, it would somehow reactivate his brain. “You like coloring and you want my tattoos to be pretty. It would also give you something to do when we’re talking to other people because you wouldn’t have to look at them at all.”
And the lights came back on.
He sat straighter, still looking at my chest, but something about his expression said the computer upstairs was processing again. “I’d have something to color and wouldn’t have to be big.”
Nodding, I tried to be patient and gave him another moment to respond. When he finally spoke again, he sounded more aware but definitely littler than he had only moments ago. “I like colors.”
Charlie slowly reached out and traced the capped tip of the marker over the area where he knew my phoenix was. “I’d make you very pretty, Daddy, and everyone would know you’re mine because you’d be my picture.”
The logic was fascinating, but I couldn’t argue with it.
“That’s right. Everyone will know I’m yours.” That seemed to please little Charlie to no end because he smiled and wiggled as he brought his other hand up to pet my chest.
“And I can sit on your lap and don’t have to talk to the big people?” To say he loved that idea would’ve been a massive understatement.
“You’ll be coloring and won’t even have to look at them.” That got more wiggles, so it seemed like a good idea to reinforce. “I even brought your binkie so they know you won’t use grown-up words.”
“Yes.” Charlie kissed my cheek enthusiastically and gave me a beaming smile. “You’re so smart, Daddy.”
I wasn’t so sure about that but we’d see.
****
“Upstairs or down?” I wasn’t sure if he’d changed his mind but it felt like a good time to check in again. He’d been very quiet and clearly sliding deeper into his little headspace as we’d driven to the club and gotten him changed into something cuter.
Charlie kept a tight grip on my hand, binkie in place and markers in his hot little grip, but he was swinging our arms and didn’t seem overly worried. It took him a moment to realize that he needed to respond but the cheeky bugger just looked down at his markers and held up the green one.
I couldn’t resist rolling my eyes, which had him giggling around the binkie. “Alright, Daddy makes the choices tonight. Clearly, that was a very silly question.”
More giggles said we should be okay staying downstairs, so I led him toward the lounge as I scanned the room to find the best spot for us. Charlie had seemed to like being hidden under the stairs before, so I was glad to see some familiar faces hanging out in the same booth we’d cuddled up in last time.
Perfect.
Everyone even had their clothes on for the most part and they were people Charlie would at least be familiar with.
Swinging Charlie’s arm as I steered us in that direction, I looked over at his markers. “What are you going to color first?”
The question distracted him and he had to look down at his treasures to hold up a blue one. Since words still weren’t being used, I did my best to remember what he’d originally said. “The dragon?”
He seemed very proud of me for remembering the color the dragon was supposed to be. I wasn’t sure if he doubted my ability to keep track of details or if my coloring skills were still being severely questioned but I smiled anyway because he was too cute. “You’re going to make it very pretty.”
Charlie nodded like that had never been in question.
“I can’t wait to see how it’s going to look.” And even if I ended up a fascinating mix of colors, it’d wash off in a few showers or faster if I followed the quickoops, this needs to come off right nowdirections on the box.
He was nearly bouncing he was so excited and didn’t seem to realize anyone else was in the room. Every ounce of his concentration was on his markers and my chest, and he looked like an artist who couldn’t wait to play with his canvas.
“Hello, gentlemen. Can we visit with you for a while?” It seemed fitting to be hanging out with an artist as Charlie colored, so I was glad when Jonah and his alphas waved at us from the other side of the couch as the rest of the group nodded.
I didn’t know the alphas in the group as well as I did Jonah and Dakota, but I knew none of them as well as I did Austin. However, Jonah always gave off a relaxing presence and his alphas seemed like good Doms, and Dakota’s distracted smile said he was mostly lost in his own world as his Dom chattered with Russ.
