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Oh.
I wasn’t the only one being very quiet and listening.
Everyone was so intent they didn’t see Master Russ grin and wink at me. “Boo.”
They all jumped.
I laughed so much I almost fell off Daddy’s lap, but he was fast and caught me. Of course, he had to frown because he worried about me, but he didn’t fuss at Master Russ because I was laughing and laughing.
When I stopped, Daddy sighed and snuggled me even tighter but everyone else was smiling like I was the cutest thing ever.
But when the laughing stopped and everyone quit frowning at Master Russ, Tanner sighed again.
He liked being dramatic too.
“She wanted to know if I thought being married was an archaic institution or if it would make me feel confident in my relationship.” He frowned and looked confused. “As weird as it sounds, it was actually a very polite conversation and she wasn’t acting too oddly. But then she went on to ask if I’d heard of an alpha pledging ceremony because that might help if I wanted a marriage without the stigma attached.”
Everyone else looked confused but I decided hiding behind Daddy would be a very good idea. The chairs were kind of narrow for me to crawl behind his back, though. So, as they frowned at Tanner, kind of looking cute actually, I wiggled down to the floor and hid behind Daddy’s legs.
That was much better.
They were very big and worked almost as well as the chair in the playroom and Daddy’s pants were soft, so I could hide my face against them without it feeling scratchy. Yes, it was perfect and I was so brave because I’d panicked very politely and I hadn’t run away.
Daddy liked it when I panicked into him, not away from him.
“For fuck’s sake, someone get him a blanket and a binkie and tell me what the fuck is going on.”
Austin.
Daddy’s hand was petting over my head and down my back, and he sounded very calm. “Charlie just got a bit spooked by our conversation. We’re going to head upstairs and read a book.”
Oh, that was a very good idea but we couldn’t.
I patted Daddy’s hand and shook my head, then made gimme fingers to make my binkie appear.
Yay.
When my binkie was firmly in place, Daddy gave me a teddy bear and put a blanket over his lap so I had a Daddy tent. “Alright, I’m fairly certain he’s not going anywhere, so for Charlie, this means that we’re not done with the conversation yet.”
Daddy was so smart.
“Does anyone have any idea why?” Daddy’s voice said he was pretending to be very calm, but I knew he was glaring at them like they’d been naughty.
Austin made a low angry noise almost like he was a very mad teddy bear. “I’ve been very patient and haven’t even said anything about those tattoos. What upset Charlie?”
Austin didn’t like getting those looks from anyone but Silas.
And not getting to tell Daddy how pretty he was would just make Austin even more cranky.
I wanted to help…well, part of me did.
A tiny part of me wanted to help, but the rest was still firmly in thehide in my fortmode, so I patted Daddy’s leg. “Alright, sweet boy.”
Daddy ran his hand down my back as I hid and the slow, steady rhythm had me taking a deep breath and my heart stopped trying to jump out of my chest. “We were talking about Shane’s family and their…struggles with acceptance.”
Daddy was so polite.
Austin’s snort said he knew that. “What have those idiots done now?”
