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I rolled my eyes as he started to paw me all over. Not only was Sergio our most extroverted Little, but he was also the person with the least amount of reservations I knew. Nothing was out of bounds when he was around.

“I know,” I said playfully. Or not so playfully. I did need to breathe. “Tony got it for me.”

Sergio flicked his gaze to him, then. They weren’t besties—and no one really expected them to be—but the sea-themed stuffies Tony had gotten him a few months back had gone a long way into fixing their relationship. Probably more than Tony had wanted. I’d caught him huffing and rolling his eyes more than once because Sergio had included him in his list of people to text on an almost daily basis.

“Good.” Sergio nodded resolutely before shifting back to me. “Oh, and happy birthday!! Even though I’m still angry you didn’t let me get you anything.”

“I didn’t say you couldn’t get me anything.” I huffed. “I said you couldn’t get me anything with glitter on it.”

“So?” Sergio waved his arms wildly. “Same difference.”

I snorted. “Right.”

At least he didn’t keep fighting. Or hogging me. The rest of the group that had already made it took advantage to congratulate me and talk about the rubber suit. Erika and Eli especially were eyeing it as if they wanted to steal it. Not that they would. Erika had a million rubber suits, and she kept buying more for Eli, too. The two of them were well stocked in all things latex.

Cece might want to borrow it. We did it more often than not—we had a similar build—but Tony had gotten this custom made. He didn’t say it, but I recognized the brand when I opened the package. All their suits were custom made.

“I’ve got your present at home,” she said in lieu of a greeting. Technically, she’d come over for breakfast, so she’d already told me happy birthday. “I didn’t want to carry it all the way here.”

“What is it?”

And why didn’t she give it to me this morning? I could’ve gone to her place if it was too heavy or whatever. I could’ve had Tony move it, too. He had muscles for a reason, didn’t he?

“You’ll see.”

I scowled. “That’s not very nice of you.”

She was supposed to be nice.

No, I still was clueless about what had been going on with her—or was still going on with her—but the move to the house next to Tony had seemed to help. She wasn’t at a hundred percent, but she’d mellowed out some. Her skin looked healthier, too. I’d missed how gloomy it had looked back in the apartment, as if she wasn’t getting enough sunlight. Which happened sometimes.

“What are you gonna do about it?”

I growled and pretended to snap at her jaw, that was what I did. People around us laughed, but if I had to put her in her place I would.Tsk.

Not today, though. Tony still had plans for us, and I wanted to spend the night in our bed. After all, he was keeping me plugged for I had no idea how long. I had needs.

It waswhen everyone else finally arrived that my hackles went back up. Tony had said I needed to earn whatever it was he’d gotten me that had him all anxious and shit. And not all of them were good at pretending this was a normal night.

In fact, some of them were terrible at it.Looking at you, Ev. Even Danny was antsier than usual. He hardly stood still when there wasn’t someone giving him bruises, but damn.

Kara kept cozying up to Mónica, too. It wasn’t entirely out of character, but she wasn’t as energetic, usually.

Seriously, what had Tony set up, and when the fuck was it going to start? I needed some kind of clue, at the very least.

Right?

I squirmed again.

Tony did not participate in everyone’s exuberance, leaving them to gush about my suit and my birthday and everything else, but he hadn’t once taken his eyes off me. It was almost like it used to be, back before this whole thing started, even before he’d been outed, and I could always feel his eyes on me whenever I was playing.

We’d moved to the big room we used for group play nights. The mattresses were pulled out, but I wasn’t getting the impression that we were going to play. The vibes weren’t there. Besides, Tony didn’t engage in group play nights, and as much of a voyeur as he was, it wouldn’t be his style. Not today.

Ugh.

I really didn’t do well with not knowing.

“Wanna finish gearing up now, pup?”