Page 3 of Daddy’s Little Chaos Gremlin (The Lactin Brotherhood)

3

TRISTAN

“Daddy, he’s magnificent,” I murmured as I watched Zephyr whirl into a sort of sideways cartwheel before propelling himself into the air to rotate three times before touching down on the grass of the courtyard again.

I was glad Daddy had held the auditions here, at his friend’s apartment complex, rather than at home. I’d grown tired of failed possibilities flittering through, leaving the echoes of themselves in rooms I’d hoped they’d occupy forever. While it would suck to spend a week away from my playroom and all the tools in my workshop, I’d rather miss them than add another ghost to our home.

“He is, isn’t he? But let’s see how well he can hold a position before we get too far ahead of ourselves.”

“You’re right, Daddy,” I whispered as I held his hand, enthralled as Zephyr’s body corkscrewed through the air before he landed in a superhero-esque crouch, a bright, triumphant smile on his face as he stared at us.

I love how he paid attention to both of us, making eye contact occasionally, but mostly just acknowledging that we were both there by the way he aimed smiles in each of our directions. I’d lost count of how many times someone had tried to curry favor with Daddy because he was the one in charge, ignoring me except when trying to follow the instructions I gave, their eyes relaying the truth. They cared nothing for what I was trying to create. They were only interested in the security of being cared for by Daddy.

Silly fools.

Daddy and I were a package deal and anyone who couldn’t see that was someone neither of us had the time, nor the patience to deal with.

“Could you pick a pose you are comfortable holding for longer than a minute or two?” Daddy requested. “Something that shows off your grace and flexibility, while allowing you to remain absolutely still.”

“I-I’ve played the part of a human table at several events,” Zephyr stammered, a delicate pink blush spreading across his cheeks and nose before he ducked his head.

“That is nothing to be ashamed of,” Daddy told him, smiling when Zephyr raised his chin and met his eyes again. “In fact, it is a beautiful gift of service to be able to provide such a thing. To us, you would be a living sculpture, there to be appreciated and admired, never ignored like you were merely window dressing for the room.”

His eyes widened at that, but his pleased grin showed just how much he appreciated Daddy’s words. I watched as he rolled his shoulders and let his head fall back, before he gracefully tipped over backwards, until his feet touched the ground behind his head, and he settled in. I saw Daddy hit the button on his phone to start the timer, then I turned my focus back to the serine look on Zephyr’s face as he exhaled and seemed to drift off into another world right before my eyes.

I could tell Daddy noticed, too, with the way his breath sucked in over his teeth, making a rough hissing sound as he cocked his head.

“You get that same look on your face when you drop into subspace,” Daddy whispered as he slid his arm around me and tugged me as close as the chairs would allow us to get.

I thought about crawling into his lap, but that wouldn’t have been professional, so I pressed my head against his shoulder and watched as Zephyr stayed as steady as a piece of oak. One minute passed, then a third ticked by and still he hadn’t even wavered. Four minutes, seven minutes, at the ten-minute mark, the longest it ever took me to draw a series of gesture studies, Daddy called time and Zephyr gracefully straightened up, looking completely unphased after holding the pose for so long.

“Bravo,” Daddy said as I clapped my hands beside him, excited at all the possibilities. On the other side of Daddy, Mr. Hanson stood, clapping his hands before sticking his fingers in his mouth and letting out a series of whistles that made Zephyr blush again.

He was adorable when he did that and looked like the sweetest little thing in his shorts and crop top, several bright tattoos on display when he twisted and flipped. He gave a little bow, then dropped to sit cross-legged in the grass when Daddy indicated the space, and the chair in front of us. Daddy quirked an eyebrow but let it go as Mr. Hanson resumed his seat. Clearly, Zephyr was comfortable there. He sat with his back straight and his head up, not quite making eye contact with any one of us, but watching us as a group as he waited for Daddy to speak.

“Should I assume, by what you said about playing the part of a human table, that you are familiar with many aspects of the kink community as well as what The Lactin Brotherhood is all about, since you were performing at one of their events?”

“Yes, sir, to both,” Zephyr replied. “The father in the troupe I belonged to lactated, that’s how he knew of the Brotherhood and was able to put our names in to be considered to perform.

“Did you ever nurse from him?” Daddy asked.

“No, sir, his wife was very jealous.”

“Which is a big part of why the troupe fell apart at the event,” Mr. Hanson explained. “It seems that while the wife was extremely possessive of her husband, she was of a different mindset when it came to sharing herself with others. Apparently, the husband had just been playing along, letting her think she was the one calling the shots, while he snuck off for trysts of his own. He was caught with Robbie McGee and when she threw a hissy fit, Gavin and Michael Collins stepped forward to say that she had no cause to be upset when she’d been busy demonstrating her flexibility to the two of them.”

“I just feel bad for Paulie, he’s their son. We always performed together. Now his folks are splitting up and when he left here it was to go see if his grandparents had a spot for him in their carnival. He wasn’t very hopeful, though, since he hadn’t seen them since they’d had a falling out with his parents when they’d taken off to perform on their own,” Zephyr replied.

“Which was why you stayed behind,” Daddy surmised.

“Yes, sir,” Zephyr said. “I hated saying goodbye to my friend, but I really thought we’d have better odds on our own, since the world isn’t exactly clamoring to hire acrobats these days.”

“Then it’s a good thing I am not the world,” Daddy said. “Because I believe we have just found the acrobat we’ve been searching for. May I ask if you would have been willing to nurse if it was offered to you?”

His eyes lit up before he spoke, and I knew the answer before he started blushing and stammering his way through an affirmative while promising that he hadn’t known anything about either member of the couple’s infidelities and would never get involved with someone who was taken.

Daddy held up his hand, halting him before he could continue his flurry of unneeded information. Mr. Hanson had already gathered that bit of information when he’d spoken with the father of the troupe, wanting to be certain he was making the right decision in allowing Zephyr to leave an advertisement on The Lactin Brotherhood’s bulletin and message boards.

“None of that is my concern,” Daddy said. “What I’m curious to find out is if you would get involved with individuals who wished to welcome a third into their lives?”

This time he just stared, eyelids slowly blinking several times before his mouth dropped open. “I’m not just interviewing to be a muse, am I?”

“Is that a problem for you?”

My artist’s eye longed to capture the way his eyes lit up and his mouth opened and closed before he finally found his voice. “N-no, sir, not as long as both people are equally interested.”

I smiled up at Daddy, silently waiting for permission to engage with him. When Daddy inclined his head, I slid from my seat and into the grass in front of him, so we were almost eye to eye. I was taller, which made him perfect little brother height. When he remained unbothered by me crowding into his space, I scooched closer, bouncing a little.

“We’re looking for a little brother for me, too,” I explained. “And a playmate and someone who doesn’t mind being tied up because Shibari soothes me when I can’t focus but Daddy doesn’t like to be tied down except on special occasions.”

This time, when he blushed, I could see that he had freckles across the bridge of his nose and that his hair beneath all the fading neon colors was white blond and curling on the ends where it had gotten sweaty. He looked like he belonged on a beach somewhere warm and sunny most of the year, but I was really glad he was here, because so many possibilities had popped into my head since he’d started performing that I itched to have my sketchbook back in my hands.

“I love ropes, it’s like being hugged but they aren’t going to let go anytime soon and that’s the greatest feeling, because I really like cuddles,” he blurted.

I glanced back to see the pleased look on Daddy’s face as he listened, then I turned my attention back to Zephyr, thrilled with the question he asked me.

“Do you do suspension, too? It’s one of the best feelings. I can just drift and hang like a bat in a tree.”

“We do. Daddy always does the rigging for me so I can focus on placing the ropes just right.”

He cocked his head, nibbling his lower lip a little before meeting my gaze again. “I don’t mind most textures, but I like soft textures best. It’s okay if you like to use coarse ropes, though, as long you don’t mind me wearing a sheer mesh bodysuit over my skin to make it less rough.”

I wrinkled my nose when he mentioned rough ropes, because the feeling was a major ick for me. I couldn’t stand to rub them against my fingers, and even with gloves on, would never want to subject anyone else to something I couldn’t stand.

“I always use soft, and I’ll always let you touch them beforehand, so you know what they feel like,” I explained. “Touching the wrong thing can ruin the whole day and that wouldn’t leave you in the mood to be a happy muse.”

I could tell from the way he squirmed that while he appreciated the sentiment, he wasn’t used to having someone else care more about his comfort than their needs. We’d just have to show him that was the way it was supposed to be and erase any nonsense the people in his life had taught him up until this point. He looked so sweet and excited, with a bright, shimmering innocence that deserved to be preserved. I looked at him and all I could think was that he deserved to be loved, and Daddy and I were just the ones to show that to him. I was a good boy, though. I knew I needed to wait for Daddy to make that decision and propose the terms to him.

“You’ve certainly made a positive impression on us both,” Daddy declared, “so what I’d like to suggest is a week’s trial period here in our apartment and if things work the way I believe they will, we’d like to offer you a position of long-term employment as we see how things develop between us in all the avenues that we’d discussed.”

Oh, please let him agree to living here with us. While the apartment was far more spacious than the rooms at the Honey Hearth, it didn’t have the same atmosphere of our actual home. I hoped that didn’t play to our disadvantage because I knew how warm and wonderful the bed and breakfast could be. Bruce and Brenner were amazing friends, and we frequently attended murder mystery nights there.

“I’ll happily agree to a trial week to see if I really am who and what you’re both looking for,” Zephyr replied. “When would you like the time to start?”

“Tonight, please,” I blurted, then hung my head, because I’d cut off Daddy’s attempt to speak.

We’d said the same thing, though I knew my impulsiveness would earn me a warning strike. Each strike was an extra chore, and Daddy always picked the ones I hated the most, just to be sure the lesson stayed with me. Three strikes in a day and I’d have an afternoon date with a feather duster rather than the tools in my studio and that was never fun. It took forever to stop sneezing and feeling like I had cobwebs in my hair.

“I-it might take a few trips to collect my things,” I explained. “I don’t have a vehicle.”

“Then please allow us to help you,” Daddy offered. “It’s been a few weeks since we’ve visited with Brenner and Bruce. It will be wonderful to catch up.”

“Oh my gosh, thank you, that will make it so much easier,” he blurted, bouncing like I’d been when I’d first approached him.

His enthusiasm was infectious, but it saddened me that he hadn’t even thought to ask. Was he so used to struggling to do everything on his own that he didn’t know how to ask for help when he needed it? Or was it that he was so unused to getting the help that he needed that he’d stopped asking? Either way, my heart hurt for him as every protective instinct kicked in. I had a little brother and I was gonna make sure he knew that I’d never let anything bad happen to him.