Page 11 of Their Little Helper (The Lactin Brotherhood #22)

HARLEY

“It’s just lunch. It’s not stressful.” It probably wasn’t even our first date since we’d gone over to Santos’s apartment. “That had to be our first date.”

Yes. I was going to count it as our first date because second dates were always easier…especially since they were going to keep me.

“That has to be a good sign.” I’d even gotten separate goodnight texts from both of them as well as the ones in the group message. “That has to be a good sign too.”

What wasn’t a good sign was the way I was hiding around the corner from the deli talking to myself.

Thankfully, there weren’t that many people around to worry about the large, nervous-looking man talking to himself.

Yep…that was not a good sign.

Neither was the man following Dally.

Oh dear.

Daddy was somehow talking on the phone and with his hands as he marched past the corner where I was hiding, and he seemed to have collected a follower judging by the way he was studying Daddy.

He really shouldn’t be walking by himself.

I’d promised to protect him.

“Dally.” Calling out, and remembering not to call him Daddy, my legs started working before I’d really thought about it. “Wait up.”

Still good…Daddy had stopped and I sounded big.

I had to at least sound big for an outside grown-up date or people would stare, and I really didn’t like people staring because it just made me want to be little even more.

Which made people stare more.

The cycle was anxiety inducing, so I was trying not to let it start.

“What?” Daddy stopped suddenly, making the man who’d been following too closely run into him. “Excuse me?”

Turning around, Daddy managed to glare at the man before the man tried to do anything and it confused the man long enough for me to get to him. “There you are, baby.”

Clearly Daddy didn’t think we needed to be subtle in person.

“I came to make sure you wouldn’t get robbed or pickpocketed.” There was no point in being subtle since the man hadn’t walked off yet. “Shoo.”

As Daddy laughed, the man’s eyes widened and he whipped around, heading off the way he’d come. I shook my head and then tried to frown at Daddy. “You need to pay more attention to your surroundings.”

“Aww. That’s so cute.” He stretched up and kissed my cheek, still not worried about anyone watching. “One second. He’s gonna do something ridiculous.”

I nodded as he put the phone back up to his ear. “Sorry. Almost got pickpocketed again. People are just persistently stupid.”

Whoever he was talking to seemed to get louder but Daddy waved his hands around again and ignored them as his phone almost went flying. “Okay. Back to your problem. If you sleep with her, I’ll tell Mom. Period.”

Oh.

“You get one bad decision a year and you had that last month.” Daddy seemed to think that was a reasonable rule but I wasn’t so sure.

“I don’t care how hot she is, she tried to set your car on fire and you’re still dealing with the insurance.

They’re not going to pay out if you date the crazy pyro. ”

He paused before snorting and rolling his eyes. “I don’t know if that’s rude, but at this point, I don’t care. You can tattle on me for my language but then you’ll out yourself for dating crazy again.”

Daddy was quiet for a few moments before he grinned…he’d won.

“I thought so.” Looking pleased and very smug, Daddy stood straighter.

“Now, you go block the crazy woman again and I’ll go have my date.

But I will tattle and I’ll tattle to everyone if it comes down to it.

Literally everyone. You won’t be able to go to the grocery store without someone asking about your bad decision if you date the crazy woman again. ”

Daddy seemed to know how to get his way because he made another satisfied sound and nodded to himself or to whoever was on the phone. “Good. Thank you. I’ll tell them.”

Oh.

That time silence came with another eye roll.

“Both. They’re wonderfully functional. Jobs.

Good decisions. One of them just saved me from hurting the pickpocket.

So helpful too. I won’t even have to be late to my date because of the cops again.

” He paused, sighing and smiling. “I know. But you probably won’t like him. He’s got a penis and common sense.”

Daddy laughed as whoever was on the phone…one of his brothers I was guessing…got loud again and disconnected the call. “He’s a moron but he’s family. What can you do?”

Tell them not to date crazy women who set things on fire?

“I’m glad you were able to help.” Squeezing his hand, I looked around before nodding toward the deli. “Are you ready for lunch? I didn’t see Santos but he’s close enough to walk and is probably coming from the other direction.”

Another real name. I was doing great.

Daddy frowned. “That’s weird.”

“Um, what’s weird?” Me? The walk?

“You calling him Santos.” Daddy scrunched his face up as he said it. “I’ll get used to it, but it’s weird.”

“Yeah, but it’s his name and I should get used to using it in public.” Or things would get weird. “I’m…I’m not good with standing out. I’m already…noticeable…so I don’t like adding to it?”

There was nothing wrong with people who liked standing out, but the idea gave me a stomach ache.

Daddy nodded, giving me his sweet Daddy smile. “I can understand that. We don’t want to make other people jealous with how perfect you are. It would be rude.”

Um, yeah. That would work.

“Thank you.” I knew I’d have to ask Daddy about what he was comfortable with in public and what he thought of as public, but I figured that could wait.

Well, I hoped that could wait because I was already running on empty as far as extroverting went. Part of me wondered how I should explain that but Daddy seemed to be psychic because he gave me his cute frown again. “How’s your battery?”

“Low?” He always knew everything so there was no point in hiding or lying. “I worried even though I said I wouldn’t, but I only did it a little. I just did a little for a long time?”

That was just as exhausting as doing a big worry for a short time…the problem was I always forgot that.

“We’ll come up with a better plan for managing that in the future.” Daddy seemed so confident about that I automatically felt better. “For now, you’re going to do what you can and when it gets to be too much you can be quiet and use your lines.”

Oh.

Daddy had on his special shirt…another shirt?

“Thank you.” Didn’t say Daddy…I was doing great. “I’m excited for lunch.”

And not just because I was hungry.

“And the museum?” Daddy smiled as he squeezed my hand and started leading us toward the deli. “Your… Santos texted me this morning to make sure we had a plan laid out and knew all our options for snacks later.”

Daddy was going to struggle with the name thing, but I appreciated him trying even though it made him roll his eyes. “We’re going to have to talk about appropriate times to text but having another planner partner is a good thing. It’ll make taking care of you easy.”

They were cute.

I wasn’t sure I should point that out, though.

Would Doms like being cute?

I’d only met the fake angry kind and not the nice ones before, so I wasn’t sure. Daddy didn’t need much of a response from me, though. He chattered and nearly skipped along the street as we got to the restaurant. “At that point I’m going to demand a break and attention, so we’ll need privacy.”

Hmm.

Regular people attention or Daddy Dally attention?

Maybe both?

“Okay.” I didn’t think he needed my input on that, so I decided I’d let him just tell me later what he wanted. “There’s…Santos.”

Yeah, that was going to be hard.

Daddy snickered, shaking his head. “I’m going to do my best but using his name sounds weird.”

“If you take us to meet your family you’re going to need to get used to it, right?” He kept saying he was going to take us home, but I wasn’t sure what the timeline for that looked like.

“Of course you’ll both meet everyone.” Daddy shrugged as he opened the door for me. “I’ll probably just call him Pokey to drive him nuts. It’ll be fine.”

I wasn’t sure Papa would approve of that plan, but the deli wasn’t the place to have that discussion. Raised voices and drama would probably be involved and I wanted to be able to come back and have lunch there again.

“Harley saved me from nefarious creatures. He deserves dessert.” Daddy’s happy tone as he led me over to my seat made Papa frown as he stood up from the table.

“What did you do?” Papa was…smart…and slightly frustrated.

“Nothing.” Daddy shrugged. “Some people just don’t make good decisions.”

“I kept…Dally safe.” Names. Names were important in public. “We’re fine.”

Papa let out a breath and nodded, probably telling himself he couldn’t yell at Daddy in public. “Thank you for taking care of him. He’s…easily distracted.”

That was a nice way of putting it.

“Nothing happened.” Daddy was confident he could handle the situation, but I was glad he hadn’t needed to. “And now we’re getting lunch.”

Yes, that would be a good distraction and then they could talk without Papa trying to wring Daddy’s neck.

“On our date.” Daddy perked up, smiling as he wiggled in the slightly too small chairs. “Not just lunch.”

Papa rolled his eyes again but I could see him trying to hide his pleased smile. He liked that Daddy was excited about our date. “Yes, our date.”

They were just loud enough that a few people glanced in our direction but they either looked confused or like they wanted to smile, so it wasn’t too overwhelming. I even managed not to blush as I focused back on my dates.

Two.

I really had two men taking me out on a date.

Together.

Two men who wanted to take care of me and didn’t even care that sometimes I just couldn’t get words out.

“Now, I think I need to remind Dally that this is a date, so we’re going to be getting to know each other and figuring out practical things.” Papa glared at Daddy who’d rolled his eyes. “You were staking out space in my house for when you move in and I don’t know what anyone does for a living.”

Papa seemed more frustrated about the lack of basic knowledge than Dally trying to move in with him.

Shouldn’t it be the other way around?

“You have the space for all of us and you said you’re within walking distance of your work. It just makes sense. We both know you’re not going to want to move.” Dally said the craziest things with utter confidence. “There’s no reason to make things difficult on your house manager either.”

Oh, we couldn’t make him pack up Papa’s whole house without a very good reason. “We don’t want to make too much work for him, right?”

That just sounded mean.

Papa sighed, clearly understanding he’d lost whatever debate they were having. “You’re right. It only makes sense to move you into my place, but this is going fast even for a gay relationship. I demand information before someone stakes out a place for their favorite chair in the house.”

Not his house?

Was the house a step toward our house?

Dally’s smile said so and that he thought he’d won. “I think that is very fair.”

So he was going to win graciously?

“What kind of information would you like to know?” Daddy seemed to understand that Papa was uncomfortable and looked like he was trying to help. I wasn’t sure how long it would last but I hoped it would be long enough for Papa to stop feeling overwhelmed.

Did we need to remind Papa that he could safeword?

Hmm.

“P—” Shoot. “Um, Santos?”

Daddy was right…that was weird.

Papa seemed to think so too based on his smile. “Yes?”

Keeping my voice low, I tried to be subtle enough not to draw attention to us. “You…you can use the colors too. Remember?”

He paused before letting out a long breath and nodding slowly. “You’re right. Okay. I’m yellow on moving in. I really do need to know more about you both before I shift to green.”

Papa seemed glad to get it out there, especially since Daddy was nodding and really paying attention.

“There’s a part of me that would’ve loved to have woken up with you both this morning and to have whatever godawful chair Dally will drag into the house sitting in the living room.

But that’s…I need a basic groundwork of facts to start from. ”

Shifting to what seemed like work mode, Papa frowned and looked very thoughtful. “Favorite colors. Favorite foods. Jobs. Meeting the appropriate family. Those kinds of things to start.”

When we both nodded, his shoulders relaxed and he looked more at ease with the situation. “I need to know what foods to stock and how bills need to be managed. I’m…I’m very practical with a lot of things and we haven’t addressed those yet.”

Any of them.

Did we even know what kind of lawyer Papa was?

What did Daddy do for a living besides boss people around?

Would his family really like both of us?

What was Daddy’s favorite foods?

What food was Papa’s house manager guy making him eat that Papa hated?

Yes, we needed to learn how to take care of Papa first before Daddy could move us in with him. “I…I’m going to school online for business management and…and I’m working at a bar. I want…I want to own one someday.”

“That’s a wonderful goal. I can’t wait to hear about what you’re studying.” Papa smiled before his frown came back. “But please tell me you’re older than I’m starting to think.”

Daddy snickered. “Don’t. He’s sexy when he’s freaking out.”

Before I could decide which order to follow, Daddy’s brain shifted gears and he frowned too. “How do you talk to enough people to make that job work?”

Papa froze. “Yes, that had occurred to me as well.”

I could feel my face heating up but I sat up straighter and glared at both of them like I was at work, delivering my most used lines. “What’s your order? Don’t fuck with me. You start it and I’ll finish it.”

“Oh…” Daddy wiggled in his seat. “That’s sexy.”

Papa looked like he wanted to roll his eyes but he reached out and stroked my hand. “Is pretending to be someone else too stressful for you?”

Kind of.

“Sometimes? But I like the job even though it doesn’t always like me.” That was kind of frustrating but I wasn’t sure how to get around it. “I…I see it kind of like acting? Work me is gruff and stern, and I frown and I pretend to be confident.”

Then regular me collapsed in exhaustion when I got home.

It wasn’t a healthy system but it was the only one I had.

“We…” Papa sighed and turned to Daddy. “We get to step in and help manage this, correct? If he belongs to us, we don’t have to sit by and just let him stress himself out that badly?”

“Definitely.” Daddy nodded as he aimed his serious face at me. “We’re going to take care of our boy.”

Oh dear.

That was me.

How did he make that sound so scary?