“Yup.”
Kyle shook his head. “Nah. It’s almost time. I think we missed the first couple. And West isn’t her training Dom. I might have taken a look-see. Noelle’s paired with a guy named Jeff.”
Theo frowned. “Jeff? Are you talking about Jeffrey Sinclair?”
Kyle shrugged. “That sounds right.”
“Huh,” Theo began. “I’m surprised. I didn’t like him during the orientation. He was in the group I oversaw.”
Hutch didn’t like the sound of that. “What was wrong with him? He’s not an employee.”
“No, he’s a favor for a friend of Tag’s. Not a friend, exactly,” Theo explained. “But his dad has done some big favors for the company, and he thinks his son needs to learn discipline. He got through Kai so he must be solid.”
It was Michael’s turn to frown. “Kai didn’t have time to pair up this group. He let one of his partners do it because he and Kori are on vacation. They went out to see Jared and Sara for their little girl’s birthday. They go every year. Kai did the psych evals, but the new counselor did the pair ups.”
“She’s the family counselor, right?” Hutch didn’t like the idea that Kai hadn’t paired up the partners. Kai Ferguson had been in charge of that for years. It was important to pair up training partners properly.
“I’m sure she knows what she’s doing,” Michael assured him. “She would take into account what the trainee says she wants out of the class. I remember my training partner.” A smile hit Michael’s face. “I’m pretty sure we both said something about wanting to explore the lifestyle through tons of fairly casual sex. We were perfect together. She would high-five me after an orgasm. Sometimes I miss her.”
“You are not helping,” Kyle admonished. “Hutch, I think you’re fine. I’ve been hanging with her all week, and she talks about you constantly when you’re not around. She’s cautious. Keep up your I’m-the-best-boyfriend-in-the-world bit and she’ll come around. Now I would like to feel like I’m not stuck in a bad rom com, so I’m going to head out. You guys dry his tears, get him a glass of Chardonnay, and convince the man to chill. She’s still into him. I’ll make sure her training Dom isn’t too big of an asshole.”
“I’m not in tears, and at least you’ll know a big old ass when you see one,” Hutch shot back.
Kyle’s lips tugged up as he opened the door that led out to the hall and the stairs that would take him up to the dungeon level. “It takes one to know one.”
“Hey, she’s using her heavy braces.” He hadn’t even thought about that. “Can you make sure she gets upstairs okay? She might not want to use the elevator because no one else will.”
Kyle sobered. “Yeah, I’ll make sure she’s okay.”
“Thanks.” He hated the thought of her standing at the bottom of those steep stairs and wondering how she would get up them. She might not know where the elevator was. Subs didn’t get the same orientation that the Doms did. There was a reason for that. Doms were supposed to conduct a tour for their subs. It was a test to see how they treated their partners and how seriously they’d taken the initial class.
He wouldn’t be the one to show her around. He would be the dude she saw across the dungeon one day months from now. He would be the guy she waved at before going back to her friends.
He realized the room had gone super quiet, and when he looked over Theo and Michael were staring at him like he’d grown two heads.
Had he thought having a bunch of brothers would be a good thing? Because right now it kind of sucked. “I’m not going to cry.”
“I don’t know. You kind of look like you’re going to,” Michael said, a note of horror in his tone. “I’m wondering if I can flee the room before the first tear falls. If I make it out before it hits his cheek then I’m not it, right?”
Hutch flipped Michael the bird. “Asshole. I’m not crying and I’m not sitting around listening to sad love songs in my car and then saying it’s all a mistake that the freaking love station is programmed into my satellite radio.”
Michael frowned. “It came with the car.”
Theo put down his controller. “Sure it did. Look, don’t worry about…it’s Noelle, right?”
Hutch nodded. “Yeah. She’s got some mobility issues, and getting attacked in her place of business didn’t help. She usually uses a cane, but she’s been in forearm crutches for a couple of days until her muscles chill out. Normally I wouldn’t worry at all because Noelle’s adaptable, but she doesn’t know this place.”
Michael turned Theo’s way. “Who is he?”
Theo sighed, a long-suffering sound. “He’s who you should have been if you wanted your relationship to work.”