Doll Parts (The Game 4)

Come see me in the office behind the kitchen before you join the others.

Uh-oh.

What had I done?

I glanced toward the house and knew without a doubt that I didn’t wanna send Noa along with Kit and his domly entourage. I wanted to be there when Noa and KC saw each other for the first time in three years.

“Hey, I gotta go talk to Reese before I do anything else.” I grabbed Noa’s backpack and then my own. “Can you wait on the porch for me?”

“Yeah, sure.” He nodded.

“Come onnnn!” Kit was getting impatient, particularly with Mr. West, who was doing something on his phone. “Daddy, you put the S in SBD Dauntless.”

I didn’t know what that meant, but Colt barked out a loud laugh and squeezed Kit to him.

“Am I the D?” he asked Kit with a smirk.

“The biggest D,” Kit giggled.

Noa and I exchanged a look at the dorks. Then I thanked Colt and Mr. West for the ride and said we’d see them in the back later.

As we left the others, I heard Kit explain to a confused Lucas that SBD Dauntless was some World War II plane, and SBD stood for slow but deadly.

Hilarious.

“I’ve hitched my wagon to two nerds.” I heard Lucas mutter.

It made me grin.

“Do you honestly think we’ll ever have that, baby?” Noa asked quietly.

I side-eyed him, then glanced back at Kit, Colt, and Lucas, and I hoped. I hoped with everything I was. “I don’t know. But we gotta try.”

He nodded and stared at the ground as we trailed up toward the house.

It’d been a pretty brutal summer, and despite some heavy rains in August, the grass was yellow in several places. I was looking forward to colder weather, though I suspected it would be a while.

Noa made a face at the pillory as we passed it. Maybe he was thinking back on when Sloan put him in one at a kink party. I wasn’t sure my boy could ever be humiliated, but he hated standing still and doing nothing. I’d felt bad for him.

“Okay, so just wait here while I talk to Reese,” I said, climbing the steps. At least the porch was in the shade. “It shouldn’t be more than a few minutes.”

“No problem.” He popped a kiss to my cheek before he sat down on one of the sofas. “Man, it’s hot as balls out here.”

It was hotter in the city.

I headed inside the house and passed the abandoned lobby. There were never any people here unless it was party hours. Down a hall, past the kitchen, I stopped outside River and Reese’s office and knocked twice on the door.

“Come in.”

I opened the door, causing a creaking sound. “Hi.” Only way to determine whether it was River or Reese was the big, menacing-looking tattoo Reese had along his neck.

“I gotta get the hinges greased,” he said. “Have a seat, kid.”

I walked over and sat down in one of the rather uncomfortable chairs in front of his desk. “Am I in trouble with the principal?”

He cracked a little grin and leaned back in his chair. “I don’t think so, but if I can nip something in the bud, I will.”

Gulp.

“How long have you been with your boyfriend?” he asked.

What was he getting at? “About a year. Why?”

He let out a whistle. “I thought it was new.”

I didn’t say anything. I had no problems confiding in friends, but considering the connection between Noa and KC, I hadn’t mentioned my relationship to many out here at all. As far as I knew, only Kit and Ivy had heard of Noa in the past. But they didn’t know we lived together or how serious it was.

Reese sat forward and casually clasped his fingers on the desk. “About two years ago, Riv and I had dinner with a couple friends. We ate, drank, drank some more. One of them opened up a little and admitted he wasn’t feeling too hot because it was his stepson’s birthday.”

I stiffened.

Fuck.

Reese leaned back once more. “KC isn’t what I’d call a talker, but that night he told us a little about his past. He talked about Noa.”

I swallowed hard and shifted uncomfortably in my seat.

“This stays between you and me, Cam,” he told me.

“Yes, Sir.”

“And now it’s your turn,” he said. “Do I have anything to worry about? Is Noa joining us gonna cause any problems?”

Double fuck. I should’ve considered that KC might’ve talked to others. To his friends.

“I don’t want to violate anyone’s trust,” I responded carefully.

Something softened in Reese’s eyes. He might look big and intimidating, but he was a teddy bear Daddy on the inside. For the most part. “I understand that. But we gotta meet halfway here, Cam. If Noa’s been your boyfriend for a whole year, it’s difficult to see you inviting him here as a coincidence. You’re very familiar with KC. You’ve scened with him. He doesn’t deserve to be blindsided.”