Doll Parts (The Game 4)

Well, all right.

He took the fight out of me. I swallowed my heart and positioned it correctly again, then offered up some space before I went back to listening.

Did Lucian have to smell so damn good? His cologne invaded my senses as soon as I took my next breath. His close proximity wasn’t helping, for several reasons. My body responded to him too easily. The attraction refused to fuck off.

“…and by then, it was too late,” KC was saying. “It’s my fault you’re here today.”

For fucking real?

Noa let out a laugh, and not one of humor. “You gotta be kidding me. So, you think that you groomed me—all these years? That’s the word you used.”

“I do,” KC said stiffly. “When I found out about your mother’s addictions, I already felt protective of you—and I couldn’t help how my behavior changed. I didn’t notice it. All I saw was this innocent kid. I wanted to make your childhood last longer.”

That…was sweet. Having met Noa’s mom several times now, I could only imagine the tension growing up in that household. Well, they’d had a nice house back then. She lived in a small condo now. And Noa did the cleaning when she fell off the wagon. He did more than that. He hid money so she’d always have something set aside for food. He made sure she paid the most important bills. Every week—when shit got bad—he blocked emails and offers from online gambling companies.

“When you say your behavior changed, are you suggesting that you…” Noa lost his steam. He struggled with his words. “I mean—it’s because you’re a Daddy Dom today, right? That’s what you’re hinting at? You think you subconsciously treated me like a Little and that’s why I became one?”

KC blew out a heavy breath. “I almost forgot how blunt you are. Yes, that’s what I mean, Noa.”

I bit my thumbnail.

While I could suddenly understand KC’s concern a lot easier—and I saw where he was coming from—I didn’t believe it. No one had turned Noa into a Little. In fact, it wasn’t until he was dating me that he began exploring regression. And his regression was different from what I usually saw in Littles. Noa didn’t revert to a younger version of himself as much as he left his adult filters and boundaries behind and relaxed into a creature driven by instinct and carnal urges. My little kink brother morphed into a sweet savage. A baby beast.

“You’re wrong.” Noa’s answer was as quiet as it was resolute. “I responded to your Daddy behavior because of my own undeveloped Little nature. There’s nothing wrong with that. Or is that fetish only sexual to you?”

“Of course not, but—”

“No, I need you to linger on that and really let it sink in, KC. You didn’t freaking groom me. You never rewarded a certain behavior in me, you never taught me to act a certain way, you never punished me for the way I said something. We met… We met on a level together, like, two ends of the same spectrum. It just happened. We happened to connect that way.”

Lucian exhaled next to me. “KC’s needed to hear that for a long time. From Noa. Lord knows it hasn’t worked when I’ve speculated in similar terms.”

“I didn’t have to get used to the way you treated me,” Noa went on. “I responded to it effortlessly. It felt so freaking nice that, for once, I could lean back on someone who took charge. With you around, I didn’t have to worry about Mom as much. ‘I’ll handle it, freckles,’ you said. And you did. I could finally be a kid again. Don’t take that away from me. Don’t tarnish it by drawing parallels between your parental role and a fetish. It’d be as stupid as claiming Masters want to own people beyond the kink.”

I smiled to myself and traced the fibers in the wooden door with a finger.

“So, no, you didn’t groom me, KC. You helped raise me. You made it possible for me to live on my own. You helped me navigate college applications—you made sure I went to school. And now I just graduated. And I’ve had three jobs—all with good referrals. I’m not in debt. My boyfriend makes sure I eat greens every day. I’m active—Cameron and I work out together, I still have my band, I’ve landed my first internship with a production company, and I happen to be a Little who’s mildly obsessed with primal play and stuff.”

Just when I thought I couldn’t fall deeper in love with Noa, he brought out a side of himself that proved me wrong. I loved how he tackled life. He was carefree and goofy, and it was easy to forget that he’d been through some rough times that’d definitely hardened him. He wasn’t weak. He knew what he wanted. And he had a soft, a little jaded, a lot wise core. He’d been against seeing KC again, not because Noa didn’t know what he wanted for himself but because he knew how KC would react. And Noa wanted to protect himself.