Doll Parts (The Game 4)

I’d thought we’d been alone in the house earlier until one Domme dragged her whipped plaything from one room into another. Then I’d spotted Reese or River from a window, crossing the patio, only to disappear back into their cabin. I hadn’t figured out how to tell the difference between those two yet—unless I was right in front of them and could see Reese’s neck clearly, where he had a big tattoo.

“You know, I’m not sure I have,” Lucian answered thoughtfully. “In the early years, most likely. We didn’t have the same numbers back then. Reese and River traveled more too.”

“Oh, right. They live here permanently, don’t they?”

“They do.” Lucian opened a door down the hall, revealing a very plain office with not much in it. “Their cabin is better equipped than the rest since it’s their primary home.”

I thought Lucian’s cabin was equipped just fine.

“I suspect they’re going to set new building plans in motion soon, though,” he said. “They have a piece of land at the beginning of the private road leading up here that they’ve set aside, so to speak, for a future home. And it might be crowded in the cabin now that they’ve found Shay.”

“I like it crowded,” was my response. “I like having my people close.” I accepted a stack of flattened moving boxes.

Lucian smiled faintly. “I do too.” Then he gestured for the door. “You ready to fill the cabin with party supplies?”

Boy, was I!

After dinner, the four of us went from burger goodness on the porch to party madness in the sitting area indoors. We had boxes everywhere.

Cameron and I assembled the twelve empty ones and lined them up against the length of the cabin, starting at the door and ending near the kitchen nook. Twelve boxes, labeled one to twelve, twelve Funhouse stations.

Lucian read from a list. “Noa, you’re on balloon patrol. You’ll find plastic pouches on the table.” He tore a page off the notepad and gave it to me. “KC, you’re gonna sort through lube, oil, wipes, and aftercare kits. Cameron will assist you when the table gets crowded. He will also assist me as I divvy up toys, leashes, needles, ribbons, and candles.”

I eyed my list, super curious about the various stations.

Cameron put some music on the stereo, and then, while he waited to assist the Doms, he was a good boy and poured a bunch of candy and snacks into bowls. But he never spoke. Lucian had him on speech restrictions, and he was only allowed to answer direct questions.

I dove for my favorite candy in the whole world, Rip Rolls, unwrapped it, and stuck one end in my mouth while the rest of the long, sour strip hung down my front. Now I could get started. I opened the giant bag of balloons and began collecting black ones. Box number one required one hundred black balloons.

“Freckles, do you remember the time we made our own fruit roll-ups for you to bring as a snack to school?”

I grinned around my candy and nodded. “Colossal mistake.”

“Mm.” He chuckled to himself and counted out a handful of single-packs of lube in one pile on the table.

“Did you burn down the kitchen?” Lucian wondered.

“No, that would’ve been an improvement,” I said. “It’s the only thing we’ve ever done exactly right—and they turned out so gross. It’s literally dried fruit. But tasteless and sticky and boring.”

“I felt so bad for him that I went out and bought him heaps of those rolls.” He nodded at the one in my mouth. “Turns out, the sugar is essential to making them edible.”

Truth right there!

“In front of Mom, he gave me a sandwich and fruit to take,” I went on. “Then behind her back, he gave me one Rip Roll.” I smiled big. And the memory played in my head like the best movie. Every night, he was so conflicted about the candy that he needed to make sure I’d brushed my teeth.

Lucian thought that was a good moment to be funny. “There’s a lot going on behind that woman’s back.”

Daddy made a face.

“That’s a problem for another day,” I said decidedly and crammed fifty black balloons into a bag. Only fifty to go.

I bit off a chunk of my candy and left the rest on the table.

“I can talk to her if you want, Noa.” Daddy was being nice and stuff. And I knew he’d do it, but I wasn’t sure. It felt like something I should tell her. I just didn’t know how to go about it.

Hey, Mom, by the way, I’m dating KC.

“I’ll think of something eventually.” I didn’t wanna think about it right now. “Watch me subtly change the topic to boundaries. Can the four of us get freaky together or not?”

That made Cameron perk up. He was eager to get this subject over with too.