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“Just because someone is a Little, doesn’t mean they’re helpless,” Charlie countered. She frowned. “I’m not in this lifestyle twenty-four-seven. You know that.”

“Every relationship is different,” Clint said. “Not everyone could live the way we do. Even though Charlie isn’t Little all the time, I’m still the dominant one in our relationship. I make the rules. I enforce them. You know all this. And you might think you don’t want that, but I think you do. You can’t turn your dominance off at the bedroom door. And that’s part of the reason your relationships fell apart.”

“Because I was too controlling?”

“I like to think of it as protective,” Clint countered. “You’re looking at this all wrong. A Little is a responsibility, sure. But being a Daddy Dom, it’s all a stress relief. It helps me shut off everything else. I focus on Charlie. What she needs. And it feels right. It feels good.”

Charlie sent his brother a small smile.

“I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know if I want to do this.” Why hadn’t Macca called?

“If her Little side isn’t something you want, then it’s better you stay away from her. You have to want both parts.”

“I know that. It’s why I sent Macca to check on her.” His hands tightened into fists. Why hadn’t that bastard called him?

“Ah, you’re matchmaking. He’s a good choice.”

Charlie nodded her agreement. “Macca’s really sweet. Hot too.”

Clint scowled at her. “What are you doing, noticing how hot he is?”

“Oh, so you think he’s hot too?” Charlie teased.

“Brat. You are in so much trouble,” Clint said with a mock growl.

Right now, he didn’t care how sweet or hot Macca was, God help him, he was going to rip him a new one for taking so long. Just then his phone rang and he snatched it up.

“Took your fucking time,” he snarled into the phone.

There was a beat of silence. “Didn’t realize I was being timed, chief.” There was an odd note to the other man’s voice. As though he was holding back.

“Well? She okay?”

He fully expected the other man to say she was fine, because if she wasn’t then she surely would have called him, right? It had only been a few days since he’d seen her.

“I don’t think she is.”

It was like a punch to his gut and he froze. “What? What the fuck do you mean? What’s wrong with her?”

He was aware of Clint and Charlie staring at him, but he tuned them out as he listened to Macca.

“She was acting funny. Jumpy. Wouldn’t open the door all the way, like she was hiding something. And she’d dropped some groceries on the floor.”

Dropped her groceries?

“She’s clumsy,” Kent said slowly, thinking that through.

“I don’t think that was it. She didn’t even mention the mess on the floor. She was nervous. High-strung. I’m going to stick around and watch her place for a bit. Got a bad vibe.”

And Macca’s instincts were rarely wrong.

“I’ll come in.”

“It’s no problem for me to stay here,” Macca replied. “I’m here already. Wait, she’s leaving. I’ll follow her. Crap, she’s driving in her shitty car with those bald tires. Need to get her new ones. She lied to me about that too.”

“What? Lied to you about what?”

“About getting new tires. She’s gonna have an accident on those ones.”