twice. I’ll remember it’s dangerous this time.”
Only he could say that about the toilet with total seriousness.
Refusing to give in and laugh again, I steered Wade toward the bedroom. He was back to looking sad again. “I knew the floor was dangerous, but I didn’t think about the toilet. Do you think I need some of those child locks to keep him safe?”
The locks that kept toddlers from shoving stuff in the toilet?
If they hadn’t been able to find Dakota, I had serious doubts about their ability to open one of those while drunk as skunks. “We’ll talk about that tomorrow. He’s safe for now.”
Wade nodded but curled into me like I was his brother. “He disappeared and you were the only one who took it seriously. It's no wonder he loves you.”
He did?
“I’ll always come and rescue him.” Hugging Wade, I didn’t hear the door to the bathroom open until Dakota was stumbling out.
He tumbled into our arms and sighed. “That was difficult. Wade, did you know your toilet moves too?”
That had Wade back into overprotective parent mode. He looked up at me. “See, I have to keep him safe.”
I could already picture it now…a frantic phone call from Dakota next week demanding I come over and save him because he had to pee and someone had locked him out of the toilet.
These guys were the funniest people I’d ever met.
“No worrying, Wade.” I let my voice deepen slightly and let my Dom side out just enough to hopefully calm him. “I will make sure he’s safe so you don’t have to worry.”
Wade relaxed, starting to smile as the tension in him faded, but Dakota just stuck his head between us, looking back and forth. “Do that again. I need to put it in a book.”
Fuck.
Choking back laughter, I shook my head. “Not now. We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”
When he was sober and I could drive him nuts.
“Let’s go show everyone you’re safe.” I could still hear words like “magic” and “disappear” coming from the living room, so I thought it was a good way to calm things down.
They both nodded like good subs which had me smiling again. They were so unsteady I ended up walking behind them with one hand on each of them to keep them upright. As we made it out to the living room, I could hear an audible sigh of relief from everyone.
Austin glared at Silas. “You’re the best Dom here. You should have made Dakota reappear. Not him.”
Even Silas didn’t know what to say to that odd collection of sentences. “You told me he was gone.”
Snickering, I made a bow. “I fixed the disastrous magic that made Dakota disappear.”
Silas glared at me as Austin nodded. “See, I told you so.”
Silas looked like he was trying to find a way to hide my body, so I decided a distraction was in order. “Okay, now that Dakota is safe, I think it’s time for everyone to go to bed.”
I could see them all start to crash now that they knew Dakota was safe. They might have been drunk, but they were still worried about him. It was so cute I knew Dakota had to put it in a book at some point. “Now, how are you getting home?”
“I’m taking Austin.” Silas sighed and glanced at Russ. “You’ve got Jonah and Shane has Tanner and Bradley.”
That left me and Dakota. Perfect. “Sounds great. I’ll make sure Wade is good before we leave.”
He still seemed a bit emotional to leave on his own. If he’d been sober, I wouldn’t have worried but drunk was another story. Shane just chuckled as he started wrangling Tanner and Bradley toward the door. Tanner was fine, but Bradley kept arguing that Simon shouldn’t be able to ditch him.
The way Shane was rolling his eyes said Bradley was insane and Simon hadn’t ditched him, but I wasn’t going to stop them and demand the story.
I’d get it from Dakota tomorrow if he remembered any of it.
As everyone started to leave, I turned to Wade who was now leaning against Dakota like they were propping each other up. “Bedtime.”
And he burst into tears.
Oh dear.
Dakota was glaring at me like I’d kicked his puppy.
Taking a deep breath, I calmly looked at Dakota as he held Wade. “Why is Wade crying?”
I was prepared for almost anything at this point, so Dakota’s answer seemed remarkably reasonable under the circumstances. “Because he doesn’t go to bed alone on drunk nights. I stay here too.”
That made a