for him, probably. I collected the mail, then continued up to the garage.
In the kitchen, I put my briefcase on its chair and the mail on the kitchen table. There was music playing upstairs, so Will was probably still working. Knowing him, he was more than ready for a cup of coffee, and while I was dropping that off, I could find out what he wanted me to make for dinner.
I pulled down a coffee cup, but when I turned toward the coffeepot, there was a cup sitting in front of it. A full cup. Vaguely discolored, too—like he’d put in some cream, but it had been sitting for a while. Unsurprisingly, it was cold to the touch.
Yep, he definitely needed some coffee. I poured him a cup, mixed in the cream and sugar the way he liked it, and started out of the kitchen, but something beside the microwave gave me pause.
A chrome fidget spinner.
Oh, that’s not good.
With a sigh, I pocketed the spinner and headed upstairs toward his office.
The spinner left in the kitchen didn’t mean much on its own. When there was a spinner on the counter in addition to a box of forgotten mail and a cup of abandoned coffee, that wasn’t random.
Some of Will’s relatives gave him grief over the fidget spinners. Anything ADHD-related, really. Their bullshit made me see red because I knew how much the diagnosis and coping methods helped him. They didn’t see him pacing in his office, spinner whirring in his hand while he was on a call with a client, laser-focused on the discussion because he could move and occupy his hands. They didn’t see how much more he relied on those things—how much more he paced and played with anything he could get his hands on—when he was having a hard time coping.
Or, as in this case, how utterly frazzled and scattered he had to be when even his coping methods weren’t helping.
From his office doorway, I watched him. He was at his computer, elbow on his desk while he kneaded his temple. With his other hand, he rapidly tapped his stylus against the edge of his drawing pad.
On one screen, there was his email inbox, which had at least a dozen unread emails. On the other, Photoshop was open, and it looked like he’d been working on a logo design.
I cautiously stepped in and gave a quiet cough to let him know I was there.
He jumped, then turned, and though he smiled when he saw me, the fatigue radiating off him was nearly visible to the naked eye. “Hey. Did you just—” He furrowed his brow. “Are you home early or did I lose track of…” He picked up his phone.
“I’m home early.” I put the coffee cup down beside him.
“Thanks, baby.” He shut off the music, took the coffee, and sighed as he sat back in his chair. “How was your day?”
“Eh. Boring. I’d ask how yours was, but…” I held up the spinner. “You left this in the kitchen.”
His eyes went to the spinner, and he stared at it for a moment as if he’d never seen it before. Then he looked around on his desk. “Jesus, I didn’t even realize it was gone.”
“It was on the kitchen counter. So was your coffee.”
His gaze went to the coaster he usually used.
I put the spinner on his desk, then stepped behind his chair and slid my hands over his shoulders. Kneading firmly, just the way I knew he liked it, I asked, “What’s on your mind?”
Will sighed and leaned back. “It’s just been…”
“Tough day?”
Closing his eyes, he nodded. “Just haven’t been able to think at all.”
“This have anything to do with Kelly?”
His eyebrows shot up. “What?”
“I noticed he stayed over last night.” I rubbed a little harder at Will’s tight shoulders. “You had a hell of a time sleeping when we first started doing overnights. Adding another person to the bed—does that keep you up?”
“It…” He sighed, letting his eyes close again. “It had less to do with him being there and more to do with why he was there.”
My hands faltered for a second. “Meaning?”
Will took a deep breath and filled me in on everything they’d apparently talked about after I’d gone to sleep last night. He gazed up at me, brow pinched. “Does that bother you? That he’s… That I’m thinking of him as my submissive even when we’re not playing?”
Still working at Will’s shoulders, I gave his question some thought because it didn’t seem