“Oh no!” Betsy cried out.
He went on high alert, looking over at her. She held up a wooden bed she’d been setting up in one of the bedrooms. It looked like one of the legs had fallen of it. “It broke.”
“It’s okay, Betsy,” Lara said to the clearly distraught girl.
Betsy was biting her lip as she glanced down at the bed. Ink quickly got to his feet and strode over. “Let me have a look, button.”
“I didn’t mean to, Daddy. Honestly. It just came off.”
“Hey.” He cupped her chin in his big hand. “It’s okay, button. No one is mad at you. I know you didn’t mean for it to break. All right?”
She nodded but he could still see a hint of worry in her eyes. He hated that. Detested that she fretted over such a small thing.
“Daddy will go get some glue and fix this right up.”
Her eyes lit up. “Really?”
“Yep. Won’t take much.”
“You’re the best Daddy ever.” She gave him a smile that made him feel about ten feet tall.
“There’s some in the other room. You stay right here, understand? I’ll be less than a minute.”
“I’ll stay here, Daddy.”
“That’s my good girl.” He kissed the top of her head then moved into the other room to grab some glue. Returning, he walked over to a table against the wall, placing the bed on it so he could carefully glue the broken piece back on.
“Lara, it’s time to leave now, honey.” Zac crouched beside his girl.
“Not yet, Daddy,” Lara replied absentmindedly.
Oops. That wasn’t going to go well for the small sub. He held the bed together, waiting for the glue to dry. Betsy looked over at him and he winked at her.
“Lara, Daddy said it’s time to leave. You have to get up early in the morning and I don’t want you grouchy all day because you didn’t get enough sleep.”
“Daddy, not now. I is busy playing with Betsy.”
“And you can play with her next weekend. Maybe we could even arrange a playdate.”
“Ooh, playdate. Yes!” Lara clapped her hands enthusiastically. “Let’s do that.”
“If you want a playdate with Betsy, then you need to do as you’re told now,” Zac said sternly. He stood up and held a hand out to his sub. “Come on.”
“No, Daddy. Don’t want to.” Lara poked out her bottom lip mutinously.
Ink couldn’t help but feel amused despite feeling some empathy for Zac. A tired, rebellious Little could be a handful.
“Lara, up now. Last warning.”
Lara just ignored him.
“Lara, corner now!” His voice was louder. Firmer. And he waved his hand towards the corner.
Suddenly, before Ink could blink, Betsy had situated himself between the two of them.
“Stop! Don’t hurt her!”
Fuck. He realized his mistake immediately. He’d just assumed that Betsy would take the scene in her stride, the way the other Littles were. But Betsy wasn’t used to these sorts of scenes. So far, there had only been a few minor infractions taken care of with naughty Littles that had resulted in timeout or lines.