“Yes. I suppose so.” He pretended to drink the tea, even making a yum-yum noise that he had no idea where it came from.
Sara scrunched up her shoulders, giggling in pleasure.
And he felt . . . fuck, he felt twenty feet tall. Even better than when he made a sub scream in pleasure.
That was enjoyable too, of course.
But this was a different sort of pleasure. He felt complete, more at ease. And all from drinking a bit of fake tea, how did that work?
“Thanks for looking after Master Zander while I was away, Sara,” Ellen spoke up from behind him and he turned with a frown, how had he not heard her come close? He looked at the pale, sad-looking Little pressed to her side. She had deep red hair that kind of reminded him of his Little Thief.
And in her hands she clutched a stuffed bunny.
He remembered the way his Little Thief clung to her mouse, Squeaks.
Was she . . . ?
He wasn’t certain. But the idea took root in his mind. Had she ever been involved with a Dom? He got to his feet and the Little next to Ellen made a frightened noise and stepped even closer to her.
He froze. Shit.
“Sorry, little one,” he told her soothingly. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
To his surprise, she gave him a shy smile.
“Carly, why don’t you play with Sara,” Ellen suggested.
When Carly moved past him, she gave him a wide berth, but she didn’t flinch away from him. He knew he could be scary looking to some people.
“You’re very good with them, Zander,” Ellen told him warmly.
He shrugged. “I quite enjoyed it.” He puzzled something over. “Do you run classes on being a Daddy?”
“Yes, we do.”
“How would I know if someone was a Little?”
“You could ask them,” Ellen suggested.
“She might not tell me.”
“She also might not know,” Ellen added. “Almost from the first moment we met, I knew Bert was the one for me. I felt this pull toward him. But even knowing Bert was mine, it took a while before I could open up about my needs. Trust him with them. I had some intimacy issues. But Bert was patient with me. Trust takes a while to build.”
“I’m not the easiest person to be around. I’m different.” He’d been told that a lot.
“Nothing wrong with different, Zander. There is someone who will want you just the way you are. We all bring different things to a relationship.”
“Excuse me, Ellen. I think I need to leave.”
“Good luck.”
* * *
He strode through the club,getting waylaid by several more subs wanting to scene. Finally, he found Ammo. He was cleaning up a station.
Good, he wouldn’t have to wait through a scene to talk to him. Even Zander knew it was bad form to interrupt.
“I need to go,” he said abruptly.