Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Hope
“Uh oh.”
This was uttered by Perry. Otherwise known as the traitor.
What on earth was I supposed to say in response to that?
I looked between Daddy Lee and Daddy Tyrell, trying to see which one would be the best to face, but from the curious but stern expressions on their faces, I wasn’t going to have much luck with either of them.
“Uh... I... uhm. The glitter fairy paid me a visit last night, to try and help me feel better?”
Neither of them looked very impressed with my response. In fact, if the slight scowl was anything to go by, Daddy Lee was pretty unimpressed with my poor attempt at a lie.
Daddy Tyrell, on the other hand, looked like he was fighting a losing battle with the corner of his mouth.
Perry did not even try.
He snorted.
Actually snorted.
“Glitter fairy,” he repeated, like the words were the funniest thing he’d ever heard.
I turned to glare at him. “You’re the one who said uh oh.”
“Because,” he said helpfully, “it’s everywhere.”
I looked around automatically.
And… okay.
Maybe “everywhere” wasn’t entirely unfair. I’d been so focused on getting it off my hands and shoes, I hadn’t realized I’d left tracks on the floor. Not to mention the small arsenal of gold where my clothes from last night were thrown.
“Why,” Daddy Tyrell said almost conversationally, “do I get the feeling that you know what’s up with the glitter, little nuggie?”
Perry’s eyes grew comically large before slowly turning toward his Daddy, but he didn’t say anything, just stared at him.
Oh boy.
What on earth were we going to do to get ourselves out of this?
“Darn it,” I muttered. “I knew it was a bad idea.”
That was a lie. Obviously. Doing it this way had been my idea.
“What exactly was a bad idea, sweetheart?” Daddy Lee asked me.
I was torn, and from Perry’s expression, he wasn’t sure which way to go either. If we pushed going to breakfast, we’d probably end up outing ourselves anyway, because there was no way that the prank hadn’t been discovered yet.
I couldn’t believe it, but I was almost wishing I could face Troy and Archie instead.
I pressed my lips together, trying very hard not to look at Perry again, because if I looked at him, I was going to laugh. And if I laughed, we were absolutely doomed.
Daddy Lee’s gaze shifted slowly between the two of us, sharp and assessing in a way that made my stomach flutter for entirely different reasons than nerves. “Hope.”
All he said was my name in that calm and quiet way, but somehow that was worse than if he’d raised his voice.
I fiddled with the hem of my shirt, watching the glitter still stuck to my fingers like traitorous little sparks.
There was so much of it. I wasn’t even sure how that had happened.
I vaguely remember sticking my hand into the container of glitter and then.
.. I think it all went just a bit fuzzy because it was so much fun.
“It was supposed to be harmless,” I said weakly.
Daddy Tyrell blinked once.
Perry made a strangled noise beside me.
“Harmless,” Daddy Tyrell repeated slowly as if he was trying to figure out what I was doing a bad job of explaining.
“Well,” I rushed on, waving a hand vaguely, which only sent another shimmer of glitter drifting onto the carpet, “it’s a victimless crime... kind of. If you squint and look at it from the side I suppose.”
Daddy Lee pushed up from the bed and sat upright, making me move with him. He stared at me as he rubbed a hand over his mouth.
For a moment, from the expression on Daddy Tyrell’s face, I thought he might actually give in to the smile that was hovering just out of reach. Instead, he straightened and folded his arms. “Hope,” he said, gentler but no less firm. “What did you do?”
Silence stretched.
Perry shifted his weight in the bed.
Then, very quietly, he said, “We might have… come up with a plan to decorate the room where they were holding the rope play workshop this morning.”
Daddy Tyrell’s eyebrow lifted. “Decorated.”
“With glitter,” Perry admitted.
I closed my eyes. “It was supposed to be a surprise,” I mumbled.
“For who?” Daddy Lee asked, or more like demanded.
“The… participants?” I tried, hopefully.
When I dared peek up again, Daddy Tyrell was staring at us both like he was deciding whether to laugh, sigh, or march me directly to the nearest chair so he could start spanking me.
Possibly all three.
“And when,” he asked carefully, “did you two decide that the rope workshop needed to be… decorated?”
Perry scratched the back of his neck.
“Last night?” He cleared his throat. “At dinner. We thought it might be fun.”
Daddy Lee inhaled slowly through his nose while Daddy Tyrell continued to try to keep a straight face. Maybe, if I pushed hard enough, I could get him to smile or laugh, and then I wouldn’t get punished that hard.
Or maybe, I was shit out of luck and about to get my bum handed to me.
Either way... I felt relatively certain that at the end of it, I would still have two Daddies who would be interested in exploring the possibility of a relationship with me.
Both our Daddies shared a look, before Daddy Lee looked between Perry and myself. “I’m pretty sure Perry wasn’t directly involved because he went to his room with Tyrell last night. Does that mean there is another Little boy or girl out there covered in glitter, or did you manage this by yourself?”
I looked at him and shrugged. There was no way I was going to throw my new friend under the bus, but I didn’t think lying to either of them would be a good move at this juncture.
“Where did you get the glitter?” he asked me, lifting an eyebrow, because he had to know there was no way I’d know how to get my hands on enough glitter to decorate an entire room and still have so much covering the floor of my room.
Again, I shrugged instead of answering.
“You know, button,” Daddy Tyrell said as he leaned over and tucked some hair behind my ear. “Protecting your friends is an admirable trait, but that means you’ll have to face the punishment by yourself. If you told us who helped you, it might help out your backside.”
Indecision warred inside me as I nibbled on my bottom lip.
Then I shrugged.
Perry let out a soft squeaky noise, and when I looked at him, his face was so comically expressive I had to fight down the urge to lean closer to him so I could kiss the terrified look off his face.
“Hmmm,” Daddy Tyrell hummed. “We haven’t discussed limits and punishments yet, but you did agree to the basic Ranch punishments for unattached submissives when you signed up for the dating event. You know what that means, right?” he asked me, his smile definitely showing on his face then.
I shook my head in answer, even though I had a pretty good idea what it meant.
“I guess, instead of breakfast, we’ll be heading to Master Derek’s office so you can tell him what you did, and he can give permission on a suitable punishment.”
Drat.
That’s exactly what I was worried about.