“There you are,” he teased, and I clutched his T-shirt with both hands.
He closed the car door and the driver drove off at the same time I realized I wasn’t holding Tonya anymore.
“Where’s Tonya?” I was instantly awake.
Sir looked down and made an alarmed sound. I followed his gaze and saw Tonya in the street next to the curb. She was in a puddle and the car tire must’ve rolled right over her, because she was dirty and I could see some stuffing coming out of her neck where she’d ripped.
I wailed.
Luukas
The sound that escaped from my boy was pure agony. I wrapped one arm around him and reached down with the other to grab poor Tonya off the puddle.
“I’m going to fix this, Bear, I promise,” I told him as I hold the toy together by squeezing her in one fist while guiding Bear to the apartment door with the other. “I promise she’ll be okay.”
I didn’t know how I would keep that promise, but something had to be done. I needed to fix this. If I hadn’t pulled him out of the car, he wouldn’t have dropped her and—I stopped myself from spiraling with guilt, because Bear needed me now.
He was wailing quietly still, and I was pretty sure he’d never quite come up from his little headspace he’d sank into as soon as his toes hit the sand. Mal and I had been watching them from the windows, and the beauty of them playing together, so carefree and completely focused, had had us smitten.
At one point we’d glanced at each other and burst into laughter. I’d felt the first proper stirrings of what I now knew Mal and the other caretaker Dominants in our community felt around their littles.
I managed to get Bear inside while my brain was trying to figure out what to do. Tonya was important to him. She was his most prized possession, his confidante, his best friend.
“Okay, Bear, let me sit you on the couch and I’ll take a look at her,” I murmured as I steered him there.
We hadn’t taken off our shoes or jackets, and once I had him on the couch, I dashed to the kitchen to place Tonya on the table, then went back to help Bear out of his outerwear.
He was clutching a brightly colored throw pillow to his chest and sobbed like the little he was in that moment.
“Let’s take your jacket off, sweetheart.” I helped him gently, and then took off his shoes. Once I had those and my own stuff put away, I grabbed one of the new blankets and wrapped it around Bear. “You sit there, Daddy will take a look at Tonya, okay?”
With tears streaming down his face, he nodded and curled into a small ball around that pillow. My heart felt like cracks were forming in it, because he was holding onto the thing like he’d normally hold Tonya.
I went to see the damage.
She was dirty as hell from the muck and water, and whatever had been on that tire that rolled over her, and the seam on her neck had torn open and her stuffing was peeking out from the gash.
I hung my head and tried to think quickly. Then it hit me. I grabbed my phone and called Robbie, Shauna’s Daddy.
“Hey, Luke, what’s—”
“I’m sorry I’m calling suddenly and cutting you off, but I have a little situation here.”
I glanced behind and saw a tuft of hair above the arm of the couch, which meant Bear was still curled up.
“Anything, you know that. How can I help?” His tone was all worried friend, and I relaxed minutely.
“Okay, so we had a mishap with Bear’s best stuffed toy he’s had for ages and—”
“Whatever it is, I know who can fix it.”
“Thank you, I thought I remembered you taking Shauna’s toys somewhere one year before Christmas, right?”
Robbie chuckled. “Yeah, these people fix old toys and give them new life. They can fix stuff and make them look so much better, but they respect the toy, too.”
“That sounds amazing. Can you email me the details?”
“Of course. I’ll send them an email to tell them you’re going to contact them, so they know it’s a rush job.”
