“Okay,” I said. “We’re in.”
Sadie beamed and spun on her heel. “Come on then!”
Perry tugged me along, and this time I followed willingly.
The table was a happy chaos of plates and crayons and half-finished drinks. A Little with pink braids waved at us around a mouthful of fries. Another offered Perry a sticker without hesitation, like this was just what you did when new people showed up.
“Guys, this is Hope and Perry,” Sadie announced grandly. “They’re brother and sister.”
“We are not—” I started.
“We absolutely are,” Perry cut in sweetly.
The pink-braided girl giggled. “You sound like brother and sister.”
Two chairs were quickly cleared for us, bodies scooting to make room without complaint. I hesitated only a second before sitting, Perry dropping into the seat beside me.
Daddies Lee and Tyrell had taken a table with some other Bigs, giving us space. But their attention never wavered. I could practicallyfeeltheir eyes on us the entire time.
“So,” the girl with the pink braids leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. “Are both the Masters who came in with you, yours?”
Perry and I both looked to the table where Daddies Tyrell and Lee were sitting and then turned to each other, smiling big.
“I’d like them to be,” I said, half like a prayer.
“Do you know what always works to get a Daddy on board with claiming a Little?” Sadie asked, a mischievous smile on her face.
Perry held up his hand like he was waiting for a teacher to call on him. “Uh... I don’t think we need to encourage the Daddies to claim her. They?—”
Sadie didn’t give him a chance to complete his sentence because she leaned across the table toward us. “A prank! There’s nothing like a Little getting in trouble and earning a punishment to give a Daddy the boot in the butt he needs to make a Little his.”
Uh oh.
Perry had already sounded interested in the prank to start off with.
But I didn’t know if it would be such a good idea after all.
Chapter Seventeen
Perry
The second Sadie said the wordprank, my brain lit up like one of those cartoon characters with a speech bubble above their heads.
A prank.
A real one.
This was one of those things I’d always dreamed of doing, but if you’re a socially anxious Little, it’s really hard to make friends and plan play dates and pranks. But thanks to Hope... now Icould.
I was already picturing it. Hope trying—and failing—to look innocent. Daddy narrowing his eyes. Master—or hopefully soon Daddy—Lee pinching the bridge of his nose and looking to the heavens as if he was praying for patience.
It would be perfect.
It would befun.
And if it nudged them toward claiming her?
Even better.
