Page 8 of Pieces of You

I swallowed the worries that constantly threatened to surface, and I pushed forward.

But everywhere I looked, friends wore sober expressions. Worry lines were out in full force. No brats were running around, because…there were no brats to be found. Playtime was forgotten. Happy-go-lucky boys had ceased to exist. Kit and Gael came downstairs with their arms filled with blankets—and not a smile in sight. Kit glanced my way and bit down on his lip when it quivered.

My sweet boy.

I gestured for him to come to me, and he dropped everything and ran over.

Then I had him in my arms, and I squeezed him tightly.

“He has to be okay,” he cried.

I screwed my eyes shut and tightened my hold. “I hope so, little one. I hope so too.”

I exchanged a brief glance with Colt across the room.

What could we do?

It was tough to navigate with our lifestyles too, because where some submissives had sunk lower into those mind-sets because they offered at least a sliver of comfort, others had shot right out of kink altogether and approached things strictly vanilla. Kit hadn’t decided yet, it felt like. He bounced back and forth. It was still all so new. We didn’t have enough to go on.

“Founder meeting on the porch of the Tenley cabin in two minutes!” Penelope had arrived.

Colt straightened as she came through with a visibly upset Nora. “Lucian and Greer are on their way.”

Pen shook her head. “They’re here. They pulled in when we did.”

Okay, then.

I gave Kit another squeeze. “We’ll be back in a little bit, okay? I think you and Gael should get comfy on one of the couches—or maybe see if Macklin’s prepared any snacks.”

He sniffled and wiped at his cheeks. “I’m not hungry. I’ll get a soda.”

“All right.” I brushed my thumb under his eye, hating that I couldn’t take away his pain. “Daddy and I will hurry.”

Fuck, it hurt to let go of him even for a few minutes. But Colt and I joined the other founding members outside, and we went over to the Tenleys’ cabin.

They should be here.

Macklin was the last to trail over, looking lost and tired.

“Before I let someone else take over,” Penelope started by saying, “I just want to make sure we’re all aware that the comments are flooding the groups in the app. It’s been nonstop what’s-going-ons since we canceled all the events.”

I lifted an arm as Macklin reached us, and I brought him into the fold and rubbed his back.

“So, we’ll post a message on the front page,” Colt stated. “It’ll be each group admin’s job to make sure their members see the post.”

“I can have something up in the next hour or so,” I answered.

“It’s natural for people to have questions,” Lucian said, “but we might want to minimize the influx by creating a temporary group where members can speculate and dump articles.”

I nodded with a dip of my chin, side-eyeing him, Colt, Macklin, Greer, and Penelope.

Two people were missing from this conversation. The balance was off. Even River, who spoke through Reese or not at all, was part of the structure that gave us balance.

“I will happily run that group and make sure the theories don’t cross over to tinfoil-hat territory,” Penelope offered. “I’ll talk to August too. We’ll need heavy monitoring of what’s being said.”

I tilted my head and studied her. Like the rest of us, she looked like she was holding it together best by staying busy.

“Agreed.” Colt inclined his head. “For starters, I don’t want any bullshit musings about River and Reese—or their backgrounds. Remind members it’s an ongoin’ investigation, and it’s better they shut the fuck up if they don’t have anythin’ concrete to contribute.”