He nodded in quick, short movements, his flush more vibrant than ever. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, I’m good.” He darted a glance toward a woman who was staring at us skeptically, and I squeezed his hand to get his attention.
“Eyes on me, Kitten. KC and I are the only ones who matter.” I swooped down to give him a kiss, and he moaned into my mouth. Once I was done, KC stalked around to get his own kiss.
“We’re good here. Safe.” KC winked.
“If you say so.” Oliver ducked his head, but I didn’t miss the curve of his lips.
“And if someone gives us trouble, we know the Kings. They’d defend us,” KC continued.
I snorted. He wasn’t wrong. Between Luke and possibly PD, I had a feeling KC and Oliver were well protected, which meant as soon as I broke their hearts, I needed to brace for impact. But I wouldn’t be chased out of town before I got to see Luke crying about his world crashing down on his head.
We came across a dunk tank. A man with short dark hair sat in a chair over a tank of water, and above him was a signthat read “Support the New Gothenburg Unicorns and A Home for the Heart!” Another dark-haired man sporting a pair of fake kitten ears stood behind a table with a metal box I assumed was for cash. He had on a pink jersey. A muscled blue unicorn with a rainbow horn was splashed across the front.
I pulled KC and Oli to a stop because I loved this type of shit.
“Unicorns?” I asked.
Mr. Jersey’s mouth twisted, clearly displeased with being here, and he nodded. “We’re a kickball team. We’re raising funds for A Home for the Heart. It’s a charity that takes in LGBTQ plus teens who were kicked out of their homes.”
“Oh, I’d be so good at this.” KC went to yank out his wallet, but I shook my head.
“Oliver has my credit card. He can get us ten tries each.”
Oliver gaped at me. “I’d suck at this.”
“So?” I frowned. “It’s a game, Kitten. Not a competition. For charity.”
Mr. Jersey raised his eyebrows at Oliver’s pet name and glanced curiously at him. He studied Oliver with careful consideration, then some of his previous irritation bled out. He wasn’t pleasant, but he wasn’t acting bored, either, as he took the payment and gave KC three balls.
He pointed at the ring near the chair in the dunk tank, and in the process, turned his back to us. Silvain was printed on his jersey. “You get the ball through that, it dunks him. You miss, nothing happens.”
KC managed to dunk the man on the seat with his first try. The man spluttered, whileSilvainsnickered.
“First time he’s been in the water today,” Silvain said.
The man in the water coughed as he swam to a ladder and climbed back onto the seat. He also had a jersey, but Widstrom was printed on the back of his in shiny pink letters. He pointedat Silvain. “You’re next in the seat. I wouldn’t laugh if I were you, Kitty.”
Oliver’s attention shot to Silvain. “He calls you kitten, too?”
“Kitty.” Silvain tapped one of his fake ears. “I’m a kitten, and he’s my owner.”
Oliver gasped. “Oh, that’s cool!”
I didn’t think Oliver was into pet play, but it was nice how easily he accepted someone else’s preferences. It must’ve been nice for Silvain because he softened even further. I suspected if he was an actual cat, he would’ve shown Oliver his belly. But he also seemed the type that if Oliver went to pet said belly, Silvain would scratch him.
Each throw from KC resulted in a dunk. I wasn’t as great, and only five went in. Oliver did better than me, to his surprise. He got seven in. Poor Widstrom was probably happy to see us go.
Oliver laughed as we walked away. “That was fun.”
“Maybe you need to join a baseball team,” I teased.
“Oh no, I spend all my free time drawing.”
KC dragged him against his chest and pressed a kiss to his forehead before taking another sip of that damned smoothie. I had the urge to throw it into the trash. “You start with Ren this week, right?”
Oliver nodded eagerly, then froze. He peered at me carefully around KC. “If he still wants me.”
I smiled instinctively, the urge to tease and manipulate at the back of my mind. I couldn’t joke when he looked at me with this much worry. “Yeah, I still want you. We’re going to make you into an awesome tattoo artist.”
