Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 116760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
“Fuck, baby. Fuck.” And she didn’t think he’d been physically abusive? “Have you had it looked at by a doctor?”
“It just cramps sometimes if I overuse it or someone squeezes it too tight or something. It’s really fine. I don’t think there is anything that can be done.”
They’d see about that. “There’s a doctor at Sanctuary Ranch we can take you to in order to get that checked.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“Oh yes, it is.”
She was going to learn what it was like to have someone put her first. To take care of her.
33
“The way that asshole treated you isn’t right. Or how a Daddy should take care of his girl. He was abusive. You understand that, right?”
She nodded. “I do. But it was so hard to see that when I was with him. He made himself my whole world. He didn’t like when I went out with my friends so I stopped seeing them. He didn’t like when he didn’t know where I was, so I had to text him when I left the apartment and when I returned. If he thought I’d taken too long, he’d have to punish me. It was only because he loved me so much . . . that’s what he’d say. He wanted to make sure I was all right. He worried when he didn’t know where I was. That’s when he decided to put a tracker on me.”
Corbin began swearing.
He also felt slightly guilty that the thought of putting a tracker on her without her permission had crossed his mind because he, too, wanted to know where she was at all times.
“Don’t look like that. I know that look. You’re thinking you’re like him, but you’re not. None of that was about me. It was all an ego trip for him. Having someone who followed his every word, who jumped when he said jump, who idolized and looked up at him. He thought he was so powerful. Especially considering who my father is. I think that gave him an extra ego boost.”
“You called him Daddy?”
“Oh yes, he wouldn’t accept me calling him anything else. Not his name, not sir, nothing. It was Daddy all the time. No matter what we were doing. He . . . sometimes it made me feel uncomfortable. I didn’t necessarily want to be Little all of the time. I didn’t want to call him Daddy all the time. And even when I was Little, I had to be the sort of Little he wanted.”
“What does that mean?” he asked.
“I had to act the way he wanted. He wanted me to be around seven or eight and to wear these overalls and pants. He’d do my hair in French braids, and I’d be expected to sit quietly and color or have tea parties with my toys. Don’t get me wrong, I like coloring and tea parties. But not all the time. Sometimes, I wanted to fly a kite or climb a tree or go ice skating or rock climbing. He never let me do any of those things. I wasn’t to get dirty, or speak too loudly, or play too roughly. I wasn’t even allowed to play with slime. And that’s like, a crime, or something.” She slammed her hand over her mouth and stared at him wide-eyed.
What was wrong?
Oh.
Then he got it.
Had her Little just peeked out at him?
“It’s all right,” he soothed. “It’s okay to slip into Little headspace.”
“But it’s not,” she whispered. “I swore I never would again.”
God. He closed his eyes for a moment and convinced himself that he could not leave her to go and find this asshole.
Right fucking now.
When he opened them, he was calmer, at least on the outside. “Baby, I know what happened with this complete and utter asshole was terrible and I understand that it has affected you and made you shy away from your Little side. But you have to know that wasn’t a healthy relationship. He wasn’t a good Daddy. He wasn’t even a good fucking person. He manipulated and brainwashed you. And you deserve so much better.”
“I don’t know that I do.”
He gently cupped her chin, tilting her head back. “You do. I promise you that. If you don’t know it, I do. And I will remind you as much as you need to hear it. But by shutting down your Little side, the things that you need to be happy, all you’re doing is hurting yourself.”
“I don’t even really know what I need.”
“Well, my guess is you need to fly a fucking kite and climb a tree—under supervision, of course—and get muddy and messy. Wear what you want. And play with slime, because you’re right, it is a crime not to be allowed to do that.”
She sniffled, but she was smiling. It was shaky, but it was there.