“Eat for Daddy, button.”
She clutched her elephant closely. “Not hungry, Daddy.”
“Just a bit. To make Daddy happy.”
Well, she could hardly refuse to do that, could she? She took the small mouthful. He held up some more. She shook her head, frowning slightly.
“Button, open for the train. Choo-choo! Chugga-chugga!”
She couldn’t help but laugh as he made train noises while moving the spoon closer and closer to her mouth. She opened up as he slid it into her mouth.
“Open wide for the airplane! Here it is, coming into landing!” She opened up as the spoon grew closer, shocked that he didn’t spill a drop. No way could she do that.
In the end he managed to get several spoonsful of soup into her that came from a car, a shark, a boat and a hot air balloon before she really thought she might be ill if she ate anything more. After brushing her teeth, he tucked her up into bed.
“You’re not leaving, are you?” She grabbed his wrist.
“No, button, I’m going to sleep on the couch.”
Sleep on the couch? Why would he sleep on the couch?
“Why? Don’t you want to sleep with me?” She could hear the hurt note in her voice but she couldn’t stop it.
He groaned. “Button, I want nothing more. But I haven’t slept in a few days and I’ve been fucking stressed out.”
“Isn’t that all the more reason to sleep in the bed rather than the couch?”
He let out a breath. “Sometimes when I’m over-tired or stressed, I have nightmares. I don’t want to accidentally hurt you while I’m dreaming.”
“Nightmares about what?”
“About my time in the Special Forces,” he told her.
“That last mission?”
He nodded.
“Is there anything that helps?”
“When I get too stressed, I need to feel more in control. That’s often the times I end up at Fringe. Because I can take control there. Touch, feeling close to someone also helps,” he admitted quietly as though worried she might be hurt by that admission.
“Then sleeping beside me should help,” she told him.
“I don’t know, button. I don’t want to risk hurting you.”
“You won’t,” she told him. “I know you won’t. And you can hold me and maybe that will keep the nightmares away. Please. I…I have my own nightmares.”
She knew it was a bit of blackmail but she really didn’t want him to sleep apart from her. She needed to feel him close. To know that they were both safe.
“All right, button.” He quickly stripped off until he was dressed just in his boxers. And the sight of all that skin made her body warm. Her nipples harden. He climbed into bed with her and turned off the light. She immediately tensed and he switched the lamp back on.
“Too dark?”
“Yes, sorry.”
He ran his fingers through her hair. “Don’t ever be sorry for your needs.”
Climbing from the bed, he walked over to the bathroom and turned on the light, leaving the door partially open. When he got back into bed, he turned off the bedside lamp then rolled her into him.
She drifted off to sleep with his heart beat reassuringly steady under her ear.
And neither of them had nightmares.
19
“Button, I have some business to take care of,” Ink told Betsy the next morning. He’d managed to get several bites of scrambled eggs and toast into her which he was counting as a win, even if it was less than a toddler would eat.
Maybe he needed to speak to Hack about some supplements.
“Okay, Daddy,” she said worriedly.
She was looking far better than she had yesterday, but he’d noticed the slow way she was moving around and knew she had to be stiff and sore. She was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt with a picture of Dumbo on the front as well as a pair of fuzzy, striped socks. All stuff he’d bought for her. He liked providing for her.
He’d just finished brushing her hair and she looked freaking adorable.
Man, you got to stop using that word.
“Do I come with you?” Her hands moved together nervously.
“I’d rather you stayed here until we’re certain that you’re safe. I know it’s not easy to stay in here, but I promise we’ll work as fast as we can.”
She shook her head. “It’s fine. I mostly stayed in my room at Forrest’s house. I wasn’t able to go anywhere. I haven’t had my hair cut in months.” She fingered the long strands.
He hated to do anything that might remind her of her time with that asshole.
“It won’t be forever, I promise. And I have a way to make the time go a bit faster.”
“How?”
“I’ve asked Duke and Sunny to come over. Do you remember Duke from the hotel room?” He winced at bringing up the memory.
“Yes,” she said quietly. “He’s a member of the Iron Shadows, right?”
“Yeah, he’s like a brother to me. Reyes, the other guy, he’s the President.”
“And who is Sunny?”
“Sunny is his woman. And his Little. She’s going to stay in here with you while Duke helps me.”
“Oh.”
“You don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with,” he told her hastily. “But Brody has been studying what was on the pen drive and I need to go see what’s going on. I thought some company might help. The two of you can just sit and watch television if that’s what you want.”
“All right,” she said quietly. “They don’t have to be at work?”
“Duke owns a tattoo parlor and Sunny works for him. The shop doesn’t open until later on this afternoon. If it helps, Sunny is looking forward to meeting you.”
“She knows about how we met?”
“She does. She was there after I found the note. She was the one who thought you might be in trouble and needed help. She also knows about how Forrest threatened to hurt your sons. Sunny is a sweetheart. She’s very kind. I think you’ll like each other.”
* * *
“What did you find?” he barked at Brody as he entered the tech guy’s office. Duke shut the door after he entered to give them some privacy.
They’d introduced the girls and left them playing with the bracelet-making set that Sunny had brought over. He didn’t like being apart from Betsy. It grated at him, even when he was still in the same building as her. It was over-the-top and he figured it was because he’d nearly lost her.
Although he had a feeling he’d always need to keep her close.
Reyes’ plans to keep any woman of his in a bunker, safe and secured from the world, suddenly didn’t seem so insane.
Brody turned to them. His hair looked messier than usual and there was a large stain on the front of his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles T-shirt.
“What have I got? Man, I have got gold is what I’ve got.”
Satisfaction filled Ink. “You found something to threaten him with?”
“Not just him, but his father as well.”
“The dad is crooked?” Duke asked. “What did you find?”
“Evidence that both of them are into guns, drugs and human trafficking.”
“Are you serious?” Duke barked. “How did we not know that? They fucking hid it well.”
“Looks like they used third parties to manage the criminal transactions to keep themselves removed. I saw mentions of people but never names, more like initials. Like Mr. X and Mrs. K.”
“The senator and Forrest were only half-brothers,” Ink said. “They had little to do with one another. At least on the surface.”
“The old man, Jonathan Senior, owns a shipping company, which could be where the women are brought through,” Brody said. “No doubt they pay off officials to turn the other cheek. They got business interests in Chicago, Seattle, Florida and Texas. I’ve found information about drug cartels, gun running, not much about the trafficking. But there’s a few mentions of shipments in emails
that never say what the shipments are.”
“Fuck. Me.” Ink ran his fingers through his hair. “Both look respectable on the outside and are rotten on the inside.”
“Mostly what I’ve got here are cryptic emails between Forrest and business associates,” Brody said. “But he’s not as circumspect as he thinks he is. There’s enough clues in the emails to pick up what he’s talking about. But the jackpot is this file here. It was encrypted and locked. But I managed to get into it about half an hour ago. My guess is the relationship between Senior and Forrest isn’t that robust.”
Ink looked at the photos revealed. “Jesus Christ. He’s keeping a file of incriminating evidence against his own father?”
“Yep, in here are various photos of his father with what looks to be very young girls. But here’s a very interesting photo.” It showed Senior with another man. Both of them were dressed casually and had rifles over their shoulders.
“Who is it?” Duke asked.
“Miguel Hernandez. Head of the Hernandez cartel.”
“He wouldn’t want that coming out. Not with his place in society,” Duke mused.
“Between that and the photos of him with those young girls, he’d be fucked,” Ink said.
“There’s another photo.” Brody brought up another photo of Senior with a fat, balding man. Both smiled at the camera while enjoying a glass of bourbon. “Mob boss from New York city.”
Duke met his gaze. “Maybe you can use this to keep Forrest away from Betsy.”
Ink nodded. “Nothing to do with Baron and Rex?”
Brody shook his head with a sigh. “If he’s keeping evidence it wasn’t on here.”
Damn it. Still, this was enough to keep Forrest from coming after Betsy.
Grabbing his phone, he placed a call. “Hey, Spike. Think you can get us a meeting with Forrest? Yeah, we found some stuff.”
* * *
Betsy tried to thread a bead onto the string to make a bracelet, but her hand shook too hard and it fell to the floor.
“Oh shoot.”
“It’s okay, I’ll get it.”
Sunny crouched down and grabbed the bead from under the coffee table then held it out to her.
“Thank you,” Betsy said in a near whisper.
“We don’t have to make bracelets if you don’t want to,” Sunny said to her. She was a gorgeous woman with dark-blonde hair and a sweet smile. “We can do something else. Watch TV. Or I brought other things to do. I wasn’t sure what you enjoyed. Oh, I also got you this.” She held out a small tablet. “It’s an eReader. Do you like to read? It’s all right if you don’t, I just thought you might get bored in here.”
“I like to read. I used to have access to the library at Forrest’s house.”
“I’m so sorry for what you’ve been through. That horrible man making you do things by threatening your sons. I’d like to get my hands on him.”
Sunny sounded so fierce that Betsy found herself smiling. Ink was right. She did like Sunny. And it was clear Duke adored her. He’d given her a lingering kiss goodbye, with his hand wrapped around the back of her neck in a clear mark of possession.
It had given Betsy goosebumps. And the way he’d looked at her…as though she was his whole world…it was magical.
She wanted that.
You can have it with Ink…look at everything he’s done for you already.
It was scary though. Letting herself fall in deep with someone. But she’d already given him so much. That last piece shouldn’t be hard, right?
“I could show you some of the books I like. They are…well…” Sunny trailed off, looking uncomfortable.
She was making a complete mess of this. Here was this kind woman trying to help her and Betsy could barely speak.
“I’m really sorry,” she told Sunny. She ran her hands down her thighs. “I’m out of practice at talking to people. I haven’t had another woman to talk to in…well, there was a girl at the…umm…club where I met Ink.”
“Another Little?” Sunny asked quietly.
“Yeah. But that was different. I seem to find it easier to talk to people when I’m Little.” In fact, it was hard to switch to being Big this morning before Sunny and Duke arrived.
“I get it,” Sunny said gently. “I did bring something else for us to do, if you’d like.”
“What’s that?”
Sunny reached into her bag and gave Betsy a shy look before unrolling a large piece of paper. On it a field of sunflowers had been sketched out along with a sunset in the background.
“Duke drew it for me to color in. Would you like to help?”
“Wow, it’s gorgeous. I’d love to.”
Sunny gave her a warm smile. “I know you don’t like people touching you, Ink warned us. But if you ever want a hug, I’m here. I know you’ve been through a lot, Betsy.”
“Ink said that you know about how we met and about Forrest.”
Sunny gave her a sympathetic smile. “Yeah, I do. I can’t imagine what your life has been like, but you’re safe now. They’re safe. Ink’s a good guy, Betsy. He’ll take care of you.”
“I’m not sure that I’m good enough for him,” she whispered the awful thought that had been circling inside her head.
She’d been so focused on getting the boys safe, on getting out from under Forrest’s clutches that she hadn’t thought too much about the future. But now she as wondering if she deserved to be happy.
“Betsy, that’s not true.” Sunny reached out hesitantly and squeezed her hand.
“He’s a good guy. He could have left me with Forrest and just walked away. I know I hurt him by deceiving him but he forgave me.”
“Because you didn’t have a choice.”
“But I still feel so terrible.”
Sunny bit her lip, studying her closely. “I have a suggestion for getting rid of your guilt, but I’m not sure how you’ll feel about it.”
“What is it?” she asked, willing to entertain any idea.
“Well, normally I’d be all for doing whatever you needed to in order to get out of punishment. Not that anything seems to work with these daddies.”
“Punishment? Like a spanking?” Betsy gaped at Sunny.
Sunny nodded. “When I’ve done something naughty and I feel guilty, well, after a punishment I feel better. It takes the guilt away and everything is forgiven.” Sunny shrugged. “It might work.”
“You think I should ask to be spanked?”
“It’s up to you, of course.”
She wasn’t sure she could do that. But then could she also live with this guilt inside her?
“I’ll think about it.”
“Those books I was talking about? They’re about age play and BDSM. They don’t have all the answers. Every relationship is different but they helped me feel less alone. Not that I’m alone, I have Duke and the Iron Shadow guys and Jewel. But I don’t have any other Little friends.”
“Who is Jewel?”
“Jewel is awesome. A little scary. Gorgeous. She is kind of like a friend of the Iron Shadows. I’m not sure about how she came to be, she’s never really told me her back-story. She can be a bit intimidating, but she’s fiercely loyal.”
Betsy chewed her lip. “I haven’t got any real friends. If you…I mean…”
“I’d love to be your friend, Betsy,” Sunny said gently. “Seems like we could both use one, huh?”
Betsy gave her a nervous smile. “I’m not sure how good a friend I’ll make, but I’ll try.”
Sunny frowned slightly. “You need to stop being so hard on yourself.”
“I never had friends, not really. Mama had acquaintances from church and I sometimes played with their children, but I could never bring friends home. Mama had high expectations. She didn’t like noise or mess or other children around. Mostly she didn’t like me being around. And then she got sick and I nursed her. Soon after she died, I met Rex and married him. It was always best to keep out of his way. I tried my best to be invisible, to ke
ep the boys safe from him while giving them a childhood. And then after he died, and I went to live with Forrest…” she trailed off.
“You had no choice. You did your best to warn him, it’s more than most people would have.”
It still didn’t feel enough.
“I guess I just don’t know much about being a friend.”
“Betsy, from what I know of you, you’re brave and loyal and caring. You’ll make an amazing friend.”
She hoped so.
“Do you think…do you think I could get that hug?” She continued on before Sunny could say anything. “I don’t like being touched and yet at the same time, I’m starved for affection.”
And she wanted to try to be normal. To be whole.
Because she wanted to be good enough for Ink. And he deserved the best.
Sunny opened her arms wide and Betsy had to smile at her enthusiasm. She moved forward, into her embrace. The other woman smelled pretty, like coconut. And while her hugs weren’t as good as Ink’s, Betsy didn’t get that creepy crawly feeling she often did when someone touched her.
She drew back, wiping a tear away.
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah. Sorry. I seem to have broken an emotional dam. I haven’t cried in years and now I cry at the drop of a hat.”
“It’s gonna take you a while to adjust to everything, but you have lots of people behind you. Ink, me, Duke, all the guys.”
“I don’t know them.”
“They’re good men. Rough at times. Definitely unrefined. I was married to a man who thought appearances were everything. On the outside, he seemed perfect, but on the inside, he was selfish and shallow. Underneath the tough exterior, they’re all sweeties. But don’t tell them I said that, it will ruin their rep,” she whispered. “I don’t want to hurt their feelings.”
Betsy had to giggle at the idea of hurting some tough bikers’ feelings.
Sunny winked at her. “Come on, enough serious stuff. Let’s color. What’s your favorite color? Ooh, and I brought glitter, you like glitter, right? And I’ve got these to stick on.” She pulled out a small bag of rhinestones and a stick of glue. “I love rhinestones. And pink. In case you didn’t guess.”
Hero Daddy Page 20