by Alta Hensley
His original irritation with her returned.
With a gentle push, he moved her from his lap. “Let me see your ass.” He pinned her face down on the bed.
“I’m fine,” she mumbled into the pillow.
A purple blotch was already forming on each cheek. He sighed over the mess.
“Don’t do anything to warrant another punishment, Ariana.” He poked his finger into her thigh. “Your ass can’t handle another spanking right now.”
Ariana pulled away from him and rolled to her back. Once situated on his pillows, she sighed and folded her hands on her stomach.
“I don’t know how you managed to get away this long without someone noticing,” he said, resting his hand on her thigh.
This was good. Her being herself, no playacting, no games. Just two people talking. It was the most real he’d felt in the past year of working at the House.
“It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.” She smiled. “I fucking hate the dayroom, though. It’s really boring but—ow!” She covered her thigh where he’d pinched her.
“Don’t start getting careless. And I don’t like language like that. Grown up or little, my girl doesn’t curse like that.”
She rolled her eyes. “Several things. One,” she held up a finger between them, “I’m not anyone’s anything. Two, that’s a bit old-fashioned don’t you think?”
He wrapped his hand around her finger and brought it to his mouth, biting down on the tip until she yanked it away.
“Don’t point that finger at me again. And, you sure as hell are mine. That doesn’t change.” He patted her thigh.
“What if I don’t want to be yours?” she countered, though the teasing in her tone suggested she was trying to rile him.
“Do you?” he asked, firming his gaze on her.
Did she?
That was a good question. She barely knew him. The real him anyway. But she couldn’t completely deny how safe she felt now that he’d promised not to expose her. She trusted him.
And in a world that allowed girls to be abducted, drugged, and sold, trust meant something.
“What does that even mean, Costello?” she asked.
He moved higher up on the bed, sitting directly beside her. Pressing his hand into the mattress on the other side of her, he had her caged.
“It means the same thing it’s meant for the past week. But instead of it being because you were drugged and didn’t know better, it’s because you chose it. I choose it.”
“You’d want to still be my daddy?” she asked. A spark ignited in her belly with her question. Of all the things she detested at the House, being his little girl hadn’t ranked high on the list.
“I didn’t sign up for this job hating the idea of being a Daddy,” he said solemnly. “It’s part of me, just like I’m sure it’s part of you. At least deep down inside of you.”
Was it? She’d never considered it, not seriously. Though, it would explain a lot of her relationship failures.
“There have been complaints about my neediness,” she confessed.
His eyes darkened. “By whom?”
She patted his hand. “Old boyfriends. It’s possible I may have had fantasies… but...” Her cheeks heated. “I just never really trusted anyone enough to ever act on them.”
“You lived on your own for a long time,” he offered. “Before the Romeros take in a girl, they do their homework. There isn’t anything about your past that I don’t already know,” he explained.
“They find girls who have no one who will miss them,” she said with a nod.
“Yeah. It’s easier that way. Empty out your account, quit your job for you, clear out your apartment and turn in a moveout notice to your landlord with the rest of the rent. There’s no one chasing after you.” He dragged his hand through his hair, leaving it sticking up in places. He looked almost playful.
“And you’re going to keep doing this? If you manage to get me out of here, you’ll have another girl to train, to auction off to some asshole.” She couldn’t help the contempt simmering in her tone.
His jaw tightened. “Right now, you’re the only girl I’m worried about.”
She shoved his hand away. “I think I want to sleep in my own room tonight.”
“Stay put.” He grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her back onto the bed before she could get away. “I already said you’re here tonight. If you go back to your room, there will be questions.”
“This is pretty fucking pointless, Costello. You aren’t going to be able to get me out of here without them finding out. So, either I get sold like the other girls, or Frank kills me.” She tugged out of his hold but didn’t move from the bed.
“I said to watch the language,” he snapped.
She rolled her eyes.
“I’m tired.” She yanked on the covers and scooted her naked self beneath them. “Don’t you have to go do something? Prove to the other guys what a big bad Daddy you are?” she taunted him.
He stared at her for a long moment. Heat crawled over her body, but she refused to look at him. She was in a helpless situation. Even with him not turning her over, it changed nothing. She still needed to pretend to be little, and she would still be sold to the highest bidder. And when that man realized the drug didn’t work, he’d probably kill her.
There was no hope here.
Costello pulled his car up to the back entrance of an abandoned warehouse. Well, as far as the local government knew it was abandoned. It made for a secure meeting spot and storage facility for the Romeros’ stockpile.
Frank didn’t just use Lullaby in the House, he sold and distributed to clients of the House. Lullaby wasn’t a permanent change to the girls’ mental status. It wore off rapidly if they weren’t constantly fed the drug. Lullaby girls needed to take a dose twice a day at minimum to keep from coming out of their drugged haze. Girls who were fed more than two doses were even more pliable. Some regressed even younger than those Frank trained in the House.
As a business strategy, Frank had smarts. Keep them needing the drug, and you kept the Daddies on the hook as clients. No one else had anything close to Lullaby, and Frank made damn sure it stayed that way.
After parking, Costello headed to the bay area door. Sam and Nicky pushed the door open, already waiting on him.
“I’m not even late and you guys are ready to bust my balls.” Costello laughed as he shook their hands in turn and followed them inside the dark and dank warehouse.
“Been a hell of a day.” Nicky rubbed the back of his neck. “Johnny was here this morning with all his fucking charts and projections.”
Sam groaned. “If I gave a shit about projections, do you think I’d be in this line of work?”
“For a few minutes I thought he was gonna bust out a projector and put on a whole show for us.” Sam laughed.
“He does like his numbers.” Costello followed them to the back of the warehouse to the offices. Crates and boxes piled up on each side of them, forming a hallway of sorts. “Get a new shipment in?” Costello asked.
“Yeah. Just this morning. Got some new distribution lines to work out. That’s what had Johnny’s dick so hard with his charts. Gotta make sure the lines work without any fucking mess-ups before he’ll okay a larger move,” Sam explained.
“Frank has to give his okay, too, though right?” Costello asked, taking a seat at the table in the back office.
“I’m sure he does,” Nick responded with a shrug. “I don’t get involved with that shit. Ask too many questions, next thing you know there’s bullets flying through your living room window.”
Costello nodded. He knew the truth of that better than either of them in the room. His father had worked for Frank’s father. Freshman year of high school, Costello got home from a football game to find police crawling all over their front yard and house.
His father had been asking too many questions, trying to learn the business, and work his way up out of just working collections for Carlos Romero. C
arlos’ brother Mario, the suspicious asshole he was, started thinking the worst. Seeing Anthony’s questions as evidence seeking, Mario called Anthony a rat and had a hit taken out on him.
The kill was unsanctioned, and unfounded. Nonetheless, both Costello’s mother and father had been shot through the front window of their townhome while watching the evening news and eating Costello’s mother’s meatloaf. Costello had been left without a family.
“Yeah. Better to stay under the radar,” Costello agreed.
“But, and this is just between us three”—Sam leaned his hip against the edge of the table.—“I’m hearing things like Johnny thinks Frank’s too outdated in his approach. He wants to organize tighter, but Frank likes things the way they are.”
“Carlos left the family in Frank’s hands,” Costello said evenly. “It would take one hell of a movement to get enough okays from the heads to move on him.”
The Romero family held a seat at the table with four other main families. In order for any head of the family to be removed, the organization would need to give the okay.
“Just because it’s hard, doesn’t mean it’s not possible,” Sam remarked with a smirk. “Ah, but that’s talk for the bosses, not us.” He marched around the table to the filing cabinets and yanked the top drawer open. Pulling out a black leather duffle bag, he turned around with a grin. “Your cut,” he said, tossing the bag at Costello.
“Shit, this much?” Costello unzipped the bag, picking up three bundles of cash.
“Not really.” Nicky pointed to the bag. “That goes to the House. You and the others split it.”
Even so, he’d be bulking up his savings by at least twenty grand. Not a bad bonus for making a few errand rounds for the boss.
“Johnny already took his and Frank’s cut,” Sam said and shut the cabinet. “How is the gig at the House going? I haven’t done a stint there yet, but I’ve been thinking about it. Get off the streets for a year or two.”
Costello rezipped the bag. “It’s fine.”
“Just fine? I hear you get to bang whatever girl you want, and they just walk around agreeing to everything cause of the Lullaby,” Nicky pushed.
Sam laughed. “Wouldn’t I fucking love to slip my wife just one dose of that shit. Maybe there’d be a lot less nagging and a bit more dick sucking.”
“With a romantic like you for a husband, I can’t imagine why she wouldn’t be willing to see to your every need, Sam.” Costello chuckled and got up from his chair. It hadn’t been that long ago when he was working the warehouses and looking for a step up in the family. He couldn’t blame their curiosity.
“No. Seriously. What’s it really like?” Sam continued.
“You have a family. Why would you want to take the House gig? You have to live there.”
“That’s true. I forgot about that part.” Sam nodded.
“Okay, so he’s out. What about me?” Nicky piped up.
Costello stared at him. “There’s more to it than just getting your dick wet whenever you want. You gotta teach the girls how to be little girls, the way they’ll be expected to act when they get sold. So, it can’t be about just what you like.” Costello checked his phone for messages. He’d asked Maria to be sure Ariana was given more cream to put on her ass. The bruises were uglier this morning and would be even worse by the end of the day.
“Like babysitting all the time to grown women?” Nicky screwed up his face with distaste.
“A little.” Costello shrugged.
It wasn’t like that with Ariana, but the drug wasn’t working on her. The girls he’d trained before her were different. He didn’t see them as women or little girls. He’d only seen a product when he looked at them. He played with them, taught them what they needed to know in order to get adopted, then sent them on their way.
“If you’re so curious, why don’t we get Frank to let us up into the playroom,” Sam said.
“Maybe I’ll talk with Frank about it,” Nicky said, fisting his hands and shoving them into his jeans. “Until then, I got shit to do.”
“I’ll let you get back to it.” Costello shook their hands. “I need to get back to the House.”
“We’ll see you next week then.” Sam slapped Costello on the back and walked with him through the warehouse to the door. “Maybe sooner if we get over there to the playroom.” Sam waggled his eyebrows and laughed.
“Perfectly good wife at home, and you’re gonna spend that kind of cash to play with some woman who thinks she’s six years old?” Costello joked.
“One night of ‘yes, Daddy’ and I’d be in fucking heaven!” Sam laughed, yanking the steel door open, letting the sunshine from the parking lot into the dank warehouse.
Costello shook his head with a grin and walked out to his car. He’d been just as blind to the realities of the House before he took up residence. Non-stop sex, complete control over the girls, delivering bare ass spankings… It all sounded too fucking good to be true.
He’d had a hell of a good time. He wouldn’t bother denying that. But the tint of the lens changed with Ariana. Costello wasn’t just looking to playact Daddy for a few months while training her for someone else. When she called him Daddy, when her eyes softened and he could sense the reality of that word on her lips…it held a fuck more meaning than a hard dick.
His phone rang while he drove down the street back toward the highway.
“Yeah?”
“Costello.” Maria’s panicked voice filled the car through the speakerphone. “Nancy took Ariana to the library an hour ago, and she hasn’t come back. I can’t leave the dayroom with the other girls.”
“What the fuck. I told her to stay away from Ariana today.” Costello hit the gas and merged onto the highway. He’d be there in ten minutes. Sooner if he pushed it.
“I know,” Maria said, helpless to fix the situation.
“I’m on my way.” He hung up the phone and maneuvered around the truck in front of him.
He needed to get back. Now!
“Just hold on, babygirl. I’m on my way.”
Ariana sat on the little wooden stool in the corner of the library listening to Nanny Nancy read from a fairytale book to three other girls. Ariana hadn’t been allowed to sit with the other girls because Nancy said she hadn’t behaved well enough at breakfast.
As far as Ariana knew, breakfast had gone fine. She’d been given the awful oatmeal, and she’d eaten every slimy bite of it. Even the raisins that she didn’t like.
Nancy was obviously still pissy about the night before. Which only confused Ariana more, because it wasn’t Nancy’s ass that hurt.
“And they all lived happily ever after,” Nancy said in the sickly singsong voice that jumped all over Ariana’s nerves. Ariana sighed and leaned her head forward, pressing it against the wall.
Why had Nancy brought her down here if she was only going to keep her in the corner? She should have left Ariana in the dayroom with Nanny Maria.
“Now. I have a special lesson for you this afternoon, girls,” Nancy said with a clap of her hands. “I know the Daddies do a lot of teaching with you during your naptimes and your special lesson times with them, but there is one subject they can’t teach you.” Nancy paused. “Ariana, turn around now.”
Ariana lifted her head and with an internal groan, walked her feet across the carpeting until she had swiveled around. The three girls who had been called down with her were all sitting with their legs crisscrossed and their hands neatly folded in their laps. The vacancy in their stares sent a shiver through Ariana.
Maybe it would be better if the drug would work on her. She wouldn’t have to be so damn aware all the time of the horrors happening to all of them.
“Most of the girls who come to our House are adopted by loving and caring Daddies, but sometimes there’s a Mommy who comes looking for a little girl of her own. And we need to be prepared for them as well.” Nancy got up from her rocking chair and moved it to the edge of the carpet. “Have all of you been taught h
ow to kiss your daddies properly?” she asked with a curious eye on them.
“On his lips or on his…” Mae blushed. “On his cock?” she said, then fell into a fit of giggles.
“I hope you don’t giggle when your daddy gifts you with his cock, Mae.” Nancy turned a stern glare on the girl. Mae seized up.
“No, Nanny Nancy. I never giggle with him,” Mae promised.
“Good. Now, I’m talking about kissing his cock. You’ve all learned?” She pointed to each girl and waited for a nod before moving to the next. When her gaze turned up toward Ariana, it darkened. “And you?”
“Yes, Nanny Nancy,” Ariana mimicked the girls’ responses and shoved on a proud smile to accentuate her answer.
“Good. So, what I’m going to teach you today is how to kiss a Mommy’s pussy.” Nancy retrieved a straight back chair with no arms and placed it in the center of the room where her rocking chair had been.
Oh, no. Ariana’s stomach knotted. She wouldn’t be able to do this. But if she denied Nancy, there’d be another punishment in her future. Or worse.
What the fuck was she going to do?
The other girls all scooted further up on the carpet to get closer and see better. They were being good girls, learning what they were supposed to learn.
“Ariana, you can come on the carpet. I want you to get a good look, so you’ll know what you’re doing when it’s your turn.” Nancy pointed to a spot beside Mae.
Ariana swallowed back the protest jumping to escape and got up from her little stool. Her knees ached from sitting so low to the ground. She eased down to the carpet next to Mae and folded her legs to match the other girls.
Costello could be the only person in the House who knew her secret. The playacting would have to continue. Not just for her sake, but for his as well. If Frank found out Costello knew and didn’t turn her over, he’d kill Costello. Now Ariana pretended for them both.
“When you have a Mommy who wants kisses on her pussy, it’s not too different from licking a lollipop.” Nancy sat down on the chair and spread her legs open wide, pulling her ankle length skirt up until her pussy showed. The girls didn’t make a sound. Ariana’s cheeks heated.