Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 151384 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151384 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
“Yeah. You’re being cute. You’re always fucking cute.”
“That’s a dollar.”
“Except when you’re telling me I owe you money for swearing.”
Another gasp escaped her as she leaned back against the sofa. Hey, she couldn’t help it. If he kept saying things like this, she was going to gasp. And if she was going to gasp, well, she was going to do a good job of it.
No point in doing a half-assed job.
“I’m not cute when I tell you that you owe a dollar?” she repeated.
“Nope.” His lips were twitching for some reason.
“Do you find this funny?”
“Yeah, forgot to mention that. You’re funny.”
“I feel like that might be an insult.”
“It’s not. Now, you want to tell me what you were thinking putting those up on your own?” He nodded to the decorations that she’d been hanging above the mantelpiece of the huge fireplace which they rarely used.
“How else was I going to put them up?” she asked.
“You put them up yourself every year?”
Okay. So this was dangerous territory. She’d been warned against lying, but she also didn’t want to admit the truth. “I think I might plead the fifth.”
“You don’t get to plead the fifth.”
“You don’t get to make all the rules,” she grumbled.
“Again, I’m in charge. You’re not. Making the rules is exactly what I get to do.”
“You’re like a dictator. You’re DDD arrogant.”
“Immy, you cannot tell me that you are allowed to use a ladder and put those decorations up by yourself.”
“I really don’t think I like the word ‘allowed.’”
He snorted. “You wouldn’t.”
“Hey!”
“Because you know you’re not allowed to do that. And that you shouldn’t be doing it. And that you’re gonna be in big trouble once the others find out what you were doing.”
Oh shoot.
That was a good point.
Good one, Immy. Did you not think they were going to notice once they got home? And wonder how those decorations got up there?
Everyone except Isaiah was away until tomorrow.
“I can see I have to rethink my plan,” she muttered.
“Might be wise,” he agreed.
Immy snapped her fingers together. “You can do it.”
Unfortunately, Tobias did not look all that enthusiastic at her announcement. “I can?”
“Uh-huh. If you put up the decorations, then I won’t get into trouble for using the step-stool to put them up. Perfect, it’s solved. Now, you’ll have to listen carefully and please try to accept direction. I know it’s not easy for you to listen to someone else.”
“Is it not?”
“No, it’s clear to me that you like to do just whatever you want. But these decorations go in very specific places.”
“What if I say I’m not going to do it?”
She started to sniffle. “You won’t do it?”
“Uh-uh, don’t think you can get away with that.” He tapped her lower lip that might have snuck out. “Might work on your friends, not me.”
“What?” she asked innocently.
“Pretending to be upset.”
“I’m not pretending.” Maybe just exaggerating a bit, but not pretending.
He simply grunted. “Make you a deal.”
A deal?
“What sort of deal?” she asked suspiciously.
“I’ll help you, if you drop the shield a bit.”
“What shield?” Now she was really confused.
“Shield between you and your Little. Let her out.”
Immy stiffened. Her first thought was to reject that idea immediately. She didn’t have a Little and she wasn’t shielding her, and she couldn’t just let her out.
“Before you protest, you should know I’ve been in relationships with Littles before. You’re a Little and you might have your reasons for denying that. But you’re safe with me.”
Immy sucked in a breath. “I know I’m safe with you.” But she didn’t have a Little to let out.
Right?
Who are you kidding, Immy?
“Nope. Don’t think you do.” He cupped her face between his hands. “You’re safe with me, Immy. I will not harm you, won’t let anyone else harm you. I swear this.”
She’d always denied it to herself, even if she’d known deep down that she was like Cat and Maeve. Actually, she thought if there was a scale, she’d be the littlest Little of the three of them.
Did that sound silly? Maybe she meant that she would regress the furthest?
Or maybe what you really think is that you’d like to live your life in a sort of permanent Little headspace.
And perhaps that’s what really scares you. That you’ll become the person your father always said you were. Childish. Ridiculous. A burden.
You can’t be a Little all the time. You can’t live your life that way. You have responsibilities. Besides, no one would want to take care of you full-time.
But she was scared that if she let her Little out that she’d completely take over.
“I can’t,” she whispered.
Why did he have to push her? Why couldn’t he just leave her alone?
She attempted to get off the sofa, needing to get away from him, to be able to think, but he put his hands on her thighs. “Little girl—”
“I’m not a Little!” she cried.