Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 155775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 779(@200wpm)___ 623(@250wpm)___ 519(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 779(@200wpm)___ 623(@250wpm)___ 519(@300wpm)
“All right then,” Ink said. “I’ll try to convince the police to come here to speak to you. When you are ready, Cash, Ralen, and Butch will take you right to the airport and wait there with you.” Ink nodded to them. “If there is anything else you need, just let me know. I’d also like contact details for all of you, so that I can get in touch if we find out anything further.”
“Of course,” Dotty said. “I’ll come with you now. We can call the police and get this all sorted out.” She pushed her chair back and stood, then glanced down at Monroe and Addie. “Are you two going to come as well?”
“I really think I need to lie down,” Monroe said, rubbing her head and looking pale. “Is there somewhere I could do that?”
“You can nap in the safe room,” Ink told her.
“So, all three of these guys work for you then?” Dotty asked, as they moved towards the door.
“Cash and Ralen don’t. They’re just doing a good deed.”
Doing a good deed?
She didn’t know if she liked being called a good deed.
“Come on,” Ralen said to Monroe. “I’ll walk you back to the saferoom. You should take some food with you.”
To her surprise, Monroe actually nodded and picked up the fruit salad as she got up and followed Ralen out. Butch had already left, she hadn’t even noticed him go.
That left her, Cash, and Brody.
“Do you think that you could work with someone who would sketch out an image of what you saw that night? Not necessarily just details about faces, but the whole thing,” Brody said to her.
Addie nodded.
“Good. I’ll set that up and let you know.” He picked up his laptop and left the room. Well, she guessed that she’d go and sit back in the staff room or something. She pushed her chair back and tried to stand, but Cash placed his hand on her shoulder and held her down. She sent him a shocked look. What was he doing?
“What did I tell you about getting up from the table?” he said in a stern voice.
What was he talking about? What did he tell her? Suddenly, it came back to her. He’d said that she couldn’t get up until she’d eaten the sandwich and at least part of something else. Had he really been serious about that? He couldn’t make her sit here and eat like she was a child.
Addie gave him a look, but he just stared steadily back at her. “Eat.”
She shook her head.
An amused look filled his face, and he leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. “Are you being naughty, Addie?”
Naughty? She wasn’t being naughty. What was he talking about? She could feel a flush of red filling her cheeks.
Addie had discovered a while ago what she was. She knew that she had Little tendencies, not that she’d ever really done anything about it. It wasn’t like she could go searching for a Daddy or join a BDSM club. The idea of a club filled with strangers who might want to do things to her, no, nope, not happening.
“Hey, what’s wrong? Are you scared of me?” Cash asked.
Scared of him? No. Scared was the last feeling she had around him, unless she was talking about her emotions and feelings towards him. Those were something she was scared of. But that was to do with the way she felt about him, not because she thought he might harm her.
“Because you don’t ever have to be scared of me, Addie. I know I look scary. I also know I can be bossy at times. For most of my life, I’ve felt like I’ve got no control over what I do, when I do it, or how I do it. There’s always someone pulling my strings, and I like to be in charge. I can be bossy. It’s important that you eat. You’re already small, and I can tell you’re feeling the cold, which is probably because you haven’t got enough fuel in your body. And you haven’t had enough sleep. You need to eat to keep going. Understand?”
He wasn’t wrong. He was just high-handed in how he went about it. But sometimes she needed someone to take control and just tell her what to do. She needed to shut off the part of her brain that kept worrying, thinking, and trying to tell her that she was doing everything the wrong way.
If someone else was in control, she didn’t have to worry about any of that.
Reaching out, she picked up the sandwich and took another bite. Cash placed his hand on the back of her neck and rubbed it slightly. “That’s my good girl. You’re doing such a good job.”
Killing her. He was killing her.
Was she just a charity case to him? A good deed?