Cage (Savior Daddies #1)

1. Katie

Chapter 1

Katie

Katie was sweating.

It was the kind of hot and sticky sweat that just doesn’t feel good. Especially not when your aircon is broken. Katie didn’t have the money to get it fixed either.

As far as Katie was concerned, it was problem after problem after problem.

What made it worse was that she was due on air for a cam show any minute. The clock was against her as she tried to wipe the sweat from her brow and take on some much-needed water.

Urgh. I wish I didn’t have to do this.

This is definitely not why I moved to New York.

Katie let out a long sigh.

Katie was twenty-two and had dreams of acting on Broadway. Hustling for tips on online cam shows for dirty old men was about as far away from that dream as she could imagine.

It wasn’t a good situation, and that was putting it mildly.

Katie didn’t judge anyone who did cam shows. Some people possibly even enjoyed it, even if Katie didn’t herself. The truth was that each and every person probably had their own unique reason for doing it.

Katie was no different either.

But it was getting to a point where she was really hating it.

Katie took a moment to compose herself and looked around her little home in the city. The reality was that the apartment was looking a little grimy.

Well, that was an understatement.

Ever since she moved in, the apartment just didn’t look especially clean or fresh. It wasn’t through want of trying. Katie had attempted several deep cleans. But no matter what she tried, she just couldn’t get the place looking as fresh as she would have wanted.

It was a small, not especially comfortable corner apartment on the seventh floor of the building. It still had high ceilings, which was one positive thing. But other than that, it really wasn’t much to write home about.

Katie had attempted to make it a little more homely by putting up her paintings and favorite coloring book drawings. Her one sanctuary was her bedroom which she had painted light blue and pink and decorated with some cute fairy lights.

Her bedroom might have been one personal touch she was able to successfully apply, but it was something at least.

But still, Katie was never able to shake the feeling that the apartment was more a place she lived rather than a home.

Katie had tried to speak to her landlord but hadn’t got anywhere. The problem was that she could only just about afford to pay for this place. The kind of buildings that had airier, cleaner apartments were simply out of her financial reach.

Speaking of finances…

Katie’s problem had always been managing money.

She just wasn’t very good at matching her expenditure to her income.

Well, that was an understatement.

Katie was actually terrible with money.

Like, seriously bad.

Even in high school she had managed to run up debts.

To this day, Katie was still paying off credit cards from years ago. Clothes, coffee, trips and enjoying the nightlife all cost money. Katie didn’t have the discipline to hold back on any of them.

Katie had always figured that when she was a big Broadway actor, money would be no issue. She wouldn’t even need to manage it, someone would do that for her, like an agent or accountant.

‘One day…’ Katie muttered, her mind dreaming of a different future.

Katie’s cell phone flashed.

It was a message from her friend Cassie.

CASSIE: Hey! We’re coloring and playing our favorite games? Want to come? XoXo

Katie sighed. She would have loved to join Cassie for some coloring and painting fun.

But she couldn’t.

The rent was very much overdue at this point and Katie had already received two warnings from the building manager.

Hanging out with Cassie was something that had really kept Katie going through the recent tough times. As a fellow Little, Cassie understood exactly what to say and do to keep spirits up.

Provide the sunshine in the dark times.

Always know when it was time for a sleepover and movie night.

Katie was lucky to have such a great friend. She only wished Cassie could do something about getting her a connection with some theatre producers.

Oh well, Cassie was a great friend but even if she couldn’t help with Katie’s career!

Katie knew that the time was ticking on. Soon she would need to get online and make some money, even if the very thought of it made her shiver.

I don’t wanna do this.

I really, really don’t…

Katie felt anxious and a little bit sad too.

Her relationship with camming was complex. It was how she had met her previous Daddy.

Initially, it had all seemed like fun.

There was a sexual connection and after performing several shows, Katie had agreed to meet up. But far from being a caring and protective Daddy, the man in question was simply interested in sex.

Just sex.

Nothing else.

It wasn’t what Katie craved. Anyone could have sex. That wasn’t what a Daddy and Little relationship was all about for Katie. She wanted to experience a deeper connection.

Discipline.

Love.

Protection.

Fun and snuggles.

What made this so-called Daddy even worse in Katie’s eyes was that he wanted to share Katie and pass her around other Daddy Doms.

Katie hadn’t liked this.

In fact, she hated it.

Katie felt like she was being used and the relationship came to an abrupt end. She couldn’t deal with being in a situation where she didn’t feel loved or appreciated.

The only problem was that Katie struggled to move on.

She felt scarred by the experience.

Unable to trust people.

Especially when it came to potential new relationships.

Katie saw her cell phone flash again. It wasn’t a message this time, it was her alarm buzzing to tell her that cam time was imminent.

‘Yuck,’ Katie said, ‘Hopefully I can make some decent money today.’

Katie shot a glance over to Pinky, her favorite stuffie.

‘You don’t judge me, right?’ Katie asked. ‘One day I won’t have to do this. I hope.’

Pinky, a cuddly little pink teddy, didn’t reply. Instead, he stared back with his loving eyes just as he always did.

One of Katie’s favorite hobbies was taking Pinky and the rest of her collection of stuffies and making them put on shows for her. She would do all of the voices herself and have a really fun time. It was her way of living out her Broadway dreams.

Dreams that had once felt a lot closer to reality…

Katie thought back to the day she heard she had been cast in Island Life, a big new musical. It had been the greatest day of her life. It was like all of her dreams coming true in one phone call.

All of the years spent working on her singing.

Her dancing.

And her acting too.

The thousands of dollars spent on classes were a huge investment, one that Katie couldn’t afford at the time but scraped and borrowed and maxed out credit cards for. But when she landed the part in Island Life, it all felt worth it.

Sadly, Island Life had its funding pulled at the last minute and Katie didn’t get to experience the Broadway lights even once.

It had been a terrible, bitter blow to her confidence.

The theatre company losing its funding wasn’t Katie’s fault, she knew that. But part of her felt like it had been fate. Just a sign from the universe that her career wasn’t meant to be.

It was after the show crashed and burned that Cassie had suggested Katie try cam work. Just temporarily. The idea being that a new Broadway role would come along pretty soon.

Sadly, it hadn’t worked out like that.

Not even close.

It was like the more desperate Katie got, the worse her auditions went. Katie would do the prep for auditions but as soon as she found herself face to face with the casting directors and producers, she would crumble and find herself overwhelmed with nerves. And even on the semi-decent auditions, Katie would find herself in competition with too many other similarly desperate performers.

She simply couldn’t catch a break.

Deep down, Katie would never give up on her dream. But right at that moment, it felt so distant she may as well have done.

‘Okay, here goes,’ Katie said, stripping down and getting into her very skimpy cam costume of partially see-through neon-blue panties and matching lace bra.

With her big, hazel eyes and dirty blond hair, Katie had always gotten attention from men. Her soft, plump lips combined with her innocent expression made her stand out in any crowd.

This was to her advantage in the cam world.

The men that came looking for girls like Katie wanted someone innocent and slender. Katie knew this and although she didn’t enjoy flirting with gross men, she did it so that she could pay her rent and put food in her mouth.

Sometimes, the tips could be great.

If the extra money meant that she could afford a trip to the movies that was super.

Or even better treat her friends to a super-sized milkshake with all the sprinkles.

All said, Katie was happy enough to flash her smile and show a little more of her body if it made life outside the apartment more fun.

Katie looked at herself in the mirror.

Her see-through bra allowed her to show off her petit, smooth torso. The panties left even less to the imagination too, perfectly showing off her peachy butt.

Just as Katie was about to log onto the cam server, she heard a noise.

The creaking of her apartment door.

Huh, what the hell?

Katie turned around and saw that it was her landlord. She immediately blushed and attempted to cover herself up a little by grabbing a pillow from the couch.

‘I’m here to fix the aircon,’ the landlord said, his eyes wandering all over Katie, desperate to thirstily drink in the view. ‘Unless you’re too busy?’

Katie felt so uncomfortable.

The landlord was a slimy guy at the best of times, but this was something else altogether.

Katie’s landlord was very much not someone who she wanted to spend a second longer with than she absolutely had to.

But on the other hand, Katie desperately needed the aircon to work again. It was summer. The heat and humidity weren’t going to go anywhere. This was a problem that needed sorting out as soon as possible.

‘N-n-n-n-no, it’s fine,’ Katie said, edging back towards the kitchen area as the landlord walked behind her and over toward the aircon unit. ‘T-t-t-thank you for coming. It’s been broken for a while.’

Katie felt nervous.

The landlord reminded Katie a little bit of her old Daddy. It was clear that he had no interest in Katie as a person. All he did was see a sexual object who also happened to be his tenant.

‘This is an old unit, but this fix should keep it going,’ the landlord said, his voice distracted as he worked a screwdriver hard inside the white plastic casing. ‘Oh, and while I’m here, I have some news.’

‘Oh, okay…’ Katie said, her heartrate increasing.

‘Yeah, rent’s going up,’ the landlord said, not showing a single shred of emotion or empathy. ‘Has to be done. That’s just the way things are going all over the city. Us poor landlords are facing increased costs across the board. Like, you know, having to fix appliances in our properties?’

OMG, is he trying to make a joke?

What an asshole.

Urgh. Why do I have to have him in my life?

Katie couldn’t quite believe that the landlord was being so flippant. But her irritation at that aside, Katie immediately began to panic.

How the hell was she going to be able to cope with a rent increase?

After all, the current rent was pushing her to her limits.

She could barely afford it.

A single cent more and Katie knew she was in real danger of losing the apartment.

The landlord’s visit was going from bad to worse. He was a slimy piece of crap who was now telling Katie that her rent was going up. One more piece of bad news and Katie might just have lost her cool.

‘I take it you don’t have an issue with that?’

‘Um, n-n-n-n-no, that’s fine,’ Katie replied.

Katie wasn’t very good at dealing with conflict.

Never had been.

She was trying to figure out in her head if the landlord was even allowed to put the rent up like that.

But Katie just didn’t have the courage to ask him.

‘You know, there are other arrangements we could come to?’ the landlord said, turning to face Katie, licking his lips.

Katie felt sick.

This was horrible.

‘No, I’ll pay, it’s fine, I promise,’ Katie stuttered, tripping over her words.

But Katie was anything but comfortable.

She had no idea how she would cope with paying more rent. Sure, she could put in more time on the cams, but that would take away from her practice time for singing and acting.

She had classes that she went to.

Improvisation workshops.

Plus, Katie wanted to make sure that she still saw her friends. More time on the cams would eat away into her life.

And she already hated it doing it part time.

More hours would just be awful.

The landlord took one more leering look at Katie before heading out of the apartment. At least the aircon issue was sorted out. That was one not insignificant bonus.

‘Oh, here’s your mail,’ the landlord said, just before he left. ‘Don’t say I never do you any favors!’

Katie rolled her eyes.

What a load of rubbish. He was a horrible landlord.

‘Thank you,’ Katie said, taking the small pile of envelopes and shutting the door firmly.

Alone in her apartment and already running a little late for the first cam show, Katie opened the first envelope.

No. No way. What the…

Katie couldn’t believe what she was looking at.

It was a photo of her. Naked. Her body totally exposed as she lay back on her bed. The photo had clearly been taken through her window somehow.

This was disgusting.

It was also totally terrifying.

Katie may not have enjoyed doing the cam work but at least she always felt safe.

Protected by the privacy of her apartment.

But this put everything into doubt.

Katie felt her stomach churn and her heart thump and thud inside her ribcage.

She was panicking.

Her mind running with possibilities and none of them were good.

Knowing that she had to put it to the back of her mind ahead of her cam session was one thing, but in practice it seemed impossible to ignore the facts.

Someone had been spying on Katie and had taken the most compromising photos possible.

They almost certainly had more where this one had come from.

They could have been of more sexy and naughty acts too. The kind of things that Katie would only do for extra money.

Katie was truly terrified.

Who the hell had been watching her?

And was this just the beginning?