Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7
L ainey
Lainey curled up on the far end of the sofa, as far as she could get from him. The sting from those two slaps he’d given her thighs had long since faded, but the ache in her chest lingered.
The rainbow had caught her by surprise, but not as much as the feelings tied to it. She’d been a complete moron, imagining she was falling in love with a man she’d only known a few hours. Sure, he’d been an amazing and attentive lover. But good sex didn’t equal love.
The pizza she’d been looking forward to tasted like cardboard, but she ate it anyway. She was going to need her strength if everything Daddy had told her was true. If she was really a Variant and people were hunting her, she needed to escape.
There wasn’t much of an “if” left for the first part of the equation. Not after she’d watched the rain disappear and the sun go bright as a summer day while he’d pleasured her. And then there’d been that stupid rainbow. How had she never made the connection before? Well, that part was easy enough. Even though the first Variant gene had been discovered over fifty years ago, those with powers gifted to them by the gene mostly remained hidden. Before Daddy, she’d never met another Variant that she knew of, and there were precious few resources available to the general public. It wasn’t like there were special classes in school to teach Variant kids how to control the weather.
So, she was definitely a Variant. And if he’d been telling the truth about those men breaking into her apartment, there wasn’t much doubt about the rest of it, either. Which meant she needed to get as far away from here as possible.
“Earth to Lainey.”
Daddy’s voice snapped her out of her contemplation. It would be nice if she knew his fucking name so she could stop thinking of him as Daddy. “What?”
He raised an eyebrow, but no further rebuke came. For a moment, she thought he was going to say something about what had happened between them. Instead, he just asked, “Finished with your pizza?”
Just like a man to completely ignore the elephant in the room. Well, if he could act like everything was just fine, she could, too. “Yeah.”
When he stood and reached for her plate, she focused on his hand. Lightning was basically electricity, right? Maybe if she tried, she could just give him a little…
“Fuck!” The plate clattered to the floor and he glared at her, shaking his hand.
“What?” she asked, widening her eyes and hoping she looked convincingly innocent.
“Don’t give me that shit. You know exactly what.”
Ignoring the guilt twisting her tummy into knots, she pouted up at him. “I didn’t do anything, Daddy.”
His eyes narrowed but he didn’t say anything more as he picked up the plate and carried it to the kitchen. After depositing their plates in the sink, he walked back to the couch and the two stared at each other silently for a long, awkward minute before he finally spoke. “We should get to bed. We’ve got shit to do tomorrow.”
Crossing her arms over her chest, she tilted her chin up. “I’m not sleepy.”
“I don’t care, sunshine. I said it’s time for bed.” His voice had gone from conversational to hard and unyielding in a heartbeat.
In the short time they’d known each other, she’d learned what that voice meant. She could comply or get her ass whipped. In deference to her still sore butt, she pushed off the couch and followed him, stomping a little to make it clear she was obeying under protest.
In the bedroom, he pulled his shirt off and tossed it aside, on top of what she assumed was a pile of dirty clothes. When he repeated the process with his pants and headed for the bed, she cleared her throat.
Turning, he listed an eyebrow at her quiet protest. “What’s wrong, sunshine? You’ve already seen what I have to offer.”
Her cheeks warmed at the memory. “I know. I just thought you were going to sleep somewhere else.” Anywhere else but tucked into bed beside her like they were a happy little couple.
“Nope. I like my bed. I like it even better with you in it,” he added with a wink and a lopsided grin.
She was not going to get all weak-kneed because of that sexy smile. “Fine. Your way as usual,” she added under her breath.
The corners of his lips dipped down. “Are you still upset about the rainbow?”
“No.” The lie rolled off her tongue easily enough, but it left a sour taste behind. Of course she was upset about the rainbow. She'd felt things with him and for him she’d never felt with another man, and he’d slapped her for it.
“Look, I’m sorry if your feelings got hurt, but I’ve told you a dozen times you have to listen to me.” Combing his fingers through his hair, he gave her a hard look. “Do what you’re told, when you’re told, no questions and I won’t have to punish you. Got it?”
“Yeah.” The single word response came with a healthy dose of attitude, but whatever. At least when he was spanking her, it seemed like he cared about her.
Daddy opened his mouth like he was going to correct her, but after a moment he just shook his head and climbed into bed.
Lainey followed him, for once not caring that she hadn’t taken her makeup off or washed her face. Rolling onto her side, she faced the window and feigned sleep. She waited until she heard his soft snoring before she let the rains come.
He was gone when she woke in the morning. The sun was shining when she opened her eyes, but it didn’t take long for it to cloud over. Dammit, she really needed to break the stupid connection between her powers and her emotions. Or at least learn to control it better. Keeping it under wraps last night had completely drained her. No wonder she’d slept so late.
After using the bathroom and finally washing her face, she wandered out to the kitchen. Daddy had left her a note on the counter, letting her know her options for breakfast were pretty much cold pizza or beer-soaked Cheerios. The note also held a dire warning about staying put in the apartment, which had her rolling her eyes. Like she’d be stupid enough to repeat that mistake with welts and bruises still covering her ass.
Ignoring the breakfast suggestions in the note, she grabbed what was left of her ice cream from the night before. Flopping onto the couch, she grabbed the remote off the coffee table. Typical man – a fifty-dollar, obviously second-hand couch but the TV was brand new. Whatever, at least she wouldn’t be bored.
On her second round through the insanely long list of channels, a commercial caught her eye. She flipped back and stopped on the pair of smiling faces. “We at the Church of the Divine Variance invite you to our Thursday night meet-and- greet. Visit our website to find a local gathering near you.”
The Church of the Divine Variance. She’d seen a few commercials for it here and there over the past few months, but she’d never paid much attention. Now she was wondering what else she might have missed that could help her navigate her newly discovered powers and possibly help her escape the people who were hunting her.
Since she didn’t have a phone, she hunted around the apartment until she found an old, battered laptop. When she opened the lid, she said a little prayer of thanks when she wasn’t prompted for a password. She did a search for the church and spent an hour going over their website.
This was perfect. The church not only had their weekly meet-and-greets, they openly offered sanctuary to any Variant who found themselves without a place to stay. They also had lessons on controlling and using your powers. It was exactly what she needed to hide from Rose Corp and learn more about her powers.
Now she just had to convince Daddy.