Deccan (Springfield Sinners #1)

7. Chapter Five

CHAPTER FIVE

ECHO

A drenaline rushed through her as she walked out of the class. It was so much fun, amazing even. Echo wanted to go out to the forest and throw knives at trees.

She was a natural.

After the instructor demonstrated it, she picked it up easily, hitting her target every single time. Why hadn’t she done this sooner? It was exhilarating. Made her blood pump faster.

She felt alive.

Echo walked toward the local coffee shop. She was supposed to be meeting Hedda so they could catch up and talk about things. That was code for the girls wanted to know if she was okay.

They were worried about her and the stalker situation. Maybe she should have lied the first time and not mentioned it again. Then they wouldn’t be worried about her.

But she would have felt guilty.

Echo didn’t enjoy lying to people, and Charlotte had asked her if she knew the guy and what he had said. What was she supposed to say? He had threatened to punish her. She couldn’t keep that a secret.

She wished she did, though.

Each week, sometimes twice a week, one of the girls wanted to meet up with her to check in with her. A simple text would do, but they didn’t trust that. They wanted proof that she was okay. Echo always obliged them.

“Echo!” Hedda yelled as she walked into the coffee shop.

Everyone turned and stared at her, making her shrink. Not the attention she wanted.

“I got you your drink!” Hedda pointed to the cup.

Echo quickly made her way toward Hedda and sat down. She really wanted to sit in the back and face the front door so she could see everyone. She needed to see who walked in. But she kept herself still as she looked at Hedda.

Hedda had gotten the table and Echo couldn’t ask to change. It would be rude, even if it made Echo antsy. Her gaze flew across the coffee shop, looking at everyone who was in there.

“How are you?” Hedda asked.

“Good, really good,” Echo replied, looking at Hedda. “How are you?”

“Bottom is roasted, but that’s nothing new. Everything else is good, just living my life.”

It amazed Echo how freely Hedda could talk about getting spanked in public. Was she not embarrassed? Although, Echo got spanked out in public last night.

“Just ask,” Echo sighed, knowing what was coming next.

“How’s your mysterious man? He do anything?”

Her first thought was the spanking he gave her at three in the morning. How he carried her to her house and that she fell asleep in his arms. How he changed her and tucked her in, getting her food.

“Well?” Hedda asked. “Come on.”

She sighed. “He’s not mysterious anymore. We’ve talked a couple of times… and he spanked me.”

Hedda’s mouth dropped open. “He what ?”

Echo shrugged. “We’ve talked a couple of times, so he isn’t mysterious anymore. I know his name and who he works for, or well, he works for himself.”

“The other thing,” Hedda whispered.

“He spanked me?”

“Yeah, are you okay? Do you need me to help you get out of town? I know my brother will help.”

“I’m okay, really,” Echo insisted.

Was she, though? She had been thinking about leaving just before she got here. Was she okay, or was she just trying to reassure her friend?

“We can talk to Baxter if we need to. I’m pretty sure he’ll help.”

Echo shook her head. “He won’t be able to do anything. Deccan already thinks I’m his. I don’t want to drag anyone else in who could get hurt. He’s part of an MC, a dangerous one.”

“Then let me ask my brother. He will help you; he helps innocent women all the time.”

“All the time?” Echo asked.

She had heard about Rogan, and she knew for a fact that he didn’t help innocent women all the time.

Hedda winced. “Okay, that was a lie, but they do have a rule not to hurt innocent people. He can help you, just let me know and I’ll call him. I’m pretty sure he would threaten Deccan and have him leave town so you didn’t have to.”

“And paint a target on my back? Yeah, no, thank you. I’m honestly fine. I don’t want anyone involved. I’m going to deal with it myself.”

“How?” Hedda asked, taking a sip of her coffee.

That was a good question; she didn’t know how.

“Echo, how are you going to deal with it by yourself?” she pushed.

“I don’t know, okay? I don’t know yet, but I’ll find a wat and do it myself,” Echo explained.

This was one time she was thankful she didn’t give Hedda all the information. She had just said Deccan spanked her, but she didn't mention he carried her home, got into her house, and changed her.

Hedda would not have reacted well. She probably would have called her brother right away, demanding he do something to help.

But Echo didn’t want that.

Rogan was scary, and while she didn’t want to be followed around everywhere, she didn’t want anything to happen to Deccan. Echo had a soft spot for him. Maybe that was wrong, but she couldn’t help it.

Deccan had saved her in the parking lot. His touch didn’t bother her, and she wanted to figure out why. She couldn’t do that if Rogan took care of Deccan. Then, her mind would wonder for the rest of her life.

“Okay, I understand. Just… If you need anything, let me know, yeah?” Hedda seemed worried.

Echo wanted to reach over and take her hand, but she stopped herself. She so desperately wanted to, but she couldn’t.

“I promise, if I need help, I’ll tell you immediately. Then, you can tell your brother. But right now, I’m okay,” she gently said.

Hedda nodded. “Great. Thank you.”

Both of them took sips of their coffee and relaxed. This is what she wanted more of. Hang out with friends and just relax, no questions about the not-so-mysterious man.

But that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. Her friends were all curious about who Deccan was and she was safe. It was going to be a long time before it happened. Unless she told them she didn’t want to answer any questions, and Echo knew that wasn’t going to happen.

“I did something fun today!” Echo finally spoke.

“What did you do?”

“I took a knife-throwing class!”

Shock filled Hedda’s face. “You did not.”

“I did! It was so much fun! You should totally do it! I was like a natural. Now I want to go into the forest and throw them at trees,” Echo excitedly said.

“Just be careful if you do. Take someone with you, you could get hurt.”

Echo waved her hand. “I’m not going to get hurt! Like I said, I’m a natural. I’ve got so many other things planned!”

Worry filled Hedda’s face. “L-like what?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe skydiving or swimming with sharks. What if I rode on a wild horse!”

A growl was heard through the coffee shop, silencing everyone. Hedda looked behind her, and Echo sighed. Deccan was somewhere behind her, and she knew it. She had felt his stare on her for several seconds, and the growl confirmed it.

Echo turned around to see Deccan glaring. She glared right back before turning to Hedda.

“Ignore him,” she said, sipping her coffee. “I ignore him, you should as well.”

“A-are you sure?” Hedda looked back at Deccan.

“Yes, I’m sure. I do it all the time.”

Echo waited for Hedda to turn back to face her. She was obviously uncomfortable, but Echo wasn’t going to let Deccan stop her from doing things.

“As I was saying, I think I’m going to do one of the things on my bucket list. I’ll have to travel for swimming with sharks and riding a wild horse, but I’ve got some money saved up. ”

Hedda didn’t look convinced.

“What’s wrong? Do I need to tell Deccan to leave us alone? I don’t mind kicking him out.”

Or trying to. Deccan had a mind of his own. If he wouldn’t leave her alone when he asked, what would make this any different?

“No, don’t do that. Don’t make him angry or even more angry. He doesn't look happy right now and only has eyes on you,” Hedda whispered toward the end.

“Of course he isn’t happy. He didn’t want me to do the knife throwing. Actually, he told me he forbade it, but I didn’t listen. He isn’t my Daddy, even if he thinks he is.” Echo rolled her eyes. “Anyway, what were you going to say?”

Hedda blinked several times, opening and closing her mouth.“Take your time,” she whispered. “And I don’t mean that in a sassy way. I know everything right now is a lot to take in.”

It really was. She’d had several days to take it in and processit, but Hedda only had a couple of minutes. Maybe Echo shouldn’t have said anything. It probably would have been better because she knew Hedda would tell the rest of their friendship group. They were all going to be asking her questions, trying to get every bit of detail out of her.

Exhausting .

She didn’t want that and she just opened up the door for them to ask all of these questions. Was she going to be able to do this? Would she be able to keep some of it a secret, or would she spill everything, giving her no privacy? Why couldn’t she be strong enough to say no?

“I don’t know if doing those things is a good idea. I’m not just saying that because of Deccan’s behavior. Those activities are dangerous. I don’t want you to get hurt,” Hedda explained.

Echo waved her hand in the air before placing it on the table. “I’m going to be fine, promise. Sure, there is a bit of danger in it; it’s going to be okay. There are guides and experts. They’ll help me and help keep me safe.”

She had no clue if there were actual guides and experts in any of the things she’d talked about. Would she be safe? Who knew but she was still going to do them.

Hedda grabbed her hand and Echo immediately felt her skin start to crawl. She shivered and took a deep breath, trying everything in her to not yank her hand back. She didn’t want to offend Hedda but her whole body and mind were screaming at her to get away.

Why couldn’t she have the balls to tell her friends that being touched made her skin crawl? Why couldn’t she have been honest on her application to BTS about her aversion to it?

Because she didn’t want to be labeled as the weird girl.

Echo had been called her whole life. When she was younger, she could tolerate being touched more, but then it happened. Everything changed from that day onward.

Until Deccan.

What was so special about him? Why was it thatwhen he touched her, her skin didn’t crawl? Would she ever find out why?

“We all care about you. I know sometimes it’s hard to accept help andcare, and to understand that people want you safe, but we all do. We worry about you sometimes with what you want to experience and explore. We don’t want you getting hurt again.”

“I know,” Echo choked out.

Everything was getting to be too much. She needed to leave.

Hedda squeezed her hand. “Oh, Echo.”

She yanked her hand out of Hedda’s and stood up quickly.

“What’s wrong?” Hedda looked alarmed.

“I need to go to the bathroom.”

Her skin was crawling even more than before, and she couldn’t take it any longer. Before Hedda could respond, Echo scurried off to the bathroom.

How could she have let Hedda hold onto her for that long? Why couldn’t she have just been brave and taken her hand away?

Tears formed in Echo’s eyes as she turned on the sink faucet, hoping and praying it would get hot enough. She needed to wash her hands, to get the feeling of Hedda’s hand off her.

Why did she have to be such a freak? Why couldn’t she be normal?

Echo looked up in the mirror to see her tear-filled eyes looking back at her.

“Why?” she whispered. “Why?”

She grabbed some soap and started to scrub, placing her hands them under the water. She let out a strangled cry—the water was only lukewarm. She needed it hot. How was she going to get this to work?

Echo turned the handle to the right, hoping it would get hotter. But as the seconds went by, it stayed the same temperature.

Tears were streaming down her face as she continued to scrub her hands, trying to the feeling to stop.

“Please,” she desperately whispered, her voice so broken as she scrubbed even harder. “ Please .”

The door opened, but she didn’t pay any attention to it.

“Echo.”