Deccan (Springfield Sinners #1)

14. Chapter Twelve

CHAPTER TWELVE

ECHO

E cho stood right in front of the Springfield Sinners clubhouse. She was angry, livid at Deccan for what he’d done. How dare he get her fired. How dare he tell her she couldn’t buy and throw knives. How dare he do all of this to her.

He had no right.

He had no fucking right to tell people what she could and couldn’t buy and now get her fired from the bar.

She looked at the building and took a deep breath. Was she really going to walk in there and give him a piece of her mind? Could she wait until morning?

Echo had been itching to do it for a while, and she didn’t think she could wait any longer. She would be getting no sleep if she decided not to do it right now. Was she foolish for doing this?

Squaring her shoulders, she gripped the straps of her bags and walked into the building. All eyes landed on her as she stopped right in front of the doors. The first thing she noticed was the insane amount of muscular men in the room. The second thing she noticed was the women in bikinis. Were they okay? Here on of own free will, or were they being forced?

“You’re in the wrong place, Little girl,” someone yelled.

She looked over to see a woman on his lap. He was glaring at her, but she didn’t let it bother her.

“I think I’m exactly where I need to be,” she sneered.

Was it smart of her? Absolutely not, but she couldn’t show weakness, especially not in here. Anyone in the room could hurt her with their pinky. Maybe she should have waited until the morning when Deccan would be following her.

The man got up and slowly stalked toward her. Echo held her ground, but on the inside, she was terrified and wanted to run. Why did she think this was a good idea? Why did she decide to do it right now? Couldn’t she have waited?

“And why the fuck do you think you’re right where you need to be?” he growled.

She rolled her eyes and looked around the room. Everyone was still staring at her, not moving an inch.

“I need to speak to Deccan.”

Before she knew it, the man's hand was around her throat, lightly squeezing to show her he could kill her if he wanted to. Her skin started crawling as his hands stayed on her. Her eyes went wide as she stared into his black eyes. Fear was probably written across her face, but she didn’t have it in her to care.

Hands wrapped around her, squeezing, as the guy behind her yanked at her hair. She groaned in pain.

“I think she liked that.” He applied more pressure to her neck. “I think she liked that a lot”

She tried to shake her head, but the hand around her neck wouldn’t allow her to. Panic seized her lungs as she stared at the young boy, his smile crooked and wicked..

“Who the fuck do you think you are coming in here and demanding to speak to Deccan.” He sounded, calm but she could hear the anger in his voice. “Leave before we tear you apart.”

He constricted her neck even more as she continued to look straight ahead while he cut off her oxygen. Was this how she was going to die? Would anyone miss her?

Echo just gazed wide-eyed at him, letting her lungs scream at her for air but not being able to do anything. She was pulled back into the worst night of her life.

“We’re going to have so much fun with you,” the man in front of her said as he kept his hand around her neck.

“Please,” she whispered.

“Such a pretty sight. You begging us to fuck you,” he chuckled, his free hand reaching down and unbuckling her pants.

Fear went through her. She swung her hand, but before anything could happen, the guy behind her used her hair to drag her.

“What do you think you’re doing, pretty girl?” the man growled as he tightened his hand around her neck.

She felt like her throat was going to be ripped out with how tight he gripped around her neck.

“Fuck,” someone whispered, pulling her out of her nightmare.

Everything was drowned out as her lungs begged her to take a breath, but she couldn’t. It wasn’t exactly how she wanted to die; maybe this was her time, though. Maybe this was how she was supposed to go.

“Levi! Drop her!” someone roared.

His hands left her neck, and she crumbled to the floor, begging her lungs to fill. People started talking as she wrapped her hands around her neck, willing herself to take a small breath.

She was okay. She was safe for now or so she hoped. Whoever yelled would protect her. Unless he wanted to kill her himself.

Hands wrapped around her, and she thrashed about, hands flying everywhere to whoever was touching her away. Her skin was still crawling, and her lungs were still desperate for a full breath.

Her hand flew out, connecting with something. The whole room went quiet. Echo’s hand ached, and she cradled it close to herself.

“You aren’t going anywhere,” he whispered in her ear. “You’re our bitch now.”

Echo screamed, hoping someone would hear her and help her.

The man in front of her placed his hand back on her neck, squeezing so she stopped screaming.

“Bitch, you fucking bitch.”

“I’ve got you, Little Bit.”

As soon as she heard, Little Bit, she knew it was Deccan. Her eyes found his, and he carefully picked her up. Wrapping her arms around him, he held her close as he ran his hands up and down her body.

“Breathe, Little Bit. I’ve got you. Just relax and breathe.”

She sucked in a breath and found herself slowly relaxing in his arms.

“Good girl. Such a good girl for Daddy.”

Echo buried her head into his neck and took several more deep breaths.

“Listen up!” Daddy yelled. “Echo is mine. If Echo comes in here, you immediately find me. If I am not here, you put her in my office until I get here. Understand?”

There was a chorus of yeses before Daddy started moving.

“Do you need anything?” a man asked.

“Water,” Daddy replied.

He walked further and the voices got quieter. Daddy moved to a different with, sitting down with and situated Echo on his lap.

“Here’s the water. Let me know if you need anything else. Nice to meet you again, Echo,” the man said.

She looked at him before he left. She had never seen him before. Why did he say it was nice to meet her again?

“Take a drink of water,” Daddy instructed. “Slowly.”

He held the water bottle to her lips as she took several small sips, loving the feeling of the cold water going down her throat.

“Good girl,” he praised. “Now, did you need something, or did you just want to come see Daddy?”

Echo blinked several times, allowing her brain to fully clear. What was she doing here?

“Did anyone bother you at work while I was gone?”

Her eyes went wide. Work . She had come here because of work. Pushing herself off his lap, she stood and pointed a finger at him.

“You,” she sneered.

“Me? What’s wrong?”

“You got me fired!” her voice raised.

His eyes narrowed. “Watch your tone, Echo.”

“No! I am not going to watch my tone. You got me fired from the bar!”

“ One of your jobs. One you didn’t even need.”

“How the fuck do you know if I need it or not?” she snarled.

“With the amount of savings you have, you don’t need it.”

Echo took a step back. “How do you know about that?”

Fear ran through her. Had he hacked into her bank account?

“You just confirmed it.”

“Wh-what?” she whispered.

“I suspected you had a good amount of savings in case you needed to move, but I didn’t know for certain until just now,” he stated.

How did he know her so well? She hadn’t told anyone about the savings account.

“It’s probably enough that you could move and buy a whole new identity.”

“Stop!” she demanded.

“Why?”

“We are not talking about that. We are talking about how you got me fired! How could you?”

He shrugged.

He freaking shrugged .

“Who said it was me?” he asked.

“Derek wouldn’t answer my question when I asked. He looked so uncomfortable. Just like the knife store not allowing me to buy a knife and Flemming not allowing me to buy a second cup of coffee!”

Echo was breathing heavily as she finished talking.

“How fucking dare you!” she yelled.

He glared. “Watch your fucking language, Echo. Watch your tone.”

“No, I’m not going to fucking watch my tone. You need to answer my fucking question. Why?”

“I don’t need to explain myself to you.”

Echo scoffed. “Right, because you're the Dominant and I’m not. Newsflash: Dominants still have to answer for their actions. You can’t just fucking do whatever you want and get away with it.”

He stood quickly, and Echo couldn’t help but take a step back.

“I don’t have to explain shit to you if I don’t want to. Health and safety.”

“How the fuck do those things fall under health and safety?”

Deccan grabbed her arm, turning her around and landing several spanks on her bottom.

“Hey! Stop that!” she cried out.

“I told you to stop cursing and using that tone of voice. You didn’t listen to Daddy.”

Several more swats landed on her bottom, making tears pool in her eyes.

“Stop that! I don’t deserve it!” she yelled.

Deccan let her go and turned her around, cupping her face with the hands he hadjust spanked her with.

“Yes, you do. I told you several times, gave you several warnings, and you didn’t listen to them.”

She took a deep breath and glared at him. Sure, he was technically correct, but she wasn't going to tell him that.

“How is it health and safety? You owe me an explanation!”

“Knives are a risk to your health and safety. You could have cut yourself,” he stated.

“I could do that with anything !”

“Throwing knives is very dangerous. If I find out that you bought throwing knives, you won’t be able to sit for a week.”

“Coffee?” she asked, changing the subject.

She knew he would make good on his threat to spank her. Was she still going to find a way to buy throwing knives? Absolutely. He wasn’t going to stop her from doing something she loved.

“Too much caffeine, and you need to drink more water.”

She took a deep breath as anger washed over her. Echo wasn’t going to fight him on that because Flemming was right. She could make as much coffee as she wanted but couldn’t buy more than one cup.

“And my job?”

“Didn’t like your outfit and how men looked at you. Even when you wore baggy clothes, men still stared at you.”

Deccan said it so nonchalantly, like it didn’t bother him.

“You fucking did not make me lose my job because of that,” she exclaimed in disbelief.

“I did. He will not be hiring you again.”

Echo shook her head. “Nope. I’m done. You can’t do this.”

“Yes, I can, and I did. Get used to it,” he stated. “I am taking care of what is mine. You are mine. What if something happened to you while you were at work and I wasn't there? What if you finished before I could have gotten there? What then?”

“I would have been fine!” she yelled. “I have pepper spray and a knife.”

Nothing had happened since she moved here and she hoped it stayed that way.

“Good, but not good enough.”

She stared at him in shock. Really?

“I can’t believe you,” she whispered.

“Get used to it. You are my girl, which means I take care of you. I keep you safe. I make sure you are healthy. I make sure you follow the rules. If you don’t, then you will be disciplined.”

“What if I don’t want that?”

Deccan chuckled. “You do, I know you do.”

“What if you are wrong?”

“Then, look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t want it.”

Echo looked at him and opened her mouth, but she couldn’t bring herself to say the words. She did want that, desperately.

“Stop fighting me. I’ll give that to you.”

“No.”

“Little Bit.”

She shook her head. “Stop calling me that.”

“I’m never going to stop calling you that. I’m never going to stop proving to you that you belong to me. I’m never going to stop showing you that I can be your Daddy and a damn good one at that.”

Echo walked toward the door, done with the conversation.

“Just stop taking over my life,” she whispered, not fully believing what she had just said.

“Echo,” he warned.

“I am a grown adult. I can take care of myself.”

“I never said you couldn’t.”

She sighed, exhausted from the evening’s events.

“I’m going home. Just leave me alone,” she mumbled. Echo wanted to add for now, but she couldn’t bring herself to.

“Go get some rest. I’ll be seeing you tomorrow.”

“No.”

“Yes, Echo. We still have things to talk about. Do you want Xavier to take you home?”

She glared at him. “It’s right around the corner. I don’t need anyone to take me home.”

But she knew anything could happen even if it was a block away. That was how it happened last time.

“Echo.”

“What?” she snapped. “What else could you possibly want?”

He sighed and wrapped his arms around her. She pushed against his chest, but he didn’t budge. Was he made of steel? How strong was he?

“Just relax. Take a deep breath for Daddy.”

“Stop,” she whispered, tears welling in her eyes.

He knew exactly what he was doing. He was making her succumb to what she really wanted. She wanted him to be her Daddy.

“I’ve got you,” he breathed. “It’s okay to cry and let go.”

Echo pushed against him and shook her head.

“No,” she mumbled. “I’ve got to go.”

Before Daddy, she sighed, Deccan could say anything, she headed out of his office and to the front door. She flinched as Levi stood and walked toward her.

“Levi,” Deccan growled.

“I’m just apologizing.”

She wanted to snap at him and tell him she didn’t want an apology, but that would be rude.

“Sorry, girly. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Make sure to ice it before you go to bed,” he gently said.

Echo nodded and left the building. That was not how she expected things to go down.