Deccan (Springfield Sinners #1)

37. Chapter Thirty-Five

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

ECHO

T hey had gotten their coffees several minutes before and were now sitting at a table. Tension was high between Flemming and Levi.

“Have you met her before?” Echo asked.

It was like they already knew each other, but that couldn’t be right. Flemming hadn’t mentioned knowing any of the Springfield Sinners before. But it hadn’t come up in conversation, so why would she bring it up?

Levi grunted and took a sip of his coffee.

“You can’t just grunt. I don’t speak grunty,” she grumbled. “Maybe that should be your nickname. Grunty. I bet you are grunt whenever?—”

“Don’t you fucking dare finish that sentence,” he growled.

She giggled. “So then tell me: Have you met her before?

“No.”

Her eyebrows raised. They hadn’t met before? But there was so much tension between them. And fireworks. Okay, the fireworks Echo imagined, but she could see their chemistry. It was hard to miss.

Or maybe they hated each other that much. How could they, though, when they only just met? It didn’t make any sense, so Echo was going with them having chemistry.

“You should get with her,” Echo suggested.

He grunted again, his eyes scanning the coffee shop. Flemming was still working at the cash register, and every once in a while, Echo saw Levi’s eyes go in that direction.

“You’ve got chemistry,” she spoke again.

Levi briefly looked at her and huffed.

She sighed. “Oh, come on. You can’t always just grunt and huff.”

He gave her a look before nodding.

“Is that your way of telling me you can? Well, you talked to me earlier today. Quite a bit, I would say. And when you had your hand around my throat, you had a lot to say then.”

Something flashed across his face causing guilt to settle in her stomach.

“I didn’t bring that up to make you feel bad. I promise. I really have forgiven you for that. It’s fine. You didn’t know who I was, and I just barged in, demanding to see Deccan. You had every reason to do it.”

“Doesn't make it right,” he grumbled.

“No, but I have forgiven you countless times. It’s time for you to forgive yourself,” Echo said. “Wow, that was deep. Totally shocked myself with that. But it’s true.”

Levi grunted again and did a sweep of the coffee shop.

“I don’t think you need to look around the coffee shop every ten seconds. It’s not going to change that fast.” Echo pointed out.

It seemed a bit over the top. Yes, she was in danger, but nothing would happen to her in the coffee shop. It was small and there were other people in there.

“Okay, don’t answer. That’s fine. It’s not like I was trying to make conversation,” Echo chuckled. “You know, if you do go for Flemming, you’ll have to learn how to talk more. She’s a chatterbox like me.”

“We aren’t getting together,” he growled.

“Okay, whatever you say. I’m just saying what I see. There is chemistry between you two.”

Or it could be annoyance because Levi had told Flemming no. Who liked to hear the word no? No one. Well, maybe someone out there did, but she knew it wasn’t any of the other Littles in Springfield.

He grunted and looked around the room again.

“Did Daddy tell you it wasn’t safe here?”

Levi gave looked puzzled.

“You’ve checked the shop every ten seconds or so. I’m not actually counting, but it feels like every ten seconds. Has it gotten worse? No leads? No sightings of either one of them?”

He didn’t say anything, and Echo sighed.

“I guess I’ll just have to ask Daddy if I ever see him again,” she mumbled to herself before putting a smile on. “It’s okay! I could probably ask Xavier. Though, he is with Daddy, so the likelihood of me figuring it out is slim to none. Maybe I’m not meant to know, but I would really like to so I can stop worrying so much. You know when you don’t understand everything and you start to worry a ton? No? Well, that’s okay. It’s not a good feeling anyway. You probably don’t get it because you’re in the know. You can stop me talking at any point. I’m just rambling.”

His eyes flicked behind her and she took a breath.

“Can we talk to Echo for a couple of minutes?” Rainey asked.

She turned around to see Rainey, Charlotte, Hedda, Monroe, Elsha, Tucker, and Valentine standing in a row.

“Oh, hi, guys. What are all of you doing here?” Echo asked, and then their words registered. “Levi, can I have a moment with them? We will be at the table right there.”

Levi looked around. “No touching her.”

Echo sighed. “Levi.”

“No touching her. It is still a rule.”

“They won’t touch me. Now, do you want us to move over to the other table and you can stay here?”

He grunted and got up. How had he changed so much in a little time? Sure, he didn’t always talk much, but before they’d left, he was a chatterbox.

“What can I help you guys with?” Echo asked as they all pulled up chairs. “Umm, is everything okay? No one is dying, right?”

“No one is dying,” Hedda said. “We just wanted to make sure you were okay. Rainey called us to say she had seen you for the first time. We wanted to make sure you were okay. She said something about you not being comfortable talking about whatever it was so you don’t have to.”

“But we haven’t heard from you in a little bit and needed to see that you were okay,” Elsha softly said.

“Oh, I’m good!” Echo lied, smiling.

She was anything but good, but she didn’t want to talk about it. Then she would have to talk about what happened to her all those years ago, a couple of days ago, and how she was coping with everything.

“Don’t lie to us,” Monroe chastised. “I did that when I first got here. You really don’t have to tell us anything; just don’t lie, please.”

Echo sighed. “Okay, I’m not good, but I’m working through things. It’s been a little rough; Daddy and I are working through it.”

“Good, that’s good. If you need us, we’re here for you,” Charlotte spoke. “We want what's best for you.”

“Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it,” Echo whispered.

After the assault in middle school, she didn’t have friends. She was homeschooled, and then she went to college, keeping to herself. But now, now she had a group friends and she couldn’t believe it. This was her life now, and it was everything she had ever wanted.

Echo looked over at Levi only to find him staring at Flemming. Was he thinking about getting with her? Echo thought they would make a cute couple, but she didn’t know how they would get along. Levi made eye contact with Flemming and nodded before looking around the café.

“What’s up with him telling us we can’t touch you?” Tucker asked. “Did I miss something?”

“Deccan said for us not to touch her the other day when we went over,” Charlotte added. “I think it’s just being possessive, and honestly, it shouldn’t even be a rule.”

Rainey looked at Echo and squirmed. Her Daddy knew she didn’t like to be touched. Had he told Rainey?

Guilt formed in her stomach. She knew she needed to tell them why, but she didn't want to be the weirdo. She didn’t want them to say they were no longer friends. It would break her heart.

“Are you okay, Echo?” Valentine asked.

She nodded even though she was anything but okay. Every time she saw them, Echo wanted to explain about her not liking to be touched, but she always held herself back. The worry consumed her whenever she thought about telling them.

Why couldn’t she just be brave? Was there anything to worry about? Echo didn’t know. She didn’t want to live with the consequences of losing them but didn’t want Daddy to look bad.

He had taken the brunt of them not liking him because of it. It wasn’t right. She needed to come clean, but she was worried.

“Echo?” Elsha pulled her out of her thoughts.

“I have something to tell you guys,” she blurted out.

“Do tell,” Tucker said. “We’re all ears.”

Echo took a deep breath. Was she really about to tell them? She had to, to clear Daddy’s name with them.

“Daddy wasn’t just being possessive when he made the rule of not touching me. He was actually trying to protect me,” she whispered.

“What do you mean?” Charlotte asked. “You don’t have to lie for him.”

She shook her head. “I’m not lying. I promise I'm not. Ever since I was little, I hated being touched, but I could tolerate it. In middle school, something happened, and ever since then, my skin crawls when people touch me. Or, well, anyone but Daddy.”

Echo was looking down at her hands, worried about what they would say or how they were looking at her. She didn’t want to see it.

“I normally have to wash the part of my body that was touched with hot water to make it stop crawling. I know?—”

“Why the fuck didn’t you tell us sooner?” Hedda asked.

Echo looked up, shocked.

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner? Why did you put up with us touching you so much?” Charlotte asked, raising her voice.

“Someone could take that the wrong way,” Tucker calmly said. “How about we lower our voices.”

Echo didn’t know what to say.

“Why?” Monroe asked. “Why?”

“Because I didn’t want you guys to think I was weird? I still wanted to be your friend,” Echo explained.

“Bullshit,” Hedda exclaimed. “We would have never done that!”

“They put up with me needing things to be in even numbers and they haven’t gotten rid of me yet,” Rainey spoke.

“Yeah, which means we all know Marco is going to get her pregnant again so they can have two kids instead of one,” Elsha pointed out.

Rainey’s face went bright red.

“We wouldn’t have stopped talking to you because you don’t like to be touched. I feel bad for all the times I’ve hugged you now…” Charlotte trailed off. “I’m so sorry.”

Echo waved her hand. “It’s okay. I didn’t tell you guys.”

“But you shouldn’t have had to put up with it. You really shouldn’t. I’m sorry that you did for so long,” Monroe softly spoke.

“It’s okay. I just didn’t want to make a big deal about it.” Echo felt a little lighter now they knew. She didn’t have to worry about Daddy looking bad or her skin crawling anymore.

“Well, now that we know, we’ll try to make sure we don’t touch you,” Hedda offered. “We might forget, but we’ll try our hardest.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

Echo blinked several times, trying to get rid of the tears that were threatening to roll down her cheeks. She was not going to cry in front of them.

“Well, I’ve got to go back to Daddy. He didn’t exactly want me to go, but I told him I had to, for you since I was worried,” Charlotte said, getting up. “I’ll see you later!”

“We’ll see you later. You should come back to the club and have a playdate with us.” Monroe smiled. “We miss you.”

“I miss you guys, too. I hope to soon.”

Everyone else got up, leaving Echo to her own thoughts. For a couple of seconds anyway. Levi sat in front of her.

“Deccan will be here soon,” he told her.

“Really? It’s the middle of the day.” She was puzzled.

He grunted and looked around. “I’m going to go to the bathroom. Don’t go anywhere.”

Echo rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to. Daddy is coming.”

Levi got up from his seat and walked to the bathroom. Echo slowly got up with hers and went to sit where Levi had been. She wanted to see the door so when Daddy came in, she knew. She didn’t want to be scared; that was the last thing she wanted.

“Oh, baby,” she whispered to herself. “Baby, oh. Like baby.”

Echo groaned. She did not want that song stuck in her head. She didn’t even listen to the singer and yet there she was, singing his song. She sighed and looked down at her hands. Several people had walked in, but none of them were Daddy.

When was he coming?

She couldn’t wait to tell Daddy about what she had just done. He would be so proud because she took the step forward and told them.

It had turned out better than she thought. Hedda was right. Deep down, Echo knew they wouldn’t stop being friends with her, but once that seed of doubt was planted, it grew with every single day that she hadn’t told them.

But now she didn’t have to worry. Now, she could fully relax and have fun since they knew. Echo bounced in the chair, waiting for Daddy so she could tell him all about it. Waiting so she could get a hug and be told what a good girl she was for being brave.

And just like that, the bell chimed and she Daddy came through the doors. Excitement flooded her body as he turned around and looked at her.

“Daddy!” she yelled.

“Wait!”

But it was too late. Echo was already out of her seat and running toward him. Strong arms wrapped around her waist, pulling them up to her chest as something hard pressed into her head.

“Fucking move and I’ll blow her brains out!”