15. Chapter Thirteen
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
BETSY
A whole night had passed since Daddy saw the scars on her back. He hadn’t said much since and she was worried. Was he pulling away from her? Was he disgusted? Was he going to put her to the side and eventually throw her to the curb?
Betsy should be happy about it, but she wasn’t. She was worried. Betsy wanted him to want her, which she knew wasn’t good. Before he had seen the scars, she had been planning on getting away and leaving.
What had changed?
Everything.
But nothing at the same time.
She sighed and looked at her backpack. It was still sitting on her bed where she had put it yesterday. Daddy had told her she was going to sleep in her own room but him seeing her scars must have changed something. He brought her back to his room as they were going to bed and held her the whole night.
It was the best night's sleep she ever had.
Feeling warm, comfortable, and safe. When was the last time she had felt that? Betsy couldn’t remember and she didn’t want to dwell on it. It couldn’t happen again, not when she should be telling herself to find the first opportunity to leave and get away.
But did she still want that?
Betsy wasn’t sure. She should want to get away and never come back, but the way he had been treating her was different, amazing. He genuinely cared and wanted what was best for her. Was she going to leave that all behind because he kidnapped her? Was she insane for even thinking about staying?
Sighing, she opened her bookbag and took out her computer. She still needed to figure out who sent her the note. Everything in her wanted to look it up on her computer, figure it out but she was worried. It was Daddy’s internet and he had to be able to see what she was doing. Then he would know something was up.
Maybe she could get out to a coffee shop and look into it but even then, Betsy didn’t know where to start. The person knew her real name and where she lived. What else did they know about her?
It could be anyone in the world. Betsy remembered bits and pieces of the work she had done, but she didn’t keep logs of it. Once she was done, she forgot about it and never looked back. She didn’t memorize details of the job so she could go back to it later. She never did that.
Worry bubbled up inside of her as she read the note again. Come forward about what? What had she done to come forward?
Closing her eyes, she took several deep breaths to calm herself down. She was going to work herself up so much she was going to puke. Then Daddy would ask so many questions and she would either have to lie again or tell him the truth and live with his disappointment.
“Nope,” she mumbled. “Can’t do that.”
Betsy carefully put it back in her computer and stuffed it in her bag. She was going to have to look into it later, when she could get out of the house and not on Daddy’s internet. Would there ever be a time like that? Were there going to be other threatening messages?
“Baby,” Daddy poked his head into her room.
“Yes?”
“Do you want to go and look at paint colors for your room?”
She nodded her head enthusiastically. She had never been able to paint her own room and she was so excited.
Daddy walked into the room and cupped her face. “Is everything okay?”
Of course he picked up on the fact that something might not be okay. With every question he asked, the guilt grew inside of her. Before she knew it, she wasn’t going to be able to do anything because of the guilt weighing her down.
“Everything is okay,” she whispered, leaning her head into his right hand.
Betsy didn’t know if Daddy knew she was touch deprived but he always had to be touching her or hugging her. Did he know or was he touch deprived just like her?
“Ready to go?” Daddy asked.
She wanted to go, but she didn’t want him to let go of her face. She wanted to stay in this position for a while.
“Okay,” she mumbled, pulling her head out of his hands.
“Little one.”
“Hmmm?”
“Look at Daddy.”
She looked at him to see a smile on his face.
“Anytime you want a hug, cuddle, or just to be touched, you let me know. Do you understand?”
How did she get so lucky? He was intune with what she needed, what she wanted. How was she ever going to leave him when he kept acting like this?
Don’t leave him. Stay. She could hear Mikey whisper.
“Do you understand?”
“Yes, Daddy.”
“Good girl.”
“What color are you thinking?” Daddy asked as they made their way towards the paint section.
“I don’t know.”
But she did know. She wanted it to be jade green but she didn’t know if it would be good or not.
“Baby.”
“Jade green,” she sighed.
“What’s wrong?” he asked as they stopped in front of the paint section.
She shrugged.
“Not okay.”
“I just don’t know if it’s going to look okay. I’ve never been good at colors and where they should go in the house but I love the color jade.”
“Then we’ll paint it jade. Who cares what other people think. If you love it, that’s all that matters.”
She sighed.
“Why are you sighing? What’s wrong?”
“You just make it seem so simple.”
“Because it is simple. If you like it, we’ll make it happen.”
“It’s not that simple.”
Life never was.
“How?” Daddy asked.
“People will say things. I would rather not hear anything and not be happy than to hear things and have the thing I love being ruined.”
Daddy cupped her face once again. “I’ll fight them off. You will never have to hear it. I’ll protect you from it so you can enjoy what you love, no matter what.”
“You would do that?” she whispered.
“I would do that and more. So, you pick the color you want and if anyone has anything to say, they can talk to me about it.”
Tears filled her eyes. No one in her life had ever done that before. Even the good foster parents didn’t go out of their way to make sure she was protected and safe. They left her alone to think and made sure she had the food and clothes she needed. But not once did they ask if she liked it or wanted something else.
Betsy knew it wasn’t really their responsibility to check in with her every hour to see if she had things. They had already been gracious enough letting her in their house. She was grateful for that.
“Oh, baby. I didn’t mean to make you cry,” Daddy gently said as he kissed her forehead. “I am just telling you the truth.”
She blinked, letting the tears fall down her face. Knowing he was telling the truth made it all more powerful. He truly meant what he was saying.
“Just a good and brave girl. Now, I want you to go pick out the jade green you want. If we can’t get it here, then we’ll go to another store or we will order it online.”
Nodding her head, she pulled away from Daddy.
“Freeze!” he commanded.
She stood still, her eyes wide, as she stared at Daddy. What was he doing?
“Let Daddy clean off your face real quick.”
She pulled her hands up, but Daddy made a noise.
“Daddy is going to clean your face.”
Right. She stood still as Daddy took his shirt and gently rubbed her cheeks.
“There, all better.”
She turned around and walked towards the aisle of paint. There were so many colors and she didn’t know where to start. Were they all in order by colors or was it in alphabetical order?
“Hello. My name is Juan. What can I help with?”
Betsy turned around to see a younger man standing in front of her. He had to be early twenties but he was staring at her. Looking over at Daddy, he was looking at the man.
“So, what can I help you with, Ma’am?” Juan asked.
She took a step towards Daddy, hoping to let Juan know that she was with him. Why was he only talking to her? Daddy was right next to her and he knew what he was doing.
“Ma’am?”
Betsy grabbed Daddy’s hand and looked up.
“We are looking for paint,” Daddy said. “A very specific color.”
She looked over to see Juan looking directly at her, not at Daddy. His eyes haven't even moved from where they were staring before.
“What color would you like, Ma’am?”
Her grip tightened on Daddy’s hand, feeling super uncomfortable. Why was Juan only talking to her? She hadn’t even spoken.
“We would like a new person,” Daddy informed Juan.
His eyes finally moved to Daddy. “I’m the only one available right now to help her. The other people won’t be available for several hours.”
Juan’s eyes went back to her. Betsy had moved most of her body behind Daddy, not liking the way Juan kept looking at her. What was his problem?
“Go get your manager or I’ll make your life a living hell,” Daddy growled.
Juan looked over at Daddy and scoffed. “Whatever. She is just a piece of ass. Probably could find something just like her down the street for much cheaper.”
Her blood turned cold as he said that. Did she really look like just a piece of ass? Daddy looked at her, pulling her hand out of his.
“Stay,” he calmly said.
She watched with wide eyes as Daddy stalked towards Juan, not giving him enough time to do anything before he started to punch him. Juan fell to the ground, Daddy going on top of him.
“She isn’t just a piece of ass,” he growled. “She is my fucking woman.”
Blow after blow fell on Juan’s face as Daddy kept pumping him. Her mouth fell open, her hand going up as she felt nauseous. She was horrified at what Daddy was going but at the same time she felt turned on.
Daddy was protecting her, defending her. He was doing anything he could to keep her safe.
“What’s going on?” Someone yelled.
Her eyes didn’t stray from where Daddy was still punching Juan. She couldn’t see if Juan was awake or even alive. Should she get Daddy off of him? Daddy told her to stay and she didn’t want to disobey him, not when she had already lied several times.
Two men came running into the paint aisle.
“Get off of him!” one yelled but Daddy continued to punch Juan.
Betsy was pretty sure Juan was either unconscious or almost dead. No one could deal with that many blows to the head and not be dead or unconscious.
The men pulled Daddy off of Juan, glaring at him. As Daddy stood to his full height, he cracked his neck before taking several steps back towards her. All she could do was stare at the blood on his hands. So much blood and she knew it wasn’t his.
The thought of him defending her, getting his hands dirty, made her turned on. Clenching her thighs together, she took a deep breath in to calm herself down. Right now was not the time to be thinking about that. There were two men in front of her and they could have called the cops.
“What the fu–”
The man to the right hit the one that was speaking and pointed. Both of their faces went pale as they stared at something on Daddy. What were they looking at? She wanted to peek her head over and look, but she didn’t want to disobey Daddy.
“Shit. I’m sorry, Sir. Whatever Juan did, we’ll take care of it. He won’t work here anymore,” the man rushed out. “I’m sorry for whatever he did.”
Betsy looked at Daddy weird. Why were they acting strange all of the sudden? What happened?
The other man picked up Juan and dragged him back to who knows where.
“I am really sorry for how Juan acted. You don’t have to worry about him,” the man said. “My name is Leon and I am the manager for today. If you need anything, and I mean anything at all, let me know and I’ll gladly help.”
Daddy nodded his head. “Are they alphabetical or grouped by colors?”
“By color. What color are you looking for?”
“Green,” she piped in.
“That is an aisle over. If you need anything at all, I will be over here waiting. Anything you need today is on us! And I mean anything.”
Before they could say anything, the manager walked away. She looked up at Daddy, confused.
“What happened? He went from angry to almost scared.”
“They saw the tattoo for the Ricci Crime Family and knew not to mess with me.”