Chapter 35
“ K nock. Knock.”
Devi glanced up as Mac poked his head around the door.
She was lying in bed with the TV on but the sound down low. She wasn’t really watching it so much as zoning out. It had felt like she’d spent most of the day in this weird state.
She was exhausted and she hadn’t even done anything.
Hayes told her that she was in shock.
But why would she be in shock? Because Derick had been murdered?
That didn’t feel right. It felt more like her system was in overload and moving to protect her.
Because she really wasn’t certain that she could survive any more shocks right now.
“Mac,” she said. “Hi, what are you doing here?”
“I came to visit you, darlin’. That okay?”
“Of course.” She attempted a smile but it weirdly wouldn’t come. Maybe she was just too tired. “Have a seat.”
Mac waved his hand. “I can only stay a short time. I just wanted to check on you after hearing about Derick.”
Hayes stood. “I’m just going to use the bathroom. Stay with her.”
It was a demand rather than a question but Mac didn’t take offense.
“Course I will. She’s safe with me.” Mac puffed up. “How are you doing, darlin’?”
“I’ve been worse. I’ve been better too.”
“You know when you’re getting out of this place?”
“Hopefully tomorrow. About that . . . I’m really grateful to you for offering me a place to stay, but . . . I . . . well . . .”
“You’re going with Hayes, aren’t you?”
“Yeah. How did you guess?”
“As much as I want to be selfish and keep you here, the best place for you to be is anywhere but here,” he told her. “Serious shit is going down in this town and I want you out of it and safe. I might not know him well, but I do know he’s serious about your safety.”
“I’m going to miss you, though. And Silla.”
“We’ll miss you too, darlin’. But you can always come back once this shit is done and those guys are found. I know he wasn’t much of a father, but I’m sorry that Derick died that way.”
“He wasn’t really a father at all. But I’m sorry he died that way too.” She took in a deep breath. “If I could have chosen my father, Mac, I would have chosen you.”
His eyes turned glassy and he blinked heavily. “Yeah, well, darlin’. I’ve never been blessed with children, that is, until the day I met you.” Reaching out, he took hold of her good hand. “I want regular updates. Call me. Don’t text.”
She snorted. “I know you hate text messaging, old man.”
“Stupid form of communication. So much misinterpretation and time involved. Nothing wrong with a good old-fashioned phone call. Or even one of those video calls. I can do that now that Silla got me that new phone.”
“You’ll look after her. And yourself.”
“Don’t worry about us, darlin’. You go to Montana. And you do what that boy tells you to do.”
She bit her lip, wondering how Hayes would feel about being called a boy. “I will.”
“Promise me,” he said sternly.
“Mac, when have I ever not done what I’m told,” she said with mock-horror.
He snorted. “All the time. All the fucking time. Gonna miss you, girl.”
“Gonna miss you too.”
“Why don’t you go to sleep, baby?” Hayes said as she yawned for about the fifth time in a row.
She couldn’t believe she was finally out of the hospital. “I can’t sleep in cars.”
“What if I made you a bed in the backseat?” he asked.
“Lie down without a seatbelt on?” she asked in surprise. He was very big on the rules so she was shocked he’d suggest that.
“Of course not! When you’re in a moving vehicle you always need your seatbelt on. And there’s no texting while driving or disobeying the speed limit or other laws. That’s a rule.”
Yep. There he went with those darn rules again.
“What if I don’t agree it’s a rule?” she asked.
“Being safe and healthy is always a rule. Put either at risk and you’re going over my knee.”
Hmm, it had taken longer than she’d thought for him to start talking about rules. They’d already been driving for about an hour.
She’d been so relieved to get out of that hospital that she hadn’t really thought about the fact that she would be leaving the town she’d grown up in. She’d barely been anywhere else. In fact, she hadn’t even left Colorado before.
And now she was headed off into the complete unknown with a man that she was really, really attracted to.
In a way that wasn’t really healthy.
Because she kept thinking about him. Wanting him. Dreaming of him touching her.
They hadn’t even kissed for goodness sake! Sure, she’d thought about it a lot.
He’s still in love with his wife.
You cannot think about him like that. He might pick up on your desire.
And that would be humiliating.
Especially since they would now be living together. No way did she want him to know how she felt. Or for him to have to explain to her that he didn’t feel the same.
Nope. She’d just need to bury those feelings deep. Which shouldn’t be hard. Most of her feelings were in a bubble right now.
“It’s going to be a long drive, baby. Go quicker if you sleep.”
“For you or for me?” she asked.
He snorted. “Both of us, I imagine.”
“Hey, boy, that’s rude.”
“Boy?” he asked.
“That’s what Mac called you.”
“Mac’s a hundred and three. He can call me boy. You get to call me Graham, Hayes or Daddy. That’s it.”
“Fine, Daddy,” she grumbled.
He shot her a look but didn’t comment. “Do you want some music on, baby girl?”
“Uh-huh.” She snuggled back against the pillow that rested between her and the car door. She was really tired and she just wanted to drift for a while . . . to not think about anything.
“What sort of music do you like?”
“Have you got The Wiggles?” she asked. “I loves their music.”
Loves? Wow. She’d slipped into Little headspace easily.
“I don’t. But let me see what I can do. Here is my phone. See if you can find their music on the app.”
“Okies-dokies. I’ve never done this before, you know?”
“Done what? Use that app. It’s easy.”
“No, silly Daddy. I’ve never been on a road trip before.”
“Never?” he asked.
“Nope. I’ve never even left Colorado.”
He grunted. “I would try to make this a good road trip, but I don’t want to make too many stops. Riskier if we stop. We’re going to get to Sanctuary Ranch late as it is. Well past your bedtime.”
“I don’t have a bedtime. Where’s Coco?”
“Shit, baby. Coco is in the trunk. I’m sorry.”
“Oh no. Coco will be so scared in there.” She actually felt tears come into her eyes.
Come on, this is silly.
You’re a big girl. And Coco is a toy.
But she felt the tears drift down her cheeks.
“We’ll stop soon,” he told her. “Get you some road trip snacks and Coco out of the trunk.”
“We can do that?” she asked.
“Yes, but you have to stop crying. Please,” he said almost desperately.
“Okay, I will try.”
“Thank you,” he told her.
“What are road trip snacks?”
“Ahh, baby, you’re in for a treat.”
They pulled over about twenty minutes later after he made a quick call to Donovan who was driving behind them. She didn’t know whose vehicles these were. It was different from the other one he’d driven around Angel. Maybe they’d rented them for the drive.
“Wait in the car until Daddy helps you out,” Hayes ordered before climbing out of the vehicle.
Devi blushed. He didn’t expect her to call him Daddy while they were in public, did he?
She watched him walk around the truck, his gaze on his surroundings. Was he expecting something bad? Was it possible that Fury was following them?
That was unlikely right? Would he really go that far just because she’d blabbed to the cops?
Devi swallowed heavily. Maybe.
He opened the door and grabbed hold of the pillow, putting it on the floor before undoing her seatbelt and drawing away the blanket.
“We don’t have to stop if it’s dangerous,” she said as he lifted her down from the truck.
“I’d never stop if it was dangerous,” he told her. “But it pays to be vigilant just in case.”
All right then.
He wrapped an arm around her back and walked with her into the service station.
“Donovan is staying outside but he wants snacks,” Hayes said as they stopped in the aisle with the potato chips.
Yummy.
“Right. Pick a bag for us and for Donovan,” he told her before they moved onto the chocolate aisle. By the time they finished they had more snacks than three people could really eat.
“Are you sure?” she whispered to him as they headed to the counter.
“Baby, it’s a road trip and your first one. We have to do it properly. Besides, you’ve lost more weight and I don’t like it.”
Those last words were said grumpily but she didn’t take offense.
He just wanted to keep her healthy. When they walked back out, she managed to trip over something by the door and he quickly picked her up, managing to put her on his hip, the bag in his other hand.
“Daddy!” she cried quietly. “You can’t carry me like this!”
“Is your arm all right? Did you jolt it? Hurt it?” he asked.
Her arm was in a sling to protect it and it had barely moved.
“It’s fine.”
“You’re not lying?” He set her down by the car to open the door.
“Of course not! I don’t lie.” Much. Only when really necessary.
He huffed out a breath. “You do lie. But not to me. You always tell me the truth. That’s a rule.”
“Gonna need a list of all these rules. They’re confusing.”
“I can do that. We can talk about them on the way to Sanctuary Ranch.”
Oh, goody.
That sounded like so much fun.
When he opened the door, she saw Coco sitting there. Who had gotten her out of the trunk?
“Donovan got Coco out. You don’t have to worry about hiding your Little from anyone on Sanctuary Ranch. They’re all in the lifestyle. There are a number of Littles on the ranch. Some of whom get into quite a bit of trouble. You will not be one of them.”
So. Bossy.
He got her comfortable again, putting the blanket over her, then doing up her seatbelt.
“Oh, I won’t?” she asked in amusement.
“You won’t.”
He shut the door and took Donovan his snacks. When he returned, he opened a packet of chips and some of the candy.
Yummy.
She took a couple of chips, not wanting to eat too many. Hayes was a big guy who needed a lot of fueling.
“Don’t know what I was thinking letting you walk on your own,” he muttered. “Should have carried you into the service station. Should just carry you everywhere.”
Dear Lord.
She needed to put a stop to this before he really started to think that this was a feasible possibility.
It wasn’t.
“You can’t carry me everywhere.”
“Sure, I can. You’re light as a feather. Drink some water. You haven’t been drinking enough. And why aren’t you eating? Don’t you like your snacks?”
“Of course I do. But you need to have some too.”
“They aren’t for me, baby.”
“But . . . but . . . you can’t have bought all of these for me.”
He shot her an incredulous look. “Of course I did. I’ve got to keep myself fit. I can’t do that by eating all this junk. Donovan has youth on his side, I don’t. Now, eat some more. And drink your water.”
“You are so bossy, Daddy.”
“Well, I have to be. I have a Little girl to take care of.”
Devi wished he would take care of her all the time. That she could be his Little girl forever. It was going to be so hard to go back to being just Devi. To doing everything for herself.
Sitting back, she tried to get comfortable as The Wiggles sang their happy songs. She especially liked the one about the potato.