15. Katie
Chapter 15
Katie
Katie had felt incredibly nervous as she picked up her cell phone to read the message.
For all she knew, it could have been from the same creep who had sent her the photos.
In fact, a part of Katie had strongly suspected that this is exactly who the message might have been from.
So it was to her huge relief when she picked up the phone and saw something altogether different.
Different and unexpected.
In a good way, thankfully.
Much to Katie’s shock, the message was an email from a romance author. It was a romance author who Katie had only recently discovered. They were relatively new but quickly gathering a large following.
But what did they want?
In a state of shock, Katie skim-read the email once and then went right back to the beginning to read it all over again.
Was the author being serious?
‘Come on, tell me what the message is,’ Cage said, breaking Katie out of her trance-like state.
‘It’s a romance author, one I really like,’ Katie said, still struggling to comprehend the offer that had been made. ‘They want me to narrate their DDlb book!’
Cage looked stunned.
Katie felt the same.
But in an instant, the pair of them had rushed over to each other and were hugging.
‘This is brilliant news, I’m so proud of you!’ Cage said, a generosity and warmth in his voice that made Katie feel all gooey inside. ‘Seriously, this is superb. Totally incredible.’
Katie felt like she could cry.
Tears of joy though, not sadness.
It felt like her life was turning around.
Something that only a few short days ago felt like an impossibility.
First Cage, and now the audiobook offer on the table.
Everything was coming up Katie.
‘Should I email them back right now?’ Katie asked, her voice bubbling over with excitement to the extent that she could hardly get her words out. ‘I mean, I want to. But I don’t want to come off as desperate?’
Cage smiled.
‘Relax. You’re good. Yes, reply now,’ Cage said. ‘The author made you the offer. Approached you. You have nothing to worry about. Be enthusiastic. It goes a long way.’
Katie was grateful for Cage’s advice.
He had so much more life experience.
And a successful career to back it up too.
Plus, he knew the ways of the world so much more than Katie.
In fact, it was like he was straight out of a dream Daddy playbook.
Katie typed out a response to the author and hit the send button. This was incredibly exciting.
Was her career about to take off?
Certainly, the financial reward was good.
But more than that, it was the fact that someone wanted her for their special project. They were willing to trust her voice acting skills with the novel that they had spent many a long hour working on.
‘I guess it was worth uploading my voice samples onto all those voice talent websites, right,’ Katie said. ‘Another great recommendation. How can I repay you, Daddy?’
Katie blushed a little as many rude and naughty thoughts crossed her mind.
Evidently, Cage was thinking along the same lines…
‘Trust me, I’ll think of plenty of ways,’ Cage said with a devilishly mischievous smile. ‘You can bank on that.’
‘ Hehe , I believe you,’ Katie said, her mind racing.
Katie suddenly found her mind pulled back in the direction of the audiobook narration offer.
‘Daddy, would you mind if I made a start on it now?’ Katie asked. ‘I want to send some character samples over to the author. You know, really show how professional I am. Who knows, it could be the start of a long working relationship.’
Cage made a thumbs up sign with both thumbs.
Very cheesy Daddy behavior, but Katie didn’t mind.
Katie could see that this turn of events had made Cage proud of her. It was a superb feeling.
It wasn’t long ago when Katie didn’t think she would ever find a good Daddy. Certainly not one who would devote so much of their time and energy into nurturing and looking after her like Cage was doing.
Those kinds of qualities were rare.
As far as Katie’s own experience had gone, they were practically unheard of.
Almost mythical in quality, like unicorns.
But what was happening now was very much grounded in reality. And it was down in a large part to Cage.
Cage looked like he was taking a moment to consider something.
Katie figured Cage might have been assessing whether it was safe or not to leave her alone at the apartment.
‘Um, yeah, you go for it,’ Cage said. ‘Knock it out of the park, kid.’
‘Yay! I’ll try, Daddy,’ Katie said, already opening up her laptop and loading up the recording software. ‘Thanks again for helping with, you know… everything.’
‘Hey, you’ll do great,’ Cage said. ‘And thanks, I appreciate that. But you’re the talent. You just needed a helpful nudge. Or should that be spank?’
The pair of them laughed.
‘Okay, time for me to head down to the station,’ Cage said. ‘Crime doesn’t solve itself. Trust me on that.’
‘If anyone can solve all the cases, it’s you Daddy.’
After a brief goodbye cuddle and kiss, Cage exited.
Katie heard the apartment door shut and began recording. It was time to get down to things.
Katie was slowly learning the software.
It wasn’t the easiest system to get a hold of, but Katie knew that practice would make perfect.
‘Hey, Snug, that sounds like something Cage would say, doesn’t it?’ Katie joked, glancing over to her ever loyal stuffie. ‘I know, I know. We’re super-duper lucky to have him.’
After a bit of fiddling around on the software, Katie finally got into recording some character samples.
It was fun to get into the heads of the characters, especially the main Little. The lead Little actually had a lot in common with Katie, and this made really capturing her spirit so much fun and rewarding.
Katie began to see a real future for herself doing this.
It surprised her just how much she enjoyed it.
Okay, it wasn’t a lead role on Broadway in the kind of show she had dreamed of for so long.
But it was something.
Katie was being a free thinker, letting her creative juices flow.
It was very exciting to be voicing the creations of an author she admired. Katie had never even considered this side of writing, but when she thought of it there were so many audiobook versions of her favorite romance books.
Someone had to voice them.
So why couldn’t it be her?
Well, now it was!
One of the plot points of the novel involved the Little character having their heart broken by a cruel Daddy. Definitely not the character’s Forever Daddy and certainly not a keeper in any sense.
Katie took a brief break.
It was quite intense being in this headspace and she couldn’t help but think back to how her old Daddy had been such a horrible guy in the end.
Yuck, what a jerk.
I hate thinking about him.
But maybe I can use that emotion for good…
Finishing off her raspberry and apple juice box, Katie put her headphones back on and got back to work.
Using the pain she went through because of her horrible former Daddy, Katie channeled it into the Little character in the romance novel.
It worked.
In fact, the results felt spectacular to Katie.
She finished a brief monologue and hit stop on the recording.
‘Wow, Snug. I think I nailed it!’ Katie said, leaning back in her chair. ‘Hmmm. Still giving me the silent treatment. Okay, let’s have a break and eat some sweet treats, shall we?’
Snug yet again maintained his silence.
But Katie was more than happy to assume Snug wanted a treat as much as she did.
Armed with a big jar of cookies with extra sprinkles on top, Katie walked with Snug and took a seat on her couch.
She’d been recording for over an hour and needed a break.
It was tiring.
She figured the more she did it, the greater her stamina would get.
But for today, this was a great beginning so far.
As Katie crunched away on a cookie, she saw her cellphone flash up with a message from her fellow Little and BFF, Cassie.
CASSIE: Hey! How’s the recording going? I was thinking, if I do an audio version of the webcomic you should definitely do the voices. Imagine how super-duper-magic that would be? Anyway, gotta go. I have a date! XoXo
Katie typed out a reply and did it with a big smile on her face. It felt superb to have been invited to get involved with Cassie’s professional life.
Cassie was a very talented and successful comic maker. She had a large following online and a well-supported Patreon too.
Being able to combine their personal and professional lives could be a whole lot of fun. There was no doubting that.
After finishing up her break, Katie got back down to business.
It took her only a few moments to get back into the swing of the recording. The software was beginning to feel a lot easier to use and Katie was having a lot of fun experimenting with the character voices while at the same time also working on her more controlled general narration.
It felt like fun.
But it was a job.
Katie couldn’t have asked for anymore.
After finishing off one block of dialogue, Katie heard the apartment door open.
It must have been Cage returning from work.
He’d probably forgotten something.
‘I’m still recording but come and say hi!’ Katie shouted cheerily, her big headphones muffling the sounds of the apartment a little bit.
There was no reply from Cage.
‘Hey, Daddy! Come over here, I want to show you this cool new pitch tool. I can make myself sound like a chipmunk!’ Katie shouted.
Still no response from Cage.
It was at that moment a chill came over Katie.
What was taking Cage so long to come over and greet her?
Katie took her headphones off and called out once more.
This time there was a response.
A voice.
But it wasn’t Cage’s gruff Daddy voice.
It was someone else.
Someone else was in the apartment.
But who?
The floorboards creaked as the other person got closer to Katie.
Katie suddenly felt terrified.
She gripped Snug and held her stuffie close.
Katie was trapped and had no idea what on earth she was meant to do next.
I wish Cage was here.
I need my Daddy now more than ever…