17. Chapter Sixteen
It had been several minutes since Mac hung up the phone. He could be here any minute now and she didn’t know what to do. Why didn’t he want her to have a rental? Did he want her to walk everywhere? That wasn’t a smart idea, especially with a two year old. They would maybe make it five minutes down the road before she would want to be carried.
Janie wasn’t that strong. She couldn’t carry Eleanor for that long and then back with other things in her hands. It was impossible. Janie needed a car to get around places. It was how it was going to be and since he didn’t want her to take an Uber, she was stuck.
Was that what he wanted? Her to be stuck in her house and not leave? What was he getting at?
The doorbell rang and she jumped. She made her way towards the door, unlocked it and opened it. “Hello,” she said.
“Did you look through the peephole or window to see who it was?” Mac asked. She gave him a puzzled look. Why would he be asking that?
“No, I didn’t. I knew it was you,” she replied.
Mac scowled at her. “It doesn’t matter if you know that Im coming over. When there is a knock or the doorbell goes off, I want you to look to see who it is.”
She rolled her eyes. “I don’t need to do that. No one ever comes knocking on my door unless it’s you. You’re the only one who visits and that’s just been recent. I’m okay. Well, my sister rings the doorbell obnoxiously so I know it’s her when she does that.”
He was being overdramatic with that. She didn’t need to look when she knew it was him coming in. She knew how long it took to get to the club. No one else would be knocking on her door. The other Littles didn’t know where she lived.
Mac gripped her chin with his fingers and bent down to her level. “I don’t care. Daddy wants you safe and you’re going to do it from now on. Unless you want to get into trouble.”
Her mouth fell open. He did not just say that to her. She pulled her head out of his grip.
“You aren’t my Daddy,” she said. “You can’t tell me what to do.”
“Yet,” he replied. “But I am one of the owners and Doms at the club. We take care of our subs there. You’re one of the subs and if I see that you’re putting yourself in danger, I’ll step in.”
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in. She was finding herself in that situation more and more recently. Janie didn’t think she was putting herself in danger.
Janie also ignored him saying he wasn’t her Daddy, yet. He was really hell bent on her being his Little, him being her Daddy. Was that really what he wanted? She had wanted it more and more, but she had a kid. He had said he was fine with that, but she didn’t fully believe him.
“I’m not in danger,” she replied after she opened her eyes.
“How do you know it wasn’t someone else? They could be ready to push you aside and rob you. Other things could happen,” Mac said.
She closed her mouth. She hadn’t thought about that, but this neighborhood was nice. There wasn’t much, if any, crime there.
“Whatever,” she said. “Get inside so we can talk about this.”
He raised his eyebrow at her.
“Better yet, we’ll have it right here. We don’t need to be inside for this conversation,” Janie said.
“We can be outside or inside. It doesn’t bother me, but our neighbors can hear. So, if you don’t want them to listen, then we should go inside.”
Janie never had a problem with her neighbors before. Granted, she had never really interacted with them much. She liked to be by herself most of the time and people drained her. That was why she only went to the club once or twice a week. Just enough human interaction that she wouldn’t get too overwhelmed.
“Come in,” she grumbled and held open the door further.
“Thank you,” he replied and walked in.
This was the second time he was in her house and she didn’t know how to feel about it. One moment it felt natural, but she knew that he didn’t belong here. He didn’t live there.
Janie closed the door and turned towards him.
“Talk,” she said.
“Do you want to sit down and talk?” he asked.
She shook her head. If they sat down, they would get comfortable. She didn’t want that right now. Janie needed to have this conversation and then have him be on his way.
“Okay. That’s okay. It’s about the mechanic. You’re not getting a rental,” he said.
“Why the hell not? You said it was going to take a week or two to get it fixed,” Janie replied. “What is wrong with my car? Why is it going to take that long? Why won’t you take me to get a rental?”
There were so many questions swimming through her head. Donald had taken care of her car. Made sure it was at the mechanics regularly so she didn’t have to worry about it.
“You may want to sit down for this part,” Mac said.
But she didn’t move. Why would she have to sit down for this part?
“I think it would be best. It might be shocking and I don’t want you to sway or pass out on me.”
She slowly walked towards the couches but didn’t sit down.
“I’m close by. Now, what the hell is wrong with my car? Donald took it to the mechanics regularly and made sure everything was okay with it.”
Mac shook his head. “He may have told you that, but he didn’t. My guy, Selwyn, said that there are so many things wrong with it. That if it had been regularly checked over they would have fixed them.”
She shook her head. Donald wouldn’t have done that, would he? He had promised her that he was taking care of it.
“Was it dangerous to drive?” she whispered.
Had she put her daughter in danger? They had driven in that car so many times. What if something worse had happened while Eleanor was with her?
“I don’t know, but Selwyn is getting it fixed now,” Mac replied. “He is going to make it safe and drivable for you two.”
Janie sat down and looked at him. “I still need a rental,” she said. “I can’t just not have one.”
“You don’t need one.”
She glared at him. “Yes, I fucking do.”
“Language. If you curse again, I’ll have you over my lap and be spanking you.”
Her bottom clenched together. She didn’t want to get a spanking from him.
“I need a rental. I have a life to live and can’t be at home. It’s me and Eleanor. What if I need something at the store? You said I can’t use an Uber so that leaves me with nothing!”
“Not nothing.”
She raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest. “What is there then? You’ve banned me from my one transportation when I don’t have a car.”
“Me,” he said as he got closer to her. “I’ll be taking you places. If you need to go somewhere, I’ll drive you around.”
She shook her head. “That’s not going to work. No way I’ll do that. Over my dead body. When pigs fly, I’ll do it. Which means never.”
She needed to get her point across that he wouldn’t be driving her places.
“I’m being dead serious,” Mac said. “If you need to go somewhere, I’ll take you there. Grocery store, doctors appointments, anything. I’ll be taking you places.”
She shook her head. “You can’t do that.”
“Yes, I can and I just did.”
Janie sighed. “You’re not going to let go of this until I say yes?”
“That’s right. And if you try and undermine me, I’ll call all the rentals here and tell them they aren’t allowed to give you a car.”
She glared at him. “You can’t do that. I could go to the police and say you’re harassing me.”
“You could, but will you? I’m not trying to be a dictator, but I want you to learn to lean on me. That you don’t have to do everything by yourself. I’m here for you and I think this will be a good way,” he said.
Janie didn’t know about that. Well, she knew she wouldn’t actually go to the police about it. She didn’t want to bother them with something minor like this. She knew Mac and knew he was doing it out of her best interest. Or so she thought. But he wouldn’t abuse it and she didn’t feel unsafe. She just didn’t want him to have to drive her everywhere.
She didn’t like to depend on people that much. They always seemed to let her down. Most of them anyways. Not all of them.
“You don’t need to be spending money when you don’t have to be. I’ll gladly help you out and it’s not going to take anything from me. I’m flexible with work,” Mac said. “I know you have money and aren’t hurting for it, but why not put that towards something else and let me help you out. And I don’t want you to feel like you’re trapped. If you feel like that, then we’ll go get a rental for you.”
Before Janie could respond, the doorbell went off several times. She got up from her seat, but Mac started to head towards the door before her.
“You don’t need to do that,” she said. “I can do it.”
He turned around and looked at her. “Were you going to look through the peephole to see who it was?”
She rolled her eyes. “No, because I know it’s my sister. She rang it several times in a row. Sometimes, I swear she’s a five year old.”
Mac shot her a look and shook his head. He made his way towards the door and looked through the peephole. Janie walked up behind him and watched as he opened the door.
Joann stood with Eleanor in her arms.
“Hello,” Joann said as surprise filled her face. She looked over at Janie and wiggled her eyebrows.
“Macie!” Eleanor yelled and made grabby hands towards him.
Janie’s eyes went wide as she stared at everything unfold. She knew her sister was coming back with Eleanor, but she didn’t think Mac was going to be over for all of it. She had been hoping to have the discussion over the phone, but Mac wasn’t having it.
Joann had taken Eleanor out to spoil her and get her a couple more pairs of clothes to have at her house in case she stayed over. She never liked to do anything normal and wanted Eleanor to come with her so she could pick out what she wanted. Janie could only imagine how that turned out.
Eleanor looked pretty in everything she picked out in her closet. Not everything matched, but that was okay. It brought her joy and Janie wanted that. Who cared if polka dots and stripes didn’t go together. Eleanor wanted to wear it and why not.
Mac pulled Eleanor into his arms and held her close to him.
“Well, this was a surprise,” Joann said. “I’ve got to run and feed the kids, but Eleanor was an angel today. Thank you for letting me take her out.”
“Thank you,” Janie replied. It had given her a couple of hours to do things around the house while Eleanor was out. Clean everything that would be getting dirty again.
Joann took a step back before stopping. “I never followed up on what happened to your car. It’s not out in the driveway. Do you need anything?”
“I have everything under control with her car. It’s currently with the mechanic and she’ll be riding with me if she needs to go anywhere,” Mac said before Janie could respond.
Her sister’s eyebrows went up and she looked over at Janie.
“Keep him,” she said and turned around. “I’ve got to go.”
Janie’s mouth was open as she watched her sister leave. Did she just say that? Where did that come from? Mac chuckled and closed the door.
“Macie!” Eleanor squealed again.
Her heart melted. Eleanor had gotten so attached to Mac in such a short time. What was she going to tell Eleanor if things ended badly and she begged for him? It was going to break both of their hearts.
“I need to get things done,” Janie said as she took a step towards him. She needed to get Eleanor out of his arms.
“It’s okay. I’ll leave you be, but I’ll be checking in on you,” he replied and handed Eleanor up. “Bye, princess.”
Mac kissed both of their foreheads and opened the door. “Lock the door behind me. And also, if you need to go anywhere, call me.”