Chapter Thirteen
DAISY
Nerves ran through Daisy as they walked into the main area of BTS. Asher had walked her through the contract, explaining things and helping her fill it out. He had made sure she had everything she needed the whole time.
“Are you doing okay?” he asked.
She nodded, not trusting her voice.
“Let’s head to the kitchen, real quick,” he said, and veered to the left. “Trent hasn’t started anything yet and he’ll clean up so don’t worry about Chilli. We aren’t going to go in far.”
The kitchen was all white and super clean. With rows of fridges and counter space, and some ovens and stoves.
“Trent,” Asher called out.
A man stepped out from behind the fridge door, and a smile blossomed on his face. “Asher, I didn’t think you were coming in tonight. What’s going on?”
“I’m showing Daisy around,” he said as he pointed toward her.
Daisy was hiding behind Asher now, not really wanting to talk to or see anyone else.
“Daisy?” Asher turned fully around; concern written all over his face. “Are you all right? Do you need anything? Do you need to sit down and put your legs up?”
She shook her head, keeping her eyes on him.
“Words, baby. I need you to tell me what is wrong.” Asher took a step forward. “Can you tell me?”
Chilli was sitting next to Daisy, calm and collected. That was how Daisy wished she felt right now. Why did she always have to get nervous, like a million ants were crawling all over her whenever she was in front of new people?
“Let’s get you sitting down,” Asher said as he guided her to a seat.
“I’m okay,” she whispered. “I’m really okay.”
“You can meet Trent while you drink some water,” he suggested before turning his head over his shoulder. “Can you grab some water and put a straw in it?”
“I don’t need an—” but the words died on her lips as Asher gave her a pointed look.
“You may not think you need any, but I want you to drink some. I have a feeling you haven’t had enough water today. I don’t want you passing out on me, okay? Everything is going to be okay,” Asher soothed her. “I’m going to make sure you’re all right.”
“Here it is,” Trent said as he placed a cup with a straw in front of her.
She stared at the man; her eyes wide as he just looked at her.
“Hello, Little One. I’m Trent, and I cook at BTS,” he introduced himself. “If you ever need anything to eat, just come to me. I’ll make you something.”
Asher growled before picking up the water and holding the straw to her lips. She took several sips.
“Ah, that’s how it is?” Trent asked. “I’m not making a move, just want her to know that she can come to the kitchen for food or a little treat. I make a mean chocolate chip cookie if you like them.”
“Ooo.” Her eyes lit up at the mention of cookies.
“You will not have a cookie until you eat some proper food,” Asher interrupted before she could say anything.
“I’ve eaten,” she said.
“What did you have for dinner?” Asher asked.
“I had sandwiches for lunch,” she offered.
Daisy had been too nervous to eat any dinner. She was likely to throw up if she attempted to eat anything, and she didn’t want that.
Throwing up was gross.
“So you haven’t had dinner yet?” He pulled the straw away from her.
“I couldn’t,” she whispered.
“Little One.” He gave her a disapproving look. “You need to eat and not skip meals.”
“I normally don’t.” She rubbed her hands together. “But there were just too many nerves. I didn’t want to be sick if I tried to eat and feel icky after.”
“Feeling icky is not fun. Do you want something light?” Trent asked. “I have some nutrient-rich broth, and we can put chicken nuggies on the side.”
“Could you heat that up?” Asher asked before Daisy could say anything.
“What if I’m allergic to that?” she asked. “You can’t answer for me.”
“Baby, you aren’t allergic to what he suggested. The only thing you said you were allergic to was peaches. You wrote it on the contract,” he pointed out.
“Oh, right,” she mumbled. “And you shouldn’t call me that.”
“Call you baby?”
She nodded.
She wasn’t his baby. She wasn’t his, but he kept acting like she was.
“Why not?” he asked.
“Because I’m not yours. I may be leaving in a couple of months,” she said.
“You’re leaving?” He stepped closer. “Why are you leaving?”
She shrugged.
“Little One, I don’t like it when you keep things from me.” His voice was low.
“Because I’m trying to find a home. Somewhere I feel at peace, and that just feels right.
I don’t know how to describe it, but I’ve never felt welcome in any of the towns I’ve lived in.
I want that. I want to feel like I can be myself and that I can have friends and maybe someday find the love of my life… ” She trailed off.
“Maybe Springfield is the place for you,” he gently suggested.
“I don’t know,” she whispered, looking down at her hands. “I am comfortable here, but I just... something is missing.”
“I think I know what it is,” he replied.
Her eyes flew up to his. “What?”
Each town she had lived in never felt right, but Springfield had felt different from the very beginning. Even though she hadn’t gone out much, there was just something about the town that made her feel more comfortable than the others.
“I’m not going to tell you everything right away.” He chuckled. “But one of them is a group of friends. I think after you get to know some of the other Littles and become friends, you will feel more at ease. That hole you are trying to fill will be smaller than before.”
“And the others?” she asked.
“I’m going to show you,” he replied. “It will take some time, but I’ll show you. Then you’ll realize that Springfield is the place for you.”
Unease filled her. “I don’t know.”
“Don’t give up. Try it for a couple of months at least. If you realize nothing has changed, you can do whatever you want,” he suggested.
She sighed. “You sound just like Janelle.”
“What did Janelle say?” he asked.
She shrugged, not really wanting to get into it.
Trent walked into the room, plate and bowl in hand. “Here you go. I want to see all of this gone.”
Nausea rolled through her as she looked at the pile of food on the plate.
“I don’t know if I can do that,” she whispered, giving Asher a panicked look.
How did they expect her to eat all of this when there were so many nerves running through her body?
“Half of it at least,” Asher finally offered. “But I have a feeling you’ll be able to finish all of it.”
She looked at the food and nodded.
“Why don’t you eat while we talk about the club and what normally happens here?” Asher offered.
“What do you do for the club?” She found herself asking. “Is it your main job or just a thing on the side?”
Daisy brought the bowl up to her lips, but before she could drink it, Asher pulled it out of her hands.
“Hey! I was going to drink that!” she shouted.
“I need to check the temperature before you do. I don’t want you burning your mouth,” he said as he got a spoon and drank some of it. “Perfect temperature. You can drink it now.”
Warmth spread through her at his kindness. He was just making sure she didn’t hurt herself. When was the last time someone had done that for her?
Years.
“I’m insulted you think I would make it too hot,” Trent deadpanned. “You know I make sure everything is just warm enough so they don’t burn their mouths.”
“Sorry,” Asher replied before turning to Daisy. “As for my jobs, the bar and my rentals are more of a hobby than actual work. While I do make money from them, I have people who manage them. The club is my main priority.”
Half of the broth was already gone by the time he finished speaking. She could feel it warming up her insides and making her hungrier. But she wasn’t going to tell them that.
“And what do you do at the club?” she asked.
“I supervise the expansion of the club building here, but we are also working on adding a venue in another state,” he said.
“So that’s what I’ve been working on. Here, I talk to the club members and employees to see what they think we need.
If there are enough people who make a suggestion, I look into it before bringing it up to the other owners. ”
“Wow,” she mumbled as she set the now-empty bowl down. “That seems like a lot of work.”
“It keeps me busy, but I enjoy it,” he replied.
“Though I think he’ll be slowing down some.” Trent chuckled as he shook his head. “I have a feeling a certain someone is catching his attention, and he doesn’t want to let her go.”
Daisy looked around, but they were the only ones there. “Who?”
Asher hadn’t mentioned having a Little of his own or that he was seeing someone vanilla. Had she missed it?
“Who?” Trent asked. “Why it’s yo—”
“Keep your mouth shut,” Asher snapped. “I haven’t said anything.”
Was Trent about to say you? No, he couldn’t have. Asher didn’t want her.
“But I want to know,” she said. “If you have someone else you like, I don’t want to be in the way. I don’t want them to get the wrong idea that I’m trying to take them from you.”
“Oh, Little One, you don’t have to worry about that,” Trent said. “You just be you and get to know him.”
Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked between them. What was he talking about?
“But I really don’t want her to get angry at me,” she whispered as she munched on a chicken nuggie.
“You won’t get in her way, and she won’t be mad,” Trent replied, Asher still staying quiet. “There is no other girl besides you.”
“Trent, I warned you,” Asher growled.
“You don’t want her to worry about anything, correct? Keeping her in the dark is going to make her worried. You need to make your intentions known so she doesn’t push you away,” Trent said.
Her head was spinning with everything they were saying. Was Asher actually interested in her?
“You can leave. Daisy has finished eating everything on her plate. She’ll drink her water, and then we are going to go look around,” Asher said.
Trent shook his head once again as he picked up the plate.
“Oh, I hadn’t even realized I’d eaten all of it.” She looked at the empty plate in surprise.
“You were a good girl. Now, I want you to drink some more water. Then we are going to go look around before the other Littles get here,” Asher said.
He held the water up to her, the straw landing on her tongue. She slowly started to drink, looking anywhere but Asher.
Daisy had read too many books to know that if she looked at him, it would make her insides turn, and she would be turned on beyond belief... something she really didn’t need right now.
“All done?” he asked, and she nodded. “Let’s go check out the main room.”