Chapter Forty
ASHER
Asher sat in his chair, looking at the paperwork in front of him but not reading a single word. Daisy had just left the office to go to the bathroom, but in his gut, he knew that was not where she had gone. As Asher stood up to go find her, Dominic walked into his office.
“What are you doing?” Dominic asked.
“What do you mean?” Asher tilted his head. “If you can wait a couple of minutes, I need to go find Daisy. She left Chilli here with me.”
That was something they had talked about. Something they had made a rule about: she wasn’t allowed to go anywhere without Chilli.
“She’s with Trent right now and is safe,” Dominic said. “But we need to have a conversation.”
“I need to go check on her.” Asher took a step to the right, but Dominic got in the way. “What are you doing? I need to go check whether Daisy is okay. I need to bring Chilli to her.”
“Asher, we are having a conversation about Daisy,” he said. “We are having it before you go and see her. Trent is watching her right now. Nothing is going to happen to her.”
“Last time she was away from me, she got hurt,” Asher pointed out.
“She was alone then, but she has Trent with her now. You can check the security footage if you don’t believe me.”
Asher sighed and ran his hands over his face. “What do you want to talk about?”
“Daisy.”
“Why? She’s mine. You can’t have her.” Asher glared at him.
Dominic held his hands up. “I’ve got someone already. I want to talk about how you are treating her.”
He narrowed his eyes at Dominic. “How I’m treating her?” His voice was cold.
Dominic nodded. “I know I could get fired for saying this, but someone has to. She came out of your office crying, and I ran into her. She was so sad that she didn’t even see me. When I suggested I take her back to you, she begged me not to. Begged me not to.”
Asher’s heart sank. “Begged you?”
That wasn’t like Daisy at all. What was going on?
“What happened between you two?” Dominic asked. “You two were going so strong, but now she doesn’t want to see you and is crying. What happened?”
“Nothing happened,” Asher replied.
“Bullshit. You need to wake up, or you are going to lose her. She was sobbing and didn’t want to go to you, even though I knew she did deep down. Something happened, and you need to figure it out and make it right,” Dominic said. “I don’t want you to lose her. I know you don’t want to, either.”
Asher sat down on the couch and let his head hang.
“What’s going on?” Dominic asked.
“I don’t know,” he whispered.
There were so many things in his head, and he didn’t know where to start.
“When did it change?” he asked.
“When we got back from the hospital,” Asher replied. “I don’t know why, but I didn’t want her out of my sight. I was worried that she would faint and hit her head, and no one would find her. I can’t lose her. She means too much to me. I can’t lose her.”
Part of Asher knew he wasn’t making any sense, but he didn’t care. The thought of losing her scared him. Daisy had become so much to him in such a short amount of time. Without her, he didn’t know how he was going to survive.
“Get your head out of your ass,” Dominic growled. “You are coddling her. You’re not doing what you said you would when you first got together. Have you been disciplining her when she does something naughty?”
“I’ve been writing it down in a notebook,” he replied.
“And what’s stopping you from just giving her the punishment she deserves?” Dominic asked.
“I don’t want to spank her and I can’t make her stand in a corner since it’s a hard limit. I’m worried she will faint,” Asher said.
“So, you’re planning on writing down her punishments for the rest of your lives and not doing anything about it?”
Asher sighed and looked up at Dominic. “I’m still thinking that through. Maybe I can do it in a year or two when she’s better.”
“Her condition doesn’t just get better. It’s with her for the rest of her life. You need to recognize that.”
“You don’t think I do? I’ve been doing research. I know there isn’t any cure, and the only way we can help is by making sure she has enough salt, drinks enough water, and takes care of herself. I’ve done all of that with her. I know what needs to happen,” Asher stated.
“Then what is making you so hesitant to punish her when she has asked for it?” Dominic asked.
“And don’t give me the bullshit excuse of you not wanting to make her faint.
Everybody knows that you would take good care of her.
She knows her own body. If you’re in the middle of punishing her and she feels faint, then she’ll say her safe word and let you know. ”
What was stopping him?
“I don’t want to be the cause of. I don’t want to do something and then have her faint and blame me for it. I don’t want to leave her in case she passes out and hits her head. What if I’m too late to get to her? I don’t want anything bad to happen to her,” Asher poured out.
“I understand your worries. I really do. But you also need to think about her. Think about how she’s reacting to all of this.
I don’t know the conversation you had before she came out of your office crying, but it was something that made her bawl her eyes out and didn’t want to go to you.
You need to think about her and how she’s feeling in all of this. Has she been naughty recently?”
Asher nodded. “She left Chilli here. At home, sometimes she won’t eat her vegetables, even when it’s mandatory. She’ll run up and down the stairs, or she won’t drink the amount of water she should. All of that is part of her rules.”
“And you’ve just written down that she’s been naughty but haven’t done anything about it?
I don’t know what you guys talked about, but she might have wanted to tell you something.
While Little Ones don’t like to get punished, some of them need it.
She might not be one of them, but she might be deliberately being naughty so you will punish her.
But with you not punishing her for her transgressions, she is insecure about herself and whether she’s enough for you,” Dominic explained.
“I want you to just think about it. Really think about it. I have no doubt that Trent is also getting information out of her and trying to figure out what’s wrong.
Everybody here cares about you two. We don’t want to see you guys breaking up over this. ”
“But what if I cause her to faint and injure herself?” Asher whispered.
“Talk to her about it. Tell her your concerns, and she’ll tell you hers. The only way through this is communication. You know that,” Dominic said.
Asher stood up and walked to the door, grabbing Chilli’s leash before leaving to go and find Daisy. He didn’t realize that while he was trying to protect her, he was also harming her, harming their relationship. Asher was just about to walk into the kitchen when she heard Trent and Daisy talking.
“I’m sure your Daddy has a good reason for not spanking you yet,” Trent said. “Just give him some time.”
He didn’t need any more time. They were going to have a conversation and get to the bottom of this. He wasn’t going to hide and try to coddle her. It was doing more harm than he had intended. But no more. He was going to make this right.
“I don’t think he loves me anymore,” she blurted out.
Asher’s whole world stopped with those words.