Chapter 36 #2
“Oh, do you want to go after them?” she said.
“Don’t worry, Dotty’s already done that.
She’s made sure their lives are utterly miserable.
One ended up cheating on her husband and Dotty made sure she lost everything in the divorce.
Another one got arrested for driving under the influence and since she had also hit someone and drove off, she’s in jail.
Dotty also found stuff to ruin the rest of them.
So now they’re all in jail or broke and living at home or on the streets.
Trust me, none of those people have anything. Nothing worth living for, anyway.”
“Good for Dotty, but I’d like to make sure.”
She shivered at the ominous note in his voice although she did like that he felt so protective of her.
“What happened after that?”
“I withdrew into myself. As soon as I was old enough, I moved out to live with Dotty. I enrolled in community college, and did a few courses. I discovered that I was really good at organizing stuff, people, everything like that. Dotty would have hired me on as her assistant since she had graduated from law school by that time. But that would have been too full on for me, so I started to offer my services online as a virtual assistant to authors.”
“A virtual assistant to authors, is that a thing?” he asked.
“That’s what pays my bills. I have several authors that I assist. And everything can be done online, so I don’t ever have to see or talk to anyone.
Monroe moved in with us as well after she finished college.
Dotty had moved to Las Vegas at that stage.
She got a really good-paying job at a law firm. And that’s basically everything.”
“Until now,” he said.
“Yes, until Monroe married someone who seems to be a ghost that likes to trash hotel rooms, write scary messages, and send men after us.”
She could feel her breathing growing faster as panic filled her.
“Right, but luckily you found me,” he told her.
“I don’t know that I believe in fate, but there are things at play, things that happen that change the course of our lives forever.
Sometimes there are two pathways, and you’ve just got to hope you pick the right one.
This time, you chose to get into a truck that belonged to me, which means our lives are now entwined, which is why I’m here to take care of you. ”
“Any woman would be lucky to be your Little,” she told him. “You must have them lining up outside the door.”
He grinned at her. “Oh, yeah. There’s a line of them. They follow me around. I call them my fan club.”
“Cash’s fan club,” she said.
“I prefer to call them the Savage Salivators.”
Addie groaned. That was terrible. Because they were drooling after him? Was that what he meant?
“No? You don’t like that one?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“All right, I’ll work on it,” he told her.
“You could always ask this invisible group of admirers what they’d like to be called.”
“Oh, no, I don’t interact with them. That would be weird,” he said.
She giggled at the same time that she rolled her eyes.
“Are you rolling your eyes at me, baby girl?” He booped her on the nose. “Now, that’s not allowed. No rolling your eyes at Daddy.”
Ooh, warmth filled her as he called himself Daddy again. Damn, she liked when he did that. And she wished that she was brave enough to call him Daddy.
“Sorry,” she wrote.
“Sorry, what?” he said firmly.
She swallowed as she stared at him. Was he saying what she thought he was? Did he want her to call him that?
“What do you call me, baby girl?” he said. “How do you address Daddy?”
Could she do it? Why not?
He wanted her to do it, and she wanted to say it. Well, not say it, since she couldn’t talk.
Hmm.
“Sorry, Daddy,” she typed.
It was a bit weird to say it, especially through the phone. The look on his face, though, erased most of her unease. He looked so pleased, so happy, and she liked that she could do that. She didn’t want this to feel all one-sided, as though he was doing everything for her.
“That’s Daddy’s good girl,” he told her.
She preened under the praise. She was his good girl.
“I hate that you experienced that growing up, baby girl. Are your mother and father still alive?”
She shook her head. “My mother died a few years ago. A heart attack. As for my father, well, he disappeared. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s fathered a few more children, but Dotty’s never been able to find them. We think he left the country entirely.”
Cash nodded. “You’re better off without him.”
“What about your family?” she asked.
“My father died when we were young,” he said. “Aidan looked after us a lot after that because my mother had to work so much. Unfortunately, she died while I was . . . in hiding, I guess you’d say.”
She frowned slightly. What did he mean by ‘in hiding’?
“When I was younger, I hung out with the wrong kind of people, and I saw something that I wasn’t supposed to. Ralen and I both went on the run because we were worried that we would be killed, or that our families would be.”
Wow, that was not what she’d expected him to say.
“We went and lived with Ralen’s family in Mexico. We worked there for his cousin. We still work for him, but we moved here to keep watch over his stepsister, Bonnie.”
Oh, that made so much sense now.
“So you watch over Bonnie for your boss?” she asked. “You and Ralen?”
“Most of the time it’s a pretty easy job. In fact, it can be almost boring. We’re just moving stuff around for her.”
Yeah, that didn’t seem like a good fit for Cash or for Ralen. She wondered why they still worked for Bonnie’s stepbrother.
“Does that mean Ralen and Bonnie are cousins?”
“No, that whole family tree is a bit of a mess. Almost as strange as your family tree, I guess.”
That was fair enough.
“Right, it’s time to go to sleep, baby girl. You’re exhausted. We need to get you on a better sleep schedule. Do you want me to lie beside you?”
He would do that? Amazement filled her, and she found herself nodding. She really wanted that. So he climbed on top of the bed on the other side, and she rolled toward him.
“Want to put your head on my chest?” he asked.
She didn’t need to be asked twice. She rested her head against his chest, and he placed his arm around her. A sense of safety fell over her.
That night, Addie fell asleep more quickly than she had on any other night that she could remember.
Cash knew he should go back to his own bedroom as soon as her soft snores filled the room. But he decided just to wait a bit longer. The last thing he wanted was to disturb her, and he was concerned that she’d have a nightmare. So he stayed, his eyes closing, just a bit longer . . .