Chapter 39
“Hi, Addie. Do you remember me? I’m Hack, Greer’s fiancé.”
She nodded as she sat on a chair at the kitchen table.
Dotty was on a video call and Monroe and Butch were outside. She wasn’t sure where Ralen had gone, he’d muttered something about going to see his archnemesis.
Whoever that was.
Hack was a very interesting name for a doctor, and she wasn’t sure that it inspired much confidence, but she took the hand that the friendly-looking man held out and shook it. He gave her a gentle smile.
“You’re wondering how a doctor ended up with the name Hack, right?”
Oh dear. Could everyone read her face?
He let out a small chuckle. “It’s all right. Everyone wonders. It’s just the nickname the Iron Shadows members gave me. It’s nothing about how good I am at my job.”
Iron Shadows? Who were they?
Hack shot Cash a look. “Oh, I can see you haven’t heard of the Iron Shadows. We’re a Motorcycle Club. A bunch of good guys, nothing illegal.” Was there a weird note to his voice when he said that? Was Cash in it? She turned to him.
He shook his head. “I can’t join. But my brother is a member. So is Ink. And Stone and Butch. They’re all good guys. Well, maybe not Butch.”
Addie rolled her eyes at him. There was nothing wrong with Butch. Well, except for the fact that he was a bit of a grump.
“Now, I heard you’ve got a sore throat.”
“She struggles to speak when she’s anxious,” Cash said as he hovered behind her. “But the last few days she’s had a sore throat and her voice has gone croaky.”
“Before we start, I just want to be clear that I can be a doctor to adult Addie or Little Addie. It doesn’t worry me either way. Although sometimes my Daddy side just does come out around Littles. I can rein him in.”
“Can you?” Cash asked.
“Of course, I have excellent control,” Hack replied as he opened up his doctor’s bag. He pulled out an envelope with his name on the front. “Now, what is this?”
As he opened the envelope, all these small sparkly shapes and glitter spilled to the floor. What were they?
Reaching down, she picked one of the sparkly bits up and held it up. Hmm. That was weird. It kind of looked like a rocket ship with thrusters.
And then it dawned on her what she was holding, and she let it drop with a small squeak.
“Okay, seems like somebody’s been playing a prank,” Hack said as he stared down at the floor. “Hope you guys have got a vacuum cleaner here.”
“Did you just throw glitter dicks everywhere?” Cash asked.
“No, I did not.” Hack pointed to him. “You saw me. I merely dropped them. I didn’t throw them. And I didn’t know they were in that envelope.”
“What did you think was in the envelope?” Cash asked incredulously.
“Well, I certainly didn’t think it was a bunch of glittery dicks,” Hack replied.
“Who put them there?” Cash asked.
“I’d like to know that too. My best guess would be your sister. Although maybe not. She knows where that would get her.” He winked at Addie who probably looked rather alarmed.
She was beginning to wonder if the vacuum could handle a bunch of glittery dicks.
“Oh, well, it’s done now, isn’t it?” Hack said. “And really, you can never have too many dicks in your life, right?”
“Yes, you can,” Cash told him. “More than one is too many.”
“Now, now, don’t be small-minded. We know plenty of people who have menage relationships. And there’s that country where reverse harems are the norm. Lots of dicks in those relationships.”
Cash folded his arms over his chest. “Are you saying that you would let somebody else into your relationship with my sister?”
“What? Of course not. Your sister doesn’t need anyone else but me. I’m all the dick she needs. Hmm, that sounded better in my head.”
Addie found herself hiding a smile.
“Right,” Cash said. “So in that case, more dicks are not better then, are they?”
“Ahh, but those aren’t glitter dicks,” Hack pointed out. “When they’re glitter dicks, more is always better.”
She didn’t want to say it, but she agreed with Hack. Except for the fact that she would have to clean them all up.
That wouldn’t be fun.
“Let’s get back to what we were really talking about before Cash started going on about having multiple diddles in a relationship,” Hack said.
Diddles?
She giggled. She wasn’t sure she’d ever heard that word before. Or at least not used by a cute doctor who kind of looked like a hot biker.
“Do you want to have Doctor Hack the adult-fixer-upperer or Doctor Hack the glitter-little-fixer-upperer.”
Was fixer-upperer actually a word?
Also what was she going to do? Old Addie would have hidden her Little side, too worried that they would humiliate or laugh at her.
But this Addie was trying to be braver.
Besides, she was fairly certain that Cash wouldn’t let anyone embarrass her. Or make her feel small.
“Doctor Hack the glitter-little-fixer-upperer,” she said croakily.
“Whew,” Hack said. “That’s my favorite persona. Boring normal doctor Hack is super, well, boring.”
“No glitter dicks?” she asked, feeling herself growing red.
“Definitely not,” he said. “Not that I put those glitter dicks into my bag. I mean, why would I want to have a bunch of glitter dicks in my bag?”
“Are you just seeing how often you can say the words glitter dicks?” Cash asked dryly.
“Whatever gave you that idea?” Hack asked, winking at her.
She grinned.
“Don’t encourage him, Addie,” Cash told her. “You don’t know how insufferable he can be.”
“I take offense to that. I might start to think you don’t like me.”
“I don’t.”
“Cash!” she gasped. “No lying.”
Cash turned his frown on her. “No talking. And, fine, I like you just fine. I also like giving you a hard time.”
“Aww, be still my heart.” Hack tapped his chest. “But, young lady, Cash is right. From now on, I don’t want you to talk, all right?”
She nodded, feeling frustrated.
“Let’s have a look at your throat, shall we? Hmm. Now, where did I put my thingee-looking-down-throat-ly bulb? And the thing that makes the bright light, I’m going to need that. Throats are dark sorts of things, you know?”
She wasn’t sure what to say to that. How come he couldn’t remember what anything was called? Glancing over her shoulder, she gave Cash an alarmed look.
Cash shook his head. “He’s just joking, trying to put you at ease, even if he’s not very funny.”
“I’ll have you know that lots of people find me funny. Your sister finds me funny,” Hack told him.
“Yes, well, I guess my sister’s an exception. She seems to find you a lot of things.”
“Why, yes, she does,” Hack replied.
Cash grunted. “I think we better stop talking about my sister before I decide to punch you in the face for all the things you do to her behind closed doors.”
All the things that Hack did to her behind closed doors? Did he hurt her? Hit her? What was he talking about?
“He’s not talking about anything bad,” Hack told her quickly, obviously reading the look on her face. “He’s just talking about the sexy things.”
“No brother wants to think about his sister doing those sorts of things,” Cash explained.
Oh, that was his problem. Now she got it. Relief filled her. She didn’t want to think about Cash’s sister being abused like that, or that a man Cash might be friends with was doing it.
Hack sent Cash a look. “It would be nice if you didn’t go around implying that I did terrible things to your sister.”
Cash simply grunted.
“Right, let me find the stuff that I’m looking for.” Hack started pulling some things from his big black bag. It was the biggest doctor’s bag she’d ever seen, and she started to see why with all the things that he had in it.
First he pulled out what looked to be a hammer. It was pink and had a glittery handle. Next, he drew out a rubber duck. It was floppy and had a ridiculously long neck. What on earth was that for?
The next crazy thing was a large plastic needle that was blue and yellow and had a bedazzled handle. What did that do? There was no way you could give somebody an injection with that. It was all plastic. It looked like something a five-year-old might play with.
What was all this stuff?
“What is this?” she asked through the tablet.
“Oh these are my doctory thingies. Except for this fellow. This is Doctor Duckie. Do you like him? Smart guy, but he had an accident a while back and it left him with this really long neck. He’s a bit self-conscious about it, so only say nice things.”
All right. The duck looked like a dog toy. Were those actual teeth marks in it? If it wasn’t for a dog then who the heck had put those teeth marks there, and why?
“Do you want Snaggles?” Cash suddenly asked her.
She nodded. Yeah, she really did now that she didn’t have to worry about hiding her Little. Hack had a way of putting her at ease. Cash grabbed her soft toy, handing him to her.
“Oh, that’s a good-looking saber-toothed tiger,” Hack told her.
“Got some nice, sharp teeth on him. Now, I’m looking for something in particular.
Where is it? Ah, here it is. This is my treasure box.
Good girls and boys that let me check them over get to choose something from my treasure box when they’ve been brave. Do you think you can be brave?”
Addie shrugged. Bravery wasn’t her strong suit. Maybe on the inside she could be. Deep down.
“You got this, baby,” Cash told her as he crouched down next to her and placed his hand on her thigh, squeezing lightly. “I know you can be brave.”
She shot him a look. But she nodded, determined to try.
“Phew, that’s good,” Hack said as he wiped his brow. “Because I have some awesome treasure in here, and I would hate it to go to waste. Let’s start by opening your mouth, okay?”
Addie opened her mouth, and he used the light to take a look, placing one of those horrible-tasting sticks on her tongue. Only this one wasn’t horrible-tasting. In fact, it kind of tasted like sugar, and it nearly started to melt in her mouth.
“Oh, shoot. I’ve used the wrong sort of sticky-mi-jiggy. Do you think you can eat the rest of it? It’s made of sugar. Could you do me that favor?” he asked.
Sure, she could make that sacrifice for him. She took the stick and started to eat it. It was really quite delicious and it wasn’t long until it was all gone.
“Right. Well, your throat looks inflamed and sore. You don’t feel sick at all? No aches and pains?” She shook her head and he took her temperature. “No fever. That’s good.”
Next, he looked in both of her ears and felt her glands. “You don’t use your voice a lot, right?”
Addie glanced back at Cash and then grabbed the tablet so she could type out a message to Hack.
“When I get anxious, my throat closes up and it’s hard to get words out.
It’s difficult to explain, and I’ve been anxious a lot these last few days with everything going on.
Plus, I’m away from my stuff, my safe place.
Back home, I don’t say a lot because I don’t really interact with that many people. ”
Part of her couldn’t believe she’d just told him all of that.
“So you’re doing a lot more talking. Have you done any yelling lately? Did you notice when your throat started to get sore?”
She nodded. “When those men attacked us to get Crystal. I yelled a lot and it really hurt after. Then I was yelling again at the airport when those other men were after us.”
“I think you have irritated your throat,” he said.
“I don’t think there’s been any permanent damage, but you need to just lay off talking for maybe another twenty-four hours.
Once the redness and irritation goes down, then ease into talking more.
No yelling, though. Stay hydrated. Hot honey drinks are good, but if it hasn’t stopped hurting in a few days we might need to send you to a specialist.”
She nodded.
“You’ve been through a lot these past few days, it’s okay to take some time to decompress and heal.” His voice was gentle, and she couldn’t stop the tears that formed in her eyes.
It felt crazy how many people have been so kind to her while she was here.
Strangers who she’d never met before.
“Good girl,” he said to her. “May I give you a hug?”
He opened his arms and waited with a hopeful look on his face. She nodded and moved closer, letting him wrap his arms carefully around her.
Touch was also something she was slowly getting used to. She hadn’t been touched much as a child, not in a nice way, anyway. Her mother hadn’t been someone to hug her when she fell over or wipe her tears.
Her sisters touched her sometimes, but they had always sensed she was uneasy with it.
Until Cash.
His touch was different. She craved it. Needed it. He was making her realize how much she’d missed out on.
Hack drew back. “Now, where is my magic wand? It must be here, I just got it. Ahh, here it is. Can’t do my doctoring without my magic wand.
” He waved a pink sparkly wand through the air.
“Right, I do declare that with lots of rest and care your throat shall get better soon. I prescribe warm honey drinks, no talking, and jello and ice cream whenever you feel like it.”
She smiled as Cash groaned, “Really, Hack?”
“I like to tease him too,” Hack mock-whispered to her.
“I also declare that you have been extremely brave and may choose something from the treasure chest.” He touched the wand to the chest before picking it up and moving it closer to her.
She reached up as he opened it and took the first thing she found.
Addie gasped in delight as she saw the ring. It slid perfectly onto her middle right finger and was a pink, sparkly diamond.
So pretty.
“Open it up,” he told her.
She found the little catch and opened it to find a lollipop inside.
Oh goody.
Turning, she showed Cash what she had, and the frown melted off his face as he smiled down at her.
“Good job, little Stowaway,” he told her, running his fingers through her hair. “You’re being such a good girl.”
Was there anything better than a lollipop hidden in a diamond ring and hearing that you were a good girl?
If there was, she wasn’t sure what that was.