19. Chapter Seventeen
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
SAMMI
S he looked at Daddy as she stood in front of him. “I can’t believe he said that. Did he know I was under the desk the whole time? How did he find out? Was I too loud?”
Sammi started to pace back and forth, her body stressed as Ezekiel’s words came tumbling down on her. She couldn’t believe she had just done that and gotten caught. Just her luck.
“Little One.” Daddy’s voice was calm.
“I didn’t think anyone would know. How?” she asked, trying to figure it out.
“Little One.” He was firmer this time, but Sammi didn’t pay any attention to it.
Ezekiel knew she was sucking her Daddy off while he was talking to him. And he continued their conversation like nothing was wrong or happening.
“Oh my goodness,” she whispered, frantically walking up and down the room. “I can’t believe that just happened. I can’t believe Ezekiel knew. How?”
She was hidden under the desk where no one could see her. Sure, Daddy’s voice was husky, and he did groan one time, but that shouldn’t have clued Ezekiel in. Slight panic was going through Sammi as she thought about it. Was he going to tell other people? Did she need to go talk to him about keeping it a secret?
“Sammi,” Daddy called out, making her stop in her tracks.
She turned over toward him and looked exasperated. “Yes? I’m trying to think things through here.”
“You don’t need to,” he gently said.
Her mouth hung open for several seconds as she stared at Daddy. “I don’t need to? Of course I need to. He knew I was there. What if he goes and tells everybody what I was doing? I won’t be able to show my face here again, let alone work!”
“You not working here just means I get to provide for you.”
Sammi took a step back and shook her head. “No, not yet. I… need to work right now.”
Daddy sighed but nodded. “I understand. I’m not going to take your ability to work and be independent away. But I’m also not allowing you to run yourself into the grave because you’re working too much. When you’re ready to not work anymore allow me to just pamper and spoil you, which I’ll do anyway even if you’re still working, let me know. You don’t need to work if you don’t want to. You don’t need to deal with things on your own, either. So, if you have anything you need help with, I’ll help you if I know about it.”
She nodded. Sammi felt bad for not telling Daddy about the debt her brother owed since it involved her. It wasn’t her debt, and she wasn’t technically allowed to speak about it. Her brother didn’t want anyone to know that he owed Deccan money, and she was being respectful of that. Was it hard? Absolutely. So many times, she wanted to just tell Daddy about the debt so he could help out somehow.
“He’s going to know something’s up when he sees me walking around. I mean, he already does know that I was sucking you from under the desk. How are you not worried about this? He could tell anybody!” Sammi exclaimed.
“But he won’t. Ezekiel won’t tell anybody. I promise.” Daddy gave her a smile. “Now, come here and give Daddy a hug.”
She slowly walked to Daddy and wrapped her arms around him. Even sitting, he was still a little taller than her. But she loved that. It made her feel secure and protected.
Sammi relaxed into her Daddy’s embrace, his hands wrapped around her. If she had her way, Daddy would always hold on to her, never letting go. She wanted to be safe and secure all the time. This was one of the only ways that she felt it.
Pulling away, she looked at Daddy. “When can I go back to work?”
They hadn’t talked about when she could get back to work. It was driving her crazy, not knowing. Was he trying to hold off so she stopped thinking about work and eventually didn’t want to go back to it?
She really didn’t want to go back to work. Or, well, the long hours. She loved working on the farm, but they were long days, which meant she couldn’t do anything else if she wanted to. Before her brother told her about the debt, she had been about to buy membership at BTS so she could go hang out with all the other Littles.
Maybe when the debt was repaid, she would still be able to, which meant she had to work some more. But maybe if she brought it up to Daddy and he was a member, he could take her someday. It was worth a try, and that was a question Daddy wanted her to ask him because it was something she wanted and partially needed.
“When I say it’s okay to,” Daddy replied after several seconds.
“Do you know when that will be?”
“Why are you in a hurry to go back to work? You’re on sick leave, so you’re getting paid.”
“But I’m not sick,” she pointed out, and Daddy gave her a look. “Okay, technically, I am, but I’m going to be sick for the rest of my life. I can’t just take sick leave every single day until I die or retire… if I make it that long.”
Daddy cupped her face, his hands firm on her cheeks. “You will not talk about dying or not making it to retirement. You will. You are going to have a long and happy life with me, your Daddy, lover, and future husband.”
Her eyes went wide as he said husband . It’s not like she hasn’t fantasized about them getting married, but she just thought it was too soon
“Yes, husband. You are mine. Nobody will take that away. You will always be mine, and everybody is going to know that. They’re going to know that if they try and flirt with you they will be meeting the end of my fist.”
“You aren’t going to punch them.” Sammi chuckled, trying to imagine Daddy hitting someone.
Daddy’s face went serious as he looked at her. “You’re right. I’m not going to punch them. I’m going to torture them and make sure that they know that you are off-limits if they try to so much as flirt with you. No one will know they are missing. Everyone will think that they decided to leave Springfield to pursue something else.”
Sammi sobered up as she looked at Daddy. “You’re serious.”
“Deadly.”
“Oh,” she whispered, not knowing how to respond.
“If anyone bothers you, makes you uncomfortable, teases you, and you don’t like it, anything at all, you let me know, and I’ll take care of them.”
“Really?” she asked in disbelief.
“Yes, really. And if I find out that you didn’t tell me something, there will be consequences for you as well.” His voice was deep and not wavering in the slightest.
“And the other person?”
“Like I said before, torture. I will make sure they and everyone else in town understand it means that you are mine. No one will mess with you. If they do, there will be examples for them to know I’m serious.”
“But... But Sheriff Baxter. What about him? I don’t want you to get thrown in jail.”
Sammi should have been concerned with what he was saying about torturing people, but she was trying not to think about it too much. He would do that for her. What else was he willing to do?
“He won’t do anything to me. I’ve got ways to go around the law and have him not question me.” Daddy squeezed her cheeks.
She blinked several times, trying to take his words in. He had ways to get around the law. The sheriff wouldn’t question him. What exactly was Gene doing?
“I wasn’t going to tell you, but you heard part of what Ezekiel said. I’m sure you have questions. I’m not going to give you all the details, but I will fill you in on some of them.”
“Oh, okay,” she whispered.
Sammi had honestly forgotten what Ezekiel had said until Daddy brought it up. She had meant to ask about it but got distracted.
“The Little Farm is completely legal. It is the legal side of my business, but I do have a side business.” Daddy chuckled. “More like my main business now, which doesn’t operate on the legal side.”
“What... what is it?” Sammi tentatively asked.
“I’m not going to tell you that. I wanted to let you know that it’s not entirely lawful.”
“Does it have anything to do with Deccan?” Sammi asked.
Nerves ran through her body as she waited for him to answer. What was he going to say?
“I do work with Deccan.”
Sammi nodded, not knowing what to do or say. She needed to be extremely careful with what she did next. This was going to be harder than she thought. The first time she had given her brother some money, Deccan wouldn’t take it unless he saw her. After that, he demanded that the money her brother was repaying was delivered by him, and the money she repaying would be delivered by her.
How was she going to do that now when Ezekiel had just walked into his office unannounced and unplanned? She was going to have to do it later at night when she knew Daddy was asleep. Or maybe she could wait until Daddy left for the weekend when he had those random meetings he needed to attend.
Looking back on those, she figured those were also part of his not-so-legal side of business. It had to be since the Little Farm only did things in Springfield.
“But none of that is going to blow back on you. So, you don’t have to worry about that.” Daddy kissed her forehead.
If only he knew that she was already dealing with Deccan. Sammi knew Daddy would be extremely pissed, but he wasn’t going to find out.
“Now, let’s check your blood sugar to make sure you’re okay, and then I’m going to walk around and check over things.” Daddy let go of her face.
“So you can secretly tell everybody that I have diabetes and for them to look after me?” She raised an eyebrow.
Daddy laughed a little and picked up her phone, giving it to her. “I hadn’t actually planned on doing that, but I think I will now. If you really don’t like me telling everybody, I can just tell a couple of people. Like Ezekiel, Nolan, and one other person. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable and out you, but we need to let a couple of people know so that while I’m not here, they can watch out and make sure that you’re okay.”
“Just a couple of people,” she whispered, handing it back to Daddy.
“This time, you’re going to do it. Look at the number and tell me whether it’s okay or if you need anything.” Daddy passed the phone back to her.
He had done this this morning. Part of her was grateful because she was learning more, but the other part was nervous. She knew that if she were wrong, Daddy would explain everything and make sure she understood, but what if she was wrong when he was gone and something bad happened?
The nurse did tell her that she wouldn’t die if she went too low or too high, but it would be dangerous. That didn’t make her feel much better.
Her life was in her own hands. She was going to have to make decisions every single day to try and keep herself living her life. It wasn’t just once a day; it was multiple times a day, throughout the day. She got no reprieve from this ever.
Her decisions were either going to keep her alive or not.
That was a lot for her process. A lot weighing down on her shoulders. Thankfully, she wasn’t alone. She had Daddy, but he wasn’t always going to be around her when she needed things.
“Umm, It’s on the lower side, but it’s still within range. So, I guess I need to keep an eye on it for the next hour to make sure it doesn’t drop anymore?” It came out more like a question as she looked back up at Daddy.
It all felt so surreal. If she could, she would just let Daddy worry about her blood sugar and whether it was okay or not. But she couldn’t, it wasn’t wise. If anything were to happen to Daddy and he couldn’t be around to check on it, then she would be in a pickle. She needed to learn so she could take care of herself if anything were to happen to him.
“Good girl. Your CGM will give you a notification if it drops too low. That’s when you need to eat some of the emergency snacks to bring it back up.”
“Okay, Daddy.”
“Do you want to walk around with me or stay in my office?” Daddy asked.
“Stay in your office,” she replied without even thinking.
She didn’t want to be around when Daddy talked to her coworkers about her diagnosis, but she also didn’t want to be there as he talked with the others. Would they think bad of her for being here and not working?
Yeah, she didn’t want to be walking around with Daddy. He didn’t need her.
Daddy kissed her forehead before heading to the door. “Be a good girl and stay in my office while I’m gone. Don’t do anything naughty.”