Chapter 4
Trent jumped out of the car before Larry had even came to a stop. Before getting on the plane from Vegas, he’d managed to get hold of Larry and asked him to meet him at the airport in Jackson to bring him back here.
The older man ran a taxi service in Wanton. It was surprisingly busy considering the town had less than eight thousand people in it. Still, this would likely be the biggest fare he’d ever had.
But Trent didn’t give a shit. He was just grateful that he’d managed to get a flight out of Las Vegas to get back to his girl.
Fuck. What had she been doing in town? He’d told her to rest. And she was supposed to text him before going anywhere.
Not that he’d ever have a reason to object to her going to the corner store. Even knowing how tired she’d looked this morning, he likely wouldn’t have said no.
However, he couldn’t help but think of all the ways he could have stopped this from happening. Running up to the house, he unlocked the door and stepped inside. His foot hit something, and he looked down in surprise at a number of her toys on the floor.
What the hell were they all doing in front of the door? The alarm beeped, and he quickly took care of it as someone walked out of the living room.
“You made good time,” Noah rumbled.
He sighed, nodding. “I got back here as quickly as I could. How is she?”
Noah ran his hand over his beard. “She went up to bed a couple of hours ago.”
“She’s asleep?”
“Don’t know. I haven’t heard anything from her since the shower shut off. The door’s closed.”
Right. Christ. “Thanks for coming and staying with her, man.”
Noah just nodded. Trent had been friends with the reclusive mountain man for years. Noah lived about another hour up the mountain and didn’t come down for much. But he did have a cell phone and thankfully, he’d answered when Trent called him while he was in the airport waiting for his flight.
After he’d received a call from Max, who’d told him what had happened, Trent had fucking lost it. When April had gotten on the phone, she’d been the one reassuring him.
Which wasn’t fucking good enough. He had to be there for her.
After getting out of him what was wrong, Ethan had gone online and booked him a flight while Sammy shoved him into a taxi to the airport. He’d called Noah to see if he could go stay with her, not wanting April to be alone.
“Gotta go,” Noah said.
Trent nodded. He wanted to get upstairs to April, but he walked out with Noah.
“What’s with all the toys on the floor?” Trent asked.
“I have no idea. They’re at the back door too. And on the staircase.”
Weird.
After Noah left, Trent raced up the stairs, jumping over the toys at the bottom and top of the staircase before moving to their bedroom door. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door carefully.
A terror-filled scream greeted him just before his girl flung herself out of the bed and landed on the floor.
Fuck!
Why hadn’t he called out to her first?
Idiot!
“April, it’s me! It’s Trent, baby.” The light by the bed was on, filling the room with a soft glow.
“T-Trent?” Her face appeared above the mattress. She looked so pale and scared that he had to clench his fists to hold in his anger.
That fucking asshole.
That bastard better fucking hope that he got locked away for a long time because if Trent got hold of him . . .
“Yeah, baby. It’s me. Come here.”
A sob escaped her, and she shook her head.
Fucking hell. He wanted to go to her. To pick her up and hold her tight. But the terror in her eyes told him to go slow. That any sudden movements might just make her more afraid.
Moving on instinct, he got down on his knees. He didn’t want to loom over her. This way he was more at her height and was hopefully less likely to scare her.
Another sob escaped her as he held out his arms. “Come here, baby.”
She shook her head, tears streaming down her face.
“Everything is all right now,” he soothed. “I’m home. I’ll take care of you.”
It was so damn hard to hold himself back. To stop from reaching for her and pulling her into his embrace. But it was better if she came to him.
“Come on, baby girl. Come to Daddy. I need to hold you. You know you’re always safe in Daddy’s arms.”
That worked. She shuffled toward him on her hands and knees. Christ. She was killing him. But he forced himself not to let his own fear show.
Right now, she needed him to be calm. April was always so full of laughter and life. She was always smiling and dancing. She lived a life mostly free from worry.
And that was because that’s how he liked her to live. He would take on every burden he could, just to keep her smiling and dancing. He’d fight every battle he had to in order to stop the darkness of the world from touching her.
Of course, that wasn’t always possible. There were some things he couldn’t fight.
Like what happened today.
But he swore right then that nothing like this would ever touch her again. Because she wasn’t ever leaving the house without him.
No. Fucking. Way.
Okay, so there was a part of him that knew that wouldn’t be possible. However, in that moment, he didn’t give a fuck.
He’d come so close to losing her. And that couldn’t happen again.
She stopped about a foot in front of him and he slid around onto his butt, crossing his legs. She often liked to curl up in his lap. He was a big guy. A whole foot taller than her five-foot-four. And he weighed a good eighty pounds more than she did.
“Come on, my baby. Let me hold you. Please. I really need to feel you. When I think of how close I came to losing you today . . .” He had to pause as his voice started to crack. “I really need to hold you, baby girl.”
She suddenly threw herself at him and he caught her, settling her on his lap and holding her as tight as he dared.
She let out a sob and he rocked her back and forth. She tugged at his shirt and he drew back to lift it up over his head, knowing what she needed.
She buried her face into his chest immediately. He ran his hand up and down her back, trying his best to soothe her.
“You’re all right. I’m here.”
They’d learned early on in their relationship that skin-to-skin contact was soothing for her. She was particularly fond of his bare chest.
“Daddy,” she murmured. “I was so scared.”
“I know. I’m here now, though. There’s nothing to be scared about with Daddy keeping you safe.”
“I’m s-so sorry.” A whole body tremble went through her and he held her tighter. Fuck.
He kissed the top of her head, breathing in her vanilla scent. He could have lost her. What would he have done if something happened to her?
Three years ago, she’d driven into town with an attitude and a laugh that made everyone around her smile.
When her car had broken down, she’d gotten a job waitressing at the local bar.
Suddenly, he’d become a regular at the Stag Tavern.
Along with all the men in town aged between eighteen and eighty who weren’t already taken.
But he’d been the lucky bastard she’d set her sights on. The fact that she was a Little had just been icing on the fucking cake. Finally, he had someone he could fuss over and protect. Care for and cherish. Discipline and play with.
Yeah, she was the whole fucking package and not a day went by that he wasn’t grateful that her car had broken down in his town.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
“Hey, stop that now.” He put his hand on the back of her head, holding her to him. “You don’t need to apologize, baby.”
“I was s-supposed to stay h-home,” she told him. “But one of my c-customers paid for e-expedited shipping. I had to get the p-package to the post office.”
Ahh. So that’s what had happened. She’d worked so hard to make her business successful. And it was really taking off. However, while she loved the creative side and she was amazing at it, her organizational skills were seriously lacking. Admin wasn’t something she could seem to keep on top of.
“I just w-went to the store for some more p-potato chips.”
“More potato chips? Baby, there were three bags in the pantry when I left. Why would you need more?”
“Umm.” She stiffened in his arms.
“What did you eat for dinner last night?” he asked sternly.
“Umm . . . well . . .”
He stood with her in his arms and sat on the edge of the bed with her on his lap, facing him. Grasping her chin, he tilted her face back.
“Baby girl, what did you eat for dinner last night?”
“I covered all the food groups, Daddy.”
“Uh-uh. How did you do that?” he asked.
“Uh, well, I had fruit.”
“What sort of fruit?” He gave her a suspicious look.
“Cherries.”
“Cherries?” he repeated.
“Yeah . . . maraschino ones.”
He sighed. “And what else?”
“Uh, well, I also had protein and dairy.”
“Really?” he asked sceptically.
“Uh-huh. In the form of chocolate fish and whipped cream.”
“April Carson. Is that seriously what you ate for dinner?”
“Well, yep, and some potato chips. Hence, why I needed more potato chips.”
“April,” he grumbled. “That’s not an acceptable dinner and you know it. What did you eat today?”
“Umm, well . . . I’m so sorry you had to come back, Daddy. That ticket probably cost a fortune. And how did you get here? Did someone pick you up? I could have come and gotten you.”
“That wasn’t happening. You’re in no fit state to drive. I got Larry to come get me.”
“Larry? Oh, God. That must have cost an arm and a leg.”
April had grown up with very little. Money was always a worry for her, no matter how much he reassured her. The only time she didn’t seem to worry about finances was when she was in Little headspace.
“Baby girl, I said don’t worry about the money and I meant it. Understand me?” He made his voice stern.
She nodded. “O-okay.”
“And don’t worry about Ben’s stag weekend. It’s not like I was having a good time. Ben is probably grateful that my grumpy ass is no longer there.”
She gave him a faint smile. “My grumpy badger.”
“Can’t believe that nickname has stuck. I should have spanked you the first time you said it. Definitely should have taken a belt to your ass when you said it in front of my brothers.”
A small giggle escaped her. “Sorry, Daddy.”
“No, you’re not.”
“No. I’m not.”
“Because you’re a brat who still hasn’t told me what she ate today.”
“Shoot. You noticed, huh?”
“I notice everything about you, baby girl.” He brushed her wild hair off her face, taking note of her swollen eyes and pale skin. Fuck. She looked exhausted and traumatized.
Nope. He was never leaving her the house on her own again.
“Well?”
“I had some pop tarts.”
“And . . .”
“An energy drink.”
“And . . .”
“And that was it.”
He shook his head at her. “What am I going to do with you?”
“Love me?”
“I’ll always love you, precious girl. But you need a keeper. You can’t live on sugar and caffeine. Did you get any sleep last night?”
“A bit. I, um, might have fallen asleep at my desk.”
He shook his head. Christ. “You shouldn’t have been driving today. Did you take a nap?”
“I was going to. But that’s when I realized I had to get that package to the post office.”
“So you barely had any sleep last night. And you’ve hardly eaten anything today. Then you were traumatized by that fucking asshole.”
She bit her lip, and he reached up and released it.
“You need close watching, baby.”
“Sorry, Daddy. I thought I would be all right on my own. I thought I could do it. But it was so scary.”
“It’s understandable that today was scary.”
“Well, yeah, there was that. It was terrifying. I thought . . . I thought he was going to kick Jess. He was aiming for her stomach. He could have hurt her baby.”
“What the fuck?” he whispered.
As she went through everything that had happened from the moment that asshole entered the store, his anger grew. He had to fight hard to keep from letting his fury fly free.
That fucking bastard had hurt his girl. He’d terrified her. He’d nearly hurt Jess.
“Did you get checked out?” he asked hoarsely.
“Yes, Max insisted. The paramedics checked us over. I’ve just got some bruising. But Jess’s blood pressure was pretty high, so they took her into the hospital.”
He lifted her off his lap. “Show me.”
“What?”
“Take off your pajamas. Show me.”
She was dressed in her favorite pajamas. The bottoms were red and white checked. While the top was white with a picture of a red stag’s head on the front.
“Daddy, I’m fine.”
He stood. Then he lifted her, placing her on her back on the bed before he reached for the bottom of her pajama pants and tugged them off.
April sighed, but didn’t try to stop him. He removed her top as well until she lay there in just a pair of red panties. Rolling her carefully onto her front, he studied the bruises on her back. They weren’t bad. But he detested seeing them against her pale skin. He ran his finger lightly over them.
“Did they put any cream on them?” he asked.
“No. It’s just a few bruises, Daddy. I’m fine, really.”
She tried to roll back over, but he lightly slapped her ass. “Stay where you are.”
Moving into the attached bathroom, he grabbed some arnica cream. Returning, he sat on the bed next to her and gently rubbed the cream onto her bruises.
“This will help, baby.”
“I’m okay, Daddy.”
“Not yet, you aren’t. But you will be. Daddy will see to that.”