Chapter 6
TINLEY
My question hung in the air as he flopped on the bed with his mouth hung wide open.
Darn it. I really needed to think before I spoke. I knew the answer already. I had a Daddy radar for those types of men, but I should have kept my question to myself. I almost didn’t want him to admit it because once he did, I had to address how I felt about those types of men.
Damon and I were targeted specifically because we were in a DD/lg relationship.
Apparently, women who acted, dressed, and spoke like little girls were in demand in the sex trade.
Although being marketed as a little girl for sex with men who wanted to live out their pedophile fantasy wasn’t anywhere near the same as what I knew in my heart.
I am a little and I had wanted a Daddy well before I even knew my fetish had a name. But Damon had been my only real Daddy, and he was taken from me. Not all Daddies kept their promises.
I grabbed my cup of tea to have something to do with my hands. Josh continued staring at me. I could hear the wheels turning in his brain. How long would it be before he spoke?
I put him out of his misery.
“I know that was a pretty personal question, but I need to know before I tell you how I got here.” I shrugged. “It might make it easier for you to understand if you are.”
“Up until a few minutes ago, I had thought I kept that side of me in check.” He rubbed the back of his neck.
My stomach flipped.
“You did, for the most part.” I took a sip and put the cup back down on the table. “My boyfriend and I were in that type of relationship. But I’m not a little anymore. That part of me died when they killed… ” My voice trailed off.
I wiped at the tears flowing down my cheeks. Josh wiped at his eyes too.
He stood up and held a hand out toward me.
I hugged myself. “I know you want to hold me, but please don’t.”
He brought his hand back to his neck.
“But you can sit next to me and ask me anything you want.”
Josh bit his bottom lip, and his eyes darted around. He appeared confused, unsure, like he didn’t know how to proceed. I bet he had not had many moments in his life where he wasn’t in control.
Failing to figure out something to say, he took a seat instead.
“So, what do—”
“Before we get—”
We both stared at each other, then laughed.
He settled back against the arm of the couch, facing me. I turned toward him.
“Before we get started, let me answer your questions.” He sighed and ran his hand down his leg. “I am a Daddy Dom or was.” He whispered fuck under his breath.
I giggled and he glared at me with an amused expression on his face.
“I was a Daddy Dom, but only in clubs and a couple of relationships, but never with a little girl of my own. It was more age play.” He leaned back on the couch.
“My best friend, Kyler, he’s a Daddy Dom and he recently met his forever little girl, and being around them, I thought it was reminding me of what I don’t want.
But it’s actually having the opposite effect.
I owe you an apology for taking advantage of your situation as some opportunity to take care of someone like I crave. ”
My eyes grew wide.
“Did I share too much?” He chuckled.
“No.” I shook my head. “Your best friend’s little girl is a full-time little girl?”
“Well, it’s complicated because they are on a break while she finishes school. She’s in New Jersey and he’s in Las Vegas.”
“What do you mean was?”
“I think he’s about to move to be near her.” He shrugged. “Romantic, right?”
“I’m not sure I know what romance looks like anymore.” The huge lump in my throat dropped to my stomach. “Anyway.” I peeked up at him. The amused expression remained.
“So, you were taken about two years ago. Where were you?” Josh rested his arm on the back of the couch.
“We’d gone to a BDSM club in Amsterdam. My… ” I couldn’t say his name or his moniker out loud. “My boyfriend and I were invited and sponsored by a friend of his.”
“Do you know the friend? Had you met him before?” he asked.
“No, my boyfriend took a summer abroad course in London when we were in college, and he said that’s where they met.” I picked at a loose thread on the robe. “We’d gone to Europe on vacation for three weeks. We saved up for a year to take the trip.”
“Where are you from in the States?”
I blinked and looked up at him. He waited for my answer. I don’t know why I hesitated. Apparently, I had no more ties to my hometown. No one came looking for me.
“Pittsburgh.”
“Do you have family there?” He looked toward his computer. I knew all the answers to his questions were probably in a file on his computer. I appreciated him asking me first.
“My mother and her baby sister, who was like ten years younger than my mom, and I was ten years younger than her. We kind of all raised each other.” I smiled. I missed my mom so much. She must be heartbroken thinking I was dead.
“No siblings?”
“No.
“What about your boyfriend?” Josh leaned forward.
I leaned back and turned around and adjusted to face forward.
“I don’t want to talk about him anymore,” I whispered. My voice sounded like the little in my head. I missed her.
“Okay.” Josh’s phone rang. He looked at it and frowned.
“What’s wrong?” The lump made its way back up to my throat.
“An FBI team working in Paris would like to speak to you.”
I gasped and stood up. I didn’t know where I was heading. Josh stepped in front of me but didn’t touch me.
“Hey.” He held up his hands. “You remember the promise I made to you.”
“Yeah, well, promises get broken all the time.” I sucked in a deep breath, but it didn’t quite reach my lungs. I stepped back and reached for something to brace if I collapsed. My eyes blinked rapidly.
“Fuck.” Josh grabbed one of my arms and placed it against his chest. “Breathe, Tinley.” He inhaled and then exhaled. “You feel my heartbeat.”
I inhaled and shook my head.
“Listen to it, breathe in for me again.”
I did.
“And out.”
I exhaled and gripped his chest with my fingertips. I didn’t know if I wanted to pull away or claw his heart out and keep it forever.
Dark Tinley.
A wicked giggle escaped my lips.
“Well, that giggle was sinister.” He chuckled. “One more time, inhale.”
I followed his lead and exhaled. He dropped his hand, but mine remained in the middle of his chest. His chest muscles rose and fell under my hand.
I watched the rise and fall in time with the beat playing across my palm.
I tilted my head up to see his face. I wanted to deny what I saw in those eyes.
I barely knew him, but I felt safe around him.
He peeled my hand off his chest but held it and guided me back to the couch.
“Let’s sit back down.” He ran his thumbs over my knuckles. “Is this okay?” He nodded toward our hands.
“Yes.”
“Good.” He grinned.
I got the feeling he wanted to add “girl” at the end of his sentence but held back. I appreciated it even though I felt every bit of his praise in my body.
“All the men who were here in the hotel have been put into custody. The FBI team is questioning the two Americans arrested last night. They are all part of some international task force on sex trafficking, and you could really help them out.”
“What about the other girls?” I took my hand back and regretted it. “Can’t they tell them what happened?”
“They can and they are, but you are the only American among them, so the FBI is very interested in what you can tell them.” His hand remained where I dropped it.
“How much do I have to tell them?” I placed my hand in his again. The little voice had returned.
“Only what you’re comfortable with.” He squeezed my hand. “And I will be with you the whole time if you want.”
I squeezed his hand back.
“Once it’s over, I have a plane ready to take us back to the States or wherever you want to go.”
Tears sprang to my eyes.
“Oh, hey, Tinley.” He scooted closer. “What’s wrong?”
I glared at him. Everything was wrong.
“I mean, what made you tear up now?”
“I don’t know.” I sighed. “I don’t really know who I am anymore. It’s been two years, and I don’t even know where I would go.”
“Well, how about we worry about that later?” He squeezed my hand again and then stood up.
He grabbed the pen and paper I used yesterday and brought them back to the couch. “We make a list and mark them off step by step.” He perched the pad on his knee and waited. “Anything you need or want, we’ll put it on the list.”
“I don’t know where to start.” I curled up in the corner of the couch.
“The order doesn’t matter, just throw stuff out.”
“We’ll see what sticks.” I giggled.
Josh joined me. He had a great laugh.
“Exactly.”
I ran my hand through my hair. “I want to have these taken out.”
“Okay.” He wrote on the pad. “Remove extensions.”
“Dentist.”
He grinned but wrote it down. I waited for the hurt to hit me, but it didn’t. Josh wasn’t laughing at me.
I threw out everything I could think of.
Clothes, shopping for essentials, getting back to the States, talking to the police. I purposely didn’t mention finding my family, finding Damon’s family, but they were on my list, too.
A knock on the door soon interrupted us.
I looked at my robe and back at Josh in a panic.
“That’s not them. I arranged for us to meet with them in a conference room downstairs.” He opened the door and grabbed four shopping bags. He brought them in and set them on the bed.
“My assistant went a little overboard, but take a look and anything you don’t like, just leave it on the bed.”
I stood up and approached the bed. I peeked into one of the bags.
Three of them were full of clothes. The last one was filled with toiletries.
I pulled a bottle of lotion out of the sack and flipped the top.
I inhaled and groaned. The lilacs invaded my senses.
I hadn’t smelled pretty things in so long.
I put a little on the back of my hand and rubbed it in. It made my skin so soft.
“I’m going to give you some privacy for about thirty minutes.” Josh moved toward the desk and picked up his laptop. “You have fun and get dressed and then I’ll come back and get you and we’ll go talk to the FBI and then we are out of here.”
I went to the door.
I dug my hand through another bag and held in a squeal as I pulled out the matching sweatshirt and pants set.
“Tinley.” Josh’s deep voice hit my ears, and I dropped everything and turned to him.
“I’m sorry.” He frowned. “I need you to do something for me, okay?”
I nodded and approached him.
“When I leave, I want you to flip the doorstopper and lock the door. And put a chair in front if it makes you feel safer.” He flipped the door latch to show me. “And do not open it for anyone except me. Okay?”
I nodded.
“I need to hear your answer, Tinley.”
It was a very Dom thing to say.
“Yes, sir.” I saluted him.
He glared at me again without any hint of malice in his voice.
But as he closed the door behind him, I heard him whisper. “Brat.”
And I didn’t freak out.
At least not yet.