Chapter 10
RAELYNN
Nerves ran through Raelynn as she waited for Reaper to put the pictures in front of him.
She was going to have to be good about schooling her expression if she didn’t want to give anything away.
She wasn’t stupid and knew that, even though they didn’t want her to say anything, they would be watching her very carefully.
Edmund used to do the same thing, and she wasn’t about to get them in trouble for looking into him. No. They couldn’t get hurt because of her.
Reaper pulled out some pieces of paper. Her eyebrows rose as she moved her body to look behind his back. Where did those come from? How was he hiding them, and no one suspected a thing?
Reaper cracked a smile.
“H-how?” she asked. “Tell me how you did that.”
Daddy pushed his phone in front of her. Kindly ask. Don’t demand.
Rae pushed her bottom lip out as she looked back at him. She wanted to know how Reaper had done that. It was like a magic trick.
“How did you do that?” she asked. “No one saw that it was behind your back. You didn’t leave the room to grab them while we were here.”
Magic.
Her eyes grew wide. “Magic? You know how to do that?”
Raelynn was leaning so far that Daddy had to wrap his arms around her waist, so she didn’t fall off his lap.
“More magic?” she asked. “Please?”
She had a girlfriend in high school who was obsessed with magic, and Rae loved watching her. It was so interesting to see how they did anything.
Maybe another time. I’m a little rusty since I haven’t had anyone to show the tricks to, but I’ll practice when we’re done, so next time we meet, I can show you.
She beamed up at him and clapped her hands several times, bouncing up and down on Daddy’s lap. She couldn’t wait for the next time she saw Reaper now.
“Thirty minutes?” she asked. “In thirty minutes, can we meet up again so you can show me stuff?”
Reaper threw his head back as he laughed, and she couldn’t help but smile. But it quickly disappeared when she couldn’t hear anything, and reality came crashing back down. She watched him continue to laugh, sadness seeping into her more and more.
Are you okay? Daddy’s phone was in front of her.
She shrugged and looked away, not wanting to see any more. She had been perfectly fine, but reality has a nasty way of crashing the happiest moments in life.
“Pictures?” she changed the subject, not wanting to talk about magic any longer.
She wanted magic to fix her ears. She wanted herself to be all better so she didn’t have to rely on people writing or typing on their phone to communicate with her.
Rae could feel everyone’s eyes on her. She didn’t want to have to look at any of them and see the pity in their eyes.
Reaper finally put the pieces of paper in front of her. Three in total, with at least eight males on each page. But before she could get any good look at them, Butch was pulling her face away from the pictures.
Are you sure you want to do this? I don’t want to trigger you. Was written on his phone.
“I’m sure. He just wants me to look at them and nothing else,” she replied.
If it gets to be too much, you tell me. We can stop at any point.
She nodded and looked back at the paper. Grabbing the first one, she took a deep breath and began looking at each picture.
Palms sweaty, she looked at the next and next picture, seeing people she knew from her hometown, but not Edmund or any of his friends.
“Wait.” She looked up at Reaper. “Are these all people who start with Ed in their first name?”
Raelynn figured Daddy would tell Reaper about her slip-up, but she didn’t expect them to narrow it down already. But with Reaper nodding, her grip on the paper tightened. She was more likely to see Edmund now, and Rae didn’t know whether she was prepared for that or not.
But Raelynn pushed on and made herself look at the paper again, putting it down when she got through all of them and picking up the next one.
Daddy had his hand on her back, gently patting it to let her know he was there for her.
She quickly went through the second and on to the third, not wanting to take too long on either one.
But when her eyes landed on the last picture, she blinked and stared at it for several seconds before putting it down.
Edmund had been the last picture. It was a picture of when he had gotten arrested for drinking and driving one night.
She remembered him not coming home at all and the relief she felt, but it all came crashing down the next day when he got out and came home, still slightly drunk from the night before.
A shiver ran through her as she looked over at Reaper, putting on her fakest smile she could muster. “I don’t see anyone on there who was the person who had me.”
Lie.
Oh, such a big lie, and she could already feel the guilt forming in her stomach. She knew it wasn’t good to lie, but it was for their own good. They didn’t want to deal with him, not when he had connections to some very powerful people who could make people disappear randomly.
No.
None of them deserved that.
“They are all people who live in the town, but none of them was the man who owned me.” She tried to keep her voice as steady as possible.
She made eye contact with Reaper, but he just tilted his head to the side as he continued to look at her. Okay… that was a little weird. Her eyes moved to Levi, who was shaking his head, and she quickly looked away.
“Why is everyone just looking at me?” she asked Butch as she turned to him.
But she didn’t like his expression any more than the other two. He just cupped her face with his hands and looked at her. Tears brimmed in her eyes and fell down her cheeks.
“I don’t know why I’m getting emotional,” she whispered. “It must be you. I used to not cry, but now I’ve cried so much. I’m sorry.”
All Butch did was wipe them away and continue to hold her face in his hands.
“Butch,” she choked out.
He shook his head.
“But—” He shook his head once again.
“Daddy?” she mumbled, and he nodded.
It was her turn to shake her head. There was no way she could call him Daddy out loud.
Not when they hadn’t talked about anything, and she didn’t know whether she was going to stay here or not.
Her being there was putting everyone in danger, and she didn’t want to be responsible for everyone.
It was a lot of weight on her shoulders…
her life, and she knew she was going to break any second if she did.
“I can’t stay here,” she whispered. “I can’t. I need to go before he finds me. I need to get away from all of you. I’m only putting you guys in danger. Everyone in this building… this town.”
She sounded like a broken record, but everything she was saying was true. They just didn’t believe her that Edmund wasn’t someone to mess with. He had friends, and those friends were powerful, which, in return, made him powerful and untouchable.
Unless someone killed him.
Oh, how she had thought about killing him so many times, but she never had the courage to.
No matter how bad her life was when she was with him, she just couldn’t bring herself to do it.
Her mind went to Butch and what would happen if he found out.
Would he still want her? And then it went to all of Edmund’s friends, and she knew she would suffer when they caught her.
Butch pulled her into his chest, being mindful of her incision, and held her closely. His chest vibrated, and she would like to believe that he was whispering sweet nothings to her, but he was most likely talking to Reaper and Levi.
Raelynn didn’t know how much time had passed before Butch pulled her away from him and held his phone for her to read.
You are not going anywhere. You keep saying you are putting everyone in danger, but you’re not. We are going to keep you safe, and you won’t be able to do anything about it. We can take care of ourselves, know the risks, and are willing to take them.
“But I don’t want to bear the consequences,” she pointed out.
You won’t. I promise you won’t bear the consequences because there will be none.
He’s not going to get you. We are going to make sure of that.
This place is super safe. So put that thought out of your head about leaving, because I’m not going to allow you to.
You are mine, and you are stuck here with me for the rest of your life.
Her mouth hung open as she looked at him, which gave him more time to write on his phone.
You’re my Little Fairy, and I’m your Daddy. Same rules as before, and if you need a reminder, I’ll tell you. We are going to go over hard limits and what you are okay with for everything. But what we aren’t going to do is say that you need to leave and push me away. We are going to figure this out.
Raelynn pushed her face into his chest and took fistfuls of his shirt, clinging on for dear life. He really wasn’t going to give up on her, and part of her was relieved he wasn’t.
His arms wrapped around her once again, and she relaxed into his embrace.