Chapter 26
RAELYNN
“Can I go out to the coffee shop with Echo?” Raelynn asked.
Daddy turned from the paperwork he was looking at and shook his head. “I still don’t know where Edmund is, and I would rather you didn’t go out without me.”
“Please, Daddy. We can take someone with us if you want. But I really want to go with her. She said she was going to introduce me to the owner and apparently another girl called Demi,” Rae said.
“Demi? Who works at one of our bars?” Daddy asked, giving her his full attention.
“That’s what Echo said. She mentioned that Demi was feeling a little down and didn't have anyone to hang out with, so she wanted to meet up with us. I think it would be good for me.” Raelynn was fiddling with her hands as she waited for Daddy to tell her yes or no.
“How long are you guys going to be out for?” he asked as he stood.
It didn’t take him long to reach her and wrap his arms around her.
“Maybe an hour or two? I don’t know. I’m meeting them for the first time, so it might not even be that long, but Raelynn said they wanted to meet me, and I do want some more friends.
I mean, it seems like I’m staying here for the foreseeable future, and I would like to have some girls to talk to,” she said as she shuffled her feet back and forth.
“I mean, this is my home, after all, so I think I should put down some roots and that means making friends.”
Daddy slightly pulled away from her and cupped her face. “I’m so happy you’re considering this your home now.”
She shrugged. “You told me not to worry about him, so I am trying to do that and pretend everything is okay. I’m trying to pretend nothing is wrong and to move on with my life. The next step is to make friends.”
She had been so nervous when she first thought about it. Before she could go to Echo to ask her to introduce her to people, Echo came to her, saying two people wanted to meet her. Now she just needed to go out and meet them.
Oh, she was going to be sick from thinking about it.
“Okay, you can go. But I want you to text me when you get there, in the middle of it, and when you are coming back. I want to know everything so I’m not worrying as much.” Daddy gave her a pointed look. “I will also be sending Reaper with you. I don’t want to hear any arguments.”
“I wasn’t going to argue. I already said I would take someone with me.
It would just make me feel a little better,” she replied.
“But I don’t want them to be behind me the whole time.
I know the other girls understand, but I don’t want to feel like I have to watch what I say around him. Especially if they ask about you.”
Her cheeks heated at the thought. She knew they were going to ask about their relationship, and with Reaper telling her she was like a little sister, she didn’t want him to hear what she had to say about her Daddy.
“Good. And when are you wanting to leave?” Daddy asked.
“She talked about right now. Apparently, Demi and Rainey are already at the coffee shop and will be there for a couple more hours,” Raelynn explained. “But if you would rather me not go, that’s fine as well. I can talk to Echo about pushing it to another day.”
Daddy shook his head. “No, you guys have talked about today, and we’ll make it happen.
I’ll get Reaper to meet you at the front door.
You are to message me several times. If I don’t hear from you, I’m going to assume something happened, and I’m going to come after you.
If you don’t want me to make a scene and track you down, you reply to my text messages. Understand?”
“I understand. I promise I will text you when I get there, an hour later, and when we’re about to leave,” she replied.
“And if I text you and you don’t reply within three minutes, I’m coming after you.”
She raised her hand and shook her head. “Three minutes seems a little excessive. What if I’m in the middle of telling a story, and I can’t reply to you right away?”
“I don’t care. If I text you and you don’t reply within three minutes, I’m going to assume something happened and come after you.
You have a threat against your life, and I don’t take that lightly.
You are my world, and I will do anything to protect you.
If that means coming up with these outrageous rules, as you probably call them, that means I will,” he said.
“Your life is no joke. Your life is my life. If anything happens to you, it will affect me. You are precious to me. There will be some rules that you might not like, but it’s going to keep you safe, and it’s going to keep my worry to a minimum. ”
“But what if they make fun of me for it?” she asked. “I’m trying to make friends. I’m not trying to make them never want to meet with me again. I don’t want to be the laughingstock of this town with how protective you are. I appreciate it, but I’m also a little worried.”
It hadn’t meant much when they were in high school because everybody thought it was hot for him to care so much. She still thought it was hot, but they were adults now, and she wanted to make some friends.
“They aren’t going to make fun of you for it.
I’m pretty sure Deccan will have Echo text him several times and reply to him within a certain time frame.
We are all protective bastards and will do anything to keep our women safe.
And as for the other two, I know the owner, Rainey, has to message her Daddy throughout the day.
No one is going to make fun of you, and no one is going to think you’re weird and not want to be your friend.
If anything, they’re going to see you as normal and want to hang around you,” Daddy explained.
“Okay, fine. I agree to your rules, and I will try my best,” she agreed.
“Good, now come give me a kiss before I let you meet Reaper,” Daddy instructed.
Raelynn shyly walked up to him, stepping onto her tippy-toes before planting a kiss on his lips. Daddy’s arms encircled her waist, tugging her tightly into him as he deepened the kiss.
After pulling away, she gave him a lazy smile. “If we continue this, I’m never going to be able to go to the coffee shop.”
Daddy leaned down, so their faces were inches apart. “Guilty. I don’t want you to leave me. I just want to keep you right next to me all the time,” he murmured against her lips. “If I could, I would stuff you in my pocket, so you never left my side.”
“Daddy,” she whined.
“But Daddy won’t do that. I know you want to make friends, and I want that as well. So you can leave,” Daddy said. “Text me wh—”
“When I get there and in the middle of it and when I’m about to leave,” she interrupted him. “I know what to do, Daddy.”
“Brat.” He smacked her bottom.
Raelynn turned to wink at him before walking out of the room to go find Echo.
“How are you feeling about meeting them?” Echo asked as they walked on the sidewalk.
They were making their way toward the coffee shop, which wasn’t far from the clubhouse, with Reaper following closely. Raelynn found herself checking over her shoulder to see if he was actually there. He gave her a small smile before his eyes left hers, and he looked around the street.
“People are going to notice him more if you keep looking behind to see if he’s there,” Echo pointed out. “I know you are worried, but you have to trust them.”
“I do,” Rae replied. “I just wanted to make sure he was there. Knowing he is there makes me feel safer, especially since I’m away from Daddy.”
Echo stopped and turned toward her. “Which is why you need to stop looking at him. Some people will notice that he’s near us and probably with us, but the average person won’t.
They are used to seeing them around, and if you keep bringing attention, he won’t be able to find out if there’s anyone after you. ”
“Wait… what?” she whispered.
The guys see it as them protecting us from these people, but I think about it from a different perspective.
If you keep looking at Reaper, it brings attention to him, and he’s now more focused on you and not looking around to see if anyone is coming after you.
But it also brings attention to him to alert the people that there is someone following us and keeping us safe,” she explained.
“But I don’t want them to come and get me,” Raelynn said. “Maybe we should go back. I don’t think I can do this, knowing this information.”
“Nope, we’re going. Do you really think Reaper is going to allow anything to happen to you? No, he’s not going to. Trust him to do his job, and he’s going to do it well, but you need to focus on the other girls and me.”
“O-okay,” she stuttered.
Unease filled her as they walked to the coffee shop.
“When you meet Rainey and Demi, you are going to forget about everything else. They are lovely girls who are also Littles,” Echo reminded her.
“They both have Daddies?” she asked as they stepped into the coffee shop.
It wasn’t as busy, which Echo said was why they were coming at this time. So Rainey could actually sit down and talk to them.
“Rainey does, but Demi doesn’t. She wants one, but she hasn’t found the right one yet,” Echo explained. “Here they are!”
Two women were sitting at a four-seater table, in deep conversation.
“I don’t know if I want to do this,” Raelynn said, but Echo pulled her up to the girls.
“This is Raelynn, or she goes by Rae,” Echo said as they reached the table. “She’s a little shy, but she has nothing to be worried about, right?”
“Correct,” the person to the right said, she was holding a baby in her lap. “Sorry, I’m Rainey, and this is Baby Levi.”
“Oh, like Levi in the club,” Rae pointed out.
“Exactly. It wasn’t intentional, but I had the name picked out before I met him. Or well, I think I did. Everything is a little blurry when it comes to pregnancy stuff and afterward. It’s been so hectic that small things have just slipped, and I honestly can’t remember it well,” Rainey explained.
“This is Demi, who works at the club’s bar,” Echo introduced the other woman.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Rae said and gave a little wave.
“Nice to meet you as well. I’ve heard a lot from Echo and couldn’t wait to meet you,” Demi replied.
“Let me go get you guys some coffee, or do you want tea instead?” Rainey asked as she stood up.
“Oh, do you need help carrying anything?” Rae asked.
Rainey shook her head. “Nope, I don’t. I’m just going to tell one of the baristas, and they’ll bring it out to us. We don’t have to do anything, but I wanted them to know that you guys were with us, so you didn’t pay for your drinks.”
“You need to stop paying for our drinks. What about getting business? Aren’t you losing money every single time we come in here?” Echo asked.
“I’m not, and I don’t want my friends to pay.
I’ve already told you this. Now I need to let each member of my team know to add Rae to the list of nonpaying customers.
” Rainey chuckled. “I love you guys and want you to come without spending any money. You guys already bring in enough customers when they see how much fun we are having together.”
Rainey walked off before anyone could say anything, and Echo pushed Rae to sit in a chair.
“We are going to talk about you,” Echo said as she locked eyes with Raelynn.
“I just want you to be prepared when Rainey comes back. We want to know everything about you and Butch and how you guys met. I mean, I know you knew Butch before, but I didn’t think you guys were together.
Man, when you were passed out in his bed, he went almost feral.
He didn’t want anyone to come near his room, let alone you. ”
“There were so many people in the room, though,” Raelynn pointed out. “And sorry about that. I just was a little freaked out.”
Little was an understatement. She had been in an unknown room with only one person she knew, but who she hadn’t seen in over eight years. She didn’t know how anyone was going to act, and she didn’t want to get into trouble.
“Oh, I heard someone had found the love of their life they had been searching for years,” Demi quietly said.
“That was me,” Rae muttered. “I don’t understand why it was just a big deal, but oh well. We don’t have to talk about that specifically.”
She wanted to forget about everything related to Edmund right now.
“You guys can’t be talking about this without me,” Rainey said as she sat down and turned to Raelynn. “Tell me everything about Butch and you.”