Chapter Fifteen
DAISY
Asher walked over to the middle of the room, where there were several other people.
“Oh! Someone new!” a girl yelled, making Daisy hide behind Asher.
“It’s okay, they aren’t going to hurt you,” he whispered as he looked at her. “Guys, this is Daisy. She has been living here for about a year or so. Daisy, this is Charlotte.”
“I go by Charlie.” She pushed her bottom lip out.
“That’s Charlie. Monroe. Sofia. You’ve already met Hedda and Rainey. Then we have Kyle, Tucker, and Blaise. Kyle and Hedda are Middles. The others are Littles,” Asher explained.
Daisy was still half-hiding behind him, not having the courage to stand in front of them and say hi.
“She has a service dog for medical reasons, so don’t touch Chilli,” Asher said, like it was completely normal. Everyone nodded. “Do you want to say hi?”
“Hi,” she whispered, clutching his hand tighter.
If it was hurting him, he didn’t show it or say anything, but Daisy couldn’t bring herself to loosen her hold.
“Daisy is a little shy meeting all of you, so be gentle with her,” Asher explained before turning to her. “Do you want me to stay with you for a little longer, or do you want some alone time with them?”
Her brain short-circuited with the questions. She didn’t want to rely on him, but she definitely didn’t want to be alone. Daisy had told herself she wasn’t going to get attached to Asher or allow him to be close to her. He wasn’t for her to keep when she might be moving.
But as she gazed up at him, eyes pleading for him to stay close to her, she knew she had lost the battle tonight. He was the only familiar face in the whole club, and she didn’t want him to go too far away.
“How about I sit over here where you can see me from the coloring area, so whenever you need a little reassurance, you can look up at me?” Asher suggested.
She opened her mouth but quickly closed it.
“Or do you want me to sit next to you?” he asked.
Daisy held up a shaky one with her fingers, losing the ability to speak.
“Option one, got it. If it changes and you want me closer, just let me know. I’ll be here before you can blink.” Asher leaned down so they were face-to-face. “And I’m so proud of you for being brave.”
Cheeks pinkening, her eyes darted away from him.
Asher kissed her forehead before standing to his full height. “I’ll be right over there with the other Daddies.”
She nodded as he walked over to the empty chairs, the other Daddies sitting next to him. He gave her a smile and a nod of encouragement before she turned to the group of people, all of them were staring at her. Flinching, she wrapped her arms around her midsection and took a deep breath.
“Everything is going to be okay. When I first came here, my Daddy did the same thing,” Rainey said. “I didn’t want him too close, where I wouldn’t be able to talk freely, but I wasn’t ready for him to leave me yet.”
Daisy relaxed when she realized she wasn’t the only one to have someone she knew close to her.
“He isn’t my Daddy.” She found herself whispering.
Hedda waved her hand in the air. “But you know him, and he’s the only one you are comfortable around. He can be your stand-in Daddy until you find your actual one. Asher is a good guy who cares for people he loves.”
“Maybe you could even be his forever Little, and he be your forever Daddy,” Tucker said as they walked over to the coloring section.
Daisy found herself looking over at Asher, making sure he was actually there. He still was and his eyes were locked on her.
He wasn’t going to leave her all alone. He told her he would be over if she needed him before she could blink. She knew that little part was a lie. Asher wasn’t that fast.
“Everything is going to be okay,” Rainey gently said.
“If you are nervous and want him closer, none of us is going to judge you. There is another Little who comes here, Echo. For a while, her Daddy stayed next to her when things were happening. We didn’t mind him.
I also think it was because he didn’t want her to be too far away from him, but we played it as she needed him. ”
“Which she did. She was going through a lot and needed her Daddy to be close. He is the only one who can touch her without her skin feeling like it’s going to crawl,” Kyle pointed out.
Daisy’s eyebrows scrunched. Skin crawling?
“Echo won’t mind me telling you. She doesn’t like it when people touch her.
It makes her skin all itchy, and she has to wash.
But with her Daddy, it’s a whole different story.
He can touch her, and nothing happens,” Rainey explained.
“None of us knew this until after she found her Daddy. He told her to let us know. Her Daddy can be really scary, but he has such a soft spot for her.”
Hopefully, Daisy never had to meet him if they thought he was scary. She didn’t do well with scary people. Her gaze fluttered over to Asher, and he smiled at her. Everything was going to be okay.
Asher
Asher kept his eyes on Daisy the whole time, wanting her to know that he was still here.
“Are you not going to look at us once?” Marco asked.
“For a brief second, maybe, but I told her I was going to be here. I don’t want her to have me not looking if she needs me,” he replied.
“Is she yours?” Finn asked. “I hadn’t heard anything about you finding a Little.”
He shook his head and sighed. “Not yet, but I’m hoping she will be once I get her more comfortable with me.”
All in good time. Asher could be a patient man.
“But I also don’t want to start anything when I’m going to have to go back and forth between here and Virginia.” Asher briefly glanced at the guys.
It had been something he had been struggling with for the past couple of days since he met Daisy. He wanted her to be his, but he had a lot of traveling to do in the next couple of months. He didn’t want to start something and then leave her alone.
“You do know someone else can go instead of you?” Leo pointed out. “We have other employees who can oversee the building work and take some tasks off your plate if you don’t want to go.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Not the first time, at least. That would look bad on us if we didn’t have one of the owners go.”
“So, if you start something with her and then have to leave, just let us know. We’ll watch over her. Then the next time you can have someone else go in your place,” Marco said. “They’ll understand that you just found your Little and don’t want to be too far away from her.”
“But will she?” Asher sighed. “I don’t want her to think that I’m abandoning her or don’t want to be with her.”
Daisy looked over at him once again, and he forced a smile before she went back to her coloring. The gap between each of her looks was becoming longer and longer. Hopefully, she’d think of this group of Littles as good friends soon.
“She won’t if you explain it to her. I have a feeling that Daisy is very mature,” Finn pointed out. “If you guys get together before you leave, just tell her that we’ll check in to make sure she’s okay.”
Asher nodded, keeping his gaze on Daisy as the guys started talking about something else.
Daisy
“Have you told your employer that you are a Little, Tucker?” Rainey asked.
“Tucker is a bouncer at one of the other clubs in Springfield. It’s catered to more of the general kinky people, not just people who are into age play,” Charlie explained quietly. “His boss doesn’t know that he’s a Little.”
“To be honest, I wouldn’t have either with how jacked he is,” Daisy whispered back.
To say Tucker was muscular was an understatement. He looked like all the Daddies, a protector.
“Neither did I, but Tucker is amazing. He has such a tender heart, but don’t let that fool you.
If something is wrong with you, he’ll stick up for you and act like a protective Dom,” Charlie replied.
“Though he doesn’t like to do it. He says it makes him so tired, putting up a front like that, and he sleeps for hours after. ”
Daisy opened her mouth to ask why he was a bouncer when Tucker started to talk.
“No, I haven’t.” His cheeks turned pink. “I can’t exactly get fired right now.”
“Do you think she’ll fire you?” Daisy asked. “Why would she?”
Tucker rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, on the form, she said she didn’t want a sub to be a bouncer.
Something about them being in danger and feeling awkward if the sub didn’t let a Dom in, or something like that.
I’m not actually sure. When I walked in, I was going to apply for the bartending job she had open, but she took one look at me and asked if I was there for the bouncer position. ”
Unease filled Daisy’s stomach as she listened to him talk.
“He was so awestruck with her that he didn’t deny it. Tucker has a major crush on her,” Hedda said.
“I was going to deny it, but it’s true. I do have a big crush on her.
I wish I could tell her, but she sees me as a Dom, or at least, I think she does.
I didn’t know until I was reading the contract, but it was too late, so I didn’t tell her,” Tucker rambled.
“I get so exhausted putting up a front. I’m worried any day now someone is going to figure it out and tell her before I can. ”
“So why haven’t you told her yet?” Charlie asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t want to get fired for one.
There are no other job openings there. My sleep schedule is already fucked up.
I know it’s going to be hard to train myself to sleep like a normal person and get a job at the same time.
I also want to be with her, stay close to her.
If I tell her, I have a feeling she won’t like me for me. I don’t exactly scream Little.”
“Tucker,” Daisy gently said.
Tears glistened in his eyes, and she gently laid a hand on his.
“I think you should tell her at some point. You really like her. From the way you’ve talked about your conversations, I think she might like you as well. Maybe she already knows that you are a sub... a Little,” Rainey said. “But don’t do anything that you don’t want to do.”
“Okay, can we stop talking about this? I wanted tonight to be a good night and not me crying,” Tucker pleaded.
“Okay, that’s fine,” Hedda said before she turned to Daisy. “Let’s talk about Daisy and Asher.”