24. Chapter Twenty-Two
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
SAMMI
I t had been a full day since Daddy had left. It had felt very weird when she woke up again and he wasn’t there. She had gotten so used to being around him that not having him near her was odd. She didn’t know what to do or how to act.
Next time, she was going to beg to go with him because she didn’t like this. Maybe if she was able to go to work and get her mind off everything it would be better, but she couldn’t. Daddy had instructed her not to work. If she did, Ezekiel would take her home straight away. She knew he was being serious about that, and she wasn’t going to test it.
So, instead, she was doing what he told her to. She was packing the rest of her house to take to her brother’s. That was one of the things she had done yesterday afternoon.
It was the only thing she talked to her brother about. She was getting a little annoyed with how he wasn’t being open about what they owed— he owed. She didn’t understand why she was the one helping him pay and why he wouldn’t tell her.
Which left her where she was now, standing out in front of the Springfield Sinners compound. It wasn’t her first option, but her brother wasn’t being open with her, and she needed to know. Did she actually have to sell her house?
“Go home. This isn’t a place for you,” a man growled as he came out of the building.
Sammi ignored him, though, knowing full well that, sadly, this was where she had to be. She slipped through the door and stood at the entrance, not knowing what to do or where to stand. Normally, there was somebody waiting for her out front since she had a scheduled appointment, but this meeting was unannounced. Was Deccan going to see her? Was he even there?
She hadn’t considered him not being there until just now. But that wasn’t going to stop her from trying because he needed to see how much money was still to be paid.
“Sammi?” Echo called out. “What are you doing here?”
“Is Deccan here?” she asked, ignoring her question.
Echo had to know that her brother had an account with the Sinners. All of Deccan’s men probably knew who had debts around town. Unless he didn’t want Echo to know about any of it. Sammi didn’t know how much Echo knew about Deccan’s job.
“He’s in his office. Do you want me to come?”
Sammi shook her head and started to head to meet the president of the Springfield Sinners. She felt bad for saying no, but it wasn’t her place to know about Sammi’s brother’s debt.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
This was the first time she had walked through the building when it was quiet. Normally, there were people all around, making a lot of noise. Was something going on that she didn’t know about? Where was everyone?
It’s not like she would ever find out the answers to those questions since she was a nobody. She was just somebody who was helping her brother get the Sinners off his back.
As she walked up to the office door, she knocked and waited until she was told to come in. After opening the door, she stepped in and immediately saw the other person in the office. It was Deccan’s right-hand man, Xavier. Sammi wasn’t expecting to see him, but she should have known. She was coming unannounced, and that meant anybody could be there.
“What do you need? You didn’t schedule an appointment.” Deccan eyed her.
“Are you all right?” Xavier asked her.
“I was wondering if you could tell me how much money my brother still owed,” she whispered, looking at Deccan.
Sammi completely ignored Xavier, knowing what he was talking about. She looked horrible. She was exhausted and felt weak. Her thirst was back, and she was peeing like crazy.
Her blood sugar was high, and she had administering her insulin to lower it, but it wasn’t coming down fast enough. She had thought about asking Daddy what to do. She didn’t want to bother him, though. She needed to prove to him that he could go away and she’d be though, which was not how it was looking right now.
Her stomach was twisting in knots, which was really unusual. It was a sharp pain, something she hadn’t felt before when she wasn’t on her period.
Sammi’s phone had been beeping several times, letting her know about her blood sugar, so she had turned it to silent before she walked into the Sinners’ clubhouse. She didn’t want it to go off too many times and Deccan ask if she needed to leave to take a call. She didn’t want to be rude or disrespectful.
“Why don’t you ask him?” Deccan asked.
She sighed. “I have asked. He won’t tell me. I need to know if I actually need to sell my house or not.”
They were officially going to put it on the market in two days. That’s when she was supposed to have everything out of there. Someone had already viewed her house to potentially buy it. But they wouldn’t be able to put in an official offer until she listed it, and she was hoping she didn’t have to.
Even though it wasn’t her home, it held memories in it. It was the place she moved to when her parents died. It was the place where she came to relax and also the place where she found her Little side even more.
Deccan eyed her for several seconds. Sammi danced on the balls of her feet, not liking that he was just staring at her. But as she jumped from on foot to the other, she realized just how full her bladder was. She needed to pee badly.
“There’s still quite a bit of money owed. The past month and a half you have been the only one to pay me,” Deccan replied.
Her mouth fell open as she stared at him. Her brother hasn’t been paying? What had he been doing? All the blood drained from her face as Deccan spoke.
“Really?” Sammi asked, not wanting to believe what Deccan was saying.
“Yes, really.”
She looked at her feet for several seconds, blinking away the tears that threatened to fall. She couldn’t show weakness in front of him. He could easily have exploited her and that wouldn’t be good.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Xavier asked. “You look a little pale and like you’re in pain. Are you doing the potty dance?”
Her face flushed as she realized she was still hopping around. Sammi stood still and looked up, shaking her head.
“Don’t lie, Little girl,” Xavier’s eyes narrowed.
“Can I know the amount to decide whether I need to sell my house? Can I know how much time we have left to pay off the debt?” Sammi asked, ignoring Xavier again.
She knew Deccan was a Daddy from on who Echo was and what she called him, but she didn’t know if any of the other members of the club were Daddies. But she figured since Xavier knew she was doing the potty dance that he was a Daddy or was around Littles a lot.
How embarrassing .
How could she have possibly done that without knowing? In front of two Daddies. They must have though she was crazy.
“It’s over twenty thousand.” Deccan eyed her again.
She winced as sharp pain spread across her stomach. What was going on? Why was she in so much pain?
“A lot of money,” Deccan continued, looking at her with a little sympathy.
“And how long do we have until I have to work?” she whispered, wincing again as her stomach protested.
Deccan’s eyes narrowed as she wrapped her right arm around her stomach. She couldn’t help it, though. Maybe holding her tummy would help ease some of the pain.
“Little girl,” he growled.
Sammi took a step back and stared at him.
“Freeze!” Xavier commanded.
She froze as they both stood.
“Wait!” she called out. “You can’t tell me what to do!”
Sammi took another step back as they both came toward her. They weren’t her Daddy so they couldn’t tell her what to do.
“When I see a Little girl not taking care of herself, I will step in,” Xavier stated.
“I have a Daddy!” she screeched, holding up her free hand.
They stopped moving.
“And does he know you are here?” Deccan asked.
She shook her head. “My brother didn’t want anyone to know about the debt and I pinky promised. Well, he doesn’t do pinky promises so it was just a promise to him, but,” she groaned. “But to me, it was a pinky promise. And I got with my Daddy after everything.”
Xavier shook his head.
“I’m fine,” she whispered.
“You are not. Where is your Daddy?” Deccan asked.
“Out of state right now. Will be back in a couple of days, I believe. I hope,” she mumbled.
Sammi wanted Daddy to be back to take care of her more than anything. She wasn’t doing a good job of it. Was he going to have to go lots of places and leave her one her own? That wasn’t going to be a good idea if he did.
“Don’t like it,” Xavier growled.
“I’m okay. I just wanted to know how much my brother still owed and how long we had to pay it off,” she rushed out, trying to change the subject.
“You’ve been good with your payments, so I can give you a couple more months,” Deccan said. “As long as you and your brother are still consistently both making payments.”
“Going to go talk to your brother about it,” Xavier spoke.
“Don’t hurt him!” she yelled. “Please, don’t hurt him.”
Xavier eyed her for several seconds Sammi bit down on the inside of her cheek as pain slashed across her stomach like a knife being dragged against it.
“Just give him a warning,” Deccan grunted before turning back to her. “Don’t sell your house if you don’t want to.”
She was going to need to think about that. If she could sell the house and put a lot of the money toward the debt, she was going to. She didn’t want the debt looming over her head for much longer. It was exhausting having it constantly in the back of her mind.
“Can I call your Daddy?” Xavier asked.
“Nope, I’m really okay,” she rushed out. “I’m going to go home and rest now.”
“I don’t know if I like that,” Xavier pointed out. “Will you be alone, or will you have someone with you?”
“I can get my brother to come and stay with me,” she suggested.
Was she going to do that? Absolutely not. She didn’t need to hear him complain about things right now, not when she wasn’t feeling good. She also didn’t need him asking so many questions while she wasn’t well because she was going to snap at him which wouldn’t be a good things to do. No one wants to get on his bad side and become an enemy.
“Text your brother and get him to meet you at your house,” Deccan commanded.
She nodded and got her phone out of her bag, pretending to send a message to her brother. They didn’t need to know that she wasn’t actually texting him.
“I did it,” she lied as she looked up at them.
“Good.” Xavier nodded.
They both eyed her as she stood in her spot. What were they waiting for?
“Are you okay?” Xavier asked.
“Oh, sorry, I thought I needed to be dismissed or something,” she rambled, looking down at her feet. “I’ll go now.”
Sammi turned around and headed for the door. None of them tried to stop her from walking out, and she was grateful. She didn’t know how much more she could take.
Keeping her eyes pointed to the ground, she walked through the main room and out the front door. When she got outside, she took a deep breath of fresh air in front of their building.
“Never going in unannounced,” she mumbled. “Especially when I’m not feeling good.”
Her stomach was still sending shooting pain around her abdomen every once in a while, and she was absolutely exhausted. She just wanted to curl up in her bed with Tinkle and sleep. Maybe it should have been alarming that she was so tired, but she blamed it on her high blood sugar. She had given herself an insulin shot and was just waiting for it to work.
She had never given herself insulin before, so she didn’t know if she had done it correctly. But she couldn’t do it wrong, right? There was only one way, Sammi thought.
Walking down the sidewalk, she started her trek home. Now, she just needed to decide whether she would put her house on the market, and she needed to figure it out soon. When she got home, she was going to make a list of pros and cons.
“Sammi!” someone yelled from behind her.
Just as Sammi turned around, her world spun, and she found herself falling.