15. Cassie
Chapter 15
Cassie
I don’t like the look of this place.
It’s giving me bad vibes.
The seriously shivery creeps…
Cassie took a moment to assess her surroundings. She was in a part of the city that she didn’t normally venture. In fact, she’d never been within two blocks of this place.
With the dark, dingy shop fronts and unkempt streets, it wasn’t exactly welcoming. There was shouting in the distance. People arguing down a side street. And a whole ton of garbage on the street.
Cassie fidgeted.
The Uber had long driven away, onto its next job no doubt. And probably thankful to get out of Dodge.
There were people hanging out on street corners.
Eyeing Cassie up.
Licking their lips at the prospect of a Little to devour.
Well, that’s how it felt to Cassie in that moment anyway.
Cassie nervously took her cellphone out of her pocket and double checked for the name of the café where Lyle had demanded they meet.
Café Sin.
Right then, Cassie would have done anything for a more wholesome café name.
Café Flower.
Café Color.
Maybe even Café Cookie.
Literally anything but Café Sin. What Cassie wanted was innocence, play, and good wholesome intentions. This whole situation with Lyle was anything but that.
Cassie hated everything about the predicament she was in.
But she knew she had no choice.
Cassie felt that she had to do this.
Her old Daddy had made of habit of questioning Cassie’s ability to stand up for herself. He would accuse Cassie of going into her shell and hiding at the first sign of conflict.
Worse, he would say that Cassie was weak.
A coward.
The name calling had hurt Cassie. Left a mark on her. It had taken a long time for Cassie to get her mojo back. Build her confidence back up.
It was undeniable that Cassie was sensitive. She knew she was. But she was way more resilient than her old Daddy every gave her credit for.
Cassie had always known that.
Even in the darkest moments.
And speaking of dark moments, she was very much in one at she stepped toward the front entrance of Café Sin.
The wooden door frame was painted black, but the paint was peeling. It was apparent that the wood itself was rotting.
The buzzing neon sign above the door momentarily seemed like it was the only light in the entire building as Cassie stepped into the foyer and looked around.
She kind of knew what Lyle looked like.
Despite keeping his social media profiles vague with an animated avatar instead of a photo of himself, Lyle had appeared on an online comic creator chat once.
But that was a while back and Cassie didn’t know what to expect now. Lyle could have totally transformed his appearance for all Cassie knew.
The uncertainty was making Cassie feel more nervous.
The trepidation about agreeing to see Lyle wasn’t going anywhere. If anything, it was getting more intense by the second.
The seating area inside the café was dark. Poorly lit. A staleness hung in the air. It wasn’t very nice at all.
This place smells worse than Daddy’s sports socks.
I don’t like it.
Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea…
Cassie was seriously considering turning around and leaving. After all, she hadn’t seen Lyle yet.
Maybe Lyle was bluffing.
Maybe Lyle wasn’t even here himself.
A man sat at one table in the corner, his eyes sleepy as he cradled a large mug of coffee. It wasn’t Lyle, he was about twenty years too old.
Cassie jumped in shock as a tall, thin man brushed past her from behind and made her way over to a table near the blacked-out window over on the opposite side of the café. He wasn’t Lyle either, far too tall.
‘Okay, I’m getting out of here,’ Cassie muttered, her voice trembling. ‘Enough is en–’
Then as she was about to turn and leave, Cassie heard it.
That voice.
Cassie knew who it was. It was obvious.
‘Looking for someone?’ Lyle asked, his face illuminated by the glow of not one, but two laptop screens in front of her. ‘Don’t even think about the exit. Your place is here, next to me.’
Cassie looked over toward Lyle.
Immediately, Cassie’s internal warning bell was ringing loud and clear.
Lyle was older than her, around twenty-nine. He had lank, greasy black hair that was tucked behind his ears except for a couple of straggly threads that hung over his face.
Cassie paused, unsure whether to simply turn and run. She felt a little bit like a rabbit stuck in the headlights.
It wasn’t a good feeling. And it was made worse as Lyle’s dull, lifeless eyes stared back at her.
Lyle’s crooked, menacing smile was made worse by the yellow stains over his teeth. Cassie desperately tried to figure out what to do as Lyle took a long gulp from his tall Pepsi glass.
‘I said over here, now .’
Cassie went along with what Lyle wanted. It didn’t feel good to do it, and part of her was screaming not to, but she walked over and took a seat opposite Lyle.
Silence .
Cassie had expected Lyle to launch into a series of demands or to start throwing insults at her. But nothing. Nothing of the sort.
It felt like Lyle was playing some kind of psychological game with Cassie. Waiting her out. Another horrible power move.
‘W-w-w-why are you doing this to me?’ Cassie asked, unable to take the silence for a moment longer. ‘Why bring me here if you’re not even going to talk?’
Lyle burst out into laughter.
But it wasn’t the type of joyous, excitable laughter that Cassie enjoyed with her Little friends Katie and Sydney.
No, it was a very different kind.
Ratty, high pitched. It had a shrieking quality like a hyena.
All told, it was very unpleasant. And it scared Cassie.
‘Relax. Things could be a lot worse for you,’ Lyle said, taking another slug of his flat Pepsi drink. ‘If anything, you should be thanking me.’
‘W-w-w-what? Why would I be thanking you?’ Cassie replied, incredulous and in fact beginning to feel angry too. ‘You’ve been nothing but mean and gross to me!’
Cassie stopped.
There was a look on Lyle’s face that she didn’t like.
It was as if Lyle was taken aback by Cassie’s outburst and already plotting his revenge.
‘Well, fine. If that’s the way you want to play this, so be it,’ Lyle smirked, his hands tapping away on both of his laptops. ‘Apologize now or I’ll wipe every fucking thing from your email. And I mean all your comic ideas and scripts. There mut be a whole year of content here. At least.’
‘But–’
‘But nothing!’ Lyle laughed, the sweat patches on his t-shirt creeping out from under his arm pits. ‘I’d have thought your… Daddy… would have been here to protect you? Where is he? Off for a beer with his buddies? I don’t blame him!’
‘Hey, don’t say that about my Daddy!’ Cassie cried out, immediately quieting herself, not wanting to draw attention to the other customers that she was a Little. ‘He loves me! He’d never–’
‘And yet he isn’t here,’ Lyle said. ‘You really are one of these childish Littles, aren’t you? Always getting things wrong. Making things up. He’s probably got another four of you all over town!’
Cassie felt her stomach churn.
She knew what Lyle was saying couldn’t be true. Well, everything aside from the work part. There was no way she could deal with losing all that work. She had taken so long preparing it, working on it, perfecting it.
As much as she hated the thought of it, she had to play ball and apologize to Lyle.
It was at this moment that she began to regret coming by herself. Cassie felt annoyed that she hadn’t waited for Kane.
Kane would have known what to do.
How to handle a creepy dork like Lyle.
But Kane was busy saving lives. He didn’t have time to deal with Cassie’s problems. If anything, he would have thought it was all a bit pathetic. Well, that’s what was going through Cassie’s mind in that moment.
Urgh. I hate this.
Lyle’s even got me doubting Kane.
This is the yuckiest situation I’ve ever been in.
‘I’m sorry, there I said it,’ Lyle pleaded. ‘Just tell me what you want, I’m begging you. I’ll do anything.’
As soon as the word slipped out of her mouth, Cassie immediately regretted it.
Anything.
Why oh why did she have to utter that word. It was the worst word she could have chosen. Like giving caret blanche to Lyle.
As Cassie feared, Lyle seized upon it.
‘Anything? Well, that’s just perfect,’ Lyle cackled. ‘Well, okay then. Let’s see. For starters, I want your new ideas. And I want the material you’d prepared. I’ll publish it under my name, and you won’t say a word. Then you can have your email account back. Got it?’
Cassie wanted to burst into tears.
She poured everything into her art and into her craft. She was so passionate about it. It was so time consuming that she hadn’t found relationship happiness because of it until very recently.
And now Lyle wanted to take it all?
He seriously wanted to pass it off as his own?
That felt like beyond cruel.
It was the worst thing that could ever happen to a creative person.
‘No! That’s not fair and you know it’s not!’ Cassie cried, this time not lowering her voice. ‘You can’t–’
‘Fine. I’ll just have to take all those private emails and photos and put them online,’ Lyle said, a wicked smirk on his face. ‘I’m sure everyone would love to know about your life as a Little. All those gross things you get up to. Those photos of you naked too. I can just imagine what people would say. And I know for sure you’d lose your fanbase overnight too.’
Cassie let her head drop.
There was no way out of this.
She wasn’t openly a Little when it came to her comics. In fact, hardly anyone outside of her trusted circle knew about it.
Although the world was a lot less judgmental than it used to be, there were still plenty of people who hated anything or anyone who was outside of the mainstream.
Cassie wasn’t na?ve enough to think otherwise.
It felt like Lyle had her over the barrel.
There didn’t seem to be a way out for Cassie other than giving in to what Lyle wanted.
‘You Littles are all the same. Crybabies, every last one of you,’ Lyle said, fiddling with his greasy hair as he watched Cassie squirm. ‘I’ll say it again. You give me full rights on all your as of yet unpublished materials. You assure me there will be no comeback. You do this and I’ll let you have your email account back and I won’t reveal your dirty little secrets to the world. Now, how does that sound?’
Cassie felt dizzy.
It was like her head was spinning at a million miles per second.
Her stomach turned over yet gain. And then once more.
She wanted to run to the bathroom and throw up.
‘I… I…,’ Cassie whimpered, not knowing what to say.
‘I can see you need a moment. I’m feeling generous. And it’s also fun to see you suffer,’ Lyle said, standing up from his seat and beginning to pack his laptops away in his shoulder bag. ‘As I say, I’m feeling generous. You’ve got twenty-four hours to make your mind up. Not a second longer. I trust you’ll make the right decision.’
With that, Lyle finished his Pepsi and let out a long, loud belch. It was gross. The sound and smell of it in equal measure.
Cassie shivered.
She watched as Lyle slung his shoulder bag on and proceeded to walk out of Café Sin.
Cassie was alone. Surrounded by strangers in the least appealing café she had ever visited. She felt totally dejected. Lyle had her in an impossible position. If Cassie stood up to Lyle, it was possible that Lyle would delete all her work and reveal everything about her personal life.
That would be terrible.
But on the other hand, if Cassie caved into Lyle’s demands then she would lose a ton of work and feel utterly heartbroken about it. That’s not to mention the fact she’d be living in fear of Lyle threatening her again in the future.
What am I going to do?
Have I messed everything up?
I wish Kane was here. I need my Daddy.