Chapter 12
TWELVE
I slip off Daddy’s lap, landing super hard on my bottom. The diaper did nothing to break my fall, and tears pool in my eyes, but I blink them back as I crawl to the corner of the room.
“Little companion?” Daddy stands from his chair.
I shake my head and push myself farther into the corner, wrapping my arms around my legs and pulling them to my chest. I want to be close to him as the anxiety courses through my body, but I don’t want him to punish me.
But what I’m doing now is essentially punishing myself.
“Come out of the corner,” Daddy gently says as he gets closer.
“Please,” I beg, but I don’t know what I’m begging for.
Is it for him to pick me up, or is it for him to leave me alone? I close my eyes and dip my head, not wanting to see what Daddy does. I am going to be so hurt if he doesn’t come pick me up, but at the same time, I don’t want him to.
I need to distance myself so I don’t end up losing myself trying to please him so much.
“Come to Daddy,” he whispers as I feel his hands under my armpits and pull me up. “Everything is going to be okay.”
“Maybe you should reassure her that you won’t use it as a punishment?” Chale sounds hesitant.
I feel Daddy sit before maneuvering me so I’m lying on my back and he’s holding me just like a baby. We make eye contact and stare at each other for several minutes.
“Little companion.” He softly smiles. “I would never use that as punishment. It’s not good for your health to be so worried for so long. I’m not going to make it suffer. I want you to thrive. Do you want to know a little secret?”
I lean forward just a smidge but quickly lie back down when my body protests.
“I feel the same whenever I’m not close to you,” he whispers.
He does? But he has never said anything before. Is he just trying to validate my feelings?
“So you know what that means?” he asks.
I shake my head.
“It means we are just going to have to stick together, and whenever we do have to be apart, we’ll both take some medicine” he confesses.
My eyes go wide, and I quickly relax in his arms. I like the sound of that. I shouldn’t be this close to him, but over the past week, things have changed. I still struggle with a lot of things and am still annoyed I’m not able to walk on my own two legs.
And let's not talk about him giving me pleasure. He’s only given it to me once in the past week, and I want more. I want to touch him and explore his body.
I just don’t know how to bring it up to him, or if he even wants me.
I push the thought to the back of my mind. I don’t need to be thinking about that right now. I don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to having sex. I’ve never explored myself.
“I think she likes that idea.” Chale chuckles and sits on the chair in front of Daddy’s desk.
“I think she does.” Daddy looks down at me. “I’m going to set you on the ground, and you can lean up against my leg while I talk to Chale.”
He places me on the ground before I can say anything. He fumbles with my collar, and all of a sudden, I don’t understand what Daddy or Chale are saying. Looking up at him, he continues to talk.
Did Daddy really do that? I thought we were getting along great, and now he could say anything around me. Hurt fills my body as they continue their conversation. Daddy guides my head back to his thigh, and I close my eyes, taking a deep breath in.
I don’t know why I’m so hurt that he turned off the translator. I’m hurt that Daddy doesn’t trust me to listen in and be part of it all.
I don’t know how much time has passed since Daddy turned off my translator, but when his hand starts to move again, I bow so he can’t reach my collar easily. If he wants to turn it off, then it’s going to stay off, so I can’t understand him.
Daddy moves his hand again, but I move my neck so he still can’t reach it. Daddy says something, but I don’t understand and don’t look at him. Two can play at this game, and I’m not going to give up so easily.
He grabs the back of my neck and keeps me still as he presses something on the collar.
“Little companion, what are you doing?” Daddy asks.
I don’t reply. He doesn’t deserve a reply if he is going to turn my translator off at any given moment. If only I could do that to him so he couldn’t understand me, but sadly, I can’t.
“Are you going to ignore me?” The grip around my neck tightens a little.
I don’t say anything. Is it going to get me into trouble? Probably, but he needs to know it’s not okay to turn it off at any point, so I can’t understand them. Is he trying to keep something from me a secret?
“Adryn.” His voice is sharp, and I flinch, giving away that I can understand. “We know you can understand us. Your collar is working. Answer me.”
“Such a stubborn girl.” Chale makes a tsking noise.
I look up at him and glare, but I can only see the desk.
“Why are you ignoring us?” Daddy asks.
Before I know it, Daddy has me in his lap and is holding my face still as we make eye contact.
“You will tell me why you are ignoring me,” he demands. “Why were you trying so hard to get away from me, turning on your translator again?”
I open and close my mouth several times. I definitely need to tell him the truth, but I am so annoyed and hurt that he would do such a thing. I don’t know how to process my emotions and tell him without getting in trouble.
But maybe that’s exactly what I need to do.
Get into trouble after I let everything out.
“Answer me,” he commands.
I glare at him and fold my arms over my chest.
“Adryn,” he growls.
“I’m mad at you,” I state.
Silence fills the office, and Chale is still here.
“I will see myself out,” Chale gently says, but neither one of us pays any attention to him.
“Why are you mad at me?” Daddy asks.
“You turned off the translator.” Hurt fills my voice.
The emotions on his face don’t change as he stares at me.
“I did,” he replies. “We were talking about something that you didn’t need to listen to, so I turned it off.”
Does he not see the problem here? He gets to have privacy, but I don’t? I can’t talk to my friend, Luna, and yet he can have full-blown conversations with his friends with my translator off.
Not fair.
“It will happen more since I will talk to other people I work with about things you shouldn’t hear,” he tells me. “You better get used to it.”
I'd better get used to it? I don’t think I want to.
I can feel the anger boiling inside me as we stare at each other.
“Are you going to continue to ignore me, or are we going to move past this?” he asks.
“Then just turn off my translator!” I yell, grabbing my collar and yanking on it, unable to control the outburst.