"Lucinda, I need you to take a breath for me, okay?"
The gasp that shoves itself down my throat makes me choke. "How-how-how—" I'm incapable of speech. My father was murdered. I thought I was about to die. And now I'm all but being forced to breathe?
"Okay, yeah. I would be freaking out too," the big man mutters and kneels in front of me. His proximity scares me so much I fly back and scramble away. "Okay. I'll stick to the basics. Your father owed my club a lot of money. When he offeredyou,his tiny virgin daughter Lucinda, as payment, he signed his death warrant."
I'm going to be sick. I knew he owed a lot of people money. I knew that and yet I never thought he would try to use me to pay his debts.
Something close to pity flashes in the man’s face. "We don't deal in women and children. Hell, not even innocent men. You get me?"
"N-no." I'm losing it. Utterly losing it. Am I going to throw up?
He sighs. "I'm the president of a motorcycle club, sugar. And you are hundred percent safe with us, got me?"
No. No I don'tgot you.
He must notice my attention fly to the man who scared me half to death. "He will be taken care of. Nobody in my club lays their hand on you or any other innocent."
The clear rules he has and the fact that he saved me from that man, and the monster who tried thousands of times to break me, sends me close to Little space.
"I want my Daddy."
His beard moves with the twist of his lips and his big eyebrows twitch with a frown. "Sugar, I killed your dad. The shit he said he did to you to break you down..."
When he trails off at my head shake, I think there's hope. "No. MyDaddy." My words come out pouty and I stick my thumb in my mouth and suck gently.
Recognition flares in his eyes, surprising the Big me and exciting Little me. "Oh, I see. Alright, little sugar. Are you okay to get back in your truck and head home to your Daddy? I would drive you but we need to get the fu-buttout of here."
I don't dare look at the dead body he's pointing at. My wits are about me enough to know that I could seriously traumatize my vulnerable self.
"I drive to Daddy," I whisper, suddenly feeling anxious to get out of here. There's nothing here for me anymore.
The big man studies me for a moment. "Alright, young lady. If you ever need me, you shout, okay? I'm the president of Falcons Cry MC. You can call me Pres."
I snort and double over in a fit of hysterical giggles. The name I was so terrified of when I met my Daddy! Oh my goodness. Too cheesy! Too good to be true.
"Alright, I'm going to try not to be offended,"Presmumbles and it's then I realize he's holding me up and walking me to my truck. "You get home safe now, little sunshine," he demands right before closing my driver’s side door.
The laughter ends immediately, and he waves goodbye.Sunshine, he called me. Nothing, and I meannothingabout me is sunshine. That's the reason my mom was so sad when she died. I couldn't make her smile. She died with a frown on her face.
I didn't think I'd ever make it back to Preston, but the vow still rings loudly in my head. I'll make sure to be the best I can be for Daddy.
It's so super unfortunate that I can already feel the anxiety and trauma of seeing my father's dead body changing my psyche... and feel the truck stutter to a stop.
I'm not a good enough Little for Daddy.
fourteen
PRESTON
Lulu left two hours ago. One hour past the mark of my ability to stay calm.
I've never thrown my truck into drive so hard in my life and maybe another time I'll cringe about it but fuck it all to hell, my Little is out there somewhere. She left my property in tears and distress.
"Where are you, baby?" My forehead throbs with the intensity of glaring out the windshield.
There's one obvious road that leads from Reclaiming Red toward town, and I have no better ideas. When I get her home, she's writing down her fucking phone number and address. Maybe I can demand she just move in with me and never fucking leave.
Too many F words. I'll need to reign that in before I find her. Iwillfind her.
