“Could you carry it? I sweep a lot, but I don’t trust the floor.”
“Of course. You get your medicine. I’ll get the stuff in the fridge.”
“Without setting the suitcase down? I can carry it,” she volunteered.
“I promise.”
In just a few minutes, he’d balanced the suitcase under one arm as he collected the food from the refrigerator. They were walking out the door when the borrowed phone in his pocket rang.
Rocky handed it to Melissa. “Tami wants to talk to you.”
“Hi, Tami,” Melissa said quietly as Rocky escorted her down the hallway.
“You found your Daddy,” her friend stated firmly.
Rocky smiled. In her excitement, Tami talked very loudly. It was easy to hear what she said as Melissa held the device away from her ear.
“Maybe. He insisted I get out of this apartment. I’m so tired of being scared here,” Melissa admitted as they walked down the stairs.
“It’s about time. He knows Dr. Richards. Not as the doctor for us Littles, but as an orthopedic surgeon who helped a boxer when his leg was shattered,” Tami reported.
“That’s a small world,” Melissa commented.
Bits of information clicked together in Rocky’s head. He’d known there was something special about the doctor. Now he knew why. Dr. Richards was a Daddy himself.
“Do you trust him?” Tami demanded.
“Yes,” Melissa admitted, peeking up at Rocky as he held the front door of the complex open for her to walk through into the parking lot.
“Daddy wants to talk to Rocky,” Tami said firmly.
Melissa held the phone out to Rocky and swapped the device for the pizza box to free up one of his hands. “Archer wants to talk to you.”
“I’d hope so.”
He lifted the phone to his ear and said, “Rocky here.”
“Are you going to take care of her?”
“Yes. She’s safe now,” Rocky answered.
“Good. Thank you. And congratulations.”
The phone disconnected. Whatever Dr. Richards had said to them was enough to allow them to trust him.
Out of the corner of his eye, Rocky saw the curtains twitch in the room at the end of Melissa’s hall. Her neighbor was watching them leave.
A hiss from the shadows by the dumpster made Rocky question his bravery. How fucking big could those things get?
“I don’t come out here at night,” Melissa whispered, hiding behind him.
“Get in your car, Little girl. You’re going to follow me home. My address is in your navigation program if you need it. You won’t. I’m not going to lose you.”
CHAPTER 4
Rocky could still hear the shower. She’d been in there forever. He couldn’t imagine how she’d survived in that nightmare of an apartment.
Turning on the TV, he flipped through the channels before finding one that featured lighthearted cartoons. He fixed himself an evening glass of milk and concocted a chocolate one for Melissa when he heard the shower stop.
