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“It’s all right, things were actually better after we left the cult. Abe was with me.”

“That makes it okay?” Tobias asked.

“It actually did. We were given a place to live and my father got a job. He didn’t much like it, but it meant he was gone a lot. The guys lived close by and we all went to school together. And with Abe there, my father stopped making those remarks. I mean, occasionally he’d say something if Abe wasn’t around to hear. But, actually, it was kind of peaceful. My mom spent lots of time in her room, I don’t know what she did in there. But she wasn’t paying attention to me, which suited me fine. Abe and I spent most of our time with the others.”

Tobias shook his head. “I’m gonna need to pay your father a visit.”

“Why?” She glanced from the smashed egg to him.

Tobias leaned across the counter. “Because he needs to know that no one treats my . . . you like that.”

“Well, you can visit him but he won’t pay you much attention,” she told him. “He died close to two years ago. And my mom . . . well, she ended up taking her own life soon after.”

Jenner hugged her tight, rocking her back and forth. Turning her face, she buried it into his neck.

“I can’t believe I just dumped that all on you,” she muttered. “Sorry.”

“Never be sorry,” Jenner told her as he rubbed his hand up and down her back. “I knew your mother was basically a parrot and that your dad could be harsh, but I never knew how harsh.”

“I didn’t want to bother you guys. You always had things worse than me. It seemed silly to complain about something so . . . so inconsequential.”

Jenner drew her head back, staring down at her sternly. “You listen to me, baby girl. Nothing about you is or could ever beinconsequential. And whatever you are going through . . . I want to know about. Understand?”

She stared up at him in shock. He sounded so stern. So forceful.

“Understand me?”

“I understand,” she whispered.

“That’s my good girl.” He cupped the side of her face.

She liked being his good girl. More than was probably healthy.

“It’s in the past, though. It hardly matters now.”

“It matters if it affects you,” Tobias told her.

“We’ve all got stuff from our past that affects us,” she said dismissively. “And I’m fine.”

“Right, fine. Except for the fact that you deny your Little side,” Jenner said to her quietly.

She stiffened. Nope. No. She was not talking about this. Jenner had broached this with her before. So had Abe and Cat. But just because she might like sleeping with a stuffed toy didn’t mean she was a Little. There were lots of people who loved Harry Potter, who weren’t Littles.

And she couldn’t be a Little.

Because she had to grow up. Be strong. Stop being so ridiculously childish.

Unicorn poop.

Now her father was in her head. She knew she shouldn’t have spoken about him.

“He’s like Rumpelstiltskin,” she muttered.

“What? Who is?” Tobias asked.

“My father. Say his name and he appears. Poof. I need to go back to bed.”

“You haven’t eaten any of your breakfast,” Jenner protested.