Page 141 of Broken Daddy

And you shouldn’t be lusting after her, you lame fucker.

Fuck.

Nothing was working.

He carried her out to the bed.

“I’m not allowed to put myself down?” she asked.

“No, you’re not. It’s a rule.”

“I have rules?”

Was that . . . enthusiasm in her voice? Most people didn’t want rules. Most Littles that he’d met really weren’t into rules.

“Have you ever had rules?” he asked.

“Everyone has rules,” she told him.

“I don’t mean society's rules or laws,” he told her. “I mean, just for you.” He set her down on the bed and then glanced around for a washcloth to wipe her hands.

“I, uh, I guess I must have.”

He wet the cloth and lathered up some soap, then returned to wash her hand.

“You guess?” he said.

She leaned back, staring up at him tiredly. Fuck, she looked exhausted and so pale that it worried him. She’d lost quite a bit of blood and it would take a while for her to recover, even with the blood transfusion.

“When I was younger, maybe. Before Mom got ill. After that . . .”

“Did you never have a curfew as a teenager? Things like no dating before sixteen?”

“I never dated. And I didn’t need a curfew as I didn’t have friends.”

“What?” It was hard to believe that someone as warm and kind as Devi didn’t have friends.

“I think I told you that I was a bit of an outcast at school. I was still grieving my mom and I kind of withdrew. Then by the time I came out of my grief, everyone else had their groups of friends and they weren’t interested in me. I mean, nobody was really mean, but that was because most people didn’t know I existed. Until a teacher started picking on me, that is. Then people noticed me. But not in a good way. She was a very mean woman who picked on me because of Rohan. I think she . . . I think shewantedhim.”

“That’s fucking sick. Did you tell him that she was bullying you?”

“No, But Marcus did. He heard about what she was doing to me and told Rohan. He questioned me and then a few days later she was arrested. For having questionable images on her school computer. I don’t know if Rohan and Marcus did that. But once she was gone, school was a lot better. However, dear old Derick kept calling me Mouse which is the name she gave me.”

“Asshole,” he grumbled.

“I’ve never been good at being able to, uh, hold on when I need to go to the toilet. When I need to go . . . I need to go and she would take great enjoyment in telling me that I couldn’t have a hall pass. Then I’d have to run to the toilet. I’d always get detention, of course. And she’d always make some snide remarks to the class that would make them laugh.”

“That fucking bitch.” He started pacing up and down and imaging all the ways he wanted to harm her.

How dare she bully any child, let alone a child in her care who was grieving her mother!

And because she was rebuffed by another child? She was a predator. She didn’t just deserve jail. That seemed too good for her.

“So I never had friends or a boyfriend in high school. So there was no need for a curfew, and even if I did, Derick wouldn’t have bothered with any rules. Heck, it’s unlikely he would have noticed. Rohan might have, but he was busy too.”

And she was on her own.

No rules because it seemed like no one cared enough about her to give her any. He didn’t count Rohan, he was a child too.