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Oh, who was she kidding? No, she wouldn’t. She was a big old wimp who didn’t even like to swat flies. How did she possibly think that she was going to kick someone in the balls?

“Need to be more like Cat. She could do it,” she grumbled.

“You’ve been making some progress with your self-defense,” Sampson told her. “Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

Progress? She spent the first few lessons running away every time he came at her. Or giggling when he did something. That was hardly going to scare an attacker, was it?

“You don’t need to know how to fight someone off,” Jenner told her. “Because you’re not ever going to be alone to let someone get close.”

“For how long?” she asked tiredly.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“How long will I have to live like this? Not allowed to go anywhere alone? I just . . . Maeve’s stalker is gone. So shouldn’t things go back to normal?”

There was silence.

“We’ll see,” Sampson told her.

“None of us have a good feeling about this,” Abe told her. “Which is why Alejandro left Tobias here for a while longer.”

“Just let us take care of you, Immy,” Jenner said to her. “You’re the best part of us and none of us want you at risk.” His lips landed on her forehead and if she hadn’t been so unwell, then her body might have reacted more to the feel of his lips against her skin.

“Okie-dokie,” she said.

“Such a good girl for me,” Jenner whispered in her ear.

All right, no matter how ill she was, she still reacted to that. There was nothing that Immy loved more than being called a good girl.

Well, maybe there were one or two other things that she liked. Like being kissed. Carried around. Yeah, she liked those things too. Being held on a lap and fed.

Urgh, she had a problem.

She just wanted to be taken care of. Coddled and loved.

Stupid life meant that couldn’t happen all the time, though.

And, unfortunately, it seemed like she had to be really ill in order to get everything she wanted.

Kind of sucked.

Shit. Wait. She forgot that Jenner could read her mind today. Had he heard all of that.

“Did you hear that?” she asked him.

“Hear what?” Jenner asked.

“Me thinking about my favorite things.”

Jenner smiled down at her, brushing her hair back off her face. “You didn’t say anything about your favorite things. You want to tell me?”

She shook her head, then winced as it thumped. “Immy not feeling well.”

“I know, baby,” he soothed. “Let’s get this medicine into you and then I’ll take you back to bed.”

“You will?” she said. “Will you carry Immy?”

“Of course. Open wide.”

Immy opened wide. Because she was a good girl, after all. She always did what she was told.

When Immy was sick, it could be harder to get her to do what she was told. Thankfully, today, she seemed to be determined to be a good girl.

God, Jenner fucking hated when she was ill.

And he really hated how a simple cold or flu could turn into something really nasty with her if they weren’t careful.

After taking her medicine, he lifted her back onto his hip. She curled around him like a baby monkey clinging to its mama.

“That’s it, precious girl. Hold onto me.”

Hold on to Daddy.

Fuck.

When she was ill, she also seemed to regress.

He wasn’t sure why Immy was always so insistent that she wasn’t a Little.

Maybe she was still learning things about herself.

Like he was. Because he thought he might be a Daddy.

Were there classes he could take? Would he be able to sneak to the club without anyone finding out?

Jenner carried her into her bedroom. Her bed was a mess. Abe was behind him, carrying more medication, Gatorade, and dry toast.

Not that she’d likely eat.

“Sit down on the armchair with her and I’ll change the sheets on her bed,” Abe said, setting everything down on the bedside table.

“Noo,” she moaned. “They’re all gross.”

“You did it for me the other day,” Abe said to her as he stripped the bed.

Isaiah walked in silently and started to help.

“That’s different,” Immy grumbled.

“Why?” Jenner asked her, sitting on the chair and settling her sideways on his lap.

Sampson stuck his head in and saw what they were doing before disappearing. Hopefully to get clean sheets.

“Because Abe was ill.”

“I was fine,” Abe told her, coming over to crouch in front of her. “And Imms, you’re the one who is sick now.”

“Noo,” she groaned. “I don’t wanna be. I’m so tired of being sick all the time.”

Jenner didn’t like the defeated note in her voice. Immy was never defeated. She usually met life head-on with a smile and more enthusiasm than the rest of them could muster.

Now, she sounded far too tired.

“I know you are, Imms,” Abe said carefully. “But we’re here. We’ll take care of you. We’ll get through this like we do everything.”

“There’s so much to get through, though,” she said as Sampson walked back in with clean sheets. “It feels like there’s something all the time. We get through one thing and something else happens. When do we just get a chance to live in peace?”

Jenner hugged her tight, rocking her back and forth as he glanced at the others. It was a fair question. It did feel like life kept trying to knock them around with one thing after another. And, no doubt, it felt worse for Immy who had to be careful of her health or she could get very ill.

“I promise there will be a time when we don’t feel like we’re always fighting for our freedom, for our peace,” he told her.

Although he knew he shouldn’t really make such promises.

He just wanted that for her.

Jenner kissed the top of her head, breathing in her scent. Maybe there was a way for her to get some peace, though. When she was in Little headspace, she wouldn’t have to spend time concerning herself with adult worries.

“I feel all gross,” she said before coughing. “And you guys shouldn’t be near me. You might catch the lurgy.”

“Don’t care about that, baby,” Jenner told her. “Do you want a bath?”

“Shower.”

“You can’t get into the shower on your own, you might get dizzy and fall over,” Jenner told her. He didn’t even like the idea of her in the bath. But he could bathe her with her underwear on.

“I can get her into the bath,” Abe said, frowning at him.

“I got this.” Jenner glared back at him. What did he think he was going to do? “I’ll bathe her wearing her top.”

Which was actually his top. He thought that he’d lost that T-shirt a long time ago. Hmm, seemed there was a thief in the house, stealing his things.

And he liked that.

A lot.

“It isn’t anything he hasn’t seen before,” Immy said, her eyes closing.

Jenner gaped down at her. What was she talking about?

“What?” Abe asked in a low, dark voice. “What does she mean by that?”

“I don’t know. Immy, what does that mean?” Jenner asked.

“What?” She opened her eyes and gaze around at them all. “You’ve all seen boobs before, right? Immy’s boobs aren’t anything special. Kind of small. Not that exciting.”

Oh. That’s what she’d meant.

“Sampson, can you run the bath?” Jenner asked.

“Noo,” she complained. “He does it too cold cause he says I’ll burn myself. And he doesn’t use bubbles cause he says I’ll slip over. I want Issy or Abby to do it.”

“I’ll do it if you stop calling me Abby,” Abe told her.

“You’ll do it anyway, cause you love me,” she replied.

She totally had him pegged. Had them all pegged. Because there was nothing that they wouldn’t do for her.

Abe disappeared into the bathroom with a sigh. They heard the water running and Immy groaned.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Now I got to go pee,” she complained.

“All right, I’ll carry you to the toilet.” Jenner stood with her in his arms and walked in to find that Abe was squirting bubble bath into the bath water.

“She needs to pee.”

“I’ll help her,” Abe said, standing.

Jenner immediately shook his head. “I have her.”

Abe eyed him with an unfair amount of suspicion. What the hell did he think he was going to do? Then he nodded and left, closing the bathroom door behind him.

Jenner set Immy on her feet in front of the toilet and she swayed. “Immy don’t wanna be sick.”

“I know, baby.”

“Sucks.”

“I know it does.”

“Is it ‘cause Immy was a bad girl?” she asked.

He was reaching under her T-shirt to pull her panties down when he paused. “What are you talking about? How was Immy a bad girl?”

She blinked down at him. “Forced you to kiss me.”

Shit.

Fuck.

Was that what she thought? How could she think that? Forced him? Immy weighed a good eighty pounds less than him and she had no real strength in her arms. How could she ever force him?

Not that she would even have to.

And maybe she’d started the kiss, but he’d sure as heck finished it.

“Immy, you did nothing wrong,” he told her firmly. “You did not force me.”

She sniffled. “Felt so bad. Think Immy has ruined everything now. Lost your friendship. Can’t even work together now because you avoid me. So dumb.” She pinched the back of her hand. “So stupid.”

“Stop that,” he said in alarm, grabbing hold of her hand. But she drew her hand away and pinched it again.

“Immy. Stop that, now.” He used his sternest voice and to his shock it worked.

She froze.

“You do not hurt yourself. Understand me? Not ever.”

Another sniffle. “But Immy was bad. Deserves to be punished.”

“Immy was not bad and she certainly does not deserve to be punished. And if she did, I would do the punishing, not her. Understand me?”

“You’d take away my Twizzlers?” she cried.

Or put you over my knee.

But he refrained from saying that.

“And I’m sorry I’ve been avoiding you. That was wrong of me and I won’t do it anymore.”

“Do you need to be punished?” she asked.

“Probably,” he admitted.

“Can I do it?”

He snorted. “How would you do it?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’d take away your mashed potatoes for a week.” She grinned at him.

Sassy brat.

“You can’t take away my mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes are life. They’re a necessity. Like breathing.”

Or peeing.

Which she still hadn’t done.

She snorted. Or he thought that was what she was trying to do. Instead, she ended up sneezing.

“Eww. Gross.”

He grabbed some tissues and wiped her nose for her. She started swaying and he grabbed her hips, worried that she was about to collapse.

“Let’s get you on the toilet.” He drew down her panties and helped guide her onto the toilet.

Then he took a few steps back and gave her his back, turning on the water.

When he heard the toilet flush, he turned the water off.

“Okay, Immy?” he asked, still giving her privacy.

“Uh-huh.”

He heard the splash of water and turned quickly to find that she was already getting into the bath, her arm over her breasts.

“Baby, what are you doing? Be careful!” He rushed toward her, coming up short as he saw that she was crying. “What’s wrong? Are you in pain? That’s it, I’m calling Eric.”

“No! No, don’t. I’m just . . . sad.”

Fuck.

He didn’t like that at all. He crouched next to the bath and wiped the tears off her flushed cheeks. His poor girl.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Because I messed us up.”

“You didn’t mess us up, baby,” Jenner reassured her. “We’re fine. There is nothing wrong.”

“Promise?”

“I promise, my precious girl.” He picked up her hand and kissed the top of it. Shit. She felt so warm.

Was it the bath?

He placed his hand on her forehead. No. She seemed to be burning even hotter. Maybe a bath hadn’t been a good idea.

“We need to get you out of the bath.”

“But Immy just got into the bath. Immy wants to stay.”

“Well, Immy doesn’t always get what she wants,” he said sternly.

“That’s not very nice, Jenny.”

Another sniffle.

But he was used to this when she was ill. And he had also learned not to back down and give her everything she desired.

Which was actually really difficult to do.

Because all he wanted was for Immy to be happy.

So ignoring her grumbles and complaints, he lifted her out of the bath and set her down on her feet before grabbing a towel.

He tried not to look, he really did.

But it was impossible.

And the glimpse of creamy white skin, of her small breasts tipped with pink nipples had him groaning.

Quickly, he slipped the towel around her.

“Are you all right, Jenny?” she asked, swaying slightly.

“Yeah, baby. I’m good.”

“Sure? You kind of look light-headed. Like all of your blood has rushed south or something.”

He shot her a suspicious look. Did she know that his dick had just gotten hard and thick?

But, no, she just gave him an innocent look back, her gaze nowhere near his dick.

Okay. Must have been an innocent observation.

“I’m just fine, baby. Let’s get you into bed.”