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J enner stood outside Immy’s door.

He wasn’t an idiot.

He knew that she and Isaiah hadn’t been entirely truthful earlier about what they’d been doing.

It didn’t make sense for them to go separately when they both worked from home.

And Immy had seemed a bit off tonight. He’d had to remind her three times to eat. Which wasn’t totally unheard of. She could get distracted laughing and talking during mealtimes and completely forget to eat. Sometimes, he’d just grab her plate and fork and feed her between words.

But she’d been strangely quiet and reserved tonight. He’d also noticed the looks that both Abe and Isaiah had been giving her.

Yeah, he knew that he could sometimes zone out. Especially, when he was working on a song. But that didn’t mean he was always unobservant. And when he’d gotten home to find Immy gone, he’d been worried. It wasn’t like her to leave the house on her own.

He’d left her at home and he’d kind of expected her to be there when he returned.

And yeah, he realized that he sounded like an asshole.

Maybe he could make a rule that when she left the house, she had to text them where she was going, and then text again when she returned home.

Yeah, that didn’t sound too unreasonable, right?

Jenner knew he could be a touch controlling. Not as bad as Sampson. That man had to have absolute control over everything in his life. But the only times that Jenner felt like he could breathe was when he was singing or creating songs. Or when he had absolute control.

Over Immy in particular.

Yeah, he worried over Cat and Maeve and the guys. He wanted all of his family safe. All of his girls protected.

But it was Immy’s safety and happiness that consumed him.

Almost to the extent of being unhealthy. To the point that sometimes he couldn’t think of anything else.

Like tonight.

He’d tried to go to bed, but the thought that she was hiding something from him was keeping him awake. What if she was in trouble? What if she couldn’t sleep?

He knew he’d be unable to sleep without checking in on her.

But Immy needed a lot of sleep. If she didn’t get enough sleep or eat properly, she could easily get ill.

Stress also wasn’t good for her. Which was another reason he wanted to find out what was going on.

So he didn’t knock because he didn’t want to wake her up if she was asleep. Instead, he quietly pushed her door open.

Yeah, someone else would likely take offense to him sneaking into their room like this. It was an invasion of privacy.

Unless you were Immy and Jenner.

And then privacy didn’t really come into it. Because he’d been sneaking into her room for years. It had been so hard to live apart from her after they left the cult, before they’d all been old enough to move in together. But at least she’d been close by and they’d gone to school together.

Sometimes, he’d still snuck out of his house at night to go to hers. Thankfully, neither his mom nor his aunt had discovered what he was doing.

Jenner’s mom had been his father’s second wife. After Sampson’s mother. His aunt, her sister, had often tried to free the two of them from the cult. But they’d been too scared to leave Sampson, whose mother had died a few years previously.

Jenner slipped into her room. She had a nightlight on and he moved closer to the bed, studying her.

God, she was beautiful.

He’d always thought that she was cute. She was fun and sweet.

But lately . . . yeah, he’d started to notice how beautiful she was. How feminine and gorgeous.

Jenner swallowed heavily, closing his eyes.

It was wrong.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

He couldn’t think of Immy as anything other than his sister. He wouldn’t do that to her. She deserved someone who wasn’t like him. Wasn’t messed up. Someone who didn’t come with all his baggage. That could see how gorgeous and sexy she was without wanting to vomit.

Screwed up didn’t even come close to explaining his state of mind. Sometimes he felt like he didn’t even deserve to breathe the same air as Immy.

She was perfection.

He was the troll under the bridge, just hoping for a glimpse of her sunshine.

Yet he couldn’t stop himself from taking her in. Her red hair was streaming out across her pillow. Her bedding was all Harry Potter themed with Harry, Hermione, and Ron on the front. Hogwarts Castle was in the background. She was cuddling Snowy, her owl.

Was she a Little? He often thought she was, but she always denied it.

And it wasn’t about her liking Harry Potter or sleeping with a soft toy. Plenty of people who weren’t Littles did that. It was the way she acted, the way she seemed to need how they all nurtured and supported her.

Maybe it was just Immy.

But he couldn’t help but think that Immy would thrive with a Daddy.

You could be her Daddy.

No, he couldn’t. He’d never been anyone’s Daddy. And he wasn’t . . . he couldn’t be with Immy that way.

Immy shifted around on the bed, whimpering. Jenner’s heart leaped into his throat.

Was she having a nightmare? What should he do? Should he wake her?

He hated the thought of her being upset.

“No, no, Jenner!” she cried.

Was the nightmare about him? Shit.

“I don’t . . . I just want him to notice . . . no, no,” she said. “Of course I don’t want that!”

Didn’t want what? Wanted him to notice what?

Okay. This was probably way overstepping. It was one thing to come in and check on her. It was something he did at least twice a week. Sure, that was probably a bit creepy, but it was the only way to stop himself from worrying about her.

But to listen to her dreams . . . yeah, that seemed a step too far.

However, he also couldn’t leave her in this state. He couldn’t just walk away while she was so upset. Making a decision, he sat on the side of the bed, facing her. Her head was thrashing back and forth, her gorgeous hair flying around her head.

“Immy! Immy, baby, you’re having a nightmare.” He grasped hold of her shoulder and gently shook her.

The last thing he wanted was to give her a fright, but he also didn’t want to leave her stuck in a nightmare.

With a gasp, she sat up, looking around. “Where am I? Who are you?”

Shit.

Sometimes this happened when she woke up suddenly. Immy was a deep sleeper. So it could take her a while to fully wake up.

He had to admit that sleepy, half-awake Immy was his favorite.

“It’s Jenner, baby. I’m here. You’re safe.”

“Jenner?” she asked in a high-pitched voice.

When she was in her half-asleep state, she often sounded and acted younger than her years.

It was like all of her defenses were eroded. So there was just Immy.

“Yes, baby.”

“Where am I? I don’t think I like it in here. I want to go home.”

Immy crawled out of bed and over into his lap. She wrapped herself around him, her legs straddling his hips and her arms tight around his neck.

“Don’t wanna stay here. Wanna go with you. It’s too dark and scary.”

He ran his hand up and down her back, hating the way she was shaking.

She was scared of the dark, which is why she slept with a nightlight.

He didn’t know why exactly, but he guessed they’d all been left with demons from living at the Camp.

As much as they had tried to protect Immy, they hadn’t been able to shield her from everything.

At least he hoped there wasn’t something she was keeping from them.

Don’t do it.

Don’t ask.

“Immy?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Why don’t you like the dark, Twinkles?” He’d given her that nickname because her eyes always twinkled with happiness.

She tightened her hold on him even more. “Don’t like it. Just don’t.” She let out a sob.

Fuck. He was an asshole. How could he be pressing her like this when she was clearly distraught?

“Hey, hey, it’s all right. Shh. It’s okay. Jenner is here. I’m going to take care of you.” He rocked her back and forth, humming his song for her.

Even though she didn’t know it was her song.

He knew it would help her calm down.

Slowly, she relaxed against him. “Jenner.”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

She was coming back into the here and now and he couldn’t help but feel a stab of sadness. It was wrong. He didn’t want her to be afraid and distressed. But he’d miss their closeness. The way she clung to him.

How much she depended on him.

Was it wrong to like that so much? To like how much she needed him for everything. To keep her safe, to protect her.

She leaned back and looked up at him. “I’m so sorry.” Her eyes widened, distress filling them.

Fuck.

He quickly cupped her cheeks between his hands. Damn it. She was cold. How had he not noticed how cold it was? Immy had always felt the cold. Which is why they kept the inside temperature at seventy-eight degrees. The rest of them were always hot. But he didn’t care.

Immy came first.

Always.

He had to get her calmed down and under the covers.

“Hey, listen to me. Listen,” he urged. “You have nothing to be sorry about.”

“What did I do? Did I wake you up? Oh no, I did, didn’t I? Was I having a nightmare?”

“You didn’t wake me up. I came in to check on you when I noticed you were having a nightmare. If anyone needs to apologize, it’s me for coming into your bedroom when you were asleep.”

“Oh, I didn’t wake you?”

“No, baby. No. I just wanted to check on you as you were so quiet at dinner tonight. That’s all.”

“Did I climb onto your lap?”

“Yes, but that’s okay.”

More than okay. Don’t ever leave.

Urgh, he was fucked.

“It’s not really. You need your sleep.” She tried to get off his lap, but he held her still.

“Immy, you’d tell me if there was something wrong, right?”

She smiled at him. “Of course I would. I don’t even know what the nightmare was about. But really, everything is fine.”

Right.

That was why she couldn’t look him in the eyes as she said that. And she was fiddling, like she needed to pee.

Which was Immy’s tell for when she was lying.

“You’re lying to me,” he said. “And I don’t like it.”

She sighed. “I’m all right. Really. I just needed to get away from here for a while this afternoon. So I went for a drink. It’s really no big deal. Isaiah met me there and we came home. There’s nothing to tell.”

“All right.” He still wasn’t sure that was everything, but he couldn’t force her to talk. Much as he wanted to. “We better get you back into bed.”

With a nod, she climbed off him and into bed and he drew the covers around her.

“You might need to switch from silk pajamas to warmer ones,” he told her.

She was wearing pale pink and white polka dot silk pajamas. Ones that he’d also bought her for her birthday. He liked her wearing things he’d purchased for her. It must be some sort of caveman instinct or something.

Immy yawned. “I’m okay. I’m warm enough under the covers.”

“You’re definitely feeling all right?” he asked as he stood over her, placing his hand against her forehead. “No fever.”

Sometimes she went quiet and sleepy when she wasn’t feeling well.

“I’m fine. I promise. Just tired.”

“All right. But I’m going to sleep in here just to make sure.”

Would she protest?

The last time he’d slept in her room had been when they were on tour and she hadn’t been feeling well.

Lauren hadn’t been happy about that. But she worked for him and missing one VIP event wasn’t going to break his career.

Honestly, he was getting a bit tired of the way she kept arranging things for him to do without consulting him first.

At the same time, he’d been the one to hire her. While his career was doing well, he wanted to take it to the next level. He needed to set his family up, to make certain they were secure.

And to do that, he needed money.

That was what would ensure their safety.

Immy yawned. “Okie-dokie-lemon-spokie.”

She was such a goof sometimes. But she was his goof. He was already in his pajamas so he just laid down on her floor rug.

After a few moments, he heard her shifting around on the bed. Then her head appeared over the edge.

“Go to sleep, baby,” he told her gently.

“I can’t sleep while you’re so uncomfortable,” she told him. “Why don’t you sleep in the bed with me?”

His eyes widened. Sleep in the bed with her?

Fuck, that was tempting.

Too tempting. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t trust himself.

Could he?

You don’t deserve to be in that bed with her. You don’t deserve to touch.

“I can’t sleep in the bed with you,” he said hastily, swallowing the nausea that bubbled in his stomach.

He watched as a shutter came down across her face. Instantly, he felt like an asshole. He hadn’t meant to hurt her.

“I roll around a lot in my sleep,” he explained. “I don’t want to kick you or hurt you. I’ve been known to give out a few karate chops, remember?”

A giggle left her. “I remember. That time we all slept together in the treehouse, you slammed your foot into Sampson’s balls.”

“I don’t think he’s fully recovered,” he confided. “That’s why he has such a high-pitched voice.”

Another giggle. “Sampson doesn’t have a high-pitched voice. It’s really deep.”

“Imagine how much deeper it would be if I hadn’t slammed my foot into his balls? He should actually thank me. As it is, some people look around for the thunderstorm when he speaks.”

“They do not!”

“They really do. He should do some audiobook narrating.”

“Ooh, he totally should,” she said. “He’d make a great bad guy.”

“Course he would. He wouldn’t even have to act.”

“Jenner!” she cried, throwing a pillow down at him.

He caught it. “Thanks. I would like a pillow.”

“You know there’s a pillow and blanket under the bed,” she said quietly. “It’s always there for you.”

That was his Immy.

Always taking care of him.

There was no way he could ever deserve her.