After a few seconds, the pain lessened. I definitely would remember not to move too fast again.
“Are you ready to go?” Scarlett asked.
“Sure, I guess.”
After a few more questions, Asher gave me a gentle hug from the side. “Allister is really nice. I don’t know what happened to you, but I don’t think he’d hurt you.”
There were a few things I could have said to that, but instead, I just leaned into him until his arms released me.
Sir may not have hurt me physically as other men had, but he still had. He punished me for things I didn’t know I had done wrong.
Chapter 24
Allister
The house turned way too quiet after Asher left with Scarlett. Not that it was loud to begin with, but Asher was able to fill the silence by doing everyday things that any human would do. Unlike the scared boy who had hardly moved a muscle as he sat on my couch.
I had almost expected Asher to put up more of a fight to stay here. He definitely had asked me more than once. But as I said, I had my hands full with Dakota.
Pausing in the space between the entryway and the living room, I took a lo ng look at the boy I had been falling for.
Between not eating for the few days he wasn’t here and the abuse he had suffered before I found him, he looked like he had been dragged to hell and back.
I still couldn’t believe someone would ever hurt him, though, especially not in a place where Dakotashould have been safe at. It had to have been just a bad choice of placement for how traumatized he was.
After taking a deep breath in and letting it go, I slowly got my feet working. As I neared the boy, he lifted his head up enough to see me through the strands of hair that fell over one of his eyes.
“I think we need to talk.” I kept my voice as calm as I could, even though I wanted to do anything but talk. Talking wasn’t my strong suit.
Dakota stiffened as I took a seat on the coffee table, not caring if the thing would end up breaking under me. I left plenty of space between the two of us, but I had to be able to see his reactions.
“I’ll be good. I promise, Sir. I won’t do…I’ll be good.” His voice was quiet, and his eyes dropped to his lap, where he had his legs almost pulled all the way up.
“You aren’t in trouble, boy.” As I said the words, Dakota pursed his lips in disbelief. “Alright. What do you think you did not to be good?”
Maybe going about it in a different way would not only enlighten me about his thoughts but also get him to open up.
“My job. I’m to serve you.”
“Have you listened and obeyed everything I’ve asked of you?”
He hesitated but slowly nodded. Other than the kneeling thing, he had done more than I expected.
“So why do you think you aren’t good?” I tried again, leaning forward a bit to place my folded hands between my knees.
He let out a breath, frustrated at his inability to adequately explain himself while lifting a shoulder but otherwise didn’t speak a word.
“Tell me what’s going through your head.”
His gaze shot up to mine with the lower commanding tone I used. He held it there for a moment. Fear as intense as ever covered his entire face.
Whatever he was thinking couldn’t possibly be that bad. Or at least I hoped not.
He took another few seconds before he dropped his gaze, pulling one of his legs closer to his chest. At the slight movement, pain flashed through him before it eased.
“I’m never good enough. I’m not perfect enough to be your slave.” The words were barely audible, and I had to listen closely to make them out. “You don’t like me. You sent me away as punishment, so I know I did something bad.”
“You did nothing wrong.” Dakota sniffed at my firm words. “You were to be safe there. Nothing bad was to happen.”
