“Stop. My mother put you up to this?” She scooted her chair back, stood, her hands shaking, and she stepped toward the door.
I couldn’t let her leave. The three of us jumped up, but I motioned for the other two to stay back. I stepped in front of her and said, “Please don’t leave until we’ve told you everything.”
“What else is there to say? I’m not lovable. My mother doesn’t even trust that I can enjoy a kink camp where there’s no judgment.” She threw her hands up. “How did she know where I went?”
Phoenix’s voice was soft and soothing. “Can we please sit back down?”
“All of you sit down.” Her shoulders were hunched and her hands were clasped.
My heart was ripped out of my chest to see her so devastated. It made the rest of what we had to tell her even harder. “May I touch you, give you a hug?”
“No, sit.”
We took our chairs but she walked behind Samuel’s desk and sat in his chair, her eyes downcast. “What else do you have to tell me?”
Phoenix said, “According to our father, your mother was concerned with what kind of educational camp you were going to. You had been vague, and she wanted to protect you. We’d never met you, never even seen a picture of you, so we trusted her word.”
Everest said, “She told our father that you were a kinder soul than most and that you might be in over your head, so when she checked your emails and saw it was a kink camp, she was deeply worried.”
I took over again. “She asked around and somebody in your hometown knew about the Ranch. We grew up on a ranch so he asked us all to apply. We studied kink to get up to speed, or at least try. We were going to watch from a distance, do our job, simply make sure you were safe… but when you walked in that door the first day, my interest in you wasn’t strictly to satisfy your mother. I felt it in my bones that I should care for you, to protect you, to guide you, to nurture you, to teach you. I want to do all of those things. Penny, I want to be your Daddy Dom.”
She glanced up from under her lashes when my monologue ended. I took a second to catch my breath.
“How does my mom know your dad?”
“Oh, shit!” Phoenix said. “They got married. You’re our stepsister.”
Penny calmly—too calmly—got up from the chair and said, “I’m going to my cabin. Don’t follow me.”
It was frustrating not to have finished our explanation, but we had to give her space. We’d committed to that.
Chapter Sixteen
Penny
Straying from the gravel paths, I took the quickest route to my cabin. I should have known better than to think Rawhide Ranch could handle my weirdness.
How pathetic was I that my mom had to send people to protect me?
I slammed open the cabin door, stood with my back against it, and did my best not to hyperventilate.
A 5-4-3-2-1 cycle failed to ground me. I sat on the bed and tried to fold pages, but my hands were too shaky and my tears made it hard to read the directions, plus they got the pages wet.
Was I really that unlovable? And so naive, I couldn’t see that the guys weren’t being honest.
Was Damon the only honest experience I’d had at Rawhide Ranch? He was so kind, but I hadn’t felt a connection to him.
“China’s so pretty, I’m going to be the first to ride her,” a girl’s voice said excitedly while passing my cabin. An argument ensued over who’s going to be first.
The only thing I was going to be first at was leaving Rawhide Ranch before being their first failure. I wanted to be at home in my own bed, surrounded by my own… everything.
I curled up on the bed—comfortable but notmybed—and opened the group chat on my phone.
Me:I’m coming home early.
Bellamie:Is everything okay?
Jolene:You better be bringing a Daddy home with you.
