“It’s the only explanation I can think of. Fuck. I can’t believe Rex is dead.”
North felt a pang of something that he guessed was sadness. That quite surprised him. Maybe he’d been more attached to Rex than he’d realized.
“Do you want to go look at the head?” North said. “Then bring me up my laptop? I’ll work from the nursery.”
“I can stay with her. Thanks for taking care of her.”
“Why are you thanking me?” North asked. “She is mine too, is she not?”
“Yeah, she is.”
“As I was looking after her, I realized that I didn’t feel annoyed or indifferent. I wanted to watch out for her. I wanted to care for her. I’m also going to discipline her later.”
“Discipline her?”
“Yes. Not now, but at some stage she’s getting her butt spanked.”
47
Angie woke up with a gasp.
Where was she? Why was she trapped? Why was she gagged?
Panic had her thrashing around, trying to free herself.
“Whoa, easy, baby,” Jared soothed as he appeared above her.
He quickly freed her from the blanket of death and scooped her up. She tried to talk but she was still gagged.
Could she even breathe?
She wasn’t certain that she could.
“Easy, it’s a pacifier.” He drew the pacifier from her mouth and she could finally get air into her lungs.
Thank God.
“Poor baby girl. You’re all right. I have you. Daddy has you.”
She let out a small noise that sounded both sad and scared. Shoot.
What was wrong with her?
Why did she panic like that?
Then images shot through her head.
Rex’s head. Vomiting all over herself. North cleaning her, doing her hair.
Her breathing grew fast again, her heart racing.
“I can’t . . . I can’t,” she gasped.
“Shh. Shh, you don’t have to. I’m here. Daddy is here. Slip into your happy space. Be as Little as you want. Daddy will do everything so that you don’t have to be scared.”
She wrapped herself around him and he turned her so her chest was pressed to his, her legs around his hips.
He kept a hand on her bottom, bouncing up and down slightly. “Shh. Shh. Shh. I’m here. Daddy has you. You don’t even have to talk if you don’t want to.”
