Page 29 of Blade

“D-did you do this?”

I stroked her cheek gently. “They willneverhurt you again, Eloise.” My heart pounded as I waited for her reaction. Would she hate me? Be scared of me?

“Thank you!” she cried, rising to her knees and throwing her arms around me. “Thank you!”

“I will do anything to keep you safe, Little one.”

“I’m free?” she asked, pulling back.

“You’re free.”

She put her head back in the crook of my neck and sobbed while I patted her back softly. I’d give her as much time as she needed to grieve.

“Blade!” she said suddenly, pulling back.

“What, baby?”

“Y-you didn’t kill Old Man Driggers, did you? He wasn’t evil, just really old and territorial.”

Laughing, I hugged her tight again. “No, baby, but Bash did take his gun away and maybe threaten to shove it where the sun doesn’t shine.”

She laughed, loud and carefree and I loved knowing she felt the weight of her past lifting off of her.

Chapter Eight

Eloise

Do you want more tea, Daddy?” I asked, holding a pink plastic tea pot up to Blade.

“I would love some more tea, darlin’.”

I pretended to fill his cup and he extended his pinky before slurping the tea.

“This might be the best tea I’ve ever had,” he teased.

Giggling, I tucked my hair behind my ears. I loved when we played together in the playroom he’d set up for me in his house. He wanted me to move in with him. He’d asked me every day since I’d been discharged from Dr. Elliot’s house—so seven times. It would have bothered me if anyone else asked me to do something for that many days in a row, but Blade did it so patiently and kindly that I didn’t mind. He never got upset when I told him I wasn’t ready yet. It was on the tip of my tongue to say yes, though. He was such a good man, and that made the choice so easy.

“You’re thinking hard, darlin’.”

“Sorry,” I said, shaking my head and offering him a plastic cookie I’d been holding.

“Do you want to talk about what’s on your mind?”

“I was just thinking about moving in with you,” I answered, picking up the spider stuffie he'd given me. I’d named her Patty Long Legs. Rubbing her furry leg against my face calmed me.

“Oh?”

“Can you hold me?” I asked. I’d grown very attached to his cuddles.

He slid back from the table that was holding all our tea party goodies and opened his arms for me. I walked over and sat on his lap, wrapping my arms and legs around him.

“You know you can tell me anything, right?”

He was being genuine and I cherished that he meant what he said. I nodded into his neck.

“Do you understand why I ask you every day?”

Shaking my head, I slipped my two middle fingers in my mouth. I’d taken to sucking them when it was just me and him.

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