Page 17 of Bash

She shut the bedroom door behind her. I wasn’t sure, but that felt suspicious. Throwing the covers off of me, I crept to the door and pressed my ear to it.

“I’m sure she will be glad to see you. I think she’s doing a bit better today. The medicine must be working,” I heard her say.

I dropped my shoulders and let out the deep breath I had been holding. Rushing back to bed, I threw the covers over my body and tried to make it look like I hadn’t moved.

Kay pushed the door open and walked back into the room. “You have some visitors, Little girl,” she said.

I waved at Leland and his Little girl Rouge. Rouge was like the cool older Little we all wanted to be like. She was such a badass with her long dark hair and colorful tattoos. I’d heard she’d actually escaped a cult.

She held up a pink board game. “I’ve already had the flu, so I thought maybe you’d like to play.”

I nodded and scooted to a sitting position in the bed.

The doorbell rang again and then someone shouted, “I’m coming in!” from downstairs. I grinned when I realized it was Eloise. Kay must have forgotten to re-lock the door.

“It’s a Daddies Ink party,” Leland said, winking at me.

Eloise appeared a few minutes later carrying donuts. “I thought you might need a fun snack. I’m sure Bash is only feeding you rabbit food. And Daddy said it was okay if I came over, as long as I wore a mask.”

“He’s going to kill me if you feed her that!” Kay protested.

I reached for the donut box. “It was very nice knowing you,” I teased her, making everyone laugh as I picked up a pink-frosted donut and took a big bite.

Leland sat across from me on the bed. “It looks like there are lots of people who are willingly spending their days off with you, coming in to see you when their shift is over, and I see one whois even missing work for you. I don’t think people want to be around people they think are burdens, do you?”

“No, Sir,” I answered, my voice thick with emotion.

“That must mean you’re not a burden then, huh?”

“Yes,Sir.”

“What does that make you then, Allyson?”

“A f-friend.”

“A friend,” he agreed. “A very loved friend who will always have a place with us.”

Chapter Six

Bash

I washed the blood from my body and watched as it swirled down the drain at one of the buildings we went to after a job. Something about seeing the blood wash away felt metaphorical since we’d just rid the world of its owner’s putrid existence. I’d been doing jobs for Jasper for almost a decade. Jasper was the brains behind the operation, an undercover badass who took down some of the worst people in the world. He was a brilliantIT mastermind and honestly an evil genius. The job we’d just done was for two rapists that the justice system had to let free due to a technicality. They’d traumatized too many women to count and that wasn't acceptable. They’d died slow and painful deaths and they’d never hurt anyone again.

It had been our first job in three months. The last time we’d all worked together was when we’d taken down the bastard who’d kept Eloise hostage in a prayer closet and all the loons that had helped him or followed his crazy beliefs. It had been a gruesome assignment and I’d fucking loved every second of it. The mission we’d just completed had felt equally as amazing. As sick as it sounded, I was made for work like this. I didn’t carry the guilt some people felt after killing scum. I felt like I’d actually contributed something to society by ridding the streets of the vile people out there and making the world a little safer. Since I’d had Allyson in my life, my itch to kill was even greater than before. I wanted to destroy anyone unworthy from even breathing the same air as my sweet baby.

I just wasn’t sure how she would feel about it, though, and I knew if she was upset, I’d leave it all behind for her. But would she even want me when I came clean about what I did? She was so pure and innocent and I was plagued with worry that she would be disgusted by me.

“You good?” Smoke asked, coming into the shower area. He was fully dressed and I realized I’d been pondering over my thoughts for a while.

“Yeah, sorry.” I moved faster to finish my shower.

“You thinking about your Little one?” Smoke asked, stepping into the tiled area as well.

“Is this a peep show?” I laughed, turning the water off and grabbing a towel.

“Eh, not really interested,” Smoke teased, tossing me my pants.

“Definitely not interested,” Layton, Smoke’s step-brother chimed in. He carried our new burner phones and started handing them out. We received new ones after every job; Jasper was very on top of us being incognito.

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