by Daisy March
That way no one else could get hurt at my hands. I could go somewhere the world could forget about me and I could try and forget about all the people I’d killed in the past.
When they discharged me they made me take six weeks of mandatory therapy before I could leave properly. I remember the guy running it, stifling yawns behind his hand and a strong smell of whiskey to him.
“You didn’t kill him, you just couldn’t save him,” he said to me at the end of our final session. “Try and remember that.”
I remembered his words but I knew the truth. I killed them. If I’d been better at my job, they would have lived and it was my fault.
It was my fault the cabin was empty which meant house breakers could case it. It was my fault I left stuff inside it. It was my fault I left the pocket watch there. The watch was a totem, meant to ensure I would return to the cabin with Susie.
Instead, I’d risked some scumbags snatching the watch before I could find Susie and return it to her. I always told myself there would be a room there for her to stay in.
The second bedroom was still kitted out for a child. I kept meaning to get rid of that stuff. She would be nineteen by now. It would be too immature for her when I finally found her. Somehow I never got around to that either.
They were going to rifle through that room.
No.
That wouldn’t happen. I would protect my property and I would protect Catherine.
I turned off the main road onto the forest track a little after eleven.
I barely slowed, the car bouncing through the ruts as the shadows of trees whizzed by. Other tracks ran off left and right at first but soon they faded too until there was only this track and the dead end.
I stopped by the barrier that blocked the road to the cabin. The lock was rusty but I managed to get it open with brute force, swinging the gate to the side so I could drive through.
I paused long enough to dig a motion-sensor out of my suitcase. I connected it to the gate. It would give me advance warning of their approach.
Once the barrier was locked again I drove the short distance to the cabin. The place loomed up in the dark. Dark wood, shuttered windows. The chimney was sloping to the side, visible even in the gloom. I’d need to fix that next.
I glanced at my watch as I brought the car to a stop. How long did I have until they got here? Hopefully a little longer.
I hid the car around the back of the cabin. There was a rough track that led down to the lake. I left the car at the lake edge and then ran back with my case to the cabin.
I unlocked the back door and quickly disabled the alarm. I didn’t want to give them too much warning that I was there so I emptied the suitcase by candlelight.
Once everything was set up, I checked what would become her room. They wouldn’t set foot in there. I would make sure of it.
I blew out the candle and sank into the darkness. In seconds this was just another mission. There was nothing to it.
I was ready.
My breathing slowed. My heart rate plummeted. I was nothing, just a part of the walls, poised to attack.
Outside an owl hooted. I heard a noise in the distance a few minutes later. A car engine.
The receiver in my pocket vibrated. They were at the gate. I sank deeper into the darkness.
The cabin was silent. I waited for them to arrive.
Chapter Five
Susie
“Please,” I tried again. “Don’t make me do this.”
“Get in that window,” Charlie snapped at me, shoving me forward.
“Lower your voice,” Oswald hissed at us both.
“Sorry boss.”
I stood looking up at the cabin in the darkness, my heart pounding. I was so afraid. I wanted to run but there was nowhere to go.
The entire drive out here Charlie had kept hold of me. He’d only let go when we left the car by the gate, walking the rest of the way through the dark. I couldn’t help worrying about what would happen when I let them inside.
Would they share the spoils with me or would I be just another loose end to tie up at that point? We were in the middle of nowhere and no one knew I was here.
Except him.
David Reece. Would he help me? I prayed he would, looking up to the sky and muttering silent words, promising all the things under the sun if only help would come.
“That’s the window,” Oswald whispered. “The alarm’s to the right. It’s the new Zbox 3000.”
“I know,” I said. “Cut the green wire. You said.”
“Don’t touch the rest or it’ll go off and the police will be here before we can get out of the forest.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” I replied, looking up at the window.
“Off you go then.”
I took a step back, springing on my heels, and then leaping up. I grabbed hold of the edge of the window. It was already open. Was someone expecting us?
Bending forward I slid my body through the gap, dropping to the floor with a quiet thud. For a moment I was sure someone was watching me but there was only darkness.
The alarm began beeping. Oswald had told me several times on the drive over what would happen. The motion sensor had picked me up. I had twenty seconds to type in the code or cut the wire. Otherwise it was game over.
I held my hands out in front of me, swearing loudly as I banged my shin on a cabinet of some kind. The alarm was there on the wall to my left, a flashing red light in the middle of it. The light was warning me that time was running out.
I felt for the wires. All I had to do was yank out the left hand one and then unlock the front door. As my fingers settled on the wire, a hand covered my mouth from behind.
I tried to scream as I was pulled backward by someone, a mouth pressing to my ear, whispering quietly, hot breath on my cheek. “Don’t make a sound.”
I knew that voice. “Daddy?” I asked, turning to find myself staring at a shadow darker than the others.
“This way,” he whispered, pushing me through a door. He leaned down and I caught a flash of his eyes as he whispered, “Stay here, don’t make a sound.”
“Don’t hurt me,” I said, holding my hands up in front of me. “Please.”
He took my hand in his. “I will never hurt you. You’ll be okay, I promise.”
The door closed and he was gone. There was a beep and then the alarm fell silent. I heard a click. Was that the front door unlocking.
“Susie?” I heard Oswald shout into the cabin as I struggled to stop myself from coughing. Sweat was pouring down me and I felt faint. Not now, I thought to myself.
“You there?”
Footsteps moving further into the cabin. The sound of rummaging in drawers. “You there, Susie? Where are you hiding?”
A thud.
More silence. It ate away at me. I couldn’t stay hidden any longer. I had to know what was happening.
I was in some kind of wardrobe. Dresses hung down around me and I buried myself in them, reaching out for the door handle and turning it as quietly as I could.
I peered out. Oswald was in a pile on the floor in the doorway, stirring slowly, a cut dripping from his forehead. Charlie was glancing from left to right, crowbar in his hand. “Come out,” Charlie shouted. “We won’t hurt you.”
I coughed loudly, unable to stop myself.
Charlie jumped at the sound, swinging the crowbar into the dark in front of him and something smashed. I caught sight of a blur behind him and then he was dragged back out of the cabin, vanishing from sight.
I heard him gasping followed by the sound of several punches. Oswald was on his feet again a moment later, staggering out into the open.
At that moment my eyeballs were seared by a floodlight coming on, illuminating the grass in front of the cabin.
David was standing there with Charlie’s crowbar in his hand, looking out at the track where Oswald and Charlie were sprinting away without looking back.
“Next time I won’t let you walk away,�
� David shouted after them.
He seemed to sense me looking at him. He turned, the crowbar still in his hand. “You’re safe now,” he said, dropping it on the grass as he walked toward the cabin. “They can’t hurt you anymore.”
I burst into tears, sobbing on the spot as he put his arms around me.
“It’s all right,” he said. “You’re going to be okay.”
I couldn’t say anything. I couldn’t even thank him. The tears continued to flow, soaking into his chest. I felt safer in his arms than I’d ever felt before.
“Come on,” he said, slipping my hand into his. “Let me show you around the place.”
His hand felt warm and I was happy to let him guide me back inside.
“What if they come back?” I asked.
“They won’t.”
He sounded so sure, I found it reassuring.
He flicked a switch by the door and the lights came on inside. I found myself in an open plan lounge with kitchen nearby with a few doors leading off it.
One of the doors led to the wardrobe where I’d hidden. He took me past it toward the far left door. “Bathroom,” he said, pushing it open. “No lock but if the door’s shut I won’t come in. Shower has a knack to it, I’ll show you later. Now come see your room.”
“My room?” Another cough burst out of me. “As in for me?”
“You need to rest and this is the place to do it.” He pushed open the opposite door. “Now, I know it’s a bit childish but I can sort the decor out when you’re feeling better.”
I looked inside the room. The walls had been painted pastel yellow. Posters of bands from about five years ago covered the walls. The single bed was four-poster with a net curtain draped over it.
It looked like a bed for a princess. The floor was covered in a thick rug and over by the window was a shelving unit filled with dolls.
“What do you think?” he asked. “Too babyish for you?”
“I love it,” I said, throwing my arms around him, not an easy task given how big he was. “Am I really staying here?”
“For as long as you want to,” he replied, his arms pulling me closer to him.
I felt dizzy all of a sudden. I coughed into his chest. The room started spinning and my legs lost their strength. All of a sudden I was sweating and shivering at the same time.
“Come on,” he said, lifting me into his arms just like he’d done back at the clinic. “You’ve done too much today. Let’s put you to bed and get some medicine in you.”
“Thank you,” I said, my eyes closing as the room spun ever faster. I began to fade from consciousness. The last words that slipped out of me didn’t come from anywhere awake.
“Love you, Daddy.”
Chapter Six
David
What the hell was wrong with me? I had a seriously ill girl in my cabin who needed nothing but rest. She’d gone through more trauma than anyone that age should have to endure.
She was also delirious. She’d called me Daddy as she drifted out of consciousness and what did I do in response to all that? Got an erection so hard it could have cut through a tree trunk.
I tucked her into the bedcovers, doing my best to ignore the throbbing pain in my pants as I headed back to the kitchen. I dug out the antibiotics and shook one into my hand.
Could I get her to swallow it?
Maybe she’ll swallow something else.
What was wrong with me. Why was I thinking like that. It was sick. It was wrong. I needed it to stop.
I dunked my head in the sink and poured cold water from the tap. She was half my age and weak as anything. Not to mention she was my patient.
Water dripped onto the floor as I walked back through to her. “Open,” I said, pushing her lips apart, ignoring how soft they felt as I slipped the pill onto her tongue. I tipped a glass of water after it but she coughed most of it out onto my chest. “Sorry, Daddy,” she muttered.
“It’s okay,” I said, wiping her mouth and then laying her head back on the pillow. “You just rest.”
“Sing me a song,” she muttered, her eyes shut, her mouth curling upward into a pout. “Please, Daddy.”
I put her head in the crook of my arm, stroking her hair with my free hand. “Hush-a-bye-Catherine,” I began.
“My name’s not Catherine,” she whispered, a frown forming on her forehead. “Susie. I’m Susie.”
Then she was asleep.
I got up slowly, looking down at her, wondering if I’d just heard that right. That was what the two men had called her. I hadn’t misheard them.
Susie.
She was Susie. Fate hadn’t just brought an ill girl to be looked after. Destiny had brought me Todd’s daughter to take care of. Which is why it was all the worse that I continued to stare at her as she slept, unable to ignore the erection tenting my pants.
I would deal with that on my own but first I needed to see if anything was missing from the cabin.
I got a sinking feeling as I walked into my bedroom. The drawers were open in there.
“I knew it,” I said out loud as I looked into the drawer. I thought they’d given up the fight a bit too easily. I waited too long in the dark for the smaller one to emerge from the bedroom before launching my attack.
The pocket watch was gone from the drawer. I was on the phone a moment later. “Greg?” I said as the call connected.
“David. It’s been a while. What can I do for you?”
“Need you to track a pocket watch sale for me.”
“I’m a private detective now, David, not your personal shopper.”
“It’s Todd’s watch.”
“Ah.”
“Look, I know we said we wouldn’t talk about it again and I’m not going to but we all swore we’d do what we could for his kid, right?”
“You swore. As I recall, I just grunted.”
“It counts and you know it.”
“All right, all right. Give me the whole story.”
“I had the watch here at the cabin. A couple of housebreakers came and took it. I reckon they’ll lay low for a day or two and then try and fence it somewhere.”
“And you want me to keep an eye out for the sale?”
“Correct.”
“For Todd.” I heard the clink of ice cubes in a glass at the other end of the line.
“And for little Susie,” I added.
“I’ll be in touch.” He hung up.
“Daddy,” a voice said behind me. I turned and there she was, stunningly beautiful, her face burning up with fever. “What’s wrong with me?”
“You’re poorly, sweetie,” I said, walking over to her, guiding her back toward her bedroom. “Let’s get you out of those clothes. You’re burning up.”
“Okay,” she said with a smile. “Whatever you say.”
She stood in the middle of the room, not complaining as I unzipped her jacket and tossed it aside. Underneath was a too thin white tee-shirt and no bra. Her nipples were dark points poking out through the fabric.
I took a deep breath before lifting the tee-shirt over her head. It got stuck on her neck and she stumbled into my arms, giggling as she did so. Her left breast brushed my hand and my cock twitched in response. “Come on,” I said, finally managing to get the tee-shirt off. “Nearly done.”
“Thank you,” she replied as I lay her on her back on the bed. Kneeling between her legs I undid the button on her jeans, noting how her chest heaved above me, as if calling for my hands to explore.
Sliding her jeans down, the sight of her panties coming into view took my breath away. They were thinner than her tee-shirt. I could see a fuzz of hair underneath. Soon get rid of that, I thought to myself.
Stop it.
I eased the jeans off her legs, taking her shoes and socks with them. Standing up, I put the back of my hand on her forehead. Burning hot.
“Into bed,” I said, sliding my hands under her thighs, turning her sideways until her head was on the pillow. “Don’t move.”
&nbs
p; “Yes, Daddy,” she replied. I wish she’d stop calling me that. It was doing things to me that I had no time to deal with.
I soaked a cloth in cold water, bringing it back through and draping it over her forehead.
“Thank you,” she said, grabbing my collar and pulling me down, kissing me softly on the lips. “Love you, Daddy.”
I couldn’t move. Her kiss was still lingering on my lips as she drifted off to sleep.
I was glad she’d settled at last. I couldn’t handle her calling me Daddy. I knew she was only doing it because of the fever but I couldn’t help wanting her to do it more, to always call me that.
My reaction to it was wrong, I knew that.
She was very much not the kind of person to understand that I could want to be her caregiver and something more at the same time.
I couldn’t stop wishing she would wake up and suddenly realize she wanted to call me Daddy forever, live in the cabin with me, not just until she was better.
I kept close track of her temperature for the next hour, sitting beside the bed, doing my best not to look at her body. Seeing it did things to me that I could barely control.
Once the pills started to work, her temperature came down. I found a blanket, thinner than the ones already on her bed. Once she was tucked in, she woke up for long enough to smile up at me before drifting off again.
I went to take a very long, and very cold shower. I came out of it freezing but better able to keep control of myself. I checked on her one last time. She was still fast asleep.
I stood in the doorway for a moment, looking in at her.
Susie’s room. I’d done what I’d promised Todd I would do. Was he up there watching? If he was, I doubted he’d be impressed with the thoughts I’d been having about Susie since first meeting her.
I turned away and headed to bed. “I will keep her safe,” I promised Todd out loud. I kept the other things I wanted to do to her strictly inside my head.
I heard a moan from her room a minute later. I rushed through to find she’d kicked the blanket off. He body was coated in sweat. The fever was breaking at last.
