by Alice Everly
As he walked away Lydia followed Lisa. She led her through fingerprinting with a gentle hand.
“Am I in trouble?” Lydia watched as Lisa turned her fingers gently in the black ink, “do I have to go to jail?”
“Oh, no, not at all honey,” Lisa frowned, pulling her into a hug, “we like to get fingerprints on everyone so that if anything bad ever happened to you we can try to find you again.”
“How do you do that?” Lydia asked with renewed interest, maybe her name would come up when they took her fingerprints.
“Let me get your photo,” Lisa said directing her to stand on two big X’s on the floor, “Once I get these photos, I’ll show you what we do.” Lisa took three photos of her before leading her to a computer.
“This is where we match fingerprints,” she too the fingerprint card that Lydia had just taken and scanned it beneath a scanner and the computer went into a blur as it sorted through hundreds of thousands of prints. Lydia held her breath, waiting for her name to pop up on the screen.
The computer buzzer sounded and a screen popped up, in bold red letters it read, “No match,” Lydia’s heart dropped.
“See,” Lisa was unaware of her hope and thought she was still interested in the process, “if you had ever been input in the system the computer would have brought up your name.”
“No matches,” Lisa shared with Brian as he entered the room.
“Run national search, I’ll be home all night,” Brian said, taking Lydia’s hand in his.
She sidled up to his side, comforted that he had come back for her. At least he was a familiar and not as mean as Papa had been.
“We will discuss scheduling and timelines tomorrow,” Brian told Lisa before they left.
Brian led her back to the car and glared at anyone who even began to talk to her. She knew then that Brian had every intention of keeping her secluded at his house just like Papa had done.
“I really wasn’t prepared for all this,” Brian said as he started the car, “the house doesn’t have much, do you want me to stop at the store and pick you up some…uh… toys or something?” he was at a loss of what to do.
He had fully intended on releasing her, but the Captain had informed him that they needed her in protective custody to get more information about Mike and to protect her from his clutches if he were to find out she was released. The Captain wasn’t willing to let this go, and if Lydia had secrets, they needed to get them out of her.
“I don’t want any toys,” Lydia said with a shrug, thankful that she wouldn’t be locked in a room full of toys again.
“What did you enjoy doing during the day while you were with him?”
“Nothing,” she said because it was the truth, she wasn’t allowed to do anything at all besides rock and play with her doll. Papa kept her locked in that room and she had little else.
***
Brian was furious. He wasn’t going to let Lydia see that though, she’d had enough of that in her life as far as he was concerned. He didn’t want to scare the young woman. He tried to hide his rage for the madman that he wanted to take out and beat to within an inch of his life like he’d done to the poor woman sitting so properly next to him.
Brian glanced over at Lydia. She looked like she hadn’t had a decent meal in years. Her pale skin was translucent, eyes hollow with dark shadowing under her eyes, nearly as dark as the bruises that marked her skin.
She was 21 for Christ sake and looked about as vulnerable as a twelve year old when he’d first laid eyes on her. A lost little girl that he would have done anything to get her out of that house, and apparently he had.
Brian had thought for sure that his suspicions had been right. Hell, he’d put together all the puzzle pieces, he was certain he’d been right. All the signs had pointed to it. For almost two years he’d been working on this case and in one night he’d not only spent half of his retirement, but the entire case had also blown up right before his eyes.
Mike Christopher’s comment right before he paid, the comment that stated Brian would only be paying for Mike’s training and not actually for the girl herself had blown the entire case to bits in one instant. Now Brian was stuck at a dead end with a drained savings account and a hurting woman that he had no idea what to do with. He didn’t know what to tell the Captain. All he’d know, all he’d felt, was that he wouldn’t walk out of that house without taking Lydia with him, he just didn’t know what he was going to do with her now that he had her.
At the station he’d talked to the department therapist. She’d been concerned with Lydia’s continued vulnerability, even while at a police station, somewhere where she could have sounded an alarm if Mike Christopher had done anything to her that she found offensive or criminal in nature. Instead Lydia had continued to play her role of being a Little. Brian had left her with Lisa for a reason. He knew it would be easier for her to reveal anything to a woman rather than a strange man. Maybe Brian had read her wrong, maybe Lydia really did enjoy her time with Mike.
The therapist told Brian to take things slow, interrogating her as the Captain wanted him to do was probably a bad idea. She told Brian to allow Lydia to open up to him on her own and that he needed to gain her trust and show her that he was a safe person.
Although Brian had researched extensively on the DDLG lifestyle, he had a hard time imagining himself playing into that. He liked his women….well…he liked them as women. He didn’t want or need a Little to take care of. Yet here he was, driving Lydia to his house, fully intending to keep her safe until they had Mike Christopher behind bars.
Brian had done his research. Mike had made it well known that he liked to play in both the BDSM scene and was particularly prolific in the age play scene and with DDLG. Brian started traveling to the capital city to attend public meetings and parties, particularly ones geared toward age-play or Littles. It only took him a few months to latch onto Mike Christopher. He had always been very closed off, secretive, and leery to discuss anything with anyone new to the clubs. So Brian had attended for a year regularly until Mike began to trust him and start to confide in him about his Littles.
It had been a conversation at one of those clubs that had given Brian the in he needed. Mike mentioned that he was a professional trainer of Littles specifically for DDLG. This was not uncommon in the group, but it was what Mike had said after that gave Brian his break. Mike told him that he would train and sell them to willing buyers. He also said he was always getting a new batch of girls in for training.
When Brian implored where he got the girls from, Mike had been evasive and Brian knew that he was on the right track of shutting down an entire human trafficking ring. It would be the biggest case he’d ever had and he was likely to get governmental commendations for this one, but that dream had exploded when it became clear that his evidence on Mike was circumstantial and his one chance to catch him was blown.
Brian would just set his sights on Lydia and try to get as much information out of her as he could. Maybe he should hire a psychologist, someone who could professionally get information without hurting her psyche.
If she had been in a human trafficking ring, he would be certain that she would have said something at the police department, it was a safe place for talking and dammit, he’d left her alone with Lisa, another woman. Now Brian was left with his only other option, getting information from her about Mike Christopher on his own. Anything to bring that monster down, and maybe just maybe she could give him insight into what exactly Mike was doing at the house.
Chapter Seven
Brian’s house was set in a neighborhood not very different from the one she grew up in. The house was a white two storied home with red shutters and reminded her of her grandmother’s home many many years ago. The front porch was wide and Lydia climbed the three steps up to it, wishing she could sit in the rocking chair and just breathe in the fresh air for a bit. It had been so long since she could just relax outside. She really wanted to sit out there, but she was too afraid t
o ask anything of Brian. She wasn’t supposed to ask for stuff like that. Papa had taught her that real well.
“I want you to feel at home here Lydia,” Brian said as he pushed open the front door and motioned for her to go inside.
She entered hesitantly, worried she’d never be outside again just as Papa had kept her. Just inside the door was a large foyer with a winding staircase and various rooms to the left and right.
“It’s past dinner time, are you hungry?” He asked and she shook her head, her stomach was rolling too much for her to risk putting food in it, “are you tired?” he asked and she nodded.
“Well, I haven’t had any time to prepare for this, it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting,” he ran a hand through his hair, “I haven’t really gotten any furniture for my spare rooms,” he explained as he started toward the stairs, stopping to turn around and offer his hand to her.
She took his hand quickly, enjoying the way he always squeezed her hand lightly whenever he held it.
“I’ll let you use my bed until we get you one, I can sleep on the couch,” he said, leading her down the hall up the stairs and opening the double doors into the master bedroom.
“Oh wow,” she gasped upon seeing the king sized bed, “it’s so big.” She’d only seen that single bed in her room at Papa’s house for so many months, so many years. She’d almost forgotten they came in different sizes, then she processed what he’d said. He’d said he was going to sleep on the couch?
“No,” she said, frantically shaking her head, “I’ll sleep on the couch. I don’t want to be in here,” she pushed against Brian to get to the door and leave the room, but his hold on her hand stopped her from moving.
“You aren’t sleeping on the couch, Lydia,” he said firmly.
“The bed is too big,” she protested, “I’ll just fall out.”
“You aren’t going to fall out,” he said impatiently, then sighed, “didn’t you sleep in a bed at Papa’s?”
She nodded, “But it was smaller,” she chewed on her lower lip, “will you sleep with me?”
“With you?” his eyes grew wide.
“I mean, just that,” she stumbled on her words, “I guess, I’m just scared and don’t want to be alone.”
“Oh sweetheart,” he pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her, “I’ll stay in bed with you tonight and we can figure everything out tomorrow,” he set her suitcase on the bed, opening it and pulling out her pink flowered footie pajamas, “why don’t you change into your pajamas and we’ll lie down.”
She stared at him for a moment, unsure what to do. Was she supposed to get dressed in her pajamas by herself? Was that what he wanted or was this some type of test to give him a reason to punish her? Papa would have beat her if she tried to dress herself. She was so torn, not sure what she was supposed to do. Finally she got up the nerve to speak.
“Papa always put my pajamas on,” she said softly, bracing herself for a blow, but that blow never came.
Brian sighed, but he turned her gently and quickly unbuttoned her dress, slipping it off her shoulders. She stood before him in just her panties and socks and held out one foot to him to remove the sock then the other foot.
“Did you like that Papa dressed you, or do you think you want to be able to dress yourself?” he asked.
She shrugged, unsure what answer Brian wanted to hear. He tried not to look at her as he helped her in the pajamas, finally letting out a sigh when the zipper was pulled all the way up and the pajamas covered her from neck to toes.
“Crawl into bed now,” he said, pulling the duvet down and stacking two pillows at the head of the bed.
Lydia climbed into the bed and Brian pulled the duvet over her. She let out a soft giggle as she snuggled into the mattress, “It’s so soft,” she whispered.
Brian smiled, pulling his shirt off to climb in on the other side of the bed. He’d left his pants on and lay on the other side of the bed as he turned off the lamp.
Lydia could see his shadow in the darkening room, an imposing figure that she would have feared had she not seen him being caring as well as firm. He was lying on his back, his arms tucked behind his head and she wondered what he was thinking just then.
“Are you mad at me?” she whispered into the darkness, not even sure if he would hear her words or not.
“No Lydia, I’m not mad at you,” he said slowly, “why would you think that?”
“I don’t know,” she replied softly, shifting under the blanket and turning onto her side to face him, it just felt more comforting that way.
The room filled with silence but they were both still awake. She could hear his breathing, but knew he hadn’t fallen asleep quite yet. Maybe she could convince Brian that he could get another Little. Convince him that she wasn’t the greatest of Little’s anyway. If she did that, well then maybe he would let her go home to her real parents. She shivered, remembering that Papa said if she went back home he would come and get her and take her back to the cold stone room. A tear fell down her cheek, she was in such a messed up situation with no idea how to get out of it.
They laid in bed, silent for several minutes before Lydia spoke again, “Are you going to spank me?” she asked, nerves dancing in her stomach. Brian had already spanked her, there was no way she could forget that, but it had been hours since then and he hadn’t even mentioned spanking or punishments. She wondered if he already didn’t like her anymore, or that she wasn’t living up to the ideal he had in his mind of what a Little should be.
“Did you do something wrong, Lydia?” he asked, confused.
“No.”
“Then no sweetie, I’m not going to spank you.”
The room filled with silence for a few more minutes before Brian spoke again, “Did you want me to spank you?”
Her heart sped faster and she wasn’t sure what answer she was supposed to say, so she just told the truth, “No.”
“Alright then,” he said with finality, “so you can go to sleep now,” he leaned over, kissing her forehead and she could smell the spicy scent of his cologne for just an instant as it drifted over her before he lay back on his side of the bed, “we have a lot to talk about in the morning. Try to get some sleep.”
***
Lydia woke in a panic. She knew instantly that it was well past dawn. Papa would surely beat her for sleeping in so late. Why had she slept so long? Papa always woke her and dressed her first thing each morning, what was going to happen now?
She jumped out of bed, falling down on the carpet before she realized she wasn’t in the same dark room in the stone castle on the hill. No, she was now in Brian’s white house with the red shutters.
She closed her eyes, dragging in breaths until her racing heart slowed. She was safe from Papa, she was with Brian with the kind eyes, Brian who smiled at her and let her sleep in the same bed with him so she wouldn’t be afraid.
Memories of Brian flooded through her mind and her eyes teared up in relief. She looked toward him, but finding the bed empty had her stomach dropping. Did he leave? Had he realized that he didn’t want her anymore and he’d taken off?
Lydia quickly dressed, trying her best to fix her hair into some semblance of style without a brush. She waited for him to come get her but he didn’t come back to the room at all. She grew more nervous. Maybe he did leave and left her all alone. What was she going to do now? She couldn’t go back to Papa. She wouldn’t! She could walk across town to her parent’s house, but she needed to find a coat before doing that. It had snowed a week ago and none of it had melted yet because it had been so very cold outside. She tried the door handle to the room and it was unlocked. Nervously she opened it, fear rushing rapidly through her veins, she quietly made her way down the stairs, terrified that he would beat her if he caught her leaving the room without his permission.
Lydia found Brian in the kitchen and her breath caught in her throat when she saw him. He was sitting in his police uniform at the kitchen table, a steaming cup of coffee in
one hand and the newspaper he was reading in the other. He must have heard her because his head whipped up and she cringed, bracing for the verbal bashing that preceded a beating. His police uniform only highlighted the reminder that he was the police, the ones who were supposed to protect her but she knew now that they were actually part of the bad guys. She was such a fool to even think for a moment that she could trust him. She’d even slept in his bed with him as if she did trust him, but she remembered now. He was not to be trusted. She waited for him to yell, waited for him to yank her in the air and hit her repeatedly, but he didn’t.
Rather than yelling and screaming, he smiled, “are you hungry?”
Lydia nodded slowly, her hands lacing together and apart, together and apart behind her back, praying he wouldn’t be mad. She was still feeling uneasy with the confusing change in demeanor from what she expected.
“Come sit down here at the table, Lydia,” he pulled out the chair next to his, motioning for her to move further into the kitchen.
She hesitated at first but quickly complied, thankful that he wasn’t angry at her for leaving the bedroom or for sneaking up on him. She realized it would take some time for her to get used to the new way of living, the new rules that he would have at his house.
After getting her a blueberry muffin and a glass of milk, Brian sat in the chair next to her, sipping at his coffee and smiling at her as he watched her eat greedily.
How long had it been since she’d eaten anything but oatmeal for breakfast she tried to remember. It had been years, had to be. Papa never gave her anything but oatmeal and she’d been there for three years. Three long years, she thought sadly. She took another bite of muffin. She’d forgotten how good muffins were. She blushed when she noticed him watching her. She swallowed audibly and began wiping at her mouth with the back of her hand.
“Papa only had oatmeal,” she said, “I like your muffins,” she said shyly.
“Have another one,” he said, putting another muffin in front of her, but she shook her head.
