Page 109 of Daddy P.I. 3.0

“I do, too. And watching him come back to life as Tessa’s owner givesmelife. But maybe he took his eye off the ball for too long while he was grieving for Sara Ann.” Twitch slaps their knee and points a finger at me. “You and I, dearling, you and I are going to be the instigators of change, the inciters of progress. Viva la revolución!”

I lift my teacup in a toast to change.

Everything is crazy and a little sad.

I still can’t think of Blunts without Chairman Chess; every time I do, I want to cry. I know he’s made mistakes and maybe, like Queen Twitch said, he took his eye off the ball while he was grieving for his wife. But Brenna’s told me how good he was with her when she tried to resign: all the nice things he said about her and how he figured out a way for her to remain part of the Blunts family while being exclusive with Master Mac. He’s done something similar for Austin after Dana collared him. I can’t believe someone who cares that much about the house submissives could go so far wrong that he has to step down. I hope Daddy finds another way.

In the meanwhile, I’m a mermaid, with my merbaby, swimming through the seas under the watchful eye of the King of the Oceans (aka Daddy).

So, things aren’ttooawful.

Livvylovesthe water. It’s not a surprise after how much she likes her baths but discovering she can kick and splash with her arms as we swish her gently through the water, elicits peals of delighted giggles. She gets a surprise the first time she splashes herself but after one shocked wail, she’s back to giggling.

Daddy and I pass Livvy back and forth as we stay in the shallows. Even though Daddy’s healed and no longer in physical therapy, the doctors don’t want him doing things that cause pressure changes in his brain, like swimming underwater or holding his breath. So he’s happy to stay in the shallows and admire his mermaids.

We’re worth admiring, if I do say so myself.

The swimsuits Brenna had made are so cute and so much fun. I love-love-love my pink polka-dot swimsuit but I don’t think it’s going to see much pool-time now that I’m a mermaid. Livvy’s equally enraptured by her suit. She keeps kicking her legs up to try to snatch the filmy fins on the bottom. She hasn’t figured out she needs to uncurl her fingers to grab them but I foresee a lot of re-attaching fins once she does.

Around us, there’s a whole frolic of mermaids. I know a group of mermaids—merpeople, really—should be called a school or a pod. I’ve seen both online. But everyone’s diving and splashing and twirling around in rubber rings, so “frolic” feels more appropriate. We have two water-dragons (Laurel and Yummy), a rubber duckie (Sammi), and a mer-bee (Cynnie) as well and they should be included in our group.

Definitely a frolic.

One of the water-dragons keeps stealing my merbaby but she makes up for her thievery by admiring my merbaby effusively and dishing the goss about Icky-Rick.

I honestly haven’t thought much about Rick in the months since his horrible party with its horribler poisoned punch. For a few weeks, it looked like the poisoner, Rick’s manager, was goingto trial and Daddy would need to testify. But then she took a plea bargain. Daddy says she’s likely to serve five or six years, which seems light for trying to poison people to me but I’m just glad she can’t hurt anyone anymore. She was unhinged.

Daddy cut Rick out of our lives completely. Daisy’s mentioned him once or twice when she’s visited but I gather she’s as done with him as Daddy. Although Rick threatened to involve Daddy in any lawsuits coming out of the party, that hasn’t happened. I think Max had something to do with that, based on what I’ve heard him say to Daddy about not worrying about Rick ever again.

Still, Rick hit my Daddy. Not once but twice.In the head. While Daddy was recovering from already being hitin the headby the evil massage man. Daddy refused to press charges against Rick but any counterpunch karma would like to deliver would be richly deserved. When Laurel tells me that Rick’s moved out of not just the City but the country, all the way to Mexico, to escape the backlash from the party, I can’t help but feel a little schadenfreude. Lawsuits aside, what drove him away was that, while off his head on ketamine, he went crazy on two of the performers at the party and left one of them with permanent scars. She didn’t sue but the group’s Domme, Harlow, blacklisted Rick in the community. Word has reached all the way to Laurel and Jiro’s group in D.C.

Daddy wraps his arms around me and whispers in my ear, his lips pressed against my wet hair. “I see you gloating, little girl. Is that being the bigger person?”

“Probably not,” I admit. “But it sure is satisfying. He hit you. Twice.In the head.”

“I remember. I don’t think his fall from grace requires gloating, though.”

I do but I keep that thought to myself. “Oookay, Daddy.”

“You are a terror, little girl. Who knew someone so small and cute could be so vicious?”

“I’m the Pallas cat of littles, Daddy.” I tell him, hugging his arms around my waist and kicking up my legs until he swishes me through the water like we’ve been swishing Livvy. I’ll admit the baby’s giggle is better than mine.

“What’s a Pallas cat?” Daddy asks.

“The grumpiest cat in the world. They have these really round heads and small ears, like me. They keep their paws warm by putting them on their tails. So cute. They live on the steppes in China and Mongolia and Nepal and they’re super vicious. I’ll show you videos. I love them.”

“I see. I’m not sure I approve of my little girl being a Pallas cat. I rather like the mermaid thing.”

“Pallas cats swim.” I think. Most cats can swim, right? “Their proper name is manul. I can be a mermaid manul.”

Daddy chuckles. “Okay, baby girl. I do love your mermaid cozzie, if I haven’t said so.”

He has, several times but I’m happy to hear Brenna’s gift is appreciated.

Speaking of my Big Sub Bestie, she’s been showing off her breaststroke to a raft of appreciative littles: Sammi, Amy, Aggie, Cynnie, and Matty. I’m so proud of Bren. Master Theo is lazily steering the littles’ raft. He didn’t come with us to the Aquarium but he showed up PDQ when Amy arrived at the club. Hmm.

Master Theo’s replaced Master Ten, who met us at the Aquarium. Ten grunted in response to Daddy’s “hello” but when I asked him to hold my new penguin friend, Franklin—while I held Livvy up so she could see the stingrays—he tucked Franklin under one arm and lifted both me and Livvy so we had a super-view. That doesn’t seem like he’s holding a grudge. As soon as we got back to the club, he disappeared upstairs with Fleur andCappa, which probably means we won’t see the three of them again today. But I’m encouraged that he came to the Aquarium.

---