Page 14 of Savage

“Don’t say it like that! You make it sound like I’m always in trouble.”

“I mean, if the shoe fits…” Both girls laughed. “But really,” Emilee continued, “What did you do?”

“I got myself grounded. Katie, Dani, and I went to Denver to see one of our favorite authors at a book signing. Well, we stopped in Castle Rock to grab dinner on the way back and couldn’t help but do a bit of shopping at the outlets. I forgot to bring a charger for my phone, and it died, so I guess I, uh, forgot to let Irish know I was going to be back late by a couple of hours. Luckily, the other girls texted Luke and Zac, and Irish was able to get ahold of them and knew. But…”

“Oh my gosh! Arrow would KILL me!” Emilee said. “Like, I wouldn’t sit for a month, maybe two! My butt is twitching just thinking about it.”

“Yeah, Irish wasn’t too happy with me. Now, I’m grounded.”

“I bet Arrow could talk Irish into letting you come with us.”

“I don’t want you to go through any trouble for me,” Savannah hesitated. “Besides, I’ll have to check my schedule. I won’t have too much time on my hands.” She wasn’t looking forward to it, but at least it would keep her busy.

“Where at?” Mackenzie asked.

“A resort about fifteen minutes from here,” Savannah said. “Housekeeping.”

“You don’t look happy about it,” Mackenzie said.

“If you’re not excited about it, we could help you find something else,” Emilee offered. “There are lots of options here.”

“Thanks, but I’ll be fine,” she said quietly. The Rejects set up the job, part of her cover, and they wanted to keep an eye on her. They wouldn’t want her deviating from the plan.

“You should let us help,” Mackenzie insisted. “If this is going to be your home, we want you to feel welcome.”

“Home,” Savannah murmured, the word feeling both foreign and bittersweet. The kindness the girls were showing here was almost overwhelming. Savannah wasn’t used to people being this nice to her. She’d spent the last several years as a caretaker to her mother and hadn’t made many friends.

“Anyway,” Emilee said, “even if you can’t go painting with us, we could still show you around. You know, help you get your bearings.”

“Yeah, and I’m sure I can get special permission since we’d be helping you out,” Mackenzie said.

“Man, I’m glad I’m single. I can’t imagine needing to get permission to do anything. I like belonging to no one and doing whatever I want,” Savannah said.

“For now,” Emilee said, nodding in the direction of where Savage was sitting casually talking to Irish. “I don’t think it will be too long before you have your very own Daddy.”

“Yeah, you can try to do whatever you want. But I’m pretty sure Uncle Sav will have something to say about it,” Mackenzie said with a grin.

She shook her head. “He’s been nothing but kind to me today and maybe a little bossy, but he’s not interested in me that way.”

“What? Are you blind? Look at him,” Makenzie said, turning and nodding toward Savage. He was watching them from across the room, his expression unreadable. “He hasn’t taken his eyes off of you.”

“What she means is, anyone with eyes can see that he’s really interested in you. He wouldn’t have asked us about you this morning and gone over to the motel to ask you to lunch if he wasn’t interested,” Emilee added.

“That can’t be true. For one, he’s two decades older than me–”

“Is that a problem?” Emilee interjected. “Are you grossed out by his age?”

“Grossed out by Savage? The man is fucking hot. But I’m sure he’s interested in women closer to his own age–” Savannah responded.

“No, he’s interested in you. And don’t let any of the Daddies hear you say the f-word in here. Club rules. Littles don’t curse,” Emilee said.

No cursing? That was new to her. She wondered what would happen if they broke the rule. Was it like at The Citadel? Would their daddies spank them? Right here? In front of everyone?

“Besides the age difference, he’s…” Savannah started again.

“He’s what?” Emilee asked.

“He’s um… fit. Muscular? Buff?”

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