Page 46 of Big Daddy Mountain Man

The other Littles gasped.

Belinda, Clyde’s wife and Little, took the pacifier from her mouth and said, “Does your Daddy know you have this?”

She was absolutely adorable, Amber thought. She was the “Littlest” Little there, sporting a onesie and thick diaper beneath it.

It was nearly cuteness overload to Amber.

“Of course not,” Mindy said. “If he comes in, I’ll switch it to the Disney Channel or something. With all these covers up, he won’t be able to see the TV anyway.”

“I’m not so sure we should watch this,” Grace chimed in. “What if it scares us too much to even sleep?”

The six Littles all looked at each other as they contemplated what to do.

“I didn’t come to chicken out!” Alyssa finally said.

“Me neither,” Janie said. “But I’ll probably hide my eyes a lot.”

“I’m in,” Grace decided. “I mean, we have each other. We’ll get through the night. And it’s all make believe. It’s just a dumb movie. I bet it won’t even scare us!”

Belinda popped out her binky again and nodded. “I’ll watch it. I’m already in a diaper. So what if I get so scared I pee my pants?”

Everyone laughed.

All eyes were now on Amber.

She grinned. “Bring it on!”

They all cheered.

As Mindy put the Blu-ray in the player, though, Amber couldn’t help but wish they were watching something else. Shewas still on edge over the Donnie stuff. The guy that had come into the diner earlier, reminding her of that idiot T-Rex, hadn’t helped matters any.

Grace was right, though. This was just a movie. What harm was there in watching it?

The movie started and it didn’t take long at all before the killer clown hacked someone into little tiny pieces and did even worse.

“Is he… playing with their guts?” Janie asked.

“Gross!” Alyssa said. “That’s the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen!”

The movie was terrifying, and with each passing moment, Amber grew more and more on edge. Images of Donnie flickered across the canvas of her brain, and they were far worse than even the repulsive scenes on the TV. It wasn’t that she’d seen him be as violent. It was just that she’d lived it.

Donnie was real. The demonic clown in the movie was totally fake. Terrifying, yes. But still fake.

No matter how many times she reminded herself of that fact, as the movie progressed, she became even more nervous. The other Littles seemed to be, too, and they didn’t even have the Donnie issue on their minds.

“Uh, ladies,” Mindy said, twenty minutes into the thing, “maybe we should watch something on Disney after all. Or what about aBridgertonmarathon?”

“Ooh that sounds nice,” Grace replied. “I don’t think anyone’s going to get fingerbanged in a carriage in this movie and I’d much rather see that.”

Belinda let her pacifier fall out before admitting, “I’ve already peed. Twice. We can turn it whenever!”

“I thought we weren’t going to chicken out,” Alyssa said. But the slight tremble in her voice revealed that she was most likely just trying to put on a brave front.

“I guess I can watch for a few more minutes,” Janie said. But it didn’t sound like she really wanted to.

Everyone else, including Amber, nodded. But inside, she was a bundle of nerves. The clown in the movie was terrifying. The memories of Donnie, and the fear she’d felt earlier when she’d thought that was T-Rex, were even scarier. By the time ten more minutes passed, she was wound up tighter than a spring.

That’s why, when a male voice called out, “What are y’all doing?” she jumped straight up.

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