Page 1 of Safe and Sound

Chapter One

Estella

Ican’t wait to get back to my room and grab my phone to see ifDarkDaddysent me a new message. I shouldn’t care this much about someone I’ve never even met in real life but…he makes my day a little bit better, my mood a little brighter, and just makes me happy. Is it stupid that I went online to find a companion? I don’t think so. I didn’t really sign up for the dating site. My best friend, Marcie, did it for me but then curiosity got the better of me and I started checking the site out.

At first, I was so mad at her for doing it without even telling me, and what kind of username isStarryeyedBaby. Not one I would have chosen for myself that’s for sure however it seemed to have attractedDarkDaddyto send that first message so I’m not unhappy about it at all.

We’ve been talking for about three weeks now and all I can think about is him. I shouldn’t feel this sense of taboo or like I’m doing something naughty. I’m not. Mostly. There was that one night when we started talking dirty to one another and I let him tell me what to do so I would cum. But it was just one time.

Mostly what we do is talk about stuff. Everything really. He knows some of my deepest secrets, my most private yearnings, and the fact I’ve never even been kissed. Mostly because I didn’t find any of the boys I was around in school attractive. Marciehad lost her cherry by the time we could drive -maybe before- and I admit I sometimes feel like I'm being left behind when she talks about her dates and how much fun it is to make out with someone, how sexy it is when you sit on someone’s lap kissing and you feel how hard the guy is for you.

Every time I thought about doing it with anyone I knew I just iced up, complete rigidness. Like a block of wood. Marcie said it was because I hadn’t met the right guy, but I wasn’t sure. That’s why she signed me up for the Sugar Babies site. She said I needed someone who knew what he was doing. I thought she had lost her fucking mind but then I got a message fromDarkDaddy.

I was upfront with him. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, what I liked, or what I needed. Instead of being turned off the opposite happened, it seemed to make him even more interested in me. He never pushed me, never tried to make me tell him my real name, or asked me anything too pervy. He is older than me even though Marcie had lied about my age saying that I was twenty instead of a newly minted eighteen-year-old. I always worry he might somehow find out and call me out on it. Would he even still like me if he found out I was an eighteen-year-old virgin instead of a twenty-year-old one? Would I be too young for him then? What the hell am I going to do if it does bother him since I think I could really feel something for this man?

And then yesterday happened. My stepdad Ben left on a business trip that was supposed to last a few weeks so my stepbrother came over to make sure mom and I were okay - not that he cared if I was alright or not. It was mainly for my mom’s sake, so his dad didn’t worry about her so much. Mom and Ben got married when I was fourteen. My stepbrother was already incollege and didn’t want a stepfamily. My mom must have grown on him. I never did.

The last time we were alone together he had just ‘rescued’ - and I use that word very loosely because I wasn’t in need of rescue per se – me from something Marcie had gotten me into. It was a nightclub with fake IDs- and…well, something happened that neither one of us wants to dwell on.

The big and the small of it is, Ren hates Marcie and always has. He was home for a weekend when she happened to be staying with me and tried to hit on him. Big no-no for my stepbrother. He told my mom she shouldn’t be letting me hang around with girls who couldn’t keep their legs closed… right in front of Marcie.

Rennik Torres doesn’t like Marcie, and he doesn’t care for me too much either. So when I had to sit across from him for dinner, I brought DarkDaddy with me. For moral support. Mom was not happy I had my face buried in my phone and threatened to take mine and Ren’s phones away. I hadn’t even realized Ren was just as distracted as I was. I quickly made an excuse about talking to one of my friends who is on vacation and Ren said he was on his for work. She asked us to not bring them to the table tonight. And it has been just as awful as I expected it to be.

Ren is such a judgmental ass! The entire dinner he was staring at me waiting for me to make a mistake or searching for something he could berate me about. Mom is completely oblivious to our animosity towards one another. Sometimes I think she’s on Ren’s side when he starts in on me. They tag team me.

Mom’s always been kind of high-strung and marrying Ben did nothing to change that. Where he is really laid back and easygoing, mom is…type A, manicured perfection. I always kind of wondered if she was maybe disappointed in me because I never fit in with the kind of people she hung around -and I definitely didn’t like their snotty, immature brats who only wanted to talk about money, drugs, and sex.

When she met and married Ben, I was really happy -and more than a little relieved- that it was him who found her and not some loser down at the country club. Not that Ben wouldn’t go to the country club with Mom if she wanted to go. The only difference would be… Ben could buy the country club. He’s such a big sweetie. He never made me feel like I was my mom’s baggage. Unlike his son.

Not that Ren would ever say something like that out loud, but sometimes thoughts that are so loud they scream don’t need words. And everything Ren does is loud and unapologetic.

Don’t take this the wrong way,

Oh great! Nothing good ever starts like that. I’m going to get dumped by my online-boyfriend-which-really-can’t-be-called-a-boyfriend-since-we’ve-never-met-in-the-real-world. I rush to the door so I can lock it and keep everyone out for the tear fest that is about to commence.

I want to meet you. Like face-to-face. I think this thing with us can grow to be more. Not to be creepy. We could meet at a public place, so you feel safe. And there’s no pressure. Let me know if it’s a step you’re ready to take. DD

Oh! My! GOD!

Yes! YES! I’m not being broken up with. And that sweet wonderful man wants to meet me. Holy shit! He wants to meet me! Oh shit!

What the hell am I supposed to do now? Can I pass for a twenty-year-old? Will he be able to tell right away? If he doesn’t realize it, I will tell him immediately. I don’t want something like this to be between us or affect any future we might have a chance at.

I want to but what happens if you don’t like me?

I hold my breath waiting for any sign that he’s seen my message. What the hell am I going to do if I have to wait until tomorrow for him to say something back? I don’t think my nerves can handle it.

No expectations, no pressure. Why don’t we just show up at the Black Cat? Do you know where that is?

No. I’ve never heard of it.

I switch out of the messages tab and look up the name but it doesn’t load before a message is dinging.

I’ll give you directions. You can wear a choker with my initial on it and I can wear your favorite flower on my jacket.

Can I do this?

You remember what my favorite flower is?

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