Page 41 of Tinley's Daddy
I followed Maria into another office. I felt more comfortable than in the stark white exam room. It had a huge window looking into the office building across the street.
“Please have a seat wherever you’d like.” I spotted a beanbag chair in the corner and a small mat with a closed chest and some toys and books on a bookshelf painted in light pink and light blue. The rest of the office had warm beige furniture and dark stained shelves lining two other walls.
Maria went behind her desk and grabbed a folder and then met me back across the room.
“Do you work with a lot of children?” I pointed to the little play area.
“Actually, I work with little of all ages.” She emphasized the wordlittle.
I gasped. Did she know? Did Josh tell her? He wouldn’t.
“Now, don’t be scared. No one told me. And I don’t know for sure, but I just wanted you to know this is a safe space for you, however you identify.” Maria sat on the floor. Her dress spread out around her. She leaned back against the chair.
She perched an iPad on her lap and waited.
I fell back into the beanbag chair because how else do you sit in a fluffy beanbag chair? It engulfed me and wrapped me in a hug. It rustled as I struggled to sit up.
“Now, first, while you are not required to speak to me about what happened to you, I would advise you to speak to someone. I am so proud of you for removing yourself from that situation.” She patted my knee. I didn’t flinch away at her touch. “I’m sure you have had a lot of big emotions going on now and you are allowed to express them without repercussions. It can be even more stressful with this newfound freedom when for so long you had to measure your actions to survive. I want you to know whatever you feel whenever you feel it is okay.”
I rocked back and forth in the chair and took in her words. She was spot-on. At times, the emotions feel like they will consume me, kind of like the chair, but where the chair feels like a great hug, emotional consumption left me feeling like nothing.
Maria wrote on her iPad with a pen. She arched an eyebrow and then put the pen down and looked at me.
“Did the little thing bother you?” she asked.
I shrugged and frowned.
“I assumed only because I am a little, too. Well, a middle. My little age is thirteen.” She twisted her fingers.
I picked at the seam of the beanbag.
“But right now, I’m not in little space. I am an adult and a doctor with a real degree and everything.” She pointed to the wall behind her desk. “I met Kyler and Josh when I visited their club in Las Vegas about four years ago and then they called me to help the girls they rescued from a hotel here in New York a year later. So those are my credentials.”
She picked up her iPad and scribbled on it.
“What club?” I asked. Can I have the tenders and mac and cheese?
She looked up.
“I thought they owned hotels.”
“They do.” She continued writing. “The club in Vegas, Quad IV, is a BDSM destination club.”
I blinked and stared at her.
“It’s a nice place. Super luxe. They host a littles week every year and hold a few little events every quarter.” Maria was doodling hearts on her iPad.
“Is it fun?”
“Oh, yeah. Lots of others in the lifestyle. Super vetted, so everyone feels safe.” She scribbled more.
“Do you have a Daddy?”
“A Mommy.” She looked over at the door. “Anna’s my Mommy.”
“Really?” I leaned forward. “She’s really nice.”
“Yep.” She set her iPad down and grabbed her phone. She flipped through it and then gave it to me. “That was from the last littles week in Vegas.” Dr. Anna stood behind Maria, who was dressed in a crisp white shirt tied at her waist and a red, black, and white pleated miniskirt. She wore fishnet stockings and combat boots. Dr. Anna wore a long black dress with a leather belt sitting on her hips. Her hair was blown out, with big, wavy curls framing her face. She had her arms wrapped around Dr. Maria’s waist. The next picture captured the joy on their faces as they playfully played tug-of-war with a belt.
