Page 24 of Daddy's Little Fighter
Heart aching, tears pooled in her eyes at the thought.
“Oh, Frankie,” Trent whispered. “I didn’t mean to make you cry. I just…”
Daddy rubbed her back in soothing circles as the tears ran down her face. She was extremely emotional today, and she couldn’t help it. So many new things have happened in such a short time, and she was having a hard time processing it all.
“I’ve got you,” Daddy whispered.
Frankie snuggled back into Daddy’s embrace, closing her eyes and letting her body relax.
“I didn’t mean to make her cry. I don’t even know what I said to do it,” Trent gently said.
“She’s exhausted. It’s her favorite food, and today has been very busy, so it’s nothing bad,” Daddy explained. “I’m going to take her up to my office for a nap and finish up some work.”
“It was nice seeing you, Frankie. Don’t be a stranger.” Trent softly touched the back of her arm.
She hummed but didn’t move. Daddy chuckled and started to walk back to his office. The chicken nuggets smelled so good, but Frankie was so tired. She didn’t know whether she had the energy to stay awake and eat. What a shame. She was looking forward to eating those nuggies, but maybe Daddy could save them for another time, when she woke up.
“I’ll feed you a couple before you fall asleep,” Daddy murmured in her ear.
Sighing in contentment, she fully relaxed into his arms. It probably made everything much harder on Daddy to hold her, but right now, she didn’t really care.
Daddy sat on the couch, pulling her legs to either side of him as she continued to rest her face on his shoulder.
“Open up for Daddy.” He teased the chicken nugget against her lips.
Frankie ate three chicken nuggets before falling asleep in his lap, feeling completely safe.
CHAPTER 10
NOAH
“Do you think she’s going to be okay after everything that happened?” Dominic asked as he sat in front of Noah’s desk.
Noah looked over at Frankie, who was sound asleep on his huge couch. He didn’t know why he had bought it in the beginning since it was basically a mini bed, but Noah was thankful now. It had worked out perfectly for Frankie to sleep on comfortably.
“She’s exhausted and probably not want to go out for a while, but I think it’s going to be better in the end,” Noah replied honestly. “Every little exposure with you guys is helping in the long run. Showing her that she doesn’t have to hide who she is and that you don’t care if she shakes or not.”
If only he could help even more and make her realize she can go out right now. But he needed to be patient, and every little step in the right direction was a good one. It was going to be a slow journey, one Noah was prepared for.
“If you need anything, let me know. I know I’ve said this before, but she is like a little sister to me. I want to see her flourish in life and have friends,” Dominic quietly said as helooked over at Frankie. “Has she met up with the other Littles? They’ve been asking me about her, but they didn’t say anything about meeting up with her.”
Noah shook his head. “They haven’t gotten together yet, but they have been texting regularly. I’m hoping to get Frankie to say yes to meeting at least one at our house or even here. Maybe one by one, so she doesn’t get overwhelmed, but Frankie doesn’t want them to make fun of her for shaking. She’s worried they are going to think of her as someone who is getting electrocuted.”
Everything in him wanted to go back in time and stop those little kids from saying that to Frankie. It wasn’t true, but Frankie took it to heart and had never been the same since.
“No one thinks that. Kids can be cruel sometimes in what they say.” Dominic sighed. “We can all reassure her and not comment on it. I think she should meet either Rainey or Echo first. I know the other girls will love her for who she is, but Echo and Rainey have stuff they are worried about. They can help her.”
Noah hadn’t thought about that.
“I’ll see if she wants to meet up with them first before the other girls. Maybe they can shed some light on what it’s like and how they have dealt with it,” Noah replied.
“Echo didn’t deal with it very well. She let other people touch her and just recently told everyone since Deccan suggested she should.” Dominic shook his head. “I don’t know how she got by with it for that long.”
Noah had only seen Echo once in his life. At the time, he didn’t know she had an aversion to touch. Not that it mattered since they didn’t touch at all.
“Come to think of it, Rainey wasn’t very forthcoming either when it came to her liking things in even numbers. She let it bother her until Marco found out,” Dominic pointed out. “But they have had to come to terms with people knowing andunderstanding that some people will judge and others won’t care. A lot of people don’t care.”
Nodding, Noah relaxed in his chair and took a deep breath. “I’ll mention it to her in a couple of days. She probably won’t be open to it with everything that happened today.”
