I sighed and softened my tone. “Neither do I, hun. Neither do I.” My hand hovered over her shoulder. “Can I touch you?” Her back still turned to me, she nodded. I hugged her from behind. “I promise it’s gonna be okay,” I whispered to her. “I’ve got good people surrounding me. They’ll keep me safe. We’ve got it better than a lot of other Littles.”
“But what happens when we don’t?” Cassie softly replied.
“The moment I see anything suspicious; anything wrong; anything I can’t handle; I’m out of there. Okay?”
She clasped my arms to her chest. “Okay,” she said. Still, she sounded defeated. She sounded defeated, but I didn’t particularly feel like I’d won anything.