Chapter 33

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Daisy, Alyssa, and Grace couldn’t go forward, but they had to get down one way or another.

“I’ll go first,” Daisy said, not trying to escape before her friends, but wanting to take the brunt of whatever unpleasant fate awaited them at the bottom. If it was a long drop into an empty pool, perhaps she could break the others’ fall. Maybe the snow would soften the blow, too. “Just try to land on me. And brace yourselves!”

There wasn’t time for further instructions. They had to move quickly. They’d reached the breaking point as Jason and Selena completed their climb up the stairs.

Daisy tensed with fear but realized she couldn’t be immobilized. She had to get out of there and find security. It wasn’t just her life that depended on it. She had Alyssa and Grace to think about, too. She loved them. But she also felt protective, knowing that despite being adults, they were Littles. They needed someone to look after them.

Was there anything Daisy could really do to save them, though? It seemed as if all hope was lost as Jason Bennett stalked forward, raising his gun.

She had to move now! But before she could sit down and launch herself through the tube, all hell broke loose up there.

More shapes appeared. It was suddenly very crowded, and the girls were pushed up against the waist-high bars that bracketed the platform.

“Daddies!” Daisy yelled as she gained a clearer picture of what was taking place.

It was all a bit difficult to see through the blizzard, but Daisy could make out enough to know what was taking place.

Walker punched Jason in the jaw. Hard! So hard, in fact, that the man started to fall back, nearly colliding with her, Alyssa, and Grace as they backed against the railing as far as they could. But he was stabilized at the last minute by Cane and Austin.

“Walk the plank, buddy,” Austin said with a chuckle.

“No! You can’t!” Jason screamed, the terror he was feeling obvious in his panic-stricken voice.

Those protests fell on deaf ears, though.

The guys held him on both sides and shoved him in the tube headfirst.

“Down you go,” Cane said before stepping back and literally kicking Jason’s ass to push him forward.

Jason screamed all the way down the slide. A moment later, a loud splash reported that he’d reached the pool.

Cane held up the gun he’d stripped off the criminal and grinned. “Managed to grab this first.”

“Is he okay?” Daisy asked, only half caring.

“Turns out, there’s water beneath those pool covers,” Austin explained. “The pools are heated and open in early spring. That heater isn’t on now, though.” He laughed. “He’s going to be cold as hell.”

“Reckon we should go fish him out,” Walker said enthusiastically. Though no one seemed particularly in a hurry to do so.

“As for you,” Cane said to Selena. “I won’t hit a woman unless she’s threatening someone’s life. So be smart and don’t give me a reason.”

“Come on, girls,” Walker said. “Let’s get you inside. It’s too damn cold for y’all to be out here.”

“Careful going down,” Theo said.

“I’ll go get Jason… or whatever the hell his name is,” Quinn told the group as the sounds of the man thrashing, splashing, and calling for help could still be heard.

Daisy breathed a sigh of relief as she followed her Daddies closely down the snow-covered steps.

One thought kept going through her mind as they hurried into the casino: Her Daddies had rescued her.

They always would, too. No matter what.