A Little Love (a CGl Romance)

Chapter 14

Authors Note: This chapter is a heavy chapter exposing Ariana's past of working through an Eating Disorder. I say this now as it can be triggering for some. Just know that it is not a heavy part of this novel, but it is a heavy part of this chapter.

Chapter 14

Ariana

It was the night before I was supposed to get my haircut. I was bouncing between feeling excited to have my hair be less of a hassle and feeling sheer terror to be sitting in a chair where someone stood behind me with scissors. Flashbacks filled my mind as I remembered the crinkling of the plastic garbage bag underneath my feet and over my body, the wooden chair I had sat on and the kitchen scissors that my father was using to try and cut a straight line. By the time my hair was above my shoulders, the only thing that I could remember was my dad yelling at me to be quiet and that it was my fault for crying that my hair had to be buzzed short.

The thought of a haircut wasn't the only thing that had been bothering me that week. My mind had been all over the place, in both good places and bad. I could only hope Alec wouldn't discover the bad, in fear that he would break up with me. Despite the bad, Alec and I had been getting along well. To the outside world, we were just a new couple dating, but on the inside, there was so much more. Alec was my Daddy, and I was his little.

Throughout the week, I had instances where I felt like I was slipping into my little space. Alec was doing everything he could do to help encourage me to act on the desires I wanted when I felt little. The night prior, I had come home from lunch with my coworkers to find that Alec had gathered all the blankets and pillows in the house for us to make a fort. When the fort was built, we made popcorn and watched the little mermaid.

I still needed to clean up after the fort, something that Alec had requested of me today. I knew this was probably going to bite me in the butt. I had a lot of things going through my mind that day that I had forgotten about it. I knew it was only due time before I was going to suffer the consequences of my actions.

"Ariana, can you please come down to the kitchen?"

My stomach flipped. Alec had barely used my full name over the past week. He only used it when he was trying to be stern with me or I was in trouble. I knew I was in trouble now.

Binx had been taking my mind off my thoughts. I didn't want to stop playing with him. I bounced a feather duster over my stomach in which Binx jumped back and forth.

"Ariana?" Alec called again and I knew he was serious when he didn't come up personally to retrieve me. It was a gut-wrenching feeling to peel myself off my bed and depart my bedroom. I stuffed my hands in my cardigan. I was trying to hide the fact that I wanted to pick at my nails or my hair, but Alec was always on my case to pick up a stress ball.

When I appeared in the kitchen, I saw Alec standing by the kitchen table, his arms were folded across his chest and the face that normally was soft was rigid. He was mad at me. If he was this mad about me about not cleaning up the blanket fort, I didn't even want to think about if I had got caught for doing something worse.

Like Lying.

"Come sit at the table," he instructed.

I didn't know what to say. Carefully I sat down at the table, but my hands had retreated from their pockets to start pulling at the ends of my hair again. "Is... something the matter... Daddy?" I asked if saying Daddy; the magic word would help. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be working and started to bite my lip harder.

"Ariana, is there something you would like to tell me?" He asked with the same stern voice that he had been using since he called me downstairs. There was one secret that I was holding back from him. So instead of bringing it up, I brought up the obvious.