The Institute: Daddy Issues by Evangeline Anderson Read Free Book Online

way.”
    I took a deep breath. “I think I’ll be okay with it as long as it’s only you, Salt,” I told him. “You and I have a pretty solid part­ner­ship—I don’t think a few days of pre­tend­ing we’re in some weird sexual re­la­tion­ship is go­ing to ruin that.”
    Salt nod­ded, look­ing re­lieved.
    “I agree. Very well, if you do not mind, I do not mind.”
    “There is one other thing to con­sider,” Stevens said. “Speak­ing from a psy­cho­lo­gical stand­point, be­ing in this kind of en­vir­on­ment and pre­tend­ing to be in this kind of re­la­tion­ship can bring up is­sues from your past. So you need to deal with those now—be­fore you go.”
    “What is­sues?” I de­man­ded, frown­ing.
    “Spe­cific­ally, what most people call ‘daddy is­sues’,” Stevens said. “Tell me, De­tect­ive Sug­ar­baker, how was your re­la­tion­ship to your father?”
    “I didn’t have one,” I said flatly. “He left when I was nine and I never saw him again. So I can’t have Daddy is­sues when I never really had much of a father, right? I mean, I barely even re­mem­ber him at all.” Which was true. The memor­ies of my father were blurred and ob­scured—hardly there at all, really.
    “Let me get this straight,” Stevens said frown­ing. “Your father aban­doned you at age nine to the care of an al­co­holic mother—ba­sic­ally leav­ing you at the most vul­ner­able time in your life to an un­re­li­able care­taker. And you don’t think you have is­sues?”
    “I know I don’t. I man­aged just fine.” I lif­ted my chin. “Look at me—I have a ca­reer, a life…”
    “Any long term re­la­tion­ships?” Stevens asked quietly.
    “Well…” I shif­ted un­com­fort­ably on Salt’s lap. “No, but that doesn’t mean any­thing. I can get by just fine on my own.”
    “It prob­ably means you don’t trust men and feel like you have to take care of your­self,” Stevens said bluntly. “Which is also why it’s dif­fi­cult for you to form any kind of last­ing re­la­tion­ship with a man.”
    “I have Salt—he’s a man,” I pro­tested. “We’ve been to­gether the last three and a half years—what’s that if not a last­ing re­la­tion­ship?”
    “That is a part­ner­ship,” Stevens em­phas­ized. “Not a sexual, com­mit­ted, lov­ing re­la­tion­ship.”
    “It may not be sexual,” Salt said, frown­ing. “But it is very com­mit­ted and lov­ing. I care for Andi deeply. I will not al­low any­one to harm her.”
    “Thank you, Salt.” I smiled at him and he gave me one of his rare smiles back. Some­times I thought I was the only one who ever got to see him smile at all. Which was fine with me.
    “All right, you don’t want to ad­mit your is­sues—I can see that.” Pro­fessor Stevens sighed. “Just don’t be sur­prised if some troub­ling emo­tions sur­face when you’ve been role play­ing for a while.”
    “I can deal with whatever hap­pens,” I said evenly. “I’m an adult and I take re­spons­ib­il­ity for my­self.”
    “You are now.” He shook his head. “Let’s see how you are after some time at the In­sti­tute.”
    “Leave Andi be,” Salt rumbled warn­ingly. “Do not give her need­less fears.”
    “They’re not need­less or un­war­ran­ted, De­tect­ive Salt,” Stevens said. “But let us turn our at­ten­tion to you for a while. What kind of re­la­tion­ship did you have with your father?”
    Salt frowned. “My father? He was very stern—very what I think you call ‘strict.’”
    “And?” Stevens prod­ded. “Was he lov­ing to­wards you? To­wards your mother and sib­lings?”
    Salt’s face grew dark. “He liked his vodka,” he said shortly.
    I thought of the way he’d told me his father had beaten him with a belt earlier. Had he been ab­us­ive? Maybe an al­co­holic like my mom? But my mom had never been a mean drunk—she’d just been