Zander grunted. Right. A guess. “There’s a woman. I, well, I feel something toward her. But I also scare her.”
“She’s in the scene?”
“Not that I know of. She’s been through a lot. Her last boyfriend hurt her.”
“So you need time to build up trust. How long have you known her?”
“Nearly a week.”
“Zander, if she’s been through something then of course she’s not going to trust you in a week. Abuse, physical and emotional, you can’t just erase that sort of stuff overnight.”
Right. Of course not. What an idiot he was to think she’d instantly see that he wouldn’t harm her.
So why did the fact that she didn’t trust him upset him so much? It made no sense, and Zander didn’t like when things didn’t make sense.
“I know you don’t always do well with things that seem to move in the wrong pattern or don’t follow an order. But human beings aren’t always logical creatures. Our emotions get in the way. Feelings can mess things up. But just because we make a wrong move doesn’t mean that we can’t correct it. Is she the one who hit you?”
“No. Ammo did that while we were sparring.” He gingerly touched his swollen cheek.
“No wonder all the subs want to scene with you tonight,” Butler said.
“What?”
“You’re a wounded man.”
That made no sense. “What?”
Butler just grinned. “Don’t worry. My advice is to talk to her.”
“Butler.” One of the monitors rushed up to them, a worried look on her face.
“Ellen? What’s wrong?”
“There’s been an issue in the Littles’ room. One of them got overly upset and hit one of the others. I’ve got them both in separate rooms. I’ll deal with one that was hit, can you take the other?”
“Of course.” Butler scowled. “Hitting is unacceptable.”
“Only issue is, that leaves just Justin is in the room, monitoring. I’d prefer two caregivers but I’m not sure if there’s anyone else on tonight that I’d want in the Littles’ room.”
“I’ll do it,” Zander said.
He wasn’t sure who was more surprised, Butler or himself.
“Uh, Zander, I didn’t know you had any interest in the Littles,” Butler said.
Well, he didn’t not have interest. In fact, he’d found himself a bit intrigued by the Littles’ areas.
“Actually, I think Zander will do just fine,” Ellen said.
“Really? Zander?” Butler said. Then he shook himself. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound so, uh . . .”
“Disbelieving?” Ellen teased with a smile. “Zander is patient yet firm. He won’t let them get away with anything, but he also won’t come down too hard on them. Or judge them. That’s important.”
No, Zander wouldn’t judge. How could he? He frowned at the idea that people would.
“You know where to go. Tell Justin I sent you,” Ellen instructed.
Zander nodded. Of course, he knew where to go. He knew this whole club well. He strode towards the Littles’ room, knocking first as was protocol. After Justin answered and he explained the situation, he entered the room.