Page 87 of Kane

All in all, everything was going well. Kane was enjoying his work more than ever. The fires were just as frequent and intense. That was never going to change of course.

But Kane felt less need to go for boozy blowouts after work. He was now able to decompress and let the stress out of him by simply returning home to see his Little.

Cassie felt a lot of self-esteem from knowing that she was such a positive influence on Kane. It validated her in a way that she had never experienced before.

Kane even went as far as to explain that the only reason he ever really drank too much or gambled was from a fear of being alone with his thoughts.

Now that he had Cassie to talk to or simply chill with, that instinct was no longer there.

Kane was content with life.

Cassie was too.

Her personal life was better than ever.

Along with her burgeoning relationship with Kane, Cassie was finding herself becoming more and more resilient. She would still see the occasional negative comment about her old comics online, but she was able to brush them off as one person’s opinion.

Instead, Cassie concentrated on the compliments and the constructive comments.

It was a much happier way of seeing the world.

Cassie was slowly but surely freeing herself of her baggage from her teenage years. From now on, mean old stepdads were being consigned to history.

It was all about her one true Daddy now.

But speaking of work, Cassie had initially decided to press ahead with all her unpublished work, including the drafts and scripts that had been temporarily stolen by Lyle.

But after giving it some thought, she decided to go another way.

The comic she had been working on with pencil and paper had really taken off in her imagination.

So much so that she decided to produce a fully physical version of it. Cassie found a really good local printer and produced a hundred copies that she would distribute independently.

It feltgreat.

Seeing her work like this offered a whole new perspective. Cassie was even considering going fully offline at some point in the future.

Either way, Cassie had options. The most important thing was that she was in control of her destiny. And that evening was certainly a significant part of Cassie’s future.

If only she could find her favorite rainbow-patterned sneakers…

‘Hey, we should think about getting our butts in gear,’ Kane said. ‘You don’t want to be late for your own launch party.’

‘Daddy, I can’t find me sneakers!’ Cassie called back, frustrated that she couldn’t seem to find her preferred footwear.

The launch for Cassie’s new comic was in less than an hour.

Kane had booked a local small bar near them to celebrate the release. All of their friends were going to be in attendance, as well as some figures from well-known mainstream comic publishers.

To say that Cassie was excited would be an understatement.

‘Daddy, I’m a little scared,’ Cassie said. ‘What if no one likes the comic?’

Cassie felt good to say her fear out loud.

Personally, she felt it was her best ever work. But she knew that not everyone might agree. Part of the tension was that it was a comic that had a Daddy and Little as the two main character.

Well, with a bit of a twist.