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Holy crap. I shot right up in bed—had I overslept? I had to prepare Master’s breakfast! Oh my God, I couldn’t be late; he had meetings all day and— Fuck. I blinked drowsily and sucked in a breath as an annoying headache settled in. My head felt like it weighed a ton. I wasn’t in my bed—where the fuck was I? Pullout bed. I scrubbed quickly at my face and then glanced around. Couches, big-ass TV, and entertainment center with a bunch of gaming consoles.
I’m at Master Greer’s farm.
Nausea crept up my throat, and I was punched in the face by last night.
“I’m gonna call an ambulance,” Master Dean said.
He couldn’t die like this! Please! I hadn’t gotten a whole year with him! Fear shot through me in sharp currents every time Lucian flinched, looked to be struggling to breathe, and whenever he swayed in place, as if he was so dizzy he couldn’t even sit still. Okay, think, think, think. I’d read about this, about what to do, if he ever had a heart attack?—
I shook the memory and dragged my bleary gaze to the stairs, where I spotted Archie on the last step. Wearing a look of sympathy. Crap.
“I didn’t want to wake you, but you should get something to eat,” he said. “You can go back to bed as soon as I’ve gotten some food in your stomach.”
Ugh. I wasn’t hungry. At the same time, my stomach ached with a void that let me know I should listen to Archie.
I cleared the sleep out of my voice and pushed away the covers. “What time is it?”
“A little past noon.”
Oh fuck. Past noon. I almost lost my balance as I stepped into my sweats, and I pictured Master waking up to learn I had abandoned him in the middle of the night.
Lucian should be awake now. Maybe he was even home.
I would’ve checked my phone, but Master Greer had stolen it from me.
“I’ll take care of that, pet.” He’d just snatched it from me.
“But—!”
“No buts. You need to think about yourself. Plus, your Daddy said I could.”
He’d allowed me to send Master one text, then to let KC know, and that was that.
In retrospect, I wasn’t sure I should’ve sent that message to Master.
I righted my tee and then made a half-assed attempt at making the bed, but Archie told me we could do that later.
Was I sleeping here tonight again?
I swallowed my unease and nodded. Then I excused myself for a quick bathroom break, and I grabbed my toiletry kit. And, of course, fucking everything reminded me of Lucian, our lifestyle, our community. It even said freaking Mclean House on my toiletry case, which always prompted Noa to call me a traitor. He’d bought his own kit, only to order a patch that said House Mclean instead.
When I entered the bathroom, it was easy to tell this was the children’s area. Every toothbrush had a cartoon figure except one, similar story with the towels. Toothpaste splatters on the mirror, a laundry basket that… Well, it could look worse. Some underwear and socks littered the floor, but Archie ran a tight ship. With five kids in the house, I supposed one had to.
I sat down to relieve myself and avoided my reflection in the mirror. Instead, I took in the sight of no-tears shampoo, the toddler’s changing table, two big packs of pull-up diapers… We didn’t have a changing table at home, but Noa did love his no-tears shampoo, and KC was in charge of the diaper supply.
“It’s gonna be okay, Master,” I cried. “You have to be okay!”
I flinched at the memory of Master’s pained expression. I could still hear his labored breathing, bordering on hyperventilation, and I could see the fear in his eyes. And even then, he’d gritted out he was fine.
I clenched my jaw and flushed the toilet, then made quick work of washing my hands, splashing water on my face, and taming my hair.
If I heard one more fucking time that he was fine…
I left the bathroom and almost stumbled over a toy truck. One of the children had to be at home still. Kyla, probably. I knew she didn’t attend day care every day. But the others were undoubtedly in school by now. Or day care and kindergarten.
I wasn’t sure I could identify the kiddos by name, except for Kyla, the youngest. All I knew was that they ranged in age from one to eleven or something like that.
Trailing down the stairs, I was reminded by the presence of their million dogs too. They all waited for me in the hallway as I descended. I supposed they knew the upstairs area was off-limits to them…?
