AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lindsay looked annoyed. “No, she isn’t Michael’s.” He opened his briefcase and slid typed papers across the desk. There were several, held together by a thin green paper clip. “This is the contract her eventual buyer will sign. I made promises to her which I intend to keep.”
Brian scanned the document, raising a brow at some of the stipulations. “This is unusual, these kinds of boundaries.” It wasn’t unheard of to allow a girl to set some ground rules—if she’d earned the right—but these ground rules were atypical to say the least.
The doctor shrugged. “We’ve dealt with unusual before. I believe I can help her find someone appropriate who won’t damage her further. You can see why your particular brand of sadism isn’t going to work in this situation. From my talks with her, I think she needs very little training. It’s not as if non-sadistic masters are impossible to find. The no-penetration rule may be a harder match, but I was thinking if we found someone who has another girl or two from us, so he wouldn’t explicitly need Mina in that way… and we trusted him… Repeat buyers aren’t unheard of.”
Brian slid the papers back across the desk. “Good luck with that.” Lindsay got far too close to his patients—especially the ones he brought to the house. The doctor’s unhealthy interest in this girl would bring nothing but chaos. It was a bad business decision. Those boundaries meant she wouldn’t go for much at auction, which meant she was hardly worth the cost of training and housing.
“What was it you wanted?” Lindsay asked, distracted.
“I wanted to inform you that I’m taking tomorrow off. I’ve got some errands to run in the city and need to get out. I haven’t had a day off in six months.”
“All right. We can do without you for a day.”
“Thanks, Doc.”
“Brian? Are you sleeping?”
He shrugged. How many times was Lindsay going to harp on his sleep patterns? They’d batted this issue back and forth for years now.
“I can prescribe you a sedative.”
“No drugs. I’m not doing that shit again. It fucks me up.”Worse.
“Just a mild tranquilizer. It wouldn’t have the same side effects.”
No, they’d be different and new and exciting side effects.
“No,” Brian practically growled.
The doctor held his hands up in surrender. “Fine. But you need more sleep. You’re getting run down.”
“Give me someone to punish. I’ll sleep like a fucking baby. Otherwise, stay out of it.”
Brian stopped by the kitchen when he left the doctor. A tray had been prepared with covered leftovers and a glass of water.
“I’ll take it up to our guest. Thanks, Phyllis.”
She cringed but nodded.
He wasn’t sure what compelled him to take Mina’s tray up, but he wanted to see her close up and alone. He wanted to smell her shampoo again. He wanted to breathe in the scent of her fear when there was nobody there to protect her from him. If Lindsay kept too strict an eye on things, this might be his only opportunity before she slipped through his fingers entirely.
When he reached the tower, he knocked with three sharp raps.
“Just a minute,” came a soft reply.
When she opened the door, her face was scrubbed of make-up. She wore casual pajamas—the kind popular both with college freshmen and old ladies. Her feet were bare except for some glittery purple polish. When she looked up to see his face, she took several steps back.
Brian stepped into the room and set the tray on the desk. “Mina, I brought your dinner.”
“T-thank you.” She was still backing up.
He wasn’t sure if she was aware of her continued retreat. She took another step back and tripped over her suitcase. Brian didn’t know why, but he rushed to help. In her fall, her shirt rode up, displaying vicious scars. They were on her back and wrapped around to her side.
He couldn’t resist the urge to run his hand over one of the puckered marks.
For a moment time stopped. She froze as he lingered over the scar that was visible to him, his fingertip caressing back and forth.
Mina seemed to snap out of it and jerked away. She struggled to pull the shirt back down as he helped her stand. He’d wanted to scare her. The predatory instinct had awakened to her fear downstairs. And yet, now… Brian couldn’t articulate how he felt, even in his own mind. He couldn’t remember a single time he’d helped one of the girls if they’d fallen or gotten hurt. He was more likely to laugh or to use it as an excuse to punish them for their clumsiness. But his protective reaction to Mina’s tumble had been instantaneous and instinctive.
