Page 39 of Slave

“She’s also in charge of dinner and will need to pick up supplies.” I paused before asking, “Are you sure you don’t mind? She’s still really unsure around people, and I don’t know . . .”

“We’ll be fine, Stephan. Don’t worry.”

I held my tongue, bottled up all the worries floating through my mind, and just said, “Thank-you.”

As soon as Lily left my office, I asked Jamie to come in. I knew she had work of her own to do, but there were certain things that could not be put off. She took down the list of things I needed done, including getting both my lawyer and Brad on the phone, adding an additional user to my cell phone plan, and getting another phone, along with setting up temporary transportation for Brianna. They were things I’d normally do myself, but I was not used to having a submissive 24/7 either.

By the time the morning was over, I’d given my lawyer all the information I had on Brianna, and he assured me he would have something to me no later than this afternoon. One of the things I loved about Oscar was that he didn’t ask more questions than necessary. I arranged for Brad to spend tomorrow morning at my home and gave him detailed instructions of what I wanted. And my last call had been to set up a checking account for Brianna. She’d need money to buy the food and pay for gas.

Jamie came in shortly before lunch to tell me that the car would be delivered this evening and the cell phone was arriving via courier this afternoon. Thankfully, everything was falling into place, except for the fact I’d not gotten much of my own work done. That was what my afternoon was for.

Brianna

I spent my morning cleaning. It wasn’t like Master’s home needed to be cleaned, but I didn’t know what else to do with myself. I missed my books.

There wasn’t anything I could do about that though. I knew where they were. I’d seen him place them on his nightstand when we’d come downstairs yesterday.

But I wasn’t stupid enough to go against the punishment he’d handed out. Although I hated not having my books, I knew it could have been much worse. And it wasn’t like he hadn’t warned me.

By the time noon rolled around, I couldn’t find anything else to clean so I sat down to watch some television. I found a local news station and watched them talk about all the horrors happening around the city.

My head whipped around as I heard a key in the front door. Jumping to my feet, I rounded the couch and took my position.

Soft clicks I recognized sounded on the hardwood floor, and I looked up. Lily.

“Hi,” she said, her grin nearly splitting her face.

“Hi,” I answered back.

I wasn’t sure what to do for a second. What was she doing here? Did Master send her?

Lily’s smile turned into a smirk as she looked down at me. “You can get up, you know. I’m not Stephan.”

Oh, right.

Quickly I stood and decided to go with the fact that she wasn’t my Master and asked, “Did he send you here?”

“Yes,” she said, walking farther into the room. Picking up the remote, she turned off the television and turned back to me. “And you can call him Stephan.” She paused and then whispered, “I won’t tell him if you won’t.”

She giggled at the last part. I wasn’t sure if she was laughing at what she’d said or at me. And I didn’t know how I felt about calling Master by his given name out loud. Sure, I did it in my head sometimes, but voicing it was different. So instead I told her okay and left it at that.

“Well,” Lily said, coming back to stand in front of me. “Stephan said you needed to go get some blood work done today, and that I’m to take you to the grocery store.”

Master had mentioned the blood work last night, but he made it sound as if he was going to be the one to take me. It wasn’t that I had an aversion to Lily, it was just I’d been expecting him. Careful with my wording I asked, “So you’re going to be the one taking me?”

Her face sobered. “Is that okay?”

She looked almost sad. It just didn’t seem to fit her. “Yes,” I nodded.

Then the smile was back. “Well, okay then. Let’s get going, shall we?”

Having my blood drawn wasn’t as bad as I’d thought it would be. Lily stayed with me the whole time. And then, at the grocery store, she even held my hand when I started to panic after a man brushed against me.

I liked Lily. She was so nice to me even though she knew what I was. And she talked to me, asked me questions. There were so many things I wanted to ask her, but I didn’t know how.

She helped me put the groceries away and stayed while I started dinner. Lily carried most of the conversation as I worked, but I liked having her there and keeping me company.

Just before five, she said goodbye, promising to see me soon and left me to finish dinner on my own. I decided to make fettuccine alfredo with grilled chicken. The sauce took a little work but other than that, it was pretty straightforward. I just hoped he liked it.

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