Page 70 of Slave

Her walk was slow, but eventually she made it back to my side. I pulled back the covers and helped her lie down. This time her eyes didn’t leave me.

Tucking the sheets around her, I leaned in and placed a kiss on her forehead.

“Goodnight, Brianna,” I whispered against her flesh.

“Goodnight, Master,” she whispered back.

The next morning, I called Jamie and asked her to see if Brad could stop by my office around mid-day even though I knew he would come anytime I asked. That man was more than predictable. I honestly thought he’d jump off a cliff if I asked him to.

Sure enough, at twelve fifteen Jamie knocked on my door to let me know Brad had arrived. “Tell him I’ll meet him in the gym in five minutes.”

I changed quickly and headed down the hall. Brad was standing near the stack of weights against the wall but turned when he heard me come in. “Mr. Coleman,” he gushed.

Brad was a great personal trainer. He had a way of creating targeted workouts for his clients but changed things up often enough to keep it challenging. “Hello, Brad.”

He moved toward me. “Was there a problem with your workout, sir?”

It was no wonder he thought there was a problem. We normally met once every six weeks to go over and change things. I was two weeks early. “No. The workout is fine,” I said as I walked over to the mat to begin my routine. “I wanted to talk to you about how things are going with Brianna.”

“Ah,” he mused as he watched me move. It never escaped my notice that he paid a little too much attention to certain areas than others, but he’d never been inappropriate. I was a valued client and he treated me as such. “The beautiful Anna is doing very well. The treadmill has been hard for her to master, but everything else has been easy enough. Did you wish to step things up?”

Anna? Why did he call her Anna?

I shook my head, looking at him in the mirror. “No. Not exactly. I wanted to see what you thought about adding some self-defense moves to her program. Nothing too complicated, but something she can add to in the future.”

He nodded. “Some lunges and general agility would be a good starting point for her I think.”

I agreed. Anything more would overwhelm her.

Stepping onto the treadmill myself, I pressed the buttons and began my warm up. “Are you having any trouble getting her to communicate with you?”

My pace picked up to a run as he answered. “She doesn’t talk much, but if I ask her something, she answers. If I tell her to do something differently, she does her best to correct it.”

I nodded and continued my run while he watched. Brianna’s interaction with Brad hasn’t concerned me too much. Given he did not find females in the least bit attractive, I doubted Brianna would fear him as she did most males. He wasn’t a threat.

Brad didn’t comment until I slowed back down to a walk. “Looks like we are going to be increasing your cardio soon. That was way too easy for you,” he laughed.

“Speak for yourself,” I said, stepping off the machine.

He walked toward me and placed his fingers at my pulse point to check my heart rate. I noticed his pulse beat a little faster at the contact and had to suppress a laugh. After a few seconds, he lowered his hand and nodded. “It’s within the acceptable range, but I’d still like to increase it.”

I wouldn’t argue with him. Walking over to the weights, I said, “Have Jamie set up a two-hour block in two weeks, and we can rework the specifics for both Brianna and myself.”

“I’ll see you in two weeks,” he said as I saw him take one extra-long look at me in the mirror before turning to leave.

Shaking my head, I finished my workout. I wasn’t sure if I should be flattered or cringe at the fact that my personal trainer was very obviously attracted to me.

Thursday night I decided not to push things with Brianna. We’d already made such progress this week, and I wanted to reward her. After dinner we just sat in my chair and watched television while I held her. All the while my mind kept returning to what Brad had called her today. Anna. Why had he called her Anna?

One o’clock on Friday I received a call from my lawyer. Oscar informed me that his secretary received a call earlier that morning from someone claiming to be from the sheriff’s department, inquiring about a Brianna Reeves.

He assured me that no information had been given and that the person had been informed that no information could be released without a court order. Apparently the person on the other end of the line hadn’t liked that answer and had then become rather forceful in their requests to the point where Oscar himself had had to take the phone and inform the caller that he would file an official grievance should this persist.

The man had quickly ended the call after that. And after talking with his secretary, Oscar realized that they had not even gotten the man’s name.

I, however, had a pretty good suspicion as to who it had been. My only question was why now, after eleven months, was Jonathan Reeves looking for his daughter?

Brianna

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