Page 47 of Savage

I let go of her breast and play with the hem of the skirt. This one might be shorter than the purple dress, and I push it up another inch on her thighs. If she bends over, she’ll flash everybody.

“Turn around and bend over,” I order softly, giving her ass a squeeze.

She obeys with only a beat of hesitation, giving me a display of her underwear. It’s tempting to tell her to remove them, but I am aware that we’re in a public store.

I run my finger between her folds, and even through the thin panties I can feel how hot she is.

I also hear the clerk’s high heels clacking on the marble floor. Reluctantly I guide Stef into standing upright again, then sit down just as the clerk pushes inside.

“I brought a selection,” the clerk says, either oblivious to what we were doing or discreetly ignoring it. “Oh, the red looks good on her. In terms of shoes…”

We have Stef try on the various different styles, then the clerk suggests more dresses. All in all, I buy five sets.

Stef looks overwhelmed by the time we’re done, and she’s hunched over in her oversized sweater to try to hide the thin lines of her body. Her eyes go wide when she sees the total on the payment screen, and I place my hand on her back again as I tap my black card against it.

With our new purchases in hand, I lead us to the salon. The man at the front desk recognizes me.

“Dr. Savage! Penny is just finishing up with her client. Just five minutes,” he says, smiling apologetically. He glances over at Stef. “Ooh, and you’re the one he booked the last-minute appointment for? I can see why. But don’t worry, we’ll get your hair in perfect condition.”

Stef’s cheeks flush red, and she ducks her head. At this rate, I don’t know how she’s going to function at the gala itself.

She’ll figure it out, though. She doesn’t have a choice.

“Thank you,” she murmurs awkwardly.

Penny pops out then, not even five minutes later, and smiles warmly. “Hi, Dr. Savage.” She turns to Stef and gives her an assessing look. “She’s the one you mentioned? Hmm. We definitely need to trim the ends. I’ll dye it a slightly darker tone, to give her hair just a tad more depth. And we can do layers to make the hair look a bit fuller…”

We follow Penny into the salon, and Penny even grabs a stool so I can sit next to Stef while she works.

Stef keeps looking to me for direction, but she relaxes slowly when Penny washes her hair and chats with me. It seems to make her more at ease not to be grilled or addressed, and her deference continues to please me. At this rate, she’ll earn a proper reward—a new game, perhaps, and more time to play it.

My phone buzzes, and I pull it out of my pocket, expecting to find a text from my mother. It’s a new email notification, though, and the sender has me frowning.

I shouldn’t, but I click on it.

hhhhey i went to ur office today but u werent there

i just wanted to talk about S

and her tight cunt

and how much u’ll pay me not to tell anyone about her

There’s no indication of who he is or how much he even wants. I scowl at the message and close my email. I don’t have time to deal with that now. I really thought the last email had been… an outlier. A prank.

Can I still risk taking Stef to the fundraiser?

I look at Stef, whose hair is starting to take shape properly. The dye was still blonde, but there’s a subtle red hint to it now to make it look bolder. She’s going to look amazing when we’re done here.

I want to show her off. I want everybody to see how much better she’s doing.

She glances at me again and again, until Penny finally chides her and she stays still. She takes subtle clues well, which is something that pleases me. It’s enough to improve my mood, even though that email sits uncomfortably in the back of my mind.

By the time Penny is finished, Stef looks like an entirely different person.

It would be hard to recognize her as the undernourished waif I picked up a few weeks ago.

“I like it,” I tell Penny. “You did good work.”

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