Page 64 of Motivating Mira
I nodded. It was.
“I can’t believe she’s scening with Professor Stahlbaum again.”
My head snapped downward to look at him as he sat on the leather love seat, his hand still firmly holding his dewy can of pop.
“Why?” My tone sounded a little bit too aggressive, so I tamped it down. “Why is that?”
Silas looked up at me and pressed his lips together, realizing he’d probably said too much.
“Tell me, Silas. Please.” It was wrong but I adopted a similar tone to the one I’d just used in our scene and doing that whilehe was in a submissive mindset may have gotten me more compliance than it would likely have otherwise.
He blew out a sigh. “Well, it was this huge thing about a month ago. Where the professor was giving Mira… some help.” His eyes shifted and I knew he was trying not to break someone’s trust—her trust. “With stress.” He took a drink of the Coke. “For some heavy stuff.”
“I know about her mother, Silas. I work in the emergency department at the hospital in Butte. I’ve taken care of Mira’s mother there in the past.”
“Oh.” His shoulders dropped and his back bowed in relaxation. “Yeah, so the professor was giving her a stress-release scene, and she kind of missed Mira using her safe word…” he swallowed. “A couple of times until Mira was sort of freaking out.”
I went cold and my head snapped in the direction of the woman who’d hurt my girlie. As soon as I saw her swing the rubber paddle, I cursed. And by the time it thwacked across Mira’s pretty ass and red flared in its place, I was no longer cold. I was filled with red hot rage.
“Mira wasn’t mad, and it was dealt with by Master Derek, but I don’t know if I would be brave enough to play with her again.”
I couldn’t leave Silas after a scene, not until he was ready and obviously the protective urges in me were unfounded in that moment. Mira was clearly safe, so I sat next to Silas and gave him the attention he deserved, but as soon as he was good, I bolted out of the Dungeon.
Derek sat behind his desk, his forearms resting on its surface, his fingers steepled as he listened to Wes’ concerns. “I understandyour concern, Doctor Lake, but this has been dealt with. Mira was well taken care of by another of my staff. And after a lot of discussion, and a lot of consideration, we had an agreed upon plan for dealing with it. And it was taken care of.”
“She should have been banned,” I said, sounding much calmer than I felt.
“If it weren’t a mistake, she would have been.” Master Derek’s serious expression reassured me it was the truth. “We have a zero-tolerance policy for anyone disregarding safety protocol. But it wasn’t an intentional disregard of Mira’s safe word, it was negligence.”
I sighed, starting to pace the office. I understood that. No one was perfect. All humans made mistakes.
“Why don’t I call Professor Stahlbaum down here so you can talk with her, and Mira, too.”
My eyes found his and I didn’t even need to tell him; he read it in my look.
“Ah. She doesn’t want to see you.” He leaned back in his office chair, frowning.
I shook my head, waiting for the accusation that I was projecting something on to one of his professors, but it didn’t come.
“I watched you two before—a few years ago, your scenes, your time in and around the Ranch. You had something special. And when I saw you having dinner here not that long ago, I could see you still had it. But I also know she’s really struggling right now. And not just over her mother’s condition, which I know you’re aware of. She’s struggling with her identity as a submissive, and as a person.”
“I know.” I ran a hand through my hair. “And it’s something she needs to work through on her own.”
He nodded, adjusting his Bolo tie. “I’m going to call her down here anyway. I think despite her own protests, she needs to knowsomeone cares about her. And I’d like you to talk to Maureen as well. Hearing what happened from her will also help clear things up.”
Twenty minutes later, there was a soft knock on the door. I bolted upright from the chair I’d been waiting in before Master Derek even opened the door.
She looked nervous at first until her eyes landed on me. Then there was a flicker of fear. “Is it my mom?”
“Your mom’s fine,” I said holding a hand up.
She shook her head as if she was trying to knock her terrifying thought away. “Right. That was a stupid thought. Why would it be you informing me?”
“Mira, I called you here because Doctor Lake heard about the incident last month with Professor Stahlbaum. And he’s very concerned about you.”
“I—”
Master Derek cut her off with a hard look. “Let me finish.”
