Page 183 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

I gave her some bacon and an ibuprofen, and she took it, though she complained about it the whole time.

“Can you finish the pantry today?”

“Ican. Don’t know if Iwill.” She stabbed at the bacon with her fork.

“Willyou finish the pantry today?”

“Maybe. Depends on my mood.”

“Have it done by the time I get home and I’ll take the belt off.”

She whispered something under her breath.

“What?”

“Nothing, Sir,” she said, and popped a piece of bacon in her mouth, chewing pointedly.

I felt my hackles raise.Why am I doing this? She’s not even trying.

Because she’s mine. And now I have to figure out how to reach her. She’s just like the girls at the center, but hurt in a different way. With them, I allow them to say no, that’s the turning point. What is the turning point for her? What situation can I put her in that will allow her to find freedom and safety with me? How can I make her say yes?

I wasn’t sure yet, but if there was one thing I’d learned from the past few years of training subs, it was that consistency was key.

Before she could take another piece of bacon off her plate, I grabbed her plate and slid it out of her reach. “Repeat what you said under your breath.”

“I said, ‘I’ll show yougetting it done.’”

“That doesn’t even make sense.”

“So sue me.”

“Alice... I understand you’re frustrated. But you agreed to the rule, and then you broke it. I can give you another punishment for your attitude if you need it.”

She pursed her lips, glared at her coffee cup, and then shook her head. “I know, Sir,” she mumbled. “I just didn’t think you’d dothat.”

“Well, now you know not to do it again. Your orgasms belong to me, and I want to enjoy them with you. If I don’t get to enjoy them, neither do you.” I slid her plate back over to her and continued eating my breakfast. “Before I forget. The team is out on a trip right now, and they’ll be back tomorrow with another group of girls.”

Alice looked up at me while she chewed, curious.

“Tomorrow is going to be a long day. I’ll probably be at the center most of the day and part of the night, if I come home at all. That being said, I think it might be good for you to drive back down to North Carolina for a day or two, and pick up some more of your clothing, since you only brought three outfits with you.”

Alice froze, ceasing her chewing, and looked down at her plate.

“Unless you want to go out and buy more clothing,” I said, “but that seems a little wasteful, doesn’t it?”

She nodded silently. She wouldn’t look at me.

“You could bring your telescope back up here if you like. You should have a pretty good look outside through your window.”

A shrug. Her face was blank, but her jaw was clenching.

“Alice?”

“You don’t want me to come to the house?”

I hesitated. We hadn’t had this conversation yet, and she had never really met any of the girls at the front end of their treatment. “I think we should wait on that.”

She swallowed, still not looking at me. “So you’re sending me out of the state. So I won’t do anything stupid and fuck it up.”

---