Page 63 of Reclaimed

24

I should have known something was up as soon as I woke up that morning to find that I was alone in bed. Even on days when Ray let me sleep in, he always cuddled with me for a while before getting up.

I found him sitting at the kitchen table, seemingly long since done with breakfast. He couldn’t have heard me coming – he didn’t turn to smile at me as I walked in. I followed his line of sight out of the window, but there was nothing there.

“Master?”

He turned his head in my direction, but his eyes didn’t meet mine.

“Morning, pet, want some coffee?”

“Not yet.” I went and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Just you.”

His hands settled around my waist, but he said nothing. I couldn’t take his silence. Ray had taken out all kinds of emotion on me before, but he’d never been distant with me. I wracked my brain for anything that I might have done to upset him the previous day, but when I thought about it, I realised he’d been quieter than usual then too.

“Master, is something… What’s wrong? Did I do something?”

I heard him sigh heavily. Disconcerted, I hugged him tighter to me.

“No, Callie, you’ve been wonderful. But we need to talk about something.”

A leaden feeling of dread settled over me – I thought I had an idea what he was going to say. He peeled my arms off him but kept hold of both my hands, staring down at them as he spoke.

“We need to go somewhere today. Both of us.” It wasn’t what I’d been expecting – a thousand possibilities raced through my mind. If he hadn’t looked so grave, I would have been delighted at the thought of going somewhere else. Had someone found out where we were? Were we leaving for good?

“Where?”

“I can’t tell you that. Mark will be driving us. He’s coming at twelve. You will need to do exactly as I say, do you understand?”

“Yes, Master,” I whispered, the first fearful tears escaping down my cheeks. Everything was falling apart again. I wanted to trust him, but his own distress was making it difficult. Where could he possibly be taking me that was a place neither of us wanted to go?

“Good girl.” He stroked his thumbs across the palms of my hands, though it did little to soothe me. I had a thousand questions, but I knew that if he hadn’t volunteered more information, then it meant he wasn’t prepared to give it.

Ray’s distance for the rest of the morning only made me more desperate to stay close to him. His possessiveness may have frightened me in the past, but this apparent disinterest was unprecedented, and far more terrifying.

*

Mark arrived at 11.58. I searched his face for clues of what was about to happen. Nothing.

“Alright, princess?”

I couldn’t speak. I was so far from alright. I’d felt too queasy to eat anything, and Ray hadn’t even pushed the matter. Nothing made sense.

“Let’s go.” Ray’s hand touched the small of my back to encourage me forwards. I wanted to resist. Going anywhere in the car with the pair of them… there was no way this was going to end well.

“Do you trust me, little one?”

“I—”

“Yes, or no?”

“Yes, Master.” I trusted him, but the fear of the unknown was almost too much to bear.

“Good girl. Now come.” I let him guide me to the car. It was large, with darkened windows, just like the one I’d been bundled into before.

“Master, please…” I knew he could hear the extent of the panic in my voice. I needed my normal Ray to get me through this – I needed him to be the strong one so that I knew I didn’t have to be afraid.

“It’s okay, Callie, you’re going to sit with me.” He helped me up into the car where Mark was already waiting in the driver’s seat. We briefly made eye contact in the rear-view mirror, and he gave me a small, sympathetic smile. I thought back to what Ray had told me about him – did he really feel sorry for me, or was this secretly exactly the kind of thing he enjoyed?

---