Julie nodded. She felt an unexpected sadness, not because the others had been finally rescued from their servitude at Dmitri’s house but because a small part of her had been in denial that she’d never see them again, and now it was final.
“What about me?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
“What about you?”
“If Dmitri and his people are gone, you can release me. I’m safe now, right?”
She watched as Gabe’s jaw clenched.
“Do you really want to leave? What would you do? Where would you live? You want to be out looking over your shoulder every time the sun goes down worrying about shady characters? You going to go back to work in that seedy bar? Over my fucking dead body. Gonna get a new roommate? Go back to school? Pretend you don’t want to be with me because you don’t like the package it’s all wrapped up in?”
She didn’t want to leave. Most of her life, all she’d really wanted was to find the right man and settle down. She didn’t want the stress and competition of the world outside. In some twisted way, this house was everything. She was provided for and taken care of. The only real question was why she couldn’t bring herself to truly be his… why she couldn’t trust him and… try.
“So no, then?” he asked when she didn’t answer him. “You don’t want to leave?”
“No, I don’t want to leave.”
“Okay, then.”
“But if I did want to be free, you wouldn’t release me, would you?”
“No. You are mine.” Gabe turned to leave, considering the discussion over.
“Wait. If you aren’t going to Dmitri’s house, where are you going?”
“That’s none of your concern.” Off her hurt expression, he softened. “It’s business. I won’t be gone long.”
He pulled her into his arms and held her for several minutes. She wanted to resent him or hate him or pull away. She wanted to scream at him for keeping her prisoner, but she couldn’t because she wanted to be with him. The past weeks of casual innocent dating had made her want more with him. She couldn’t imagine being free now.
She didn’t want to struggle to make ends meet and be alone out in the world away from him. And yet, the idea that he was holding her prisoner and wouldn’t apologize for it or pretend to feel guilty made her blood boil.
Finally, he pulled away and left. She leaned against the piano and watched the door close behind him.
Julie turned to find the other girls furtively whispering. They couldn’t be subtle about it? She knew they talked about her. They knew she wasn’t Gabe’s in the sense that they all thought she should be. She could feel the judgment that came from them because she wasn’t wearing his collar. This was compounded by the fact that they all loved him, and most would have given anything to be in her position.
Mina wandered up then. She and Annette had become something like friends to Julie
“Hey, he’ll be fine,” Mina said. “He’s handling a problem with one of the buyers. Brian doesn’t have time for it. So he’s letting Gabe do it.”
Over the weeks Julie had paid enough attention to know that Brian and Mina were the house enforcers. They enforced the contracts, and that generally meant killing people. Mina seemed to read much of this fear off her face.
“Don’t worry. It’s just a reconnaissance mission. He’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, sure.”
That night, when the house was quiet, Julie crept downstairs. She couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t as though Gabe shared a room or bed with her, but she felt uneasy with him out of the house. She went down to the foyer where the piano sat gleaming. She hadn’t played it yet. The big red bow was still on it. She took the bow off and sat down at the bench.
If she played now, would she wake someone? Would she get in trouble? What would happen with Gabe gone? Could anything happen? The trainers had all kept a polite distance from her. No one had tried to harm her in any way or touch her or punish her for anything. Even without Gabe’s collar around her throat it was pretty much understood in the house that she was his.
All the rooms were pretty far off from this area, she reasoned. Most of what was on the front end of the house was the gym and the cafeteria. There was the long hallway that led down to the dungeons nearby, but she was pretty sure as late as it was that everyone was far enough away that a piano wouldn’t wake them as long as she didn’t bang on it.
She ran her fingers lightly over the keys and tested a few of them. Gabe at least had had it tuned before giving it to her. She hadn’t played in so long. Years really. She only knew a few songs by heart, and none of them were particularly exciting. And if she woke someone up playing Chopsticks, they would definitely be annoyed. Most people were annoyed by Chopsticks even if they weren’t being woken from a dead sleep by it.
She stood and stepped back from the bench and looked at the piano for a few minutes. Then she realized the bench had a hinge and a lid. She opened it and inside were books and books of sheet music. She rifled through several until she found a collection of Chopin’s nocturnes.
These were some of her favorites to play. She’d learned on these. Particularly nocturne number 2. It was just hard enough to be a challenge but easy enough to be enjoyable. Or it had been when she’d been really into playing. She wasn’t sure what it would be like now. She flattened the book out on the shelf above the piano and sat down to play. Here went nothing.
She’d only been playing for a few minutes when she sensed she wasn’t alone. She turned to find Brian standing behind her with an expression on his face she couldn’t quite discern. He seemed momentarily vulnerable.
“Why did you stop?” he asked.
“I-I’m sorry I woke you.” She’d stayed away from Brian and hadn’t spoken to him since Gabe had rescued her from him. Except now Gabe wasn’t here to rescue her.
“I don’t sleep well. I was coming up for a run in the gym. You didn’t wake me.” Brian crossed to the piano and leaned against it. “We need to talk.”
“A-about what?” Julie couldn’t begin to imagine what she and Brian had to discuss.
“Gabe. Why aren’t you wearing his collar?” Brian asked abruptly.
Julie felt her face heat. She knew everyone was talking about it, but for him to come right out and ask her. No one else had been so blunt. And given what it meant, he might as well have asked, ‘Why aren’t you fucking and servicing my friend?’
“I… I don’t know how it’s any business of yours what my relationship is or isn’t with Gabe,” she said.
“He’s my friend and he’s unhappy. That’s why. He’s given you everything. He’s been very patient, far more patient than I would have been. Even with Mina’s past, I bought her, she was mine. And she was going to obey me. As far as I can see, Gabe bought you, he owns you. Why exactly do you think you have the right to refuse him?”
In all the mental arguments she’d had with herself, she’d never fully admitted the issue. This. This was the issue. The idea that she was some piece of property that Gabe could do whatever he wanted with. It’s what she had been at Dmitri’s, and no matter how nice her room or how kind the master, she didn’t want to be owned by another person again. That fucking entitlement. Brian spelled it out for her more clearly than any of those long mental debates had. As attracted as she was and as much as she liked Gabe and wanted to be with him… not like this.