“Please!” she screamed again, as if there was any part of him that was actually human.
He only laughed at her suffering.
Shannon kicked out and suddenly her foot landed against something. She jolted awake, wild-eyed, scrambling to get out of the bed away from the arms that held her down. But he was too strong.
“Shhhh, kitten. Shhhh.”
She let out a breath when she realized who she was with. She collapsed against him and sobbed.
Lindsay petted her hair. “It's over now,” he whispered.
But would it ever be over? She hadn't told Lindsay about the look Brian had given her in the cafeteria the previous morning. She could carefully avoid him, stay out of his path. She never ever did anything to disrespect him, and for so long her quiet unobtrusive deference had kept him from turning the monster inside him on her again.
But Brian had noticed her.
She was sure that was what triggered the dream. She'd been so certain she would be safe now that she belonged to Lindsay. After all Annette and Julie were safe from Brian. But Brian and Lindsay had history. She remembered them fighting a lot when Mina had first come to the house. Did he want payback?
Lindsay still petted her hair. “The same dream?” he asked unnecessarily.
“Yes, Master.”
“Did I do something last night to...”
“No. I-I liked everything we did in the playroom last night.” Well except the camera, but that was about the scars. She was sure she'd never feel comfortable being exposed like that.
“Are you sure?” he asked, real concern in his eyes.
She wasn't entirely sure what all that in the playroom with the filming had been about. She wasn't sure Lindsay knew either. Some experimental therapy? But however fucked up it had been, she'd gotten off on it, and for whatever reason he'd felt the need to film her like that, she hadn't felt malice in the act.
“Shannon? How can you be sure last night didn't trigger the nightmare?” He was genuinely concerned, and for a moment she worried he'd hold back with her, start treating her like broken glass... like he had after that day. Please don't treat me like I'm broken, she silently begged.
“I just am.” She couldn't tell him the truth. What if he confronted Brian and just made everything worse? She couldn't tell Mina because she was sure that would stir things up, too. Mina would try to protect her, try to reason with Brian, but it might just make him more angry and determined. She knew from experience that was the last thing she needed.
65
Weeks passed, and the threat of Brian receded into the background. He seemed to have lost interest in Shannon, and she'd become too wrapped up in life with the doctor to keep thinking about the threat. Despite her fears, Lindsay didn't start treating her like she was too fragile to handle him. And as a result, she'd started to feel a little less fragile in his care.
She laid snuggled under the covers in the plant room watching him as he took care of the birds and tended to the plants, already dressed for work. She liked to watch his morning ritual when he thought she was still asleep. She couldn't believe they'd been together like this for weeks now. Even more impossible to believe was the idea that she'd actually thought she hated this man.
Her feelings now had moved so far in the opposite direction from hate that it scared her sometimes to think just how hard she was falling, how much she wanted to give him anything and everything. His control had taken her by surprise, his darkness. She hadn't believed he had it in him. She'd thought him weak, simpering. Now it seemed impossible she'd ever seen the doctor that way.
She was almost constantly wet from his demands, his harsh cutting orders that wrapped around her like safety and security.
“Oh, good. You're awake,” Lindsay said intruding on her thoughts.
She yawned. “What time is it?”
“6:30.”
Way too early. She flopped back on the bed and pulled the covers over her head.
“You have to get up. We have a long drive.”
“Wait, we?”
“Oh, yes. I fired my secretary and told her she could finish out the week last week. It's Monday. You're my new secretary. Congratulations on this promotion.”
And then there was this side of him. This strangely funny playful side that she'd never suspected could exist underneath all that clinical seriousness.
“From fuck toy to secretary. Doesn't it normally go in the other direction?”
“You watch too many movies.”
It was so weird that they'd developed this... banter. Shannon sat up fully in bed, trying to process this new information. “But... I don't have clothes...” She couldn't exactly wear a bikini or workout clothes to a psychiatrist's office.
Though at the moment the biggest and most exciting thought was, I'm going into the city. I get to leave the house. It had been a long eight years of cabin fever.
“I got you some things the afternoon I fired her, the bags are on the floor beside the bed.”
Shannon moved as little as possible out from under the fluffy blankets and peered over the edge to find several large bags from stores she didn't recognize but which were obviously very high end.
“Well, I mean... what did you say... was she upset?” Shannon asked as she lugged the bags up onto the bed and started to unwrap everything.
“I told her I was cutting back my hours and no longer required full time assistance, and I knew she needed full time. I gave her a generous severance package and an excellent reference.”
“Excellent reference!” Ralph screeched from his cage as if to confirm this fact.
Lindsay opened the cage to let the bird out. The African Gray landed on the bedside table and stared up at Shannon and said again, “Excellent reference”. Then he flew off into the tropical plants.
Shannon wasn't sure how he'd done it, but somehow Lindsay had trained the bird to only poop in his cage. As a reward, Ralph got a lot of outside-the-cage time. She was convinced that bird understood about seventy percent of what he repeated. He seemed far too shrewd to her.
“Are you cutting back on your hours?” she asked.
“I'll be working Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I already cut back on my workload and sent some of my patients to colleagues. Those that aren't candidates for the house.”
“Okay but what about the spa here? I'm supposed to do a lot of that stuff, like especially waxing. And we have a lot of girls here.”
“I talked to Anton about that. He's making other arrangements. It's not that difficult to teach someone how to wax.”
She might have worked up some offense at that but she was distracted by her work clothes. “Um... this is a little sexy for the office isn't it?”
She looked up to find Lindsay had stopped fussing with the plants and now stood over her, smirking. “I think it's the exact right amount of sexy.”
Within the bags she'd found several short skirts—definitely not professional length. Additionally she found loose-fitting, low cut blouses that were a bit too sheer—sheer enough to see the black lacy bras he'd bought for her to wear underneath.
There were several pairs of black heels, garter belts, and black stockings with seams up the back.