10. Chapter Eight
CHAPTER EIGHT
SAMMI
T he next day, Sammi was absolutely mortified. She called into work, saying she was sick, but she wasn’t. Was it dumb? Absolutely, but she couldn’t face Gene after he spanked her. How could she have let him do that?
Part of her was happy because her guilt was gone, but the other part wasn’t. When she had started to walk home, Nolan had walked by her and gave her a knowing look. Did he know? Had Gene told him?
That was why she called out the next today. She couldn’t go back there. Not when Nolan knew. If he knew, how many other employees also knew?
“Sammi?” her brother said through the phone.
“Sorry, what were you saying?” She sighed.
“You can’t put up the house. Where are you going to live?”
“It’s not like the house means anything. You’re the one living in Mom and Dad’s. You can’t sell that house. Mine is just another house that doesn’t have any memories in it. I can sell it and get money. I don’t know how fast, but you can tell Deccan that I’m going to sell it so that we can give him the money. He has to be okay with that,” she explained.
Deccan didn’t have to be okay with anything since he was the MC President. He could make up the rules, and he could decide that selling the house was going to take too long, but it would ensure he got his money.
Sammi hadn’t dealt with Deccan a lot, she tried not to. She tried not to talk to any of the Springfield Sinners a lot. Sure, they were bad men, but she also just didn’t have time. Echo seemed to love Deccan, and Sammi knew she wouldn’t put up with just anyone. So he couldn’t be all that bad, right?
Her phone buzzed again, and she sighed. Her phone had been blowing up all morning, Gene was texting her constantly. She had messaged Ezekiel, letting him know that she was going to not be coming into work because of her sickness. Gene probably heard from him since she hadn’t texted him.
“But where are you going to live? You haven’t answered that!” her brother exclaimed through the phone.
“I don’t know. I’ll probably stay at a hotel or see if I can sleep in one of the bunkhouses at the farm until I figure something out.”
She was most likely going to have to sneak into the bunkhouses. If Gene found out she was sleeping in one of the bunkhouses, he would not be happy. Would he demand she stayed with him?
“I can’t let you do this!” he shouted through the phone.
“Good thing I’m not asking for permission. Both of our lives are on the line here. I don’t want to work at one of their strip clubs, so if I’m going to have to sell the house, then I’m going to do that.”
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Her eyebrows pinched together as she stared at her front door. She wasn’t expecting her brother today or anyone else. Who could it be? After pushing herself off the couch, she quietly walked to her window and peeked out.
The Little Farm.
That was written on the truck that was in her driveway. Why was one of the trucks in her driveway? How did they find out where she lived? She had listed her parents’ house as her address so nobody would bother her.
“I’m going to have to go,” Sammi gently said. “Just tell Deccan that if he’ll wait, I’ll sell the house.”
“But—”
“Please,” she begged.
“Okay, fine.”
Knock. Knock. Knock.
“Little One! I know you’re in there,” Gene bellowed through the door.
“Who’s that? Sammi, are you?—”
“I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you later.” Sammi quickly hung up.
She walked to the door, breathing quietly as she waited to see what Gene was going to do next. She didn’t want to open the door and talk to him. She didn’t want to see anybody from the farm ever again.
Had the news already spread that Gene had spanked her? Was she going to be the talk of the work or even the town?
“Little One, open the door right now. We need to talk,” Gene said. “Ezekiel told me that you called out because you’re sick. Open the door so Daddy can take care of you.”
Sammi unlocked the door and barely opened it so he could only see a sliver of her face. His eyes roamed her face, probably trying to see if she was sick and how bad she was feeling. But he was going to find out that she was not poorly.
“Hi, Little One,” he cooed at her. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay,” she replied.
She wanted to make this as short as possible. She didn’t need him lingering and figuring out that she wasn’t sick. What was he going to think then? Was he going to punish her again?
“Ezekiel said that you’re sick. What’s wrong, Little One? How are you feeling? What’s wrong?”
She bit her lip and looked away. She could feel the guilt starting to settle in the pit of her stomach. How was she going to live like this?
“Is it your period? Do you have bad cramps and can’t work? I haven’t noticed you being gone for the past couple of months. Have you been working through your pain?”
Heat rushed to her cheeks at his words..
“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s a natural thing for women. I honestly think it should be acceptable to talk about it anywhere.”
“It’s not my period. Can we please stop talking about that,” she begged.
“Then what’s wrong? Why did you call out?”
Tears formed in her eyes, and she blinked several times, trying to get rid of them. She could not cry in front of him. She had already cried in front of him yesterday when she got spanked. The sobs that came out of her were weird and had never happened before. Not even when her parents died.
“Oh, Little One. Let me come in? Can I? What can I do to make everything better? Do you have the medicine you need? Do I need to go out and get some or call one of my doctor friends to come check on you?”
She barely shook her head and wiped away the lone tear that had escaped. Gene looked tortured standing in front of her because she had the door almost closed. Did he really care that much?
“Little One, please. I’m worried about you. I want to make sure that you’re okay. Can you tell Daddy what’s wrong?” he gently asked.
Was she really going to tell him what was going on? Or was she going to try and come up with some lie? Just the thought of lying was making her sick to her stomach.
“Everyone knows,” she whispered.
Gene’s eyebrows pinched together. “Everyone knows what?” he asked.
She shook her head and glared at him. How did he not know?
“Everyone knows what ?” he asked again.
Was he just playing dumb? Did he want to see whether Sammi would say it out loud?
“Everyone knows that you spanked me.”
“They do? How?” His eyebrows raised.
Her mouth hung open as she looked at him. Did he really just ask that?
“Baby, how do they know? I didn’t say anything,” he gently said. “I know you didn’t say anything either.”
“I thought you told Nolan.”
“I didn’t. I knew that you were worried about people finding out. I wouldn’t tell people. Not unless you were okay with it, and I knew you weren’t. I wouldn’t break your trust like that.”
Sammi blinked several times, thinking about what he had said, trying to see if he was telling the truth. Gene kept his word on everything he did. She didn’t have much experience with it, but she had heard some of the other coworkers saying that when Gene said something, he would make it happen, that he would keep his word.
“But Nolan knew,” she whispered, looking at her feet.
She was almost one hundred percent sure that he knew. The way he gave her a knowing look as she left, like he knew she had just gotten spanked.
“I promise you I didn’t tell him. What makes you think that he knows?”
“He gave me a knowing look as I left and said something,” she mumbled.
“Because he probably does know. I’m only telling you this because I know he’s fine with it, but Nolan is a Daddy. You know Springfield has lots of Daddies, and he’s one of them. Daddies know when Littles have gotten disciplined or look guilty because they’ve done something,” Gene explained.
Sammi’s head snapped up, and looked at Gene. That made so much sense now. Nolan was always looking out for her. At first, she thought it was just him being kind and Gene asking him to, but she was a little suspicious. Some of the things he said and did just reminded her of books she read.
“So yes, he probably did know what had happened. Is that why you called out of work?”
She nodded and looked away from Gene. “I know I lied to Ezekiel about being sick, but I just couldn’t come in and face either of you. I didn’t even know if I was going to come back tomorrow or at all…” She trailed off at the end.
“Little One,” he softly said. “I’m sorry you felt that way. I know it wasn’t Nolan’s intention, and it wasn’t mine either. Next time, no punishment will happen at the farm. We’ll wait until after work when we can go to my house or yours.”
“How did you find me?” she asked. “I didn’t list this as my home.”
Gene gave her a disapproved look. “Ohh, I know. I asked Ezekiel where you lived since he had your file. He gave me an address, but that was your parents’ house. And if I remember correctly, after they died, you moved and let your brother stay in the house. I asked around before I got here to see where your new house was. It’s a small town, and a couple people remembered you moving into this house.”
And if Deccan said it was okay, she was going to move out of it soon. She couldn’t help but take in her living room. It wasn’t home, but it was hers. She had made it her house and part of her would be sad to sell it. But she had to do what she had to do to pay off the debt.
“How... How do you know that?” Sammi looked back at Gene.
His hands came forward and her face. “I was here in town when it happened. I made sure that you guys had things you needed.”
“All the random food appearing at our door?” she whispered.
“Yes, Little One, that was me.”
Tears pooled in her eyes at his words. She and her brother had no idea who had been sending the food, but they had been super grateful for it. She had no desire to cook at that point, and her brother didn’t know how to cook much either.
Both of them were in their mid-twenties when their parents died, still living at home. Neither of them cared that they hadn’t moved out. Her parents were happy for them to live there. They contributed to food, paid rent, and helped clean up.
“I’ve had my eye on you for a while, but as I was going to approach you, they died, and it wasn’t the appropriate time. And then you became my employee, and I was trying to be so good at keeping it professional. But I can’t, and I’m not going to. You are mine,” he declared.
Her mind was still trying to wrap around the fact that he was the mysterious person who had sent them food during the hardest time of their lives. Sammi had tried to ask around to figure out who had sent it, but nobody would say.
“Now, do you want to open the door so I can give you a big cuddle?” Gene asked.
Sammi pushed the door open, and before she knew it, his arms wrapped around her. She sighed and snuggled into his chest. It felt just like yesterday after he spanked her. She felt content, safe. All the voices in her head were silent as he just hugged her.
“Next time something like this happens, I want you to come to me straight away. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, Daddy.”
She hesitated for a second. She had only called him Daddy in her head but never out loud.
He kissed the top of her head. “It’s okay. Soon.”
It wasn’t that Sammi wasn’t ready to call him Daddy out loud. She was, and she couldn’t wait for the day, but she didn’t want to get too comfortable when she had no idea what was wrong with her. She could be dying, and she didn’t want him to hear her call him Daddy and him be having to grieve afterward. It was better to wait so he didn’t lose her.
“Now, relax for the rest of the day, but I expect to see you tomorrow, understand?” Daddy asked.
She nodded.
“Be a good girl for Daddy, and don’t get into any trouble.”
Sammi rolled her eyes.
“What did I say about rolling your eyes?”
“Nofing.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“That you were going to punish me?”
He nodded. “When you come into work tomorrow, you’ll sit at my desk first thing in the morning and write lines. Understand?”
“Yes.” She sighed.
Sammi should have known he would act out on what he said. He had before.
“I’ll see you later. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call me,” Daddy said, kissing her forehead before turning around and leaving.