Chapter 44
Chapter forty-four
Sage
Istretch under the soft sheets, wondering what the ringing is that disturbed the deepest sleep I’ve had in a while. The kind of deep sleep where my blood feels as if it's full of weighted lead that makes lifting a limb difficult.
The ringing ceases and a familiar rumble standing over me pops my eyes open. Barrett is standing beside the bed beautifully naked and holding a phone to his ear. My phone.
He traps my gaze before he says, “She quits,” and ends the call.
“What did you just do?” I knew it would happen, that I’d lose my job, but that doesn’t ease the shock of it. Quitting and getting fired are different. I lose any benefits or severance I might have had by quitting. I needed that to give myself time to find a new job.
“You’re done.”
“Yeah, I got that. But why did you say I quit? I could have just let them fire me for not showing up.”
“He wouldn’t have fired you.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do. He said it. I never had to say hello before he started talking. Your boss was prepared to come pick you up for work himself and that if you thought you could get out of this by not showing up, you’re sorely mistaken.
Campbell is pulling his strings, and for whatever reason, he wants access to you.
You. Are. Done.” Barrett sets a knee on the bed and climbs over me, letting his weight pin me down until breathing is almost difficult.
“I really had no choice.” I say it more to myself, a way to convince myself that this is best, that it was best Barrett answered my phone.
“No, pet. You didn’t.” He places a kiss on my forehead, holding his lips there for a moment, long enough for the warmth behind the gesture to spread throughout my body.
He rolls off of me and tucks himself back under the blankets.
Pulling me close, he nuzzles my neck and sighs with the same exhaustion I feel in my muscles.
After returning from the club, he put me in the stockade and proceeded to drive me crazy, withholding my orgasm for what felt like hours until I was utterly weak.
In reality, it may not have even been a full hour, but I had no sense of time or space.
I barely remember him cleaning us both in the bath before tucking me into bed.
But I’m wide awake now. Having been pulled from such a deep state, there’s adrenaline running through me.
I slip from under Barrett’s arm, surprised he let me go.
Glancing at him over my shoulder, his eyes are latched on to my ass.
I offer a small smile when he deigns to look up at me.
Grabbing his shirt from the floor, I slip it on, then pick up my phone and leave the room, while still feeling the heat of his stare.
With coffee brewing, I lean against the counter with my thumb hovering over my contacts. Should I call Liam and explain? But if Barrett is right, then my boss is just as dirty as Dorian—the two of them partners. Liam knows what Dorian can do, does do, and what he intended to do with me.
No, I won’t call him. It’s done. I’m done.
I hover over Nova’s name next. I need her to talk to me, to forgive me for nothing.
I know I have nothing to feel guilty over by being with Barrett, but I don’t want her to believe I was rubbing it in her face after losing her husband.
She can never know I’m responsible for Adam’s death and that I’m now in a relationship with the man who did the deed.
I can admit it now that this is a relationship, exactly what Barrett described it as. This is a new side of me, maybe something that was already there, or maybe it’s something that Barrett created by simply asking a question. Do you want to be Daddy’s pet?
But now I’m more dependent on him than I’d like to admit.
Not in the way I need him to function, to live, to have his permission or approval, but in a way that no one else can give me what he can and I can’t live without this touch of freedom from letting go and becoming something special.
A treasured pet that can act however I desire and know he’ll be there to handle it. I don’t fear him.
I’m in limbo right now, unable to work or provide for myself and trapped under Barrett’s hold, unable to leave and unable to take things further with him.
I don’t want to be with someone simply because the situation demands it.
More like because he demands it, but it’s the danger I’m in with Dorian that has forced that demand.
Barrett feels responsibility toward me. And lust. But anything beyond that, I can’t predict.
As I pour my coffee, I feel his hands rest on my hips. I didn’t hear him walking down the hall, but I never do unless he wants me to.
“Are you okay?”
“No.” The answer is out before I think it through. “I need to go find another job, one where they hopefully won’t feel the need to call Liam for a reference.”
“Not yet. When this is over, you can get another job.”
I set my coffee down and turn so we are chest to chest. “You’re really keeping me locked away? Am I allowed to go do anything?”
“Not without me.” He cups my cheek and moves his hand back to spear his fingers through my messy hair. His touch eases the frustration building in me. “Just a few more days, pet. He’ll be gone in just a few days.”
“And what about after he’s gone?”
Barrett slides his hand out of my hair and tilts my chin up with his thumb. “You’ll still be mine.”
“But am I free? Can I work? Can I leave when I want? Go out with friends?”
He sighs, but doesn’t answer. I don’t know what to make of that. And that scares me more than anything, because I’ve already decided I can’t live without him, but can I live with him?