4. Chapter Two
CHAPTER TWO
GENE
G ene looked over at Sammi as she walked away. He sighed and continued to watch her. He knew something was going on. Nolan had radioed him, concerned about her because she seemed to be going to the bathroom a lot.
All the men who worked on the Little Farm were keeping an eye out for Sammi. While they had female employees, they normally worked at the gift shop because they wanted to. But not Sammi. Sammi had come in wanting to work in the fields and asked if she could work a trial period to show him she would be good at it.
He’d had no doubt she would be good—she was—but he asked everyone to look out for her if she decided to push herself too hard. And for once, he was thankful because he had seen how she looked that morning when she’d arrived. It only seemed to have gotten worse.
Her lying to him was something he wasn't going to put up with. She needed to know that lying was a bad thing to do. He had insinuated that he would take her over his knee or place her in a corner for timeout. That definitely would have put them over the employer/employee boundary.
Gene had never had to worry about that rule until Sammi came. It was like something had awoken inside him, and he needed to let it out. She made his palm itch to spank her bottom but also to bring her pleasure. Take care of her, take all her worries away, but he was her boss.
Everything inside him wanted to push those boundaries. Especially when she was looking the worse for wear with every passing hour. He didn’t like how the bags under her eyes continued to grow, the paleness of her skin continued to get more pale, and he didn't like getting lied to.
Did she know how dangerous it was not to drink water when out in the sun? Did she know how dangerous it was not to take care of herself while working long hours in a manual job?
Just thinking about that made Gene want to stomp over to her and demand she tell him how much she’d had to drink and eat for the day. He knew he wasn't going to like it, but he needed to know if he needed to step in and take care of her.
Gene had been watching Sammi from afar, making sure she was okay. She was the newest hire, and he wanted to keep her. He was also keeping watch over her and having other people do as well to make sure she stayed on the legal side of the business.
Sammi had this innocence to her, and Gene didn’t want to corrupt in any way. She didn’t deserve that. Gene didn’t have many of his illegal operations happen on the Little Farm, but every once in a while, it did. He always made sure people who weren’t part of that side of the business were occupied or had the day off.
It wasn’t only Sammi who didn’t know about the illegal side. There were several other employees who were new, and he didn’t trust them enough or didn’t need them to know. He knew what he did on the side wasn’t good, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care much. It was a job, and he got it done.
“Are you ready for the meeting?” Ezekiel asked. “We have a meeting with the plant manager soon.”
“Yes, I am,” he replied.
Ezekiel stood right next to him as Sammi turned the corner, out of sight.
“Who is she?”
“She’s one of the new hires. Works out on the field and packaging orders. She knows how to milk cows, so every once in a while, when Jordan can’t do it, she’ll go help,” Gene explained.
“Why were you staring at her like that?” Ezekiel asked, turning to Gene.
“I’m worried about her,” was the only thing Gene offered.
Was his worry misplaced? Was this was how she always looked? He remembered hiring her and thinking she looked a bit pale, but he attributed it to Sammi not being outside much.
But now, now he was starting to worry.
“Why? You care about your employees but you don’t usually worry about them this much. What makes her different?”
“She’s lost weight, she looks even more pale, the bags under her eyes have gotten worse, she’s going to the bathroom a lot, and she just looks so utterly exhausted. Nolan radioed me, worried about her as well. She lied to me when I asked her how much water she’d had today,” he explained. “I know she’s eating because she has a good lunch, but that doesn’t explain why she’s losing weight and looks worse than she was before.”
But the thing that got him the most was the fact that she was losing weight.
“Sounds like she needs a Daddy,” Ezekiel pointed out.
“You’re probably not wrong, but who knows whether she’s a Little or not. And you cannot talk to her or try to be her Daddy. Do you understand me?”
Ezekiel raised his hands in the air and chuckled. “I won’t talk to her unless I have to. I heard you, boss. She’s yours.”
Gene growled and glared at Ezekiel. “I never said she was mine.”
“Didn’t say, but your action sure did show it.”
Gene ignored him and started to walk toward the car. “Are you coming or what?”
* * *
“Gene!” Magnus said, turning around as Gene and Ezekiel got out of the car. “Forgot you were coming today. What can I do for you?”
Magnus was amazing at his job, but sometimes, he would forget when they had meetings. If it weren’t for Ezekiel, Gene probably would as well. There was too much shit going on, and it was hard to remember everything.
“We had a meeting to see how production was going,” Gene said.
“Right. Production has slowed down just a little bit since we couldn’t get one of the vital ingredients. Workers are great and doing what they should be doing, so I’ve got no complaints there,” Magnus explained.
“Tell me the ingredient, and I’ll get it for you,” Gene replied.
Magnus nodded, and they started to walk toward his office. It wasn’t unusual for them to run out of supplies. Some chemicals were hard to come by, and they didn’t want to attract unwanted attention and some took longer to make but were getting a system down on when we need to order things so this doesn’t happen again.
“Last time we dropped off a shipment, Deccan said he wanted to up the amount he was buying. I told him I would bring it up with you. Business is booming since they came into town. We get a couple more workers here, and we can increase production if we have everything we need.” Magnus handed him a piece of paper.
Gene briefly looked at it and nodded. “I’ll have a meeting with Deccan and ask how much he wants to increase it by. Before I say yes, I’ll talk to you and Carter to see if you guys can do it.”
“Sounds good, boss. Will continue to make what we can with what we have.”
“Good. It shouldn’t be long until I have this for you. If you are missing anything else, don’t hesitate to contact me or Ezekiel about it.”
“Got it, boss.”
Gene and Ezekiel walked out of Magnus’ office and toward their car. They came out once a week to each plant to see how production was going. Ever since the Springfield Sinners moved into town, their production had gone up. What once was a side gig was now turning into their main business. Gene wasn’t mad about that. It just meant he could have more time to do some of the things he wanted to.
They both get into the car and start driving back to the Little Farm.
“It’s good that Deccan is giving us business,” Ezekiel spoke, briefly looking over at Gene before back on the road.
“Yes, it is. They could have gone somewhere else, but they didn’t.”
“So, what are you going to do about the new hire?”
Gene growled. “Why are you asking about her?”
He didn’t like Ezekiel asking about Sammi. He wanted her all to himself. There was just something about her that called out to him. Gene knew what it was; it was his Daddy side, begging to be let free and to take care of her. There was definitely something going on, and Gene wanted to get down to the bottom of it. But he needed to be delicate about it. He was her boss, and he didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable.
“Just asking. You seemed really concerned about her earlier. If you want, I can watch over her so you don’t have to,” Ezekiel offered.
“Over my dead body, will you watch her,” his voice was full of anger.
“Sorry boss, I’m not going to steal her from you. It would purely be platonic.”
Gene sighed. “Just don’t do it again.”
“I won’t today, but tomorrow who knows. I’ve never seen a girl get you so riled up. So, what are you going to do? I know you have a plan.”
“If she looks as bad or worse the next time I see her, or if somebody contacts me about her again, then I’m going to step in. Step in and take care of her,” Gene declared.
He had already threatened to spank her and send her to do corner time. She didn’t react badly when he’d said that. Even though she said he couldn’t, the look on her face was one of curiosity. His girl was curious about either the spanking or corner time or both.
Gene froze.
His girl.
His. Girl.
He knew he shouldn’t like the sound of that, but he did. The beast inside him went absolutely feral at the thought of her being his girl.
Ezekiel patted Gene on the shoulder as they started to drive up the long entrance into the farm. “Good luck. Have a feeling you’re going to need it.”