5. Chapter Three
CHAPTER THREE
SAMMI
A week had passed since the incident with Gene. Sammi had been avoiding everyone on the farm, but especially Gene and Nolan. She had heard from another worker that Nolan was looking for her, but she wasn’t going to fall for that. She didn’t want to work with anybody right now.
Not because she wasn’t a team player but because they all reported to Gene. Everyone had a walkie-talkie to easily call Gene if they needed him. She wasn’t going to risk it. Not when Gene threatened to put her over his lap or in corner time.
Sammi had replayed that conversation over and over and over in her mind, trying to remember if he’d actually said it. Part of her was psyching herself out and saying he hadn’t said it, that it was all in her mind, but the other part of her knew he’d said it.
Was he a Dom or a Daddy Dom? Did he know she was a little?
He couldn’t possibly know because she kept her Little on tight lockdown while at work. It was a male dominated workplace and she didn’t want to give them any reason to not trust her or her ability to get her work done.
Sammi wished Daddy Doms would wear a tag to show that they were one, but she knew if they did that, then Littles would have to wear one, and she didn’t want that. Gene wouldn’t have hired her if he knew she was Little. It wasn’t like she would fall into Little headspace at random moments but he didn’t know that. He might think that anything would trigger her. Seeing the apples and blackberries, wanting to pick them and eat them.
That had probably been the hardest part. Her Little loved to pick things, so she couldn’t let her out. Not if she wanted to keep her job, but it was getting harder. She knew it wouldn’t last for much longer.
Sammi was still feeling everything she had felt before. Nothing was getting better, and it was making her really worried. Was she dying? She wouldn’t know for another week when her insurance kicked in. Would she be alive by then?
She was just going to have to wait and see because there was no way she was going to go before and pay a huge out-of-pocket fee. It wasn’t ideal, but it was what she had to do.
Sighing, Sammi took a deep breath and placed another couple of apples in a container. She was on packaging duty today, something she was incredibly thankful for. It had her out of the sun and away from prying eyes.
The whole walk to the farm had been absolutely exhausting. Her legs felt like Jello, and by the time she had gotten to the farm, she needed to pee so badly. Sammi had purposefully left her water bottle at home. Was it a foolish idea? Absolutely, but she didn’t need to pee more than she already was.
It was a little concerning how much she was going to the bathroom and how little she was drinking.
One more week .
One more week and she would be able to get it checked out. One more week and she would hopefully know what was going on without having to pay a huge fee.
Sammi didn’t quite understand why it took a few weeks for insurance to kick in. It wasn’t like she had gotten the job just to get insurance. She had gotten it so she could help her brother pay off his debt.
Maybe she should have looked for a second job where insurance would come in right away, but she wouldn’t have been able to work both. With her feeling as poorly as she was and working so much, by the time she got home, she ate, took a shower, and passed out on her bed. Sometimes, she didn’t even have energy to eat or take a shower. Those nights were especially hard.
Her Little wanted to peek out so many times when she got home, but she was completely exhausted. There was no way she could be Little and stay safe with how tired she was. Which made working just a little bit more dangerous.
More recently she had felt her Little come to the surface when she was working. Something she was desperately trying to not let happen, but it was hard. It had been so long since she had been Little, and she felt like it was going to be a lot longer until she could.
She hadn’t anticipated that she’d have to pay off her brother’s debt. All her extra money and savings went into helping him while he also worked. Sammi didn’t know how he had gotten into so much of a hole. Okay, she did because she’d made him tell her.
Sighing, she gripped onto the side of the bin that held all the apples as dizziness assaulted her. She blinked several times and took a couple deep breaths as she grounded herself. Or attempted to ground herself.
“There you are!” Nolan announced, spooking her.
Spinning around, her vision went blurry as dizziness and nausea bubbled inside of her.
“Whoa,” Nolan said, his arms wrapping around her. “You’re all right. Everything is okay. Let’s just sit you on the ground so you can breathe.”
Nolan helped her to the ground, and she took several seconds to calm herself down, trying to get rid of the dizziness and exhaustion. But she knew that wasn’t going to happen.
Sammi had tried this several times when no one was looking, and it never worked. Maybe she should have told somebody how she really felt so if something had happened, they’d have an idea. But it couldn’t be anybody at work because it would put her at risk of Gene knowing, and she didn’t want to get fired.
“Are you okay?” Nolan asked.
“Yes,” Sammi nodded, lying through her teeth.
She was anything but okay.
“Are you sure? You almost collapsed. Are you feeling okay?” Nolan rapid-fired.
“I’m sure.” She looked up at Nolan, giving him a small yet fake smile. “I just wasn’t expecting you, so I turned really fast and lost my balance.”
Which could have been true. Sammi knew it was a combination of a lot of things, but he really did make her jump. She hadn’t heard him walk up.
“Lies. And I think you know that it was a lie,” he stated, handing her a couple of blackberries. “Eat those. Where is your water bottle?”
Sammi put the delicious purple fruit into her mouth before she could respond. If he knew she was lying before, she wouldn’t be able to come up with another fib about the water bottle. She could feel the disappointment already rolling off him and that as before she told him she left it at home.
How was she going to get out of that? She had been trying to go without seeing any of them for a while so they couldn’t look after her. Not that she wasn’t grateful for people watching out for her, but she didn’t want her job to be jeopardized. She needed this job and them reporting to Gene made it feel like her position was at risk.
“Continue to eat those and drink some of this,” Nolan said, handing her a water bottle.
She put it right next to her, not wanting to drink anything no matter how tempting it was. She already kind of had to go to the bathroom and knew that it would only get worse if she had some water.
“Drink the water,” Nolan commanded. “Now.”
With shaky hands, she picked up the water bottle and attempted to open it. Sammi grew frustrated as her grip wasn’t strong enough. Whining, she was about to set it down but Nolan’s hand came into her view.
“Should have opened it before I gave it to you,” he said, quickly opening it and handing it back to her. “I want you to take at least five sips.”
Nodding, she brought the water to her mouth and took five small sips. Nolan didn’t specify how big the sips had to be, and she wasn’t going to ask.
Nolan grabbed his walkie-talkie and before she could fully grasp what he was doing, it was already too late.
“Gene, this is Nolan. Can you come to the packaging barn real quick?” he asked over the walkie-talkie.
Sammi closed the water bottle and placed it beside her, glaring at Nolan.
“I don’t need you to call Gene. He doesn’t need to come. That was uncalled for.” Sammi was furious.
“Tough. I called him, he’s coming,” Nolan replied.
“He doesn’t need to come! This doesn’t concern any of you. I am fine. You just gave me a little fright, and I missed my footing. That’s it and nothing more.”
“Bullshit,” he said, and she flinched, not expecting him to cuss. “You and I both know it wasn’t just a scare. You need to take better care of yourself, and as for Gene, he said he wanted to know if anything happened to you. Something happened, so I’m letting him know.”
“I don’t need special treatment because I’m a woman. I can take care of myself. I am taking care of myself. I’m doing a great job at it.”
The second part was a lie. She really wasn’t taking care of herself, and it was showing. But there was more going on than her just not drinking water. Something was wrong, and she wasn’t about to tell them, not when it could get her fired and then she really wouldn’t have any insurance to get it checked out.
Nolan gave her a “are you serious” look, which she didn’t appreciate.
“Did you just lie to me?” Nolan asked.
Before she could answer, Gene walked up right behind them.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“Nothing! Nolan is just overreacting. I am perfectly fine,” Sammi spat out before he could say anything.
She moved her hands behind her so she could push up, but before she could, Nolan spoke.
“Sit your butt back down,” he growled.
Sammi glared at him. “I don’t need to sit anymore. I am fine,” she argued.
“Sammi, sit,” Gene said before turning to Nolan.
“I am not a damn dog!” she yelled. “You can’t just tell me to sit and expect me to obey.”
It was something she hated about her name. It seemed like a dog name to her, and when people told her to do things, it didn’t sit well with her. Was she on the same level as a dog?
“I know you aren’t a dog. I want you to sit while I talk to Nolan and figure out what’s going on,” Gene gently said.
“I can tell you what happened,” she offered.
“And lie about it like you were lying to me?” Nolan asked.
“I wasn’t lying!”
But she was, she totally was, and they all knew it. There was no way out of this. She was getting backed into a corner, and it wasn’t looking good for her.
“Just stay sitting while I talk to Nolan for a second. Then we can talk,” Gene sternly spoke.
Sammi huffed out a breath and crossed her arms. This was not fair. She shouldn’t have to sit here and wait for them to talk.
“Eat some berries and drink some water.” Gene handed her a couple more.
Her mouth fell open. How did he know she ate some berries? Nolan hadn’t said anything.
“Got a little something right here.” He bent down and wiped at the bottom of her lip.
Her whole face flushed as she could see some blackberry juice on his thumb. But what shocked her even more was him licking his thumb while looking directly into her eyes. She shouldn’t be turned on by a simple action, but she couldn’t help herself. Her insides turned to goo, and she felt herself growing wet.
“Now, what happened?” Gene asked Nolan.
“I have been looking for her all day, all week technically, but every single time I try and look for her, she’s nowhere to be found,” he started to explain.
Sammi felt bad now. She didn’t think people would actually be out looking for her. Someone had stopped her, saying Nolan was looking for her, but it was just today.
“But then I find her packaging orders and swaying. She almost collapsed and hurt herself,” Nolan said.
“Because you scared me!” She raised her voice.
“Hush,” Gene crooned. “You’re okay.”
How was she okay when Nolan wasn’t telling the whole truth? He made her seem like she really wasn’t taking care of herself, but she was…partially.
“You aren’t telling the truth. You got onto me for lying, but you are lying now!” she yelled, not paying attention to Gene.
“Little One, Daddy said to be quiet.”
Her eyes went wide as she looked at Gene. He just called himself Daddy. Her eyes flicked to Nolan to see if he had heard it, but he didn’t give any indication that he had. Was her mind playing tricks on her?
“I might have scared her some when I came into the barn, but not enough for her to fall over and almost pass out. Her skin is pale, more pale than when I walked in,” Nolan pointed out.
Sammi looked down at her skin and shook her head but groaned as it protested. She was still feeling a little woozy from almost fainting. What was going on? Why was she feeling like this?
“I gave her some blackberries and told her to take five sips of water while you came,” Nolan explained.
“Did you specify how big the sips had to be?” Gene asked.
Her eyes went wide as she stared at him. She did take the five sips, but they definitely were almost a drop each.
Nolan looked down at her and the water bottle before shaking his head. “I should have known.”
“Some Little Ones need stricter instructions when you tell them to do something. I think Sammi here is one of them.” Gene bent down in front of her. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine,” she forced out.
Sammi was still feeling exhausted and needed to go to the bathroom once again. When was this going to go away?
“Little One?” Gene gently asked.
A shiver ran through her as he called her Little One. She absolutely loved being called Little One by him. Her fantasies of him being her Daddy were growing in her head as he spoke those words.
Did he know what they did to her? Did he know she was a Little?
“Yes, boss?”
“Are you sure you are okay?” he asked once again.
“I’m good. Why wouldn’t I be?”
His hand came up and gently rubbed under her eye. She couldn’t help but lean into his touch, loving the way his skin felt against hers.
“Because you’re more pale than before, and you look absolutely exhausted,” he quietly said.
Nolan was still standing behind Gene, looking directly at her.
“I is not,” she weakly argued.
“You are, Little One. What’s going on?” he asked.
“Nofing.” She flinched. “Nothing. I mean, nothing is going on. Now, can I get back to work?”
Sammi had a feeling Gene was a Daddy Dom, which could be dangerous. She definitely needed to stay away from him even more than before.
“Little One?” Gene asked. “You aren’t going back to work today.”
“W-what?” she whispered.
“Can you take a couple more sips of your water?”
“No,” she spat out, looking away from Gene and feeling guilty right after. “Sorry, but I don’t want any more water.”
She didn’t want any liquids, not when her bladder was about to burst. But she knew she needed it. When was the last time she’d drunk water? It would have been the night before when she got home from work. That was when she guzzled a whole cup of water, trying to quench her thirst, but she couldn’t.
All day her mind had been on water, trying to get rid of the thirst. But no matter how much she drank, her dry mouth wouldn’t stop. Was this really how she was going to die?
“Where is your water bottle?” Gene asked.
Sammi looked at Gene. “I don’t have one.”