by Ivy Nelson
Then he surprised her by moving behind her to unbuckle the gag. Her mouth felt frozen in place when he pulled the rubber ball free.
“Did you really think I was going to make you wear a gag for six hours, Isabelle?” he asked when she started rubbing her jaw.
She gave him a sheepish shrug. “I wasn’t sure what to think, honestly, Sir.”
Eli chuckled from his place at the desk, and Isabelle turned to see him setting her letter aside.
“Thank you for the letter, that was thoughtful. I’ll pass it on to the others.”
Her face warmed with embarrassment.
“It seemed like the least I could do after embarrassing you all that way.”
Hunter squeezed her shoulders. “I think you probably embarrassed yourself more than anything, little one. But it’s all forgiven now. It will be up to you whether you work things out with Garrett, but your punishment is over.”
She stepped into his arms when he offered her a hug.
“I’m not sure what to do now,” she admitted. “It’s awkward being here when Master Garrett is here. I just need some space from him while I sort things out.”
“Understandable. You’re welcome to go hide out in my suite upstairs if you want. I know you’re helping with shutdown tonight. We’ll come get you when it’s time.”
Isabelle closed her eyes. “Fuck. I was supposed to spend the night here with him tonight. My family isn’t expecting me at home.”
Hunter chuckled. “Stay here. I’ll just go crash at the Glenview. You can come by there tomorrow and we’ll talk about things then.”
Isabelle nodded and gave him a shy smile. “Are you sure you don’t need the suite?”
Hunter rolled his eyes. “Contrary to popular belief, I do not have a girl in there every weekend. I am sure I don’t need it. I’m unattached tonight.”
Isabelle tried to stifle a giggle but failed.
“What’s so funny, sub?” Hunter asked, a mock glare on his face.
“You forget that I’ve been setting up the suites for most of the parties lately. You absolutely have a girl in there almost every weekend, Master Hunter, Sir,” she added when his glare turned more serious.
His features relaxed and he shook his head. “You’re making me regret taking the gag out. Go hide. Unless you want to talk to your Dom and work things out, that is.”
Isabelle shook her head. "Not just yet. It will take me some time to figure out my feelings.”
Chapter Five
Garrett paced in the downstairs lobby of Solitaire, checking his phone for the tenth time. He’d sent a message to Isabelle asking her to join him for breakfast, but she still hadn’t responded. He’d promised not to pressure her though, and Isabelle was prompt. At ten minutes past when he asked her to meet him, he knew she wasn’t coming.
With a heavy sigh, he left the building and got in the car that was waiting for him. He would skip breakfast and go straight to the warehouse.
It would take just under an hour to get there, and he spent the time in the backseat working on his tablet, sending emails, putting his signature on documents, and reviewing quarterly reports. Things still weren’t looking good for Colorado Logistics, but he had some ideas to get things moving there again.
At the fulfillment center—a large warehouse style building—he handed the security guard at the gate his ID and company badge. The man raised an eyebrow, and said, “Good morning, Mr. Oliver, Sir. We weren’t aware you were visiting until next week.”
Garrett gave the man a tight smile and said, “Do me a favor and don’t call ahead to let them know I’m coming. It’s good to surprise your staff with a visit from time to time.”
The guard gave him a terse nod, but Garrett had a feeling he would be on the phone as soon as the car pulled away from the booth.
Sure enough, a member of his management team was waiting outside the front door of the massive structure.
“Mr. Oliver, we weren’t expecting you until Monday. I’m Jason Briggs,” the man said, extending his hand.
Garrett ignored the man’s hand and said, “I would like to speak to whoever handled the layoffs yesterday, please.”
Jason slowly lowered his hand, a puzzled look on his face. “Yes, Sir. Is there a problem? We decided as a team, but it was Darren who signed off on everything and actually handled the meeting to let the staff know.”
Darren Gunn. Garrett shook his head. He would be the first to lose his job.
“Very well, can you get everyone here within the hour? I assume the entire management team isn’t working on a Saturday.”
Jason swallowed hard, and Garrett knew he was scaring the man. Good. He kept his face stoic as he followed Jason inside the warehouse.
“I’ll start making phone calls, Sir.”
Garrett gave a terse nod as he looked around the building. It was not clean by industry standards, and things seemed to be in disarray. There was a lot to address while he was here.
“Would you like to wait in the conference room, Mr. Oliver?”
Garrett shook his head. “I want to look around a bit. Then I’ll wait in Darren’s office. He won’t be needing it anymore, I would imagine.”
It was an unprofessional way to handle firing someone, but he was pissed about the way things happened yesterday.
He wished he would have had the opportunity to speak to Isabelle and get some more details about how things happened. It would have been invaluable to have her here with him. On a whim, he pulled out his phone and called Patrick.
The other Solitaire Dom answered gruffly. “What the fuck do you want, Oliver? I’m snuggling with my wife.”
Austin giggled in the background and Garrett rolled his eyes. “I was wondering if you could do me a favor and walk down the hall to Hunter’s suite, knock on the door, and hand Isabelle the phone.”
Patrick grumbled, but Garrett could hear him moving around. “I’m not your errand boy. You two need to work this out,” Patrick said.
“That’s what I’m trying to do, I just need a little help right now.”
He could hear a muffled knock followed by silence.
“You sure she’s up?” Patrick asked after a moment.
“Not really, but I’m hoping she is. I need her help making something right.”
Patrick knocked again. “I hear movement,” he said after a beat.
“Good morning, sunshine,” Patrick said. “I’m apparently your secretary now, and you have a phone call.”
“Hello?” Isabelle said a few seconds later, her voice laced with confusion.
“Isabelle, Doll. Please don’t hang up. Just hear me out for a minute. I’m still going to give you your space, but I wonder if you might want to help me out with something.”
There was a protracted silence, and he feared she’d ended the call. Her voice finally came over the line. “I’m listening.” It was a resigned statement, but it was better than being hung up on.
“I’m at the fulfillment center, about to confront the management team about yesterday. I suspect they’re going to try and deny what happened. Would you be willing to come up here and just answer some questions about what actually happened if I need you to? You can wait in the car until I know if I need you. If I don’t, you don’t even have to come inside. I promise I’m not trying to get you to talk to me before you’re ready. I’m just trying to make things right, Doll.”
More silence.
“Isabelle?”
She cleared her throat. “I can do that. I need to come into town anyway.”
He stopped himself from calling her a good girl. It was important to keep his distance as promised, and she wasn’t his sub outside the club. Right now, he didn’t even know if she was his inside the club.
“Very good. I’ll send a car.”
“Master Patrick said he can bring me. Him and Austin want to have lunch in town.”
He blew out a breath. “That sounds perfect. Thank you, Isabelle.”
When he ended the ca
ll, he headed for the supervisor’s office. Jason was pacing the outer office, where a receptionist or assistant should be working, talking on his phone.
“Yes, he just showed up and demanded I get the management team together. I can’t get ahold of Darren, though.”
The man stopped when he saw Garrett. “I have to go. Just get here as fast as you can and find Darren.”
“Can I get you anything, Mr. Oliver? Some coffee maybe?”
Garrett shook his head, then held up a hand. “Actually, why don’t you go to the bakery up the road and get donuts and fresh coffee for the team. I have a feeling we’ll be here awhile.”
Jason scurried toward the door. Garrett called after him. “Send Darren a text and leave a voicemail. If he wants to have any chance of keeping his job, he better answer his fucking phone.”
The young man nodded and began typing on his phone as he continued out of the office. Garrett let himself into the disorganized inner office and sat behind the desk.
He pressed a key on the keyboard to wake the computer and tried to make heads or tails of the filing system. It was a wreck. Was his team here really that incompetent?
Garrett ran a hand through his hair. Maybe he was stretched too thin. It was time to reevaluate his portfolio and figure out how to do a better job of prioritizing his resources and energy. And he clearly needed to keep better tabs on his employees.
Pulling out his phone, he dialed his assistant.
“Regina, put me in touch with my personnel recruiter please. I need to find out why some of these people were hired in the first place.”
“Yes, Sir,” his assistant said. “It’s a Saturday. Do you want to talk now or have a meeting on Monday?”
He hummed. “Monday should be fine. That will give me more time to find out what kind of questions I want to ask anyway.”
“I’ll put it on your calendar.”
It took over an hour to get the management team into the conference room and nearly that long for Patrick to message and let him know Austin and Isabelle were in the parking lot after they dropped him off at a local gym for a workout.
He was grateful to his Solitaire friends for rallying behind him and Isabelle both instead of choosing sides in this strange battle they found themselves in.
Now, he stood at the head of the conference table and asked Darren for a recap of what happened yesterday.
The man stood and began telling his side of the story.
“As per the directive received from your office, we evaluated the current staff and identified twenty-six individuals to let go to reduce labor costs. After you signed off on the list, we proceeded with the layoffs on Friday and gave them their last checks. All former employees were escorted from the building and we retooled remaining staff to get the fulfillment floor running again. All orders were filled and shipped on time as usual.”
Garrett leaned over the table, his palms pressed firmly into it as he stared at the somewhat unkempt man. He couldn’t even be bothered to put on a tie for this meeting. “And what kind of severance package did you give the employees?”
Darren shoved his hands into his pockets and looked around the room uncomfortably.
“I’m not talking to anyone but you, Mr. Gunn,” Garrett said sternly.
“We provided two months’ pay and continued health benefits.”
Really? The man was going to stand there and lie to his face?
Garrett gave the man a little more rope to hang himself with. “And how did you decide who you were going to let go?”
“We started with those who hadn’t been with us long, students who we thought might be going off to college soon, and finally, we looked at work records. Those with two or more write-ups were placed on the list.”
Garrett picked up his phone and sent Isabelle a text.
Sorry, Doll. Looks like I need you. You can bring Austin with you.
She didn’t respond, but a few moments later, a security guard knocked on the door. “You have visitors, Mr. Oliver.”
Garrett waved them in. Austin dropped into a chair along the wall, but Isabelle walked timidly toward him. Poor girl looked like she hadn’t slept much.
“Miss Alvarado,” Garrett said, keeping his tone as professional as possible. “Can you identify the man in this room who fired you yesterday?”
Isabelle looked worried but nodded toward Darren. “It was Mr. Gunn, Sir.”
“Thank you, and can you tell me how many times you’ve been written up since you’ve worked here?”
Isabelle frowned at him with wide eyes. “None, Sir.”
Garrett scratched his head. “I see. That’s interesting. And how long have you worked here?” He was ashamed that he didn’t actually know the answer to the question before he asked it.
“A total of five years. I spent two in high school, and again for the past three since I came back home.”
Garrett turned his gaze to Darren and scowled. “And how long had your uncle, the floor supervisor, been an employee here?”
“Nearly eighteen years,” Isabelle whispered. “He was so close to retirement.”
“And by firing him before twenty years, he doesn’t get his full retirement benefits, correct?”
Isabelle nodded.
Garrett placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “You’re being immensely helpful. One more question. What kind of severance package did you get upon being let go?”
Darren Gunn squirmed in his seat.
“We were told we could collect our final checks on the way out the door and that any remaining vacation time we had left would be part of that check. For me, that was about three weeks.”
Garrett whistled. “Three weeks? You must have never taken a vacation.”
Isabelle shook her head. “No, Sir. We take one every two years to the family reunion. That’s not for a few more weeks.”
Turning to Darren, he said, “No write-ups, five-year veteran who never took a vacation. An eighteen-year veteran supervisor close to retirement?” He held up a finger as he listed each item. “Why were this woman, her uncle, and three other members of her family terminated? None of them seem to fit the criteria you gave me.”
Darren looked around the room and gave a shrug. “I guess my team wasn’t as thorough in their decision-making process as they led me to believe.”
Several members of the team fixed Darren with glares, and Garrett had had enough. He pounded his fist into the table.
“That’s bullshit. You’ve done nothing but lie to me since you walked into this room and I won’t have it anymore. I hereby relieve you of your duties. You are to vacate the premises immediately. I’ll be launching a fraud investigation to find out how much money you may have stolen from this company as well.”
Darren’s face filled with rage. “I’ve never taken a dime from this company that I wasn’t owed.”
Garrett gave a low chuckle. “We’ll find out, won’t we? Get the fuck out of my building before I have you physically removed.”
A guard stepped into the room then and motioned Darren out the door. When he was gone, Garrett squeezed Isabelle’s shoulder again. “Thank you, Isabelle. We’ll talk about getting you back to work on Monday. For now, I need to finish my meeting.”
The pretty girl gave him a tense nod and turned to leave. Austin gave him a slight wave as she linked arms with Isabelle. He was quiet until the two disappeared.
Turning to his soon to be former management team, he said, “As for all of you, consider yourself on probation for the next twenty-one days. I’ll be reevaluating the company’s need for your services. I would caution you not to make any mistakes and take these next few days to figure out what makes you valuable to this company. If I’m not satisfied with your performance in three weeks’ time, or I find unsatisfactory behavior in your record from the past six months, you can consider yourself fired.
Everyone in the room winced, and Garrett knew he was getting through to them. “I’ll be working out of Darren’s office for the
foreseeable future. I’ll expect you to have it clean and organized by the time I arrive at seven on Monday morning. If it isn’t, don’t bother coming to work. I’ll leave you all to take care of that now.”
Without another word, Garrett turned and left the room. He had a feeling there would be several letters of resignation on his desk when he arrived on Monday.
In the parking lot, he slid into his waiting car and asked to be taken back to Solitaire. The party tonight would be awkward, but he would still do his best to respect Isabelle’s wishes. In the meantime, he would begin drafting a job offer for her. Putting her to work for him should make her off limits. He had never let a submissive work for him before. Now that he thought about it, it was probably better that he didn’t know she worked for one of his companies when they first entered the Dom/sub contract with each other or he would have had her assigned to another Dom. The thought of that made his fists involuntarily clench. Isabelle was his.
If she were working for him, it would complicate things, especially if he were working out of the Colorado office. But he had a feeling she would be a valuable asset, and he wanted her on his team.
At Solitaire, he settled into the conference room to work until party time. There was plenty to be done to get ready for Monday at the fulfillment center. When it was nearly seven, he closed his tablet case and stepped into the lobby. Isabelle was coming out of the bar.
They both froze, eyes locked on each other.
A glance at her wrist told him she wasn’t wearing his bracelet. Damn it. He could force the issue; she was still technically a house submissive under his supervision. But she’d asked for space.
As if she knew he was looking, she wrapped a hand around the wrist that usually bore the yellow jeweled bracelet and gave him a sad smile.
“I wasn’t sure if it was OK for me to wear it right now,” she said, her voice thick with emotion.
Garrett did his best to keep his expression relaxed. No need having her think he was mad at her.
“You’re still a house submissive, Doll.”
Her lip quivered and he thought she might cry.
“Christ, Isabelle. How do I fix this?”
